Characters: Tatum & Mackenzie.
Setting: Edge of the woods on campus, Wednesday afternoon.
Content: SFW enough.
Summary: Tatum is outside being smoky and paranoid. Her flirtiest friend finds her on the way.


Since the incident on Monday night, for which Bekka still seemed angry about being woken up over, Tatum had been more on edge than ever before. For a girl that already practically jumped through the ceiling at the slightest scare, there wasn't much edge left to go toward. Paranoia was more or less something that the redhead had resigned herself to, but now apparently it wasn't just her classmates she had to be paranoid of, but things crawling across the ceiling, too.

She tried to avoid thinking too much about that. Whatever it had been, it was gone before Bekka had even woken up, and the teachers hadn't been able to offer much resolution on it either. What if that thing was still up there? Watching her? Since Monday, she hadn't even wanted to sleep in her own room, let alone hang out in it anymore. Family weekend was also coming up, and it would probably be best to try to keep her room tidy. Her father expected both her and Sera to have immaculate living conditions at school. She had already gone through the trouble of hiding every pipe, every pack of papers, every baggy, and any other drug paraphernalia hanging around her room, stuffing it into the trunk under her desk. She just needed to last out until the weekend was over.

In the meantime, outdoors had become her only real place to go and relax, and that was where she found herself today. Classes were over, she would probably go and see what Frankie and Rowan were doing in a little while, but for now, she didn't have any plans except just chilling. Her back was turned toward the campus as she sat somewhat uncomfortably on a large rock, hunching over and crossing her legs. Between her lips, a joint burned steadily, as she just stared off into the deeper part of the forest.

Maybe that was where the thing from her room lived. Maybe there was a whole bunch of them out there, just waiting.

Her mind was running with thoughts, mostly an absurd series of what-ifs, and she was totally oblivious to the world around her outside of her paranoia and her smoke. She flicked the ash off of the end, and set back to it, completely unaware of someone approaching from the direction of the school.