"(Y/n)? (Y/n)!" A voice tried to get your attention, their tone aggravated and annoyed. "Are you even listening?!" They huffed.

You blinked as you looked back towards the lunch table. "Yeah...I was just...just thinking about our upcoming, psychology test next week." You lied to your friend that sat beside you, trying to look like you paid attention.

Her name was Amber; a dark-haired girl whose hair was dip-dyed pink at the ends and had blue shimmering orbs for eyes. "Riiight." She replied with sarcasm. "It sure looked like it."

"Hey, hey," Cadence stepped in and tried to cool the situation down; her silky, short, blonde hair curling around her face and her coffee-coloured eyes staying calm and collected. "Why don't you just tell her again, Amber? Rather than growing annoyed."

"I shouldn't have to." Amber rolled her eyes and leaned on her hands, raising her eyebrows while she let out an irritated sigh.

"I'm with Amber on this one, Cadence." Your curly, black-coloured haired friend named Laura sided with Amber - which was to be expected considering they were as thick as thieves. "It is important after all."

"Exactly!" Amber exclaimed triumphantly. "It's definitely important."

Cadence released a sound of exasperation. "Sure it is." She said, crumpling up a piece of paper and throwing it straight at Amber. Then she did the same with Laura.

"Cadence!!" Laura and Amber both snapped, causing you and Cadence to laugh a little.

"Calm down you guys." You finally said, "Just tell me what I missed, if it was that important."

"Fine." Amber pursed her lips and spoke stiffly, tossing the piece of paper back at Cadence before continuing. "I'm throwing a party at my place tonight, and I need help deciding on—"

Suddenly, she stopped. "—deciding on what exactly?" You probed, frowning as you pushed your food around with your fork. After last night's nightmare though, you weren't really feeling up to eating lunch at the moment.

"Amber? You...okay?" Laura asked in confusion, tapping her shoulder and looking at her friend curiously. "Why'd you stop?"

"There...There was a guy..." Amber faintly trailed off, pointing towards one of the cafeteria's windows. "Over there..."

"So?" Cadence looked bored. "You see and meet up with guys all the time Amber. What's so special about this one?" She questioned.

"Yeah, what did he even look like?" You joined in, wondering why Amber would stop and look intimidated by this particular male.

"He...He was covered in blood, guys." Her voice sounded anxious - which was unusual for Amber, considering she was usually a bit stuck-up. "And he was wearing a boiler suit. Not to mention a weird, pale mask. Like what the hell was he doing here? And he was staring too..."

"I didn't see anything..." Laura awkwardly replied. "Are you feeling okay, Amb?"

You looked at the window too, and just saw the outside of the uni's campus; students loitering around the grassy grounds and chattering amongst themselves. "I...just see students. Are you pranking us or something?" You put your fork down and decided to finish eating, a tad bit suspicious.

"I am NOT!" Amber hissed, turning to Cadence in desperation. "You believe me, right Cadie?"

"Y'know, you calling me the nickname I despise doesn't give your argument much weight." Cadence muttered.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" Amber bursted out, standing up and slamming her fists down on the table. "But I am NOT lying!"

Hmm...you'd never seen Amber so serious before. Perhaps this guy had simply walked off...? "I believe you." You surprised yourself by saying that, let alone Cadence and Laura.

"You can't be serious, (Y/n)!" You were startled at how Laura wasn't taking Amber's side, instead arguing with you.

"Well I mean, maybe this guy just left the window before any of us could see him...?" You theorised with a lack of confidence - though you appreciated Amber's look of relief shot in your general direction.

Laura snorted. "Oh, yeah, because someone can just disappear like that. Sure."

"Look, why don't we just talk about Amber's party?" Cadence chimed in; flashing Amber a calming glance. "You both said it was important, didn't you?"

"Well yeah, but—"

"Well then," Cadence cut Laura off again, wanting to defend her other friend, "Why don't we let Amber tell (Y/n) what she wanted to?"

