Chapter Text
*The Calamity Box - this mysterious object is a transportation device, it found its way into our universe under unknown circumstances, and it is capable of teleporting whoever opens it into the universe of its origin. The original purpose of the Calamity Box remains unknown, however..*
Marcy sighed to herself, rolling in her bed while she looked at the picture on her phone.
It was by sheer coincidence that she saw this box through a window of a thrift shop near the park..
Interested in what it was, she took a picture and reversed searched it, landing on the 'article' she was just reading..
Normally, she would be over the moon about a discovery like this, literally jumping to the ceiling in excitement, but now..considering the circumstances..
She could hear voices from downstairs, undoubtedly her parents talking about their impending move out of state.
Marcy could not even remember when was the last time she saw them both together, she really should have expected some sort of bad news when she saw they were both waiting for her downstairs.
When they told her she nearly ran out of the house, not doing that only thanks to her father barging the way to the front doors, hence shielding the escape route.
She looked at the picture of the Calamity Box again, how convenient it was that she found a way to get out of here and experience the adventure she dreamed about.
Heh..if it was real..
A dimension hopping box from the thrift store..yea right..she supposed that he chance wasn't zero..
But instead of excitement, she felt melancholy, for fifteen long years of her life she was searching for a magical adventure..or well..more like eleven years, the first four years of her life were spend in ignorance about the great world of fantasy..the point was that she looked under every blade of glass she could find searching for magic..and was struggling to get disappointed once again, especially now.
Marcy shook her head, swiftly getting out of bed. She did not do emotions..not real meaningful ones anyway..every time she tried or let herself be ruled by them, tragedy followed. Emotions were something better left to the experts.
However..while normally that mindset could have helped her put this behind her and pretend it didn't exist..this time it wasn't enough..and the hollow feeling in her chest lingered..
She was moving away..her parents found new jobs, coordinating so they worked close to their upcoming place of residence. Marcy smirked to herself, the two of them working together and no doubt compromising to find a job in the vicinity left a bitter aftertaste in her mouth.
They weren't the ones leaving everything behind..
But..she was Really glad they came to a decision, only they somehow managed to forget that they were, allegedly, a family of three..not just a partnership of two..
A fact that actually seemed to slip their minds quite often.
Marcy took a deep breath, her gaze drifting to the wrapped present laying on her desk. Tomorrow was Anne's birthday and Marcy would have to ruin it by telling her that she was leaving..moving far far away..
She didn't have enough time to dwell on it, her parents didn't even have the decency of letting her know before all the preparations were finalized, as she learned today, she had a measly two weeks with her friends left.
That was..if she was still here..
Marcy felt herself smile, she pushed all her doubts away, every thought that screamed at her that there couldn't be a box that teleported people into a different dimension was silenced and pushed aside.
She needed to get her hands on that box right away and then they would go on an adventure.
Marcy spun, diving for one of her old notebooks, digging out the impov character sheets she made of her friends sometime ago, quickly updating their age, they were going on an adventure so clearly character sheets would be needed.
She giggled looking at the picture of Anne almost glaring back at her, her slightly younger self was right, Anne really looked disappointed in her.
For a moment Marcy was left staring, carefully reading everything she wrote down on Anne's page..
Before Marcy's eyes slid to the next one.
Sasha...
Even while laser focused on their upcoming adventure, Marcy could not help the difficult emotions she felt regarding her...friend.
Anne was her friend, Marcy did not doubt that in any way shape or form.
But Sasha...
The fiery blond was a much more complicated topic, at times she felt like Sasha thought of her as someone ruining Their fun. Like she didn't want Marcy around, taking up any of Anne's time or attention.
Sasha could talk with Anne in a way that Marcy never could. The two of them could spent hours doing practically nothing, leaving Marcy to trail behind them in slight confusion, often resulting in her simply immersing herself in her handheld console.
Marcy looked away.
This was no time to think about that. So she turned the page to..of course..
Marcy quickly scanned the page, confirming all was up to date before looking away..
She really did not like looking at her own pictures, scribbles and avatars sure..but actual pictures..that was a hard no for her..
It was actually something Sasha sometimes glared at her about, as she often wanted to take selfies with Anne, only to find that Anne wanted to involve Marcy..who however refused and the entire photo shoot kinda fell apart.
