Stephanie Johnson

I gotta say that this is kinda relaxing. With the lights off and complete silence surrounding me, it gave me time to reflect. If everything went well, I'd be seeing my brother again and then we could all go back home. Home. I could barely remember what it was like. Trying to conjure up images of Zoe and Audrey only resulted in failure. I could almost picture Audrey's dark hair and hear Zoe's snide remarks, but I couldn't recall the feeling of excitement when we hung out. I wonder what they are doing. Do they think about me?

I wanna go home. Tears formed as I thought about my dad and Juanita. They must be so upset and worried.

Knock Knock

I sat up, startled. What did Trig tell me to do? I can't remember! Panic flooded through me as I quickly ran into the bathroom. Please don't find me. Please don't find me. Oh my god, I'm going to die. Crawling into the bathtub silently, I cursed myself for not locking the door.

"Trigger. Are you in there?" The door opened as my blood raced. What do I do? Fuck.

"She's probably with her girlfriend," Another voice responded. The door shut and let out a sigh of relief. What if they're still there? Too afraid to peek out, I stayed in the bathtub, ignoring the pain in my back from the hard surface. I almost drifted off to sleep when the door swung open again, violently slamming shut.

"Princess get your butt out here." A smile came to my face when I recognized Castle's voice. If she's here, then...

"Santiago!" I raced out of the bathroom and towards my brother. "Oh my gosh, I missed you so much. I never should've left you. I didn't think-," Choking through sobs, everything came out in a rush.

Only after I calmed down, did I realize how Santiago hadn't moved. It was almost comical. Here I was, balling my eyes out to what might as well have been a wax statue. We tried to force Santiago to sit in a chair, but he wouldn't budge.

"Cause any trouble while I was gone?" Castle had apparently given up trying to move my brother and propped up on Trigger's bed.

"Somewhere came in here trying to find Trigger." Her eyes widened at my statement, just as the door opened again.

"We're so fucked." Trigger had entered the room in a hurry. The normally confident woman was oddly out of place. Her eyes lost their cool expression, and fear was radiating off of her.

"What happened?" Castle voiced my thoughts, reaching out to the woman.

"Baldy knows something."

"How do you know?"

Trigger didn't answer, instead turning to Santiago, still awkwardly standing in the middle of the room. She dug in her pocket, fishing out a small bottle. Grabbing a few pills, she shoved them in his mouth.

"Let's hope he still knows how to swallow." Almost immediately, my brother collapsed to the ground. I shot up from the floor. What the fuck?

"Come on princess, let's get him on the bed. He's not going to get up for at least an hour." Castle and Trigger had already started lifting him. "And I thought getting him here was bad."

"How do you guys know all this?" I gestured to the pills and my brother, confused.

"It's a secret." Although Castle said it lightly, her gloomy expression betrayed her. There's another story here, isn't there?

"But-"

"Look princess, I don't feel like talking about it," Castle interrupted. Trigger had gone to the bathroom, aimlessly sorting through the cabinets.

"Why do you keep calling me princess? It's annoying." The name grated on my nerves every time. What's wrong with my actual name, huh?

"I'll call you by your name when you've earned it."

"What-"

"It's a thing she does. She called me King for at least a month when we first met," Trigger called out from the bathroom. "Minhyuk was Jaehwa's son for a while, too."

"But why?"

"Why not?" Her casual tone bothered me, like she couldn't even bother to think of a reason.

"Because it's weird."

"Aight, clearly you need to get out more if this is the type of thing you find weird. Or did you just overlook the fact that your brother is pretty much a zombie?"

"That's different!"

"Is it though? Princess, I think you've been oblivious a little too long. You really need to leave your comfort zone." Castle didn't even spare me a glance as she inspected her nails.

"What?"

"You thought Minhyuk and I were related because we're both Asian, thought I was a boy even though my voice is feminine, freaked out upon discovering Miranda and I are dating because we're both girls, from what you've said your friends were really just shopping buddies. Plus, it seems like half the time you only care about appearances," she paused, "I could go on if you want?"

"N-no. I got it." I could feel my ears burning. Is it really that bad?

"Bruce, leave the poor girl alone." Trigger had reappeared from the bathroom, a box of hair dye in hand. "Here. You know how to do this, right?"

I nodded, taking the box from her and disappearing into the bathroom. Looking at the box, I wrinkled my nose at the dull brown color. Here goes nothing.

The whole process took a lot less time than I expected. Soon enough, I was finished and ready to leave the bathroom. I thought back to the last time I was in the bathroom when Castle was over. The two women had some sort of fight, and when I thought they were finally done, I walked out. Except they weren't done. They just switched to a different course of action.

"Hey, I'm done," I called out. After waiting a few moments, I stepped out to find the two girls going over papers on the floor. Castle hastily shoved them all back into a folder upon seeing me as Trigger gestured for me to sit with them.

"Holy shit, my head hurts," a warm voice mumbled.

"Santiago!" I rushed to his side as he sat up.

"Yo vampire bitch, what's up?" His eyes were tired, but at least now they were focused. He furrowed his brows. "Woah- wait a minute. Where the heck am I?"

"Camp, remember?"

"No way, you're not supposed to be here. I watched you leave." He grabbed my shoulders. "Why are you back here? You were supposed to go home!"

SLAM!

We instinctively turned to the noise, only to find Minhyuk in front of the door. His hair covered his eyes as he leaned over, panting. He looked at Trigger, not even noticing my brother on the bed.

"We need to leave. Now."