Chapter 6

Chapter 6

“I can’t believe we’re stealing from him.”  Howie shook his head, picking up the package of
toilet paper and tossing it into the bag with the paper towels and napkins. 

“Alana said there was nothing up there except some venison in the freezer and she wasn’t even
sure that was still there.  Even if we’re only going to be up there for a night, we’re going to need
basic things.”  Kevin dumped the boxes of macaroni and cheese into another paper bag. 

The two of them avoided the counter and everything close to it.  They talked about moving the
body but eventually agreed that it needed to stay where it was for the police investigation that
would follow once they got up to the cabin and to a phone. 

“Do you guys need any help?”  Howie turned to see Starr standing in the doorway

“I thought you were going to wait outside with everyone else.”  Kevin said, sidestepping to block
her view of the body. 

“I can’t...”  She started, gulping in a breath and biting her lip, “It’s just...every time I see Alana, I
see her mom and I just want to cry again and I can’t cry.  This asshole wanted to make us all cry,
he knew enough to guess what we were going to do.  He’s not going to make me do anything,
I’m not going to listen to him.” 

“Hey...”  Howie set it bags on the floor so he could hug her, “We’ll get through this.  He
isn’t going to win.” 

Starr sniffed and laid her head down on his shoulder, “I’d like to see him try to beat me.”  She
muttered. 

“How are you so sure it’s a guy?”  Kevin asked. 

“Well...we never really pissed off any other girls that I know of.”  Starr admitted, “Most of the time we ignored them and they ignored us.  The only ones we really pissed off were ex-boyfriends and ex-crushes for whatever reasons.” 

“Makes sense I guess.”  Howie shrugged

“So we’ve got food, paper stuff, and milk.”  Kevin glanced down into the paper sacks, “Do we
need anything else that you two can think of?”

“With what we’ve gone through today?”  Starr grabbed her own bag and shoved chocolate bars,
hot chocolate, and cookies inside it and as an afterthought, grabbed packages of instant coffee.
“The cops are going to want it and so are you guys if they show up tonight.”  She pointed out,
“Did you grab anything for breakfast just in case?” 

“We won’t be there that long.”  Kevin said but he added eggs, bread, and butter to his bag
anyway. 

“It’s just in case.”  Howie said with a shrug, “It may take them awhile to take care of all their
business so we might want to have something up there.” 

“So are we set now?”  Kevin asked impatiently, “We’ve got a long hike ahead of us.”

“Yeah.”  Starr said, shuddering as she saw the body of Mr. Sierra behind the counter.  “The
sooner we get up there, the sooner his ass will be behind bars.”  The three of them walked outside where Alana handed Maddy’s leash back to Starr. 

“Let’s see how much of this we can fit in the overnight bags.”  Kevin said, passing around the
bottles of water he had grabbed at the last minute and opening his own pack.  Ten minutes later,
they headed up the dirt road to pick up the trail to the cabin. 

“God I hate hiking.”  Nick groaned, shifting the bag on his shoulders.  “How far have we gone?”

“About a mile.”  Alana said, her face dead pan, staring straight ahead.  “We’ll probably get there
mid afternoon.” 

“Is it going up a mountain the entire way?”  Nick complained

“We haven’t even hit the mountain yet.”  Cassy stepped carefully over a root.  “Just watch where
you’re stepping so you don’t trip.” 

They walked on in silence.  Alana didn’t even protest when AJ squeezed her hand and held onto
it, Kristine noticed.  Jedia was walking close to Nick, her pale cheeks stained with red blotched
from her tears.  Cassy and Brian were side by side, their fingers interlocked in a tight grip.  That
much didn’t surprise her, with everything that had happened, she understood wanting to hold
tight to the person you felt you could depend on.  She looked up at Howie and then over at Starr walking Maddy, and Kevin.  The two guys were standing solemnly on the outside of them, their jaws firm as they stared straight ahead.  This is just a terrible horror movie rip off, Kristine thought, brushing pine needles from her shirt.  “You missed one.”  Kevin reached behind Starr to pluck a spare needle from the back of her shirt and dropping it into the dirt. 

Kristine looked over at him startled.  Kevin gave her a small reassuring smile before
focusing on Alana and AJ at the front of their group.  God the man was gorgeous.  He was about
ten years too old for her, but he was one of the best looking examples of manhood she had ever
seen.  Those green eyes made her want to melt.  She shook her head quickly, trying to clear the
thoughts.  How the hell could she think about that now, three people were dead and they were on
the run from a murderer and all she could think of were those amazingly deep green eyes and
silky black hair. 