Marcy's gaze turned to the one of few pictures of herself she didn't actually mind, a polaroid of the three of them. Sasha stood in the middle, hands on both their shoulders, Anne grinning wildly, one hand on Sasha's waist, the other throwing up a V sign, while Marcy looked away from the camera, her eyes drifting to somewhere between the two other girls.
A dull sound of something falling over from downstairs interrupted her moment, bringing her back to reality.
She could be nostalgic later.
Marcy took the notebook with the character sheets and returned to her phone, staring at the picture of the box.
The next step was obviously getting the box, but how could she achieve that..
Well..the obvious solution would be to buy it..but with what money..Sasha could possibly have enough cash for it, but the blond would never throw away money buying something like that.
However..it was intriguing looking enough for Sasha to get interested in it..and if she did. Sasha would find a way to get her hands on it..one way or another.
Marcy nodded to herself..
Delegating tasks to people whose strengths were suited for them was one of the most basic pro gamer moves..
Opening her messaging app, Marcy clicked on Sasha, who sat as the second chat just under Anne, attaching the image and trying to formulate how she should go about this..
She couldn't simply write that she wanted the box, then Sasha would refuse to get it for her, saying that if Marcy wanted something she should get it, no..what she needed was for Sasha to want the box herself..
But how could she achieve that?
Marcy frowned, thinking about it..
Anne's birthday was tomorrow...
Maybe she could suggest Anne would like that box as a present?
Hmm..that felt too on the nose even for her, Sasha would probably see through it if she just wrote that and refused. But Marcy and Anne knew each-other since they were babies, and because of that Sasha was trusting whenever Marcy told her something about Anne. And as soon as Anne was involved..Sasha probably wouldn't notice that Marcy was playing her a little bit..
Marcy removed the picture from the chat, instead choosing to first test the waters.
*Marcy - Hiiiii*
For a few minutes she waited, until her phone pinged.
*Sash - What?*
Marcy nervously chewed on her lower lip, that wasn't the friendliest of greetings, but she was texting with Sasha..so maybe expecting one would be unreasonable.
*Marcy - I was thinking about Anne's birthday*
*Marcy - What to get for her*
She hesitated for a moment..
*Marcy - She always gets us such great presents.*
Out of the three of them, Anne was by far the best gift giver. With Marcy cherishing every single gift Anne ever gave her, hoodies, puzzles, games, all of it.
But Sasha, as Marcy knew, had a slightly different thought process regarding Anne's thoughtful gifts, always needing to surpass them. Give Anne something even better. At least according to her own standards, Marcy privately knew that many of Sasha's gifts did not exactly hit the mark, but if Anne wasn't going to tell her that, neither would Marcy.
She thought of Sasha's birthday a few months ago. She could see the dog stickers with rock and roll glasses Anne got for Sasha's skateboard, the bright pink pom poms that made Sasha genuinely squeal as she saw them and the voucher for who knows how many glasses of Boba tea at Sasha's favorite shop.
Sasha would be looking for every scrap of information to overdo Anne..
*Sash - I already have a present for her*
*Marcy - I do as well, the first one was easy, but the second and third one not so much.*
Marcy glanced at the singular present on the desk..she would have to get two more presents after school tomorrow..but she would manage that somehow..
Now what was important was that now..with her saying that..Sasha was currently in need of two more presents.
She looked at her phone, waiting for an answer, slightly excited. It felt exhilarating and so as if she was in a game of some kind, Marcy the wizard playing intrigues at the royal court.
Really, she loved strategies no matter what form they took.
*Sash - All my presents were easy to pick*
A lie...Sasha already said she had 'a present' singular form.
*Marcy - Oh, leave it to you..*
*Marcy - There were so many options to choose from I couldn't decide what to pick*
Quickly she searched the internet for potential presents, sending Sasha a storm of cute animal stickers, random beach trinkets and finally sending the picture of the box.
And then she waited, the box sticking out like a sore thumb...waiting for..
*Sasha - What is that last one?*
"YES!YES! BAM!" she hollered as if she just beat the final boss of a game..which she felt was kinda appropriate for the occasion...if someone were to put Sasha into a video game, she would be the final boss for sure..
Marcy grabbed her phone, trying to faint nonchalance in her victory.