Amber pulled herself together and stopped looking at the window, nodding once Cadence had said that. "Yeah, it is important."

"Sooo...what's up?" You asked, "Besides the mysterious masked man outside the cafeteria window?" Your second comment made Amber scowl, but she didn't say anything in return.

"I said; I'm throwing a party at my place tonight, and I need help deciding on who to invite, along with when the party should start, how long it should go on for, etcetera etcetera..." Amber repeated what she'd said whilst you weren't listening.

"Why are you throwing a party?" You blankly wondered, hoping it wasn't too important.

Laura threw you a resentful look. "It's her eighteenth birthday, (Y/n). Surely you must've remembered that. You're her friend."

Crap.

"I haven't been sleeping too well recently." You confessed, praying they'd pick up on that. To be fair, it wasn't a lie. Those nightmares didn't help with getting enough beauty sleep.

"Happy Birthday though, Amber." You added, trying to be nice while ignoring Laura's comment. "Turning eighteen is a big deal."

"Thanks." Amber sounded nonchalant, but you knew she appreciated it...hopefully. "Now then, some help about the party? Please?"

"You should invite Vi." Cadence unexpectedly gave her some help. "I mean, Violet did invite you to her party last year, so it's only fair."

"Seth is a must." Everyone knew Laura crushed on Seth, and crushed on him hard.

"You like Jake, why not invite him too?"
"And Tyler."
"Hannah too!"
"Don't forget Rachel!"
"Liv?"
"No! She doesn't even like me, why would I invite her?"
"Fairs."

"(Y/n)? What do you think?" Amber turned to you, but you still weren't really paying attention. "You got any ideas on invitations?"

"Um..." You thought about the few people you knew. "...How about...Dana...?" You were desperately grasping at straws, so you were thankful to call Dana out.

"...Anyone else...?" Amber asked you skeptically. "We need a lot of people here."

"Oh...people..." You weren't that enthusiastic, "I don't do too good with new faces. I'm not one for getting to know...people."

"C'mon (Y/n), please?" Amber pleaded, clasping her hands together. "This is gonna be a good night, I can feel it!"

"I don't think she's that into it, Amb... I'd just drop it." Cadence tried to diffuse the situation, causing you to just let out a sigh.

"Yeah, I'm...I'm just gonna ditch now, actually." You stood up and snatched your bag up from the ground, slinging it over your shoulder. "Tell our professor I went home early because I'm sick or something."

The truth was, you were feeling pretty tired of your friends, especially Amber for obvious reasons. Planning a party? Attending said party? Sure it was her eighteenth - and her eighteenth was important - but you'd just study for your psychology test at home, or something like that. Paying no attention to your friends' worried calls after you, you left the cafeteria and walked across campus; heading towards the exit as you rubbed at your eyes. You weren't going to have another nightmare. You'd just...just...stay awake. It was a crazy idea - but what other solution was there? You couldn't wake up with more injuries.

Walking home, you began humming under your breath; trying to take no notice of your tiredness by thinking about the psychology test and what you needed to study. But...it wasn't having much of an effect. Maybe you should drink some coffee when you get home? Yeah, coffee seemed like a good idea. It would certainly help with staying awake and avoiding that creep in the striped sweater anyway. You were staring down at the pavement, droplets of rain splashing into your hair due to the fact you'd forgotten to wear a coat, or carry an umbrella. Perhaps it would just be best to distract yourself from all this craziness, and—

Your gaze flashed up from the ground, a flicker of white catching your eye and causing curiosity to take over your mind. A mask. It was a white mask. Hold on...didn't Amber see someone wearing a white mask earlier? "Not to mention a weird, pale mask." You didn't catch a good look, but it looked like a dark-blue suit anyhow. Amber might not be crazy. What she saw might be real. Maybe it was a guy in bloodied attire. Shaking your head, you reached home and opened the door, thinking back to your encounter with Hannibal and softly smiling. At least somebody seemed normal in this strange, surreal situation.