Jedia looked up at Nick who was shifting his bag again.  He had tried to cram all of his clothes into the bag, worried that the killer was also a thief.  He wasn't going to risk losing his favorite jersey or his shirts or jeans.  He ended up finding a way to pack everything into the book-bag but he was beginning to regret it a quarter of the way through the hike. 

She wished more than ever that she would have spoken to Nick before today.  She saw Cassy and Brian holding onto each other, comforting each other and providing that kind of reassurance you can only get from that one person you love.  She wasn't as strong as rest of her friends.  Starr and Cassy had the monopoly on inner and outer strength and she had always depended on the two of them.  She never thought Cassy would focus her attention on someone else and that Starr would have to concentrate on herself.  She had never expected that anything like this would happen to any of them, not in a million years. 

He hadn't left her side, even though she knew all he wanted to do was run away.  After all, they were superstars and the murderer didn't even seem to care about them.  It was ironic that with all the attention those boys drew, it was a group of five nobodies who managed to get them caught in a web of insanity.  "Are you okay?"  Nick asked, catching her gaze. 

"As well as I possibly could be."  Jedia replied, forcing on a small smile for him.  "How are your shoulders holding up?" 

"They’ll be happy when they can lose fifty pounds."  He replied

"Do you want to put some of your clothes in my bag when we stop up by the falls to eat?"  She asked

"Don't worry about it baby."  He placed his palm on the top of her head, "It's too heavy for you." 

"I'm stronger than I look."  She protested

"My shoulders are telling me to let you take a few things."  Nick grinned.  "In this situation, I'm not going to fight with them."

"I don't know whether to be upset at them for flirting, or glad that he couldn't ruin everything."  Starr whispered to Kristine

"Be happy."  Kristine replied.  "He's ripped so much away from us in one night, it's amazing that they didn't lose their feelings for each other." 

Starr immediately felt a wave of tension lift as she gazed up at AJ’s back.  She couldn't fault him for wanting to stay by Alana after she lost her parents.  She just hoped to God he was doing it as a friend, that he had given up on pursuing her romantically.  They would all wake up from this nightmare eventually and she still hoped they'd have a little bit of time together.  She didn't lean on anyone, she didn't need anyone to support her and now that the shock had faded slightly, she was more angry than afraid.  She was angry that Alana's parents were murdered, she was angry that they didn't know who had done it, she was angry that AJ still seemed to be going after Alana, even though Alana had made it perfectly clear that she wasn't interested in him. 

Starr was interested, she was very interested.  If he would just pay her half of the attention he gave Alana, she knew he'd start to see her the way she saw him. 

Kristine noticed Starr staring straight ahead at AJ.  She glanced over at her side and caught Howie watching Starr.  His eyes darted up to Jedia and Cassy when Kristine followed his gaze. 

Now that was something different.  Kristine's chin rose as she thought through the pairing.  She, Jedia, and Starr had agreed that Kevin and Howie were just too old for them.  It wasn't like they were ancient  but as far as life experiences went, they were way ahead of the girls.  They were great friends but Kristine hadn't considered either of them to me more than that.  She knew Starr wanted AJ but she had a bad feeling about what the two of them would be together.  AJ could be cutting when he felt someone was stepping on his toes and Starr didn't like watching out for other people's feelings all the time.  She was bluntly honest and refused to tiptoe around issues.  The two of them understood each other but she didn't know if it would be enough to carry a relationship. 

Howie on the other hand, Kristine looked at him again, he was sweet and patient and understanding.  She couldn't find a single thing about him to fault.  AJ might be able to understand Starr, but he was so much of a talker, would he ever really take the time to listen and work with her?  Howie wouldn't understand completely, but he would do everything in his power to understand her and he would always be there for her, even if he couldn't understand.  With AJ, Starr would just be trading one unsatisfying family relationship for another.  Howie spoke of his family with so much love and admiration that Kristine knew they were all just as wonderful as he was. 

Dammit Starr, She thought, why can't you see what’s next to you instead of wanting what's in front that you'll probably never reach? 

"It should be right around here somewhere."  Alana dropped AJ’s hand to push aside some branches, "I know I remember this area, I came up here with my dad....before."  Her animated face paled, "He loved it out here so much." 