*Marcy - Some kind of box, I saw it at the thrift store downtown. The one next to..*
May 21st 2021
Anne grinned at herself in the mirror.
Finally she was fifteen, it really sucked being the youngest of their little trio, so she was glad to finally catch up, now Sasha would stop making all those jokes about 'respecting your elders' and her mentioning her 'aged wisdom'.
Anne's smile faltered a little..
Knowing Sasha, the girl would come up with something else but..
Anne lightly patted her cheeks, a wide smile returning to her face, that was just how things were in life.
She raced downstairs, nearly colliding with her mom at the base of the stairs.
"Anne," admonished the older woman lightly, "Don't run, you will hurt yourself."
"Okay mom!" She responded with a grin, stepping around her mother and moving towards the kitchen, seeing her father cooking something at the stove, "Hi dad!"
"Hi Anne!" He turned and smiled at her, gathering her into a hug, "Happy birthday!"
"You should leave that for the party later."
Anne gasped, turning to her mother who now stood in the doors to the kitchen, looking at her husband.
"There will be a party??" She asked giddily.
"Of course there will be a party!" Said her father, letting go of her to tend to the food he was preparing.
"Ohhhh YES! When is it?? Can I bring Marcy and Sash? OH! Will there be balloons? Is there going to be-"
"Anne! Calm down," interrupted her mother, with a slight shake of her head, her smile a little bit strained.
"The party is today at six and it is just for family, so no friends."
"Owwww..bummer.."
"You can spend your time with your friends until the party.."
Anne nodded, she did not really see what the deal was, if there was a party why couldn't she invite her friends to it. She did notice that her parents were growing less supportive of her friends lately, namely Sasha..maybe it had something to do with that..
She opened her mouth to ask, before deciding to not to and closing it.
Her mother nodded, seemingly taking that as her agreement.
So, school, then something with friends, then party at home. Still a great day.
"Here you go," said her mother suddenly, making her turn.
Anne gasped, seeing what her mom was holding up for her.
"A Khao niew bing?! Awesome!" She snatched the snack, about to shove the entire thing in her mouth, bamboo leaf and all.
"Wait! Take it to school with you, you can eat it during break."
"OH! Yea sure!" Nodded Anne quickly, putting the snack away, knowing that as soon as she got off her bike she was eating that thing, "I am off to school then," she continued turning to the doors, the snack still on the forefront of her mind.
"Don't forget about the birthday party."
"Yes Mom, 'be home at six at the latest' right?"
"That's right, it is not everyday you turn fifteen."
Anne smiled, she couldn't agree more. She quickly moved through the house, taking her bike from the garage and checking all her things..
School supplies..check..
Helmet..check..
Phone and other life necessities..check..
She had everything.
With that Anne kicked off, pedaling to school, mindful of the cars as she raced down the road.
And as soon as she arrived and was kneeling, securing the bike to the railing, the Khao niew bing was already in her hand.
"Hey Boobchuy! Whatcha eating'? A puke bun?"
Maggie..
Anne sighed internally and got up, turning to defend her snack. Maggie never gave her too much trouble, but she always returned, seemingly adamant to ruin Anne's day at least once or twice a week.
"This is not a bun! It's a Khao niew bing a traditional Thai snack, made from rice and coconut milk..my mom made it for me since it's my birthday.."
For a second Maggie looked confused, probably because of the unexpected and sincere response to her earlier question.
"Oh..okay..." and then she sprung forward, reaching for the snack and snatching it out of Anne's hands, "Give me that!"
"Hey! Get your own!" Protested Anne, trying to get her food back, but trying to wrestle with food was never going to end well for the food involved and as Anne grabbed for the snack, Maggie squeezed it with her hand in an attempt to hold onto it, making the Khao niew bing fall apart immediately.
"Hey Margot!"
The two of them stopped, looking at the approaching Sasha, but Anne quickly looked away, letting whatever discussion Sasha had with Maggie float away from her. On the ground lay the remains of her birthday snack, ruined.
She really wanted to eat it..
Her mom made it with her in mind, for her birthday and now it was rice sludge on the ground.
"I was just playing..." she heard Maggie say as the girl walked away.
Hearing that made Anne lookup, she was opening her mouth to complain, but stopped herself on time, Sasha told her many times not to get upset over small, minor things..that it would save her a lot of headache if she just let that stuff be.
