Astoria

DAKOTA LYNN
the step-sister / Marilyn Lima / outfit / #D5CF88

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Friday, October 26th 5:00pm

"Alright! Good sweat today ladies, I'll see you all at practice tomorrow" Coach Hansen clapped her hands together in what would be considered an 'encouraging' gesture before dismissing the girls from softball practice. Dakota slung her ball bang over her shoulder, feeling particularly gross as a bead of sweat glided down her forehead. She wiped it away quickly, and followed the other girls into the locker room, the lot of them chatting about some Halloween Bash that Jasmine Reyes was throwing tonight. The thought of the last time she went to a Reyes' party flashed across her mind and her heart clenched rather painfully in her chest. Evan. Still missing. Or better yet, dead.

She sucked in a sharp breath, pinching the bridge of her nose to keep her thoughts away from her brother. Unfortunately, today the universe was well against her. She fumbled with the combination on her locker for a few moments before roughly tugging it open, a bit of undeniable frustration coming out of well. Dakota raised an eyebrow slightly as a small, folded piece of notebook paper fell out of her locker landing at her feet. Without even picking it up, a sense of dread filled every inch of her as she stared at the seemingly innocent paper. She reached down, and after what felt like ages, her hand finally brushed the notebook paper on the ground. She grabbed it, carefully unfolding it to read a scribbling of words in the middle.

"If you think it's over I've only just begun crossing off names on my list.
Hope to see you at the party tonight.
Trick or Treat Lynn?"

Her head whipped around the locker room, her eyes frantically searching for someone who didn't belong. But, it was just her teammates. Dakota's hands shook slightly as she read each word over and over again, before aggressively folding it back up and shoving it into her backpack. Who had sent it? And why? However, deep down, she already knew the answer to her question. Astoria's resident Grim Reaper, the one who had taken her brother and many others in the town. This wasn't the first time she had received a letter from the so-called killer, and she knew that this most certainly wouldn't be the last time.

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ADRIEN LEWIS
the reporter / Reece King / outfit / #88B0D5

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xAdrien's feet were propped up on his desk in the small office room that he had been given for the paper. He always found himself in the room after school hours, either typing away or going over stories with the others. Today it was particularly quiet. Printers and a couple MacBooks lined the wall, along with a few desks and chairs scattered amongst. He had found a large, mahogany desk at one of the local thrift stores for $20 and with the help of Mr. Graham lugged it into the office as his very own 'desk'. The room was dark other than the sunlight shining through a window on the far wall, and the screen light coming form his small laptop that he carried with himself everywhere. He liked it rather dark in the room, it eased his mind and helped him concentrate more on his writing. Today, however it wasn't helping much.

He held down the backspace watching the words disappear from the screen for the fourth time. Adrien had been at this article for a solid three hours and still hadn't managed to muster up a single word. He let out a small sigh of frustration and closed the laptop, the room darkening a little. The Astoria Murders seemed like candy to a baby when it came to writing, but for some reason Adrien was having the hardest time writing the latest update. Maybe it was too close to home? Or maybe it just didn't feel right.

He leaned back in the chair closing his eyes, trying to relax and put himself in the right mindset when his phone buzzed in his pocket. He would've ignored it, if it hadn't buzzed six more times in a row. He groaned slightly swinging his feet off of the desk and reached into his pocket to pull out his phone. The light of his screen was a little harsh and he had to squint to read the message.

From Markus:
Party tonight at Reyes.
Don't skip again.
Take a second to stop writing and have fun !

Adrien rolled his eyes slightly at the message, Markus was one of the newest writers on the paper, a sophomore, still finding his place in the social chain. Without replying Adrien slid the phone back into his pocket, leaning back into the chair. Astoria had been quiet for the past couple of weeks. Too quiet. He knew nothing good would come from Jasmine's party, nothing ever did. But to him, it was almost perfect. As morbid as it sounded, if something did happen, maybe he'd be able to write.