"Babe, we'll get the guy, I swear."  AJ stopped for a minute to embrace her. "He's not going to get away with this, no fucking way." 

"Oh wow!"  Jedia breathed

"High falls."  Alana said, her face relaxing as they stepped out to the guardrail at the edge of the trail.  "It's one of my favorite spots on these trails." 

"Let's just eat here."  Kevin said, setting his bag on the ground and pulling out the five ready made subs and granola bars.  "So what do we have, another three miles?"

Alana swallowed and nodded.  "We should be there sooner than I thought. I didn't expect Starr to keep up the pace like this." 

"Calling me slow?"  Starr asked, pouring a bottle of water into a shallow container for Maddy to drink out of. 

"You just didn't do the sports the rest of us did."  Cassy shrugged.  "Plus, you sucked in gym class in everything except volleyball."

"Why was volleyball different?"  Howie asked. 

"Do you really need to ask?"  Jedia nudged Starr, "She got to hit something around."

"I tried tennis.  I had all the power but no accuracy."  Starr shrugged, tossing Maddy a slice of turkey from her half of the sub.  “I guess I’m really not that athletic.”

“You can write though.”  Howie pointed out, “That’s nothing to sneeze at.” 

She stared off into space, a half smile playing with her lips “I guess you’re right.  If I can’t have what I want, I can always find a way to do it through fiction.”

“Here.”  Nick handed Jedia a pair of his jeans and two shirts.  “If you can find a way to cram these in your bag, it should lighten my load.” 

Jedia glanced into his bag.  “You know, if you took the time to fold things, it might actually all fit.”  She started pulling out clothes, folding them and putting them in a neat stack on top of her bag until she could put all of the clothes back into his bag neatly. 

“Miracle worker.”  Nick teased

“Everyone ready?”  Kevin asked.  “We should probably get moving again.  The sooner we get up there, the sooner we can get out of here.” 

They started back up the mountain, Cassy and Brian replacing AJ and Alana in the front of the group.  “You should see this place.”  Cassy said cheerfully, squeezing Brian’s hand.  You’d never believe that you could find a house like this in the middle of the woods.”  She stepped over a dead log in the middle of the trail. 

Her eyes widened as her right foot landed in a small hole on the other side of it.  She tumbled to the ground, sitting up quickly with a gasp and holding her ankle.  “Oh fuck.”  She winced.  “Brian, I think I broke it.” 

Brian knelt down beside her, taking off the sneaker and sock and holding her foot in his hands.  “I don’t know if it’s broken.”  He said carefully.  “Kevin, what do you think?  It looks like Nick’s foot after that one rehearsal and that was only a sprain.” 

“Can you put any pressure on it?”  Kevin asked, helping Cassy to her feet.  Cassy gingerly placed her foot on the ground and quickly lifted it back up.  “I didn’t think so.  Howie, why don’t you and Brian be her crutches for now.  You’re closer to the same height.  It looks like it’s going to take us a little while longer to get up there now.”

“I”m sorry.” Cassy whimpered.  “You guys can just go on, I’ll make it up there on my own.”

“What kind of jerks do you think we are?”  Brian asked, handing her bag to Kevin.  “For one, this isn’t your fault.  Even if it was, we wouldn’t leave you out here in the middle of nowhere with a murderer running around.  Even if it is only a sprain, you shouldn’t be putting pressure on it so don’t worry.” 

“Alana, how far do we have to go?”  Kevin asked

“Just a few more miles.”  She replied

“So we’ll just take it easy.”  Kevin shifted the bags around and stepped back next to Kristine.  “Everyone else, just watch where you’re stepping.” 

Cassy wanted to kick herself, preferably her busted ankle.  Out of all the girls to get hurt on a stupid hike, why did it have to be her?  Starr was the unathletic one, Alana was the brash one, and Kristine was probably the most clumsy.  Cassy was almost catlike in the ways she could spring about, she never got hurt unless someone did it directly to her. 

“It wasn’t your fault.”  Brian said softly.  Howie nodded in agreement on the other side of her.  “It could have been any of us so you shouldn’t beat yourself up.”

“It won’t help any.”  Howie said.  “When we call the cops, we’ll have them take a better look at it but for now, we’ll just throw some ice on it when we stop.” 

