When the Monsters Roam: Part 2 (Short Story)

Chapter 1, Part 2: The Emails

~Ashlynn Blue~

After a few minutes, the three returned to their lunches, Evelynn by herself again. She chewed her sandwich slowly, not paying attention to the food. She thought about how she might finally be able to get some friends. Astrid and Lily were cool, and they seemed to like her a bit. Maybe if she talked to them some more, they would want to be friends with her.

Evelynn didn’t have many friends because she was always putting her schoolwork first. Since elementary school, she had never had the time to talk to her classmates enough to make friends, and they all eventually stopped giving her opportunities. They all had their friend groups by now and didn’t need her. So now it was like Evelynn was a ghost, apart from when she was paired with one of her classmates for some random project. She knew it was her fault, and that they all probably thought that she just didn’t want any friends, but it still hurt when she never had anyone to hang out with.

So, Lily and Astrid were like a brand-new opportunity for her to make some friends for once. Evelynn slowly smiled a bit, feeling hopeful. Then she felt a pang of anxiousness when she felt the feeling of eyes on her again. Evelynn choked a bit on her food when she felt it again, coughing and looking around for where the feeling was coming from. But she couldn’t see anyone.

Evelynn calmed herself down, thinking that it was probably nothing, and went back to her lunch, disregarding the uneasy feeling that still lurked.

~(Written by Ashlynn Blue, do not try to copy) ~

Later that night, after school, Evelynn was heading to her room to start on her homework. She walked up the stairs and headed to her room, opening the door. She grabbed her backpack from the floor and brought it to the foot of her desk. She opened her laptop and signed in to see a notification from her inbox. It was strange, since she didn't have any friends who would message her.

Evelynn opened her inbox to see a message from someone under the name of her school. She opened it and read:

Dear Evelynn Brown,

Tomorrow, on Friday night, you are invited to a school event. The students will be invited to stay overnight on the school grounds. All students are requested to be dropped off at 8:30 P.M. and picked up at 6:00 A.M. the next morning. If you will be attending this event, we ask that you please bring your own supplies consisting of:

1.  A sleeping bag.

2. Pajamas (that are appropriate and fit school guidelines).

3. Hygiene products.

4. A pillow.

5. Any snacks you wish to bring.

We sincerely wish that you will join us tomorrow evening and have an enjoyable time.

                                                                                                               Sincerely,

                                                                                                    Eastwood Middle Administration

Evelynn stared at the email. She didn’t know if she should go. But then again, maybe since she wouldn’t be there for schoolwork, she could make some friends? Evelynn was doubtful but decided that it could be fun either way. The only weird thing was that they didn’t even have school tomorrow. It was weird that they would schedule this on a day that there wasn’t school, but maybe they were going to use that time to prep the school with decorations or something?

~(Written by Ashlynn Blue, do not try to copy) ~

Evelynn eventually decided to go downstairs to ask her parents to go. She guessed that her mom would most likely be more lenient and went to her. Evelynn walked down the stairs and then found her mom in the laundry room. “Hey, mom?” Evelynn started cautiously.

Her mother looked up from the dryer, “Yes?”

Evelynn swallowed her nervousness and then continued. “So there is this thing at school tomorrow,” she waited for a response.

Her mom raised an eyebrow, “I thought you didn’t have any school tomorrow?”

“Well, yes, but there is an event that night.”

“An event?”

“Yeah, I want to go...” Evelynn trailed off, slightly hopeful.

“I guess you can go, but how long is it?” Her mother threw some laundry in the machine.

“Umm, it’s an overnight thing.” She looked down.

“Oh,” her mom said, looking away from the laundry, “You really want to go to that?”

Evelynn looked at her mom hopefully with a small smile. “Yeah, I think it will be fun!”

Her mother looked at her cautiously for a moment, then said, “Alright, I guess you can go. What time do we drop you off?”

Evelynn thought back to the email for a second, trying to remember, then said, “They said to drop us off at 8:30 tomorrow and pick us up at 6 the next morning.”

Her mother nodded, going back to the laundry, “Okay, I’ll tell your father. You should get to packing.”

“Alright, thanks, mom!” she said happily before running off to her room to pack.

~To be continued, maybe? Written by Ashlynn Blue.~