SAM SCHROEDER
the wildcard - outfit - #F6AE99

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xUsually, Sam couldn't have cared less about Jasmine Reyes' party. They weren't typically her scene, but tonight, something was intriguing her, something drawing her to go. Maybe it was just the drama of the last few weeks, what had happened at some of the last ones, that was engaging her sense of morbid curiosity. And besides, it was Halloween. If anything weird was going to happen tonight, it was going to be tonight. The trick-or-treaters never appreciated her costume anyway. She pulled her bags out of the locker and balanced her backpack on her knee as she dug out her phone from the bottom of the bag. Something- or, rather, someone caught her attention out of the corner of her eye. Dakota, looking a little shaken. Sam raised an eyebrow as she slammed the locker shut.

"Hey, Sam, you finally coming to a party?" One of the girls asked, half sarcastically. Having finally retrieved her phone, Sam slung the bag onto her shoulder. "Yeah. Figured it's about time I find out what all this fuss is about," she remarked, folding her arms. Brianna's eyebrows raised so high Sam thought they were about to disappear into her hairline, just for a moment before she regained her composure. "Oh, awesome, see you there!" She called. Sam rolled her eyes, glancing back over at Dakota. Sam wasn't sure that anyone else had noticed her behaviour, and she also wasn't sure whether or not she should ask. But she sighed, folded her arms tighter, and made her way over to Dakota. Dakota was nice. Wasn't put off by Sam, but not pushy either. She'd check in on Sam, so Sam figured she should reciprocate.

"Hey, Dakota. You okay?" She asked quietly as she leaned against the locker beside Dakota. She caught sight of a note and raised an eyebrow with a smirk. "Secret admirer?" She asked with a wink, taking a mouthful of water out of her bottle. Her own phone buzzed, and she glanced at the screen. A job had come up last minute. Good money too, and would give her an excuse to show up late to the party. Everything she wanted. She quickly shoved her phone into her hoodie pocket.

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SPENCER HAWKINS
the photographer- outfit - #636a76

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There was very seldom peace in Spencer's life. But out here, in the woods, just him and his camera, it was the closest he felt like he'd ever achieve. Here, he could forget about his parents, about school, about... everything. He intended on using the photos both for halloween and for the story on the murders that Adrien was running.

And like that, reality hit him all over again. Faith. He still couldn't believe she was dead. Every time he thought about it, he felt like he was going to be sick, a hollow feeling in his chest. And the disgust at himself for being just the smallest bit relieved. The fear of her tying him to this town forever had nearly driven him to his self-destructive ways, but her death had very nearly pushed him over the edge. It wasn't right to be feeling this conflicted, this... wrong.

He snapped the picture and looked at it, the tiny screen on the camera not doing it justice. With the anxiety again twisting his stomach and making his hands unsteady, he knew it wasn't worth his while trying to take any more. He'd need to touch them up, edit them a little.

He started the walk back to the school, trying and failing not to dwell on the past few weeks. He would be lying if he said he wasn't terrified. How could he know who was next? How could he know it wouldn't be him or someone he cared about? What if he tried and failed to stop it?

He was back at the school before he even realised, making his way to the office. He preferred to use the Macbooks for editing anyway, and he wanted to show Adrien the photos. He knocked gently before entering, smiling slightly at Adrien. "I got some photos out in the woods. Wanna have a look at them before I touch them up?" He asked, holding out the camera. "I'm also gonna take one of the Macs to edit them if that's okay, I'll have it back by tomorrow," he added, his stomach twisting at the irrational thought of Adrien refusing.

XXXSHANE BLACK
Xthe suspect ✦ outfit ✦ #a00808

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XXXHALEY THOMAS
IIthe desperate ✦ outfit ✦ #d46208

"Pathetic ladies. I've seen grannies with better coordination." Jasmine had an eyebrow raised, her hip popped rather sassily as she watched the group of girls in front of her, the majority avoiding her sharp gaze. "Jessica, you're always a beat off to the choreography. Rebecca, straighten your feet on the pike, it's pitiful. Candace, your 'cheer face' looks like you're giving birth. And, Maura-" Jas did a full body sweep of the girl on the end. "Lay of the sweets a bit honey". She grabbed her poms from the ground, and her face went from disappointed to plastered with a peppy smile in a matter of seconds. "Dismissed".