Cassy nodded and fell silent.  No one felt like talking anymore, every rustle in the forest made them all tense up again.  It seemed like the birds were even hiding.  They would cry out mournfully, the sounds fading into the sky and disappearing. 

“Finally.”  Alana sighed two hours later as they came out into a large field.  “The house is right this way.” 

It was even more impressive from the back side, Starr noticed as the building loomed in front of them. 

AJ whistled loudly.  “This is some cabin.” 

“I guess you’d just call it a family summer home.”  Alana led them around to the front door and unlooked it with a key hanging under the steps by a wire.  They listened to the click of the old key in the door and the creak as it swung open.  Nothing had changed from the last time they had been up there.  The girls shuddered, feeling the ghosts of Alana’s parents covering the rooms. 

“Phone.”  Jedia ran over to the one by the sofa and ripped it off of the receiver.  “Oh no!”  She cried, dropping it to the floor.  “There’s no dial tone!”

AJ walked over and picked up the destroyed cord.  “Tell me this was like this before?”  The girls remained silent, Alana sniffing back a sob.  “Are there any more phones in this place?”  Alana nodded and headed towards the stairs.  “Don’t you dare go up there alone!”  AJ yelled, running after her. 

“We need to get ice on her ankle.”  Brian broke the silence.  “Where’s the kitchen?” 

“This way.”  Starr headed out of the living room and across the hallway.  Brian helped Cassy into one of the chairs and opened the freezer.  He grabbed the small blue ice pack from the freezer shelf, wrapped it in a towel and pressed it against her ankle.  Cassy winced but relaxed after a moment. 

Alana and AJ joined them downstairs after a few minutes, their faces sullen.  “Nothing?”  Brian asked

“Oh there was something.”  AJ growled, throwing a crumpled piece of green paper down on the table.  Starr picked it up and read. 

I had a feeling you’d try running up here.  Did you honestly think I was so dumb that I didn’t know Alana’s family had a cabin?  Of course you probably did, none of you ever gave me any credit. 

I actually like you all better up here.  It’s so much easier to keep track of you when you’re all in the same house.  You can be comfortable before I kill you all and I can be more comfortable while I’m waiting for my chances. 

Just so you know, there aren’t any phones left in this place that I haven’t taken care of.  Don’t both moving yourselves again, especially now that Cassy’s injured.  You wouldn’t want her to get hurt more, now would you?

“He knows about her ankle already?”  Brian asked in disbelief.  “The guy must be a damn squirrel if we didn’t hear him while we were walking up here.” 

“Or a hunter.”  Cassy pointed out, “I can’t even count how many of those are wandering around.”

“But how many of them want to kill us?”  Starr asked

“Enough.”  Alana said.  “Come on, we’re not the most likeable group of girls.”

“Except for Jedia.”  Starr pointed out, “Do you honestly think anyone out there could hold a grudge against that girl?” 

“Probably not.”  Alana agreed slowly.  “Bet she wishes she picked a different group of friends now.” 

“No one is going off by themselves.”  Kevin walked into the room, his mouth set in a grim line.  “Sooner or later he’s going to slip up and we’re going to find him or figure out who he is.”

“Murder is the ultimate sign of a tainted soul and of a mental disorder.”  Jedia agreed.  “It’s really hard to be detail oriented when you’re going crazy.” 

“So we’re basically going to be stuck here until this is over with?”  Nick asked. 

“Looks that way.”  Brian replied.  “Why?”

“Fuck man.  I should have brought up my Playstation!”  Nick moaned. 

“So what can we do now?”  Kristine asked.  “We’re stuck up here now while he tries to knock us off one by one.” 

“Short of shooting us, it’s nothing he could do without us seeing him first.”  Kevin pointed out.  “As long as we stay in groups or pairs, we should be able to watch each other’s backs.”

“So what is there to do up here while we’re waiting for all this shit to go down?”  Nick asked

“There a pool table and stuff in the basement and we left a ton of movies up here.”  Alana replied.  “Kira left a bunch of her old sports stuff in the armoire in her room.  As long as you played in a big enough group, you should be okay outside, right?”  She looked over to Kevin. 

“That’s another point.”  Kevin said.  “Is there enough room for everyone to have a place to sleep?”

“Two beds in Kira’s room, the double and trundle bed in Livvy’s room.  My room has a double bed, my parents-“ She swallowed hard.  “If anyone wanted to stay in that one it’s queen sized.”

