Taylor, Abigail, and Linne stood in front of Hailey’s door in nervous anticipation.

Linne seemed the most nervous. “Should we really approach her this way?” she whispered.

Taylor smirked, knowing how haphazard the plan was. “But...do we know any better way to do this...? What else would we do? Either way, we need to talk to her, whether she likes it or not.”

Linne nodded reluctantly.

The plan itself wasn’t so much a plan as much as it was ‘hope she comes out because the door’s locked’, and Taylor himself knew well there was no guarantee Hailey would cooperate. Though, he didn’t know what else she’d do. The last time, she’d told her friends to shut up, and they’d meekly walked away. Now, however, they assured Taylor they wouldn’t run like they did the last time.

“Well, no time better than now to-” Abigail said before being interrupted.

Kait had walked to the group with a hand clenched. She spoke in a normal voice, clearly having missed the ‘quiet’ memo, “Hey, Taylor, if Hailey doesn’t unlock the door...” She held out a small hairpin, and Taylor grabbed it. “I put a spell on that, so as long as you’re open to her-I’m sure you are-you can just tap the hairpin on her knob to unlock it. That’s all. Good luck!” she walked back into her room with a wave.

“A spell?!” Abigail said in surprise.

“Yeah, we can talk about it later, ok?” Taylor replied, “Right now...”

“If you say so. Let’s keep to our mission,” Linne said with a determined stare at the door.

Taylor placed his palm against the door, Abigail patted her sides and clenched her hands, and Linne stood as straight as she could, each of them anticipating the confrontation. They’d grown since yesterday; they wouldn’t back down.

Taylor knocked, “Hailey, are you there?”

“...” no response, as he’d figured.

“Well, your friends and I have been talking for a while, and we wanted to talk to you,” Taylor said softly.

Abigail stepped forward, “Yeah.”

Linne agreed with a grunt, “mmm.”

No response.

Abigail whispered, “I’ll start first,” then placed her hand on the door. “I hadn’t ever been too close to Abbie, but...I felt a bit of a connection with her.” She chuckled, “Because we had similar names. Stupid reason to be hung-up about it, right?”

No response.

“Uhh, hey...I-I know it impacted you more than it did me, and we weren’t ever good friends...but...” Abigail looked down. “I know I’m not the one who should be here...Tara should...but...” she looked up with a satisfied expression, “I figure, if I died, and Linne were you, shut in her room, I wouldn’t have any reservations about who helped her.”

No response.

Abigail nodded towards Linne. Linne took in a deep breath, then placed her own hand on the door. “I still can’t shake the feeling that it’s my fault, but...I know for a fact now...it isn’t. It isn’t yours either. I-I don’t know if you feel that same way...but whether you do or don’t, I’m here for you. You’re my friend...”

No response.

For a second, it seemed Linne would set her gaze down. Still, she instead took a step forward and placed her head on the door, staring at the wood with a gentle expression, “I want to help you. I want to know why you’re so...hurt. I...I-” she sniffled, then stepped back, her hand still on the door. She gritted her teeth inside her mouth, then took one more deep breath, “I’m here for you, Hailey!”

...

Taylor saw the two trying their best to encourage Hailey and smiled. He placed his own hand on the door. “I-I hope you’re actually in there. That’d be embarrassing if you weren’t,” he said with a giggle, “And I don’t think there’s more I can say, aside from what they said...Hailey, I don’t know if you can even hear us, but...I want to talk with you...I want...to see you h-”

The door lurched inward, revealing Hailey, dressed in pajamas and a nasty bedhead, and leaving the stunned three with their hands in midair.

“You all sure have been talking up a storm, so how about I ask you a ques-”

Linne suddenly perked up, her hand falling, “Haile-!”

“Shutup, Linne! How about I ask you a question, Taylor. Do you think I’m deaf?”

Taylor let his hand fall as well, “Of course not!”

“Then why don’t you think I can hear you? My door’s locked. Did you think I’d snuck out of my window?”

“Well, n-”

“Oh well, once an idiot, always an idiot.”

Taylor didn’t look particularly hurt; if anything, he was just stern.

Abigail quickly came to the defense of Taylor, “Why are you treating him that way?! He just wants to help you!”

“Really? Just wants to help me? Bathing in his own self-importance by pushing his ‘help’ on me is just about all Taylor’s good for.”

That got under his skin, “Really?! That’s your issue with me?”

Hailey ignored him, “Anyway, Abigail. I don’t give a crap about you. We were never friends, and I don’t have any intention to ‘bond’ and ‘talk’ with you. You did have one good point, though; that you’ve got a thatch thin reason for caring what I do. As far as you’re concerned, I’m a selfish black flower who loves to throw insults and couldn’t care less in return.”