She marched out of the gym, tapping away on her phone. A flurry of text messages flooding in from several, only a few she actually cared about responding to. Her party tonight was causing a storm, both good and bad. While most kids were needing a little distraction from how particularly dreadful the town had been, some were actually concerned about the party. 'Aren't you a little worried about throwing a party?' 'Remember what happened last time?' 'It's probably a bad time'. It took her everything for her not to roll her eyes back into her head. While the town's resident Freddy Kruger hadn't let up she sure as hell wasn't going to let them ruin her fun. Besides it would be pretty ballsy to for the masked maniac to try anything at her party again, if everyone was expecting it.

She was so absorbed in her phone that she barely noticed Shane's form in front of her. She bumped into him slightly steadying herself by placing an arm on his shoulder. Her face lit up, softer, and less superficial than it had before. Unlike some of the people at the school, Shane was one of the people that Jasmine actually enjoyed being around. "Shay-" the boy had definitely been through a lot in the past couple of months and lately she noticed he'd been in a perpetual state of stress. She felt like more than anything he needed a chance to escape."Just got out of practice?" She let her hand linger on his arm for a small moment before taking a step back. "You're coming to my party tonight, right? It'll be much more fun if you're there. And you know I always hide the best alcohol for us". She wiggled her eyebrows teasingly.




Ben sat in the library, not even noticing that he had read the same exact sentence eight times in a row. Today had been particularly more rough than the others, and he was really starting to feel it. When he was in a weird spat of emotions he often drifted towards the library which was open to students until 6. Nobody was ever there and he found that it had always been a good place to calm his nerves. After a moments pause he closed the book, and rested his head in his arms, trying to steady his pulse, which was beating so fast he felt like anyone near him could hear it.

The most triggering thing had been the buzz of Jasmine's party. It had instantly brought him right back to that fateful night in which he had lost his best friend. He couldn't wrap his head around the fact that anyone thought it was okay. After everything that happened. When he really thought about it, he realized nobody truly cared. People will be people, and if it didn't affect them then why should they care? He sighed quietly rubbing his eyes slightly, he needed to go home. Stop allowing himself to think about what had happened. It was killing him from the inside.

His phone buzzed slightly in his pocket and he took it out, still a little wrapped up in his thoughts to even think about who had even texted him. He read the subject line a little confused and his eyes drifted up slowly to see who had sent the message. His blood ran cold when he looked at the name that popped up on his phone.

Evan.

His mouth became incredibly dry, and he suddenly found it hard to breathe. Evan. Evan Lynn. Who had been missing for a year. The text was simple, harmless. "Can't wait to see you at the party B ! :)". He quickly scrambled with his phone to type a response, but then the reality came flooding in. The police had never found his phone. So this was Evan- or this was the person who took him. But how would they know about B? That's what Evan always used to call him. His stomach dropped to the floor, as he frantically turned in his chair but only to empty shelves. Ben quickly typed a response.

Who is this?
↳ What are you talking about dork? Lmao, I didn't change numbers.
Evan?
↳Of course. The one and only.
Where have you been!? Evan you've been gone for a YEAR. Everyone's been going crazy looking for you. People are dead.
↳ I know. I can explain everything, B. I'll be at the party tonight.
How do I even know this is you Evan?
↳ Ben, it's me. I've missed you so much. I love you, you know that right?

Ben stared hard at the screen of his phone. Nobody, nobody knew about Evan and him. Well, except Evan. But was this too good to be true? Where had Evan been? Had he escaped? Why now? He took in a shaky breath and typed a response.

I love you too. I'll be there.