"Thanks Sash."
"No worries," said Sasha nonchalantly, smiling at her.
That did help ease Anne a bit, she was so glad she had Sasha as her friend.
"But never mind that! Happy Birthday girl!"
Anne grinned, yea..never mind the snack..it wasn't that important..no reason to be upset, "Yea!" She exclaimed, as Sasha awaited her answer, but before her friend could continue with whatever she wanted to say the school bell rang.
"Buzzkill.." scoffed Sasha, turning to the school with Anne in toe.
The school day flowed slowly around Anne as she tried to remain upbeat, her mood somewhat holding until the biology lesson with Sasha.
"Today is your lucky day!" Started their teacher, with way too much enthusiasm considering the dead frogs littering the tables in front of them. "Because today is frog dissection day.."
Anne joined the collective groan, as her classmates voiced their displeasure.
Undeterred, the teacher started to explain, drawing something on the blackboard.
But before Anne could start reading what it was exactly, she heard Sasha's chair move next to hers, "This sucks! Let's get out of here!"
Anne turned, confused, what was Sasha doing now??
"Mrs Virk! The sight of blood..I-I-I think I am gonna be sick!"
Sasha was heaving loudly, almost looking slightly green.
"Oh dear.." said Mrs Virk, approaching their table, "Anne, why don't you take Sasha to the sick room..I was afraid that this could happen, it would be a shame if she-"
Their teacher went on and on, while Anne caught Sasha's grin, the girl was done with her Oscar winning performance it seemed, but their teacher no longer paid any attention to them.
And soon they were outside the class.
Both girls grinned, laughing as they ran down the hallway. Anne did not exactly like lying to the teacher, but dissecting frogs on her birthday..she felt like she deserved the pass today.
In front of her she saw Sasha rip a poster off a wall advertising a blood drive, throwing it over her shoulder.
Anne faltered slightly seeing that, but continued..
Soon they arrived near the sick room and Anne grinded to a halt, "Hey Sash the sick room is over here."
Sasha rolled her eyes, turning to her as if she was doubting her intelligence, "Forget the sick room, what would we do there?"
"Forget school. Lets get out of here and celebrate your birthday in style.."
Anne blinked, seeing Sasha beaming at her she now realized, this was planned..Sasha probably planned to get them out of Bio regardless of what the lesson would entail.
"I-I don't know Sash..skipping school..I-"
"Anne," started Sasha, her smile vanishing, expression now uncompromising, as she moved closer to her. "This is your fifteenth birthday..You only get one of these. So lets make it the best birthday in the history of birthdays.." she said, putting her arm around Anne's shoulders.
"Well.." Anne looked at her friend, seeing her eager look. She couldn't disappoint Sasha, who knows how much work she put into preparing whatever she had planned, disappointing each-other was not what friend's did, "All right.."
"But I need to be home by six!" She added quickly before Sasha could start, "My parents are throwing a party for me."
"Yea yea right right you got it. Now let's get this thing started!" And with that she dragged her away, Anne let it happen, unable to help herself she smiled as she saw that Sasha was genuinely excited for this.
"First stop, the arcade!" shouted Sasha, pumping her fist in the air.
"Okay, how are we getting there?"
"With your bike of course, now come on, get the thing!" With those words Sasha pulled out a helmet out of her bag. Anne unlocked her bike swiftly, getting on and feeling as Sasha stood behind her, grabbing onto her shoulders.
"Now lets Gooo!"
Anne laughed, kicking off and pedaling downhill, quickly gathering speed.
"YEEES!" Hollered Sasha and Anne could not help but join her, with wind running through her hair, the novelty of ditching school and the laughing Sasha behind her, she could not help but relish in the excitement running in her veins.
"What do you want to play at the Arcade?" shouted Anne, trying to overcome the wind.
"Something where we can dance!"
Anne grinned, she should have expected as much.
As soon as they arrived and got some tokens the two of them beelined to Dance Dance Revolution.
"You get to pick the first song," decided Sasha, making Anne raise an eyebrow, for someone unfamiliar with the blond, one would consider that unimportant. Who really cared about the first song? But Anne knew that Sasha cared, she couldn't remember the last time Sasha allowed someone to choose the first song.
"Okay!" Anne jumped forward, hesitating for a moment before cuing in A K-pop song she knew Sasha secretly liked.