Abigail froze, her expression quickly turning indistinguishable.

Hailey looked to Linne, “Congratulations, you learned it’s not your fault she’s dead. Wow, I can’t believe it. You really learned basic cause and effect,” she deadpanned. “Look, friend, I don’t know what you think keeps me from school, but I think you should focus on yourself before you start trying to help me. If you really feel guilty for not being killed, maybe the person dangerous to themselves is you. I know you almost tried to off yourself two years ago, just because you jumped to conclusions, thinking you were rejected because you were ‘useless’ or whatever. And I know Abbie’s the reason you’re still here. So don’t think we are at all in the same boat.”

Linne burst into tears but kept silent, trying not to quiver.

“And Taylor, stop prodding into my life. Just let me grieve in peace. I heard you and Kait out there. You’re so keen to just brute force your way through situations. Why don’t you just stop!?”

Taylor growled, “Maybe because you’re my sister, and I want you to be hap-”

“Blah, blah, blah, if you tried to think for once, maybe you’d realize you don’t need some magic hairpin to unlock my door! You can literally open it with an ordinary fingernail. But that’s beside the point. You just want to feel like you’ve ‘helped’ me, and right now, you’re sure as a paper’s point not ‘helping’, you’re trying to throw me in the deep end and walk away while I drown!”

“...You’re trying to throw me in the deep end and walk away while I drown!”

Kait felt it. She should’ve dealt with this sooner. She should have predicted this! What was she thinking?!

If she didn’t intervene...As quickly as she could, she crashed through her room and threw herself outside her door.

Taylor was filled with anger, disgust, sadness, and fear, but Kait could tell he wouldn’t back down, not so long as his sister continued. Tears welled in his eyes, but he refused to let them overtake him, just like the girl beside him. He began to speak in a pained, tired tone, “Why...? Why do you resist our help so much? Your friends only come here because they wanted to see you...and this is how you treat them...?”

Hailey simmered down a little in response to Taylor’s mellowing, “Because I didn’t ask for any of your help.”

Kait tried not to bring attention to herself, as they hadn’t paid attention to her through the ruckus. If Hailey just simmered down a little more, she wouldn’t need to intervene...

“SO?!” Taylor responded, “Why are you acting like this! Why did you open the door if you just wanted to make us feel bad?!”

“BECAUSE!...” Hailey stopped, claiming a little as...tears...fell...

Kait rushed towards them. She had to intervene...she had to stop her affinity from-

“Because you don’t want to admit it, Hailey.” Taylor calmly said.

Kait paused, just a few feet from the two, unsure what Taylor was trying to say.

Hailey’s face relaxed a little into despondency. “Admit...what?”

A tear had met its natural end on Taylor’s face and fell onto his shirt. He took one heaving breath, then exhaled silently. He stared at Hailey with a soft, empathetic, melancholy expression. “You don’t want to admit that inside, you’ve never stopped hurting.”

Hailey looked to her brother with a defeated expression, then turned her head down, unable to meet her brother’s eyes. Then, she began to close her door. As she did so, she muttered, “I’m sorr...y...”

The door didn’t close.

Taylor, for just a half-second, had thought the door was closed, so he glanced towards Kait, who was frozen in place as if she was about to dash forward. Her mouth was slightly ajar, and her eyes were wide open. For some reason, just like everyone else, she was crying. Before he could process what he was looking at-

Thump.

Hailey’s door failed to lock in place and rebounded, only to stop after hitting something beyond it.

After an initial state of frozen shock, Kait’s eyes moved in pain, then she instantly fell out of her stasis and placed a hand on her chest as she took a half step forward. She choked out half a word as she writhed in place, “H-Haile-”

She choked out bile.

Without another thought, Taylor moved the door open to see Hailey collapsed on the ground, her room flickering a light-blue aura.

He didn’t know what was going on, “HAILEY?!...HAILEY!?” He grabbed his sister’s body and dragged her out of the room

Linne didn’t know what to do, looking around for an answer. “What’s going on?!”

“I don’t know!” Taylor said in a desperate panic, “Help Kait!”

Linne ran to Kait, who was still kneeling on the ground and conscious but breathing hoarsely over her inside-outs. Kait tried to look at Linne but threw her head down as she almost barfed again, “Don’t mind me! Do something for-” she lurched.

Linne understood the incomplete statement and helped Taylor drag Hailey out.

Abigail had frozen in confusion but began moving again. “W-what, what should I do?! Is she going to be alright?!”

“I think...” Kait said hoarsely, “I-I’m so...sorry...”

“W-what?! Tell me what’s happening”

“Just remain c-calm...” Kait looked weak but still managed to push herself off the ground. She stared the other girl in the eyes, then said with a heartfelt softness, “Please...”