“There’s that wicked comfy pull out in the basement too.”  Jedia reminded her. 

“If we could avoid it, Cassy should probably be on the first floor, just so she doesn’t have to bother with the stairs.”  Brian pointed out. 

“My room is the only one on this floor but go ahead and use it.”  Alana offered.  “The bathroom is really close to it so there’s more reason for you two to stay in it than me.” 

“Kristine and I’ll still stay in Livvy’s room.”  Starr offered. 

“Should you two really be in a room by yourselves?”  AJ asked. 

“How close is the nearest room?”  Kevin asked Alana. 

“Kira’s room is right across the hall.” 

“I’m a wicked light sleeper.”  Howie pointed out.  “As long as we leave both doors open, they should be okay in there.” 

“I’ll stay up there with you.”  Kevin offered.  “Nick would never wake up.”

“Hey!”  Nick protested.  “What are you trying to say old man?”

“That you snore so loud that no one would hear a guy wandering around the house, even if he decided to slam a few doors and brew himself a cup of coffee.”  Kevin replied dryly. 

“So that leaves AJ, Alana, Nick, and Jedia.”  Brian said.  “You girls probably shouldn’t stay down in the basement by yourselves.  That just screams danger.” 

“I’ll stay down there with Jedia.”  Nick offered, making her blush.  “Are you cool with that?”

“Yeah.”  She said, smiling. 

“Oooo...Jedia!”  Cassy teased.  “Watch out Nick, she’s gonna try to make up for lost time!”

“I’m not staying in my parents room.”  Alana clenched her fists at her side.  “I couldn’t.”

“I’ll camp out with you in the living room until we figure something else out.”  AJ rubbed her shoulders gently. 

“Let’s just go do something.”  Nick said, heading out into the living room with Jedia at his heals. 

“He doesn’t seem to care that we’re being chased around by a murderer.”  Alana whimpered.  “Oh sorry your parents got hacked up in the middle of the night but I’m bored so lets go play now.” 

“Alana-“ Kristine started. 

“It’s not that he doesn’t care.”  Brian interrupted.  “It’s just that when he gets antsy, he needs to do something to keep himself from freaking out.  He doesn’t have any video games to keep him occupied.”

“I wonder...”  Alana headed out into the living room, AJ right behind her.  She opened up a bottom cabinet in the entertainment center and pulled out a gray box. 

“Is that what I think it is?”  Nick asked, his eyes lighting up. 

Alana blew the dust off of the old Nintendo system.  “I don’t know if it works or not.”  She plugged it into the wall and the television.  “There’s only one way to find out though.”  She reached into the cabinet again and pulled out a handful of games.  “There’s not much left here.”  She remarked.  “Mario 1 and 3, Tetris, Dr. Mario, Bubble Bobble, Dragon Spirit, Kirby, and Paperboy.”

“Throw in Mario 3 and I’ll take you on.”  Nick grinned, plopping down on the floor with a controller. 

“Jedia and I will get started on dinner.”  Kristine offered.  “We might as well eat early, no one ate much for lunch.” 

“Is there anything up here for Maddy?”  Starr asked, walking into the kitchen to fill up a plastic bowl with water.  She set it next to the refrigerator. 

“There’s probably an extra bag of food down in the laundry room.”  Alana pumped her fist in the air as the game came on the screen.  “Victory!”

Starr turned and headed for the basement stairs, Kevin walking behind her.  “Do you need any help with that?”  He asked as she pulled it out of the laundry room and across the basement floor. 
“I’ve got it.”  Starr gritted her teeth and began to lug the sack up the basement stairs.  She dropped it in the doorway and grinned up at Kevin.  “See, no problem.”  She tore open a corner of the bag and poured out a bowl of the food to set next to the water.  Maddy ran into the kitchen, skidding across the floor and diving into his food.  “I guess you were hungry, weren’t you?”  Starr scratched behind his ears.  Maddy’s tail swished back and forth steadily as he devoured the bowl of food and lapped up some water.  “I’m going to let him run out front for awhile.”  Starr told Kevin. 

“Not by yourself you’re not.”  Kevin reminded her.  “I’ll sit out there with you.”

“I’m already fucking sick of this.”  Starr glared at him.  “If anyone tries to mess with me do you think they’ll get out of it intact?  I’m fine on my own!”

“I’m going out with you anyways.”  Cassy replied, “I don’t want to be stuck in here watch the Nintendo freaks going at it.”