Without looking at her friend she took the left side of the machine, waiting as Sasha climbed on the right one. Anne glanced over, seeing that Sasha was momentarily distracted and looking somewhere else. Her hair was partly loose, probably from her helmet.
"Let's get this started!" Shouted Anne, immediately making Sasha look to the front, her blond locks now slightly obscuring her face.
The stillness made Anne pause, was Sasha actually sick or something? She thought that was just her acting..
"Sash?"
Suddenly Sasha moved, tying her hair into a tight pony tail again, "Let's Do this!"
Anne laughed, the moment already fading in her memory as they started to dance.
After a while Anne lost track of whose song was playing or how long they were here..until she noticed they were out of tokens.
"Wow that was..uff.." She sat at the side of the machine, hearing the sound of a boot hitting metal, she turned to see Sasha kicking the machine and getting all their tokens back.
Something tightened in Anne's chest as Sasha smiled at her proudly, she looked away, pretending not to see.
And as soon as Sasha collected all the tokens that fell out.
"Let's go, Anne, onwards to the next one!"
Anne nodded, "Eh..what's next?" She asked carefully, getting up and walking with Sasha towards the exit.
Sasha just smiled at her and fished out spray bottles from her bag.
Anne could feel herself growing pale.
"Eh..I.."
Sasha tilted her head to the side, waiting for her to speak..
'She planned this for you..don't be ungrateful to your friends..'
"Where are we going?" She asked, getting her bike, Sasha started to explain where they were headed but Anne was only partly listening, hoping things wouldn't get worse than this.
...
Watching Sasha graffiti her own name on a side of a building was really not what she had in mind for her today..but here she was, being a lookout.
Anne rubbed her arms, trying to be less tense, but she could almost feel a police officer rounding up a corner. And was jumping at the smallest sounds.
"Here," she turned, seeing that Sasha was done and was now handing her the bottle.
"I am okay, thanks Sash, I couldn't match your art anyways."
For a moment Sasha looked at her, expression growing slightly colder, before she slowly nodded and got up.
"OKay..to the next one!"
...
"You really think this is a good idea?" asked Anne, currently sitting in a 'borrowed' shopping cart, as Sasha pushed her up a small hill.
"Of course it is!"
"I did this loads of times, you will have a blast."
"I really-"
"Let's Goo!"
Sasha jumped on, standing up behind the handle and more or less directing where the cart would go.
Anne immediately started to scream, they were going really fast and this felt like it was really hard to control. This wasn't at all like her bike. Also she was inside the cart..with no control whatsoever.
"Yeaaaa! Whooooo!" Hollered Sasha, as they flew down the hill.
Anne held on for dear life, trying to move as little as possible, to avoid Sasha losing control of where they were going and tipping them over.
"Grandma! Get out of the way!"
In horror Anne looked as an old lady about seventy years old jumped out of their way, staggering but thankfully remaining standing.
Cold dread washed over her...there were other people on the path..
What if they hit someone..
Anne could imagine what could have happened if they hit the old lady. She was half the mind to just lean to the side and make them crash. This wasn't fun, they were endangering other people here.
Sasha started laughing wildly, steering them and nearly hitting a young couple, forcing them to separate and jump to one side of the path each.
Anne went white, closing her eyes.
All the while Sasha continued to enjoy herself, completely oblivious of what was happening right under her nose.
...
Shakily Anne got up from the cart, suppressing the urge to run straight back up that hill and apologize to every single person she met on the way.
They managed to stop at the base without falling over, but Anne didn't have the strength to be impressed with Sasha's cart driving skills right now.
At that exact moment Sasha moved next to her, "WOW! That was just..Wow. Do you want to go again??"
"No..once was enough, thanks Sash.."
How could she not feel bad about this, they almost hit those people..who knows what could have happened, they could have injured someone..or worse...
"Hmm..okay.." Sasha almost visibly lost her drive hearing that, but she recovered swiftly, "Okay! Now we are going to that coffee shop! To try that shake you talked about."
Anne blinked, while some of the 'presents' were definitely missing their mark, she could tell that Sasha was trying..really really hard.
"Sure..dude, are we taking my bike?"
"Yep!"
"And the cart..what do we.."
"Oh just leave that, someone will find it.."
