Those who spread rumors shouldn't be trusted, and yet something told you that Martha's clucking held bits of truth to it. Even lies get born from reality, so, deciding to let your natural curiosity win, you choose to investigate.

Or was it concern that was moving you? William Clarke, your classmate with a questionable reputation that now grows even worse, might hold more interesting secrets than stereotypes tell, and Tanya Kennedy, such a prim and proper girl, might not be the loyal girlfriend she's supposed to be. To be more blunt, they were accused of being two little rats, and especially Tanya, cheating with an outcast freak behind poor, poor Michael's back. Many get misjudged, so a kinder part of you assumed that William was nothing but an innocent boy who held his own problems. Was he really just a victim, however? Was Tanya in danger? When you followed him after your first meeting, you saw her. No, not Tanya. A woman whose presence a mortal is unable to fully grasp. A creature that is here yet is somewhere else. A being that exists in the mind and nightmares.

According to your expectations, Tanya and William met at the bus station just a bit after school ended and got on together. You followed suit, successfully unnoticed in your car.

They arrive at the deserted location, so you are forced to keep a bigger distance, unable to understand anything from their conversation unless you're a professional at lip-reading. Nonetheless, it was easy to realize that Tanya asked for a little stop in order for her to have a smoke. She hid her addiction well, most of all by her brilliant attitude, and now it was like opening the curtains to a completely new, undiscovered side of the world you're used to. She smokes. They talk. William continues to make unusual facial expressions, which is unfortunately ordinary for him. When the cigarette is nearly burned down to the end, she suddenly leans closer. Their figures get visibly together, and their lips press against each other—

The noise that leaves your throat from surprise or maybe shame was too sincere to be held. Tanya's sharp eyes open and snap precisely towards where you were hidden.

You scramble backwards in a hurried attempt to return to your truck before getting caught. It's funny how one's heartbeat gets accelerated only after they get spotted in the middle of the crime, even if a moral one, and not when they stay so comfortable in the shadows, forgetting that what they're doing is wrong, despite all the good intentions they may have. Before fully turning around, however, the image flashes in front of your eyes of Tanya taking a step away from William, and him looking with hollow eyes of his, as if detached from other muscles of his face that were currently forming into something inexplicably disturbing. It would be strange if you didn't roll the picture of his face over and over in your head, wondering if it was even real.

The woods were the faster route, so that was your choice of route. Less chance to be followed, too.

You were outsmarted, though, and before you could reach your car, you heard a painfully familiar voice you'd prefer not to hear at this current moment in your life.

"Hey." Tanya, in all her sorrow beauty, stands behind you, holding now a dull cigarette with a tiny spark of fire that has disappeared due to the passing wind. "...Are you really going to run away?"