“Does your sister have a football or anything?”  Brian asked Alana. 

“You’ll have to check upstairs.”  Alana maneuvered Mario through the fourth round.  “I know she had a few old softballs and a frisbee.” 

Brian ran upstairs to check.  Starr shot Kevin a fresh death-glare “So it’s okay for him to wander off on his own but the poor defenseless girls can’t?” 

“Will you stop with your bitching?”  Cassy exclaimed, “They’re just trying to make sure none of us wind up dead.” 

Starr shook her head and stalked out with Maddy at her heals.  “She doesn’t listen well, does she?”  Kevin asked. 

“You’ve intruded on her personal space,” Kristine shrugged.  

Brian jogged back down the stairs, tossing a football from hand to hand.  “Anyone interested?”  He asked

“I’m in.”  Kevin walked outside with Howie.  Brian followed more slowly behind them helping Cassy out onto the porch.  Starr was lying on her back in the grass, Maddy running around her and barking. 

“Starr?”  Cassy asked, “Are you alright?”

Starr sat up and moved a curl out from in front of her face.  “I just hate having people follow me around like this,” she replied.  “It makes me feel like I’m in elementary school all over again.”

“Well, do you really want to risk it?”  Cassy replied. 

Starr sighed and moved to sit next to her friend, “You know the answer to that one already.”  The two of them fell silent, watching the three guys throw the football back and forth, Maddy running between them and jumping for the ball every chance he got. 

Howie caught the ball and sniffed the air.  “Does anyone else smell smoke?” 

Kevin turned his head towards the house.  “I’ll check it out.  You two stay outside with them.”  He walked through the living room where Alana and Nick were still playing their video game with AJ watching attentively.  “Kristine?  Jedia?”  He called, walking into a cloud of black smoke in the kitchen.

“We’re fine,” Jedia replied.  “Just had a minor setback.”

“How can you burn boxed macaroni and cheese?”  Kevin asked, coughing.  “How can you burn it like this at least?”

“We got a little mixed up.”  Kristine admitted sheepishly, waving the smoke towards the open window over the sink.  “I’m used to the homemade stuff, you know, that you have to bake.”

Kevin grabbed an oven mitt and pulled a smoking casserole disk from the oven.  “You didn’t even boil it!”  He exclaimed, setting the dish in the sink.  “I thought you said you two could cook.”

“We offered to cook,” Jedia corrected him.  “Don’t you remember, we’re the ones who burn water, plastic bowls, and Cheerios.”

“Well, I guess we can add macaroni to that list now,” Kristine said cheerfully.   “Alana, is there anything else we can cook?”

“Oh Christ,” Alana walked to the freezer and pulled out a tightly sealed package of meat.  “You two cut this up into small pieces.  “I’ll cook it.” 

“Need any help?”  AJ asked, walking in behind her. 

“See if there’s anything left in the pantry as far as canned foods go,” Alana pulled a large frying pan from the cabinet under the sink.  “If there’s anything in there, grab a few cans of vegetables to go along with this.” 

Within the hour, the ten of them were perched around the kitchen eating venison and green beans.  “There’s enough stuff in there to last us for awhile,” AJ commented.  “Plus with the meat in the freezer we should be okay long enough to find a way out of this.”

“We’re going to run out of toilet paper,” Starr pointed out.  “There’s a package in each bathroom but with 10 of us that’s not going to last more than a week.”

“We’ll be out of here by then, right?”  Nick asked, shoving the last piece of meat in his mouth.  “Guys?”

“I wouldn’t count on it,” Kevin said slowly, moving the last of his beans around his plate.  “I guess we could send two of us down to the general store later on this week to pick up whatever else we’re going to need.  He’s not going to want us to starve to death, not after all the work he put into scaring us.  He might get upset if the girls leave since they’re who he’s after but he might not mind two of us guys going.  Brian, you up for another hike?”

“As long as everyone stays in one room while we’re gone,” Brian agreed. 

Jedia yawned loudly, clamping her hands over her mouth.  “I’m sorry, I don’t know what got me so tired.  It’s only,” she checked her watch, “only eight?  I haven’t been this worn out since finals week.”

“It’s been an emotional day,” Howie said with a nod.  “I don’t think anyone is going to stay up very much later.” 

“Come on babe,” Nick grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the basement stairs. 

“Night everyone,” Jedia called, starting to blush again.