Anne bit her tongue, but decided not to comment on that, "Okay..let's go.."
...
"I will have the Unicorn shake please."
She stood by the register waiting for her order and then sat opposite Sasha once she got the shake.
Putting the straw to her mouth she was nearly knocked out by the sweetness.
It was so sweet she couldn't tell what other flavors this Unicorn shake was supposed to have.
"How is it?" Asked Sasha, whose shoes were now laid on the table.
Anne thought about it for a second.
"It's really sweet," she said truthfully after a while, before pushing the shake towards Sasha, tilting the straw her way, "Wanna try?"
Sasha's eyes flew open, her legs slipping off the table, she stared at Anne.. but only for a second, then she scowled.
"OH, Sorry Sash I forgot," defended Anne quickly, picking up her drink before Sasha threw it in her face or something like that.
Her blonde friend murmured something under her breath and then pulled out a pair of bright pink glasses, putting them on and leaning back in the chair, shoes once again up on the table.
Anne internally sighed in relief, Sasha was really sensitive to sharing drinks and utensils with other people. But Anne was glad that she had contained the upcoming outburst with her quick reaction.
She started to sip her shake again, nearly cringing. This thing really was sweet as hell..she could almost feel the cavities starting to take root as she drank.
In all honesty, she really didn't like it very much..
But could she find an excuse to just leave it..
Suddenly Anne could feel something buzzing in her pocket, she pulled out her phone, seeing two messages on top.
*Mom - Where are you? *
*Mom - Party starts in 15 minutes!*
"Oh, shoot. It's almost six," she exclaimed, getting up and leaving her shake on the table, "I gotta go, dude."
Sasha just raised an eyebrow at her, before rolling her eyes, "Oh that family party right? Laaame. Let me guess, a clown? With balloon animals?"
Anne could feel her face growing hot, she honestly had no idea if there would be a clown or not, knowing her father the chance was rather high, but that wasn't really what was important here, "I know family party is not the coolest, but this is important to them," she protested, meeting eyes of a mightily disinterest looking Sasha.
"Mmm-hmm.."
Sasha got up, "Anyways, I got one more gift for you! It's a frog music box, because I know you like them," she said in a slightly mocking tone, "it even has real gems in it and everything."
She rounded the table and started pushing Anne towards the doors, "Come on girl! Let's keep this party train rollin' Choo-choo!"
Anne moved away and out of Sasha's grasp, "Sorry, dude, you don't understand. I really gotta go.." she said, starting to walk away, hoping that Sasha.
"Oh, I understand, Anne."
That rooted her right where she stood, turning around to look at her friend.
"You're a good little girl who's gotta go home to her mommy and daddy," said Sasha, eyes narrowed as she glared at her, "Come on. Hang out with your friends that love you."
Anne hitched, hearing 'love' out of Sasha's mouth, she really didn't want to disturb whatever plans Sasha had for her, but really was important to her, surely Sasha would get that..
"Sasha, I'd really like to, but—" she started in a half pleading tone.
"Anne, this isn't cute anymore," announced Sasha dryly. "We are meeting up with Marcy right now. End of discussion."
Those words made Anne recoil, she really needed to get home..
Her parents surely put in a lot of work into her party.
But Sasha..
"I.."
"I guess it's okay if I am a little late.."
Sasha grinned, her sternness vanishing as quickly as it appeared, "Boom! And that's how you do it, I knew you'd change your mind."
Before Anne could summon some kind of response to that, Sasha was pushing her out of the coffee shop and into the street, "Come on it's just down the road from here.."
"What about my bike?"
"Hmm? Oh, we will get that later I guess," answered Sasha dismissively, already pushing her to where she wanted to go.
Anne looked at her trusty bike, she really hoped none would steal it while she was gone.
But before she could muster the will to protest, the bike vanished from sight.
At least they were meeting with Marcy, her oldest friend wasn't at school today and honestly Anne was worried about her until Sasha dragged them away from biology.
"Did Marcy tell you why she wasn't at school?"
Sasha scoffed, "Found a reason not to go, I wouldn't go there as well if I didn't have to."
Before Anne could ask or think anything else, she spotted the mop of dark hair that she always needed to pull out of trouble as its owner tended to stare into her handheld console too much.
"Marc!"
"You guys!" Smiled Marcy, on the soles of her feet in excitement, "Happy birthday Annie!" She shouted.
"Thanks Mar-Mar!"
"Okay okay now let's go!" Interrupted Sasha before Anne could ask one word about Marcy's absence at school.
"Yes! Let's gooo!" Joined Marcy, surprising Anne a little bit with the intensity, and with them being on the same page..Sasha and Marcy did not really communicate in a way Anne and neither of them did, it was rare for them to be on the same side of pretty much anything.
Soon they arrived at a small, almost abandoned looking thrift shop.
"I see it!" Exclaimed Marcy pointing with her finger into the shop's window.
Anne frowned, looking where Marcy was pointing and there she saw a box laying on top of a tall cabinet.
Oh..so that was her gift..were they going to buy it together? That was kinda..
"Nice," said Sasha with a nod, slowly starting to grin, then she turned to Anne, "Go get it Anne."
That made Anne pause, "What?"
Sasha rolled her eyes and motioned with her head toward the sleeping clerk, "I would do it if she was awake, but with her asleep this will be a piece of cake, it's like a little gift on top," she grinned.
Anne stood there..what exactly was the 'gift' in stealing something she wondered, but Sasha's eyes let her know that if she tried to back-down from this, she would get a repeat performance of what happened in the coffee shop and Anne didn't want that to happen.
But...stealing?
You weren't supposed to steal, that was different from all the things they did today..even to Sasha taking back the coins at the arcade...which yea that was stealing too..but that was minor.
Getting caught was one of her worries, but what really worried her was imagining what her parents would say if they knew, or if they ever found out..they would be so disappointed in her. Her dad would look down and shake his head, wondering where he went wrong. While her mom would probably scold her fiercely, but be not less distraught.
She couldn't do it..
There was no way she could just-
"Anne," slowly she turned to look at Sasha.
"You will go in and just stuff the damn box in your bag, there is nothing difficult about it. The clerk.is.sleeping!"
Anne looked away, finding Marcy, hoping to gather some kind of support, but Marcy was looking away, almost dreamily, in the direction of the box..
She felt her heart fall, Anne nodded, slowly creeping forward and entering the shop.
There was only one additional person in there, an old man in the corner examining some T-shirts, he looked completely absorbed in what he was doing and didn't even glance her way as she walked past him.
So now, it was just her and the box.
With a glance she saw her two friends behind the window and saw Sasha give her an encouraging nod and a smile.
She could feel just how sweaty her hands were, her mind was screaming at her, 'This is wrong! This is wrong!' Anne wanted to leave, walk out of here and just..
But she couldn't do that to her friends..
With a last look around she almost wished to see a camera or someone looking her way so she had a valid reason not to do this, but there was nothing.
Anne took a deep breath, then she took the box and stuffed it in her bag, turning on her heel and nearly sprinting outside, continuing to the park on the other side of the street, where she sat on a bench, far enough so no one from the shop could see her.
"Why are you so tense, girl??" Asked Sasha, sounding honestly confused.
Anne looked up at her two friends who now caught up with her. Wordlessly taking out the box with half the mind to just throw it at Sash.
"What do you think is inside??" Asked Marcy, before Anne could do anything stupid.
Anne sighed, she was just done with today..and the buzzing in her pocket was making her increasingly nervous.
"I will open the box and then I really really need to go," she said, putting one hand on the lid.
Sasha rolled her eyes, looking like she was about to add a sarcastic remark or something like that.
"I think we should hold hands!" Exclaimed Marcy loudly, nearly jumping up and down in excitement.
Sasha scoffed at her, looking almost disgusted, opening her mouth to say something.
"Sure let's do that," said Anne quickly, really she just wanted to get this over with as soon as possible, the cold dread of her actions was pressing on her from all sides.
She could hear Sasha grinding her teeth next to her, but really..she couldn't bring herself to feel guilty about upsetting Sasha about something so incredibly minor, not after the day she just had. She reached up and took Sasha's hand before moving their joined hands to Marcy, who gleefully added her own hand to the pile.
And then she opened the box with her second hand, bracing herself for all kinds of things that could be hiding inside.
But she could never brace herself enough for what was to come.
As soon as the box cracked open Anne's eyes were filled with intense light, then she felt as if something hooked her right behind the naval and she was dragged away.