That weekend Paul invited Quinn over for a guys' weekend. It was exactly what they needed. Mission one would be to stack up on snacks and junk food. So they made a trip to the local supermarket. It was there they ran into Melissa and Zane's brother. This was not what he expected to.
Quinn bailed to go off to another aisle. Paul walked up to say hi. "Hey Melissa.”
She turned around and her face lit up. "Paul. I'm so happy to see other human beings. I've been cooped up for what seems like forever.”
She gave him a huge hug. As she stepped back the guy placed his arm around her. "I'm Noah. Where'd your buddy go off to.
"To grab more chips, are you guys like a thing?" Paul questioned not really wanting the answer.
Disgust flashed upon Melissa's face. "Ew. No." She slapped his hand and pushed him away. "I needed a margarita night with the girls, so I came for supplies, he is here as a bodyguard slash he's old enough to buy tequila.”
"Bodyguard?" Paul asked.
“Delilah insisted. I still don't remember who attacked me. She's being overprotective.”
Paul replied, “Makes sense. Imma find Quinn. I'll see ya around.”
As he left, he saw Quinn hiding around the corner trying to listen in. Before he could stop himself he laughed at his friend. “Alright James Bond enough with the spy stuff.”
The food was paid for and they took their leave. Next stop would be picking up a couple video games. That weekend they ate a lot and stayed up too late. The boys had a good time. It was nice to escape from everything. The weekend unfortunately ended, and they had to go back to school and pretend to learn things.
The next following days weren't too crazy. Paul overheard his mother on the phone worrying about money and paying for college so he got a job at Fireside's as a busboy. He actually really enjoyed it. Everyone went there, so he got to overhear conversations and learn things. As much as he hated gossip there was an appeal to knowing all of it. Although it did give him way less time to hang out. Between football and work, he felt a little left out.
A week sped by and not only was it a good first week being employed, another good thing happened. Melissa returned to school. Everyone at school was ecstatic about her return. Delilah and Beatriz even decorated her locker with welcome back streamers and balloons.
Lunch was complete again with the whole group there. He got his lunch and joined the table. "Melissa! Welcome back. Glad you're here to resume your reign as queen of Autumnvale High.”
Melissa smiled. "Thanks. I mean, I am bummed I missed homecoming, but there are worse things in life than missing a dance."
He couldn't help but notice her presence. She seemed so confident and in control. Most people would need to ease back into life after something like that. Melissa appeared to still be in full control.
He then looked over at Quinn. Even though Quinn was obviously happy to see Melissa was back, the sadness in his eyes was clear. All Paul could feel was relief. The thought of going to the funeral for one of his friends was something he didn't even want to think about.
The table was discussing the town fair that was this weekend. Melissa was trying to get everyone to volunteer to help out since her mom was the one organizing it. “The town fair is one of the crucial events my mom organizes. It has to be perfect, so I need everyone to help."
The group, although hesitant, would all agree, except for Paul. He explained, "Sorry, no can do. I have to work. I can't set up, but I'll get out in time to catch some of it"
The bell rang, and the group went their separate ways. Paul wanted to chat with Quinn alone, so he followed him in the hall."Hey bud," Paul said while jogging towards Quinn. "You okay? You know with the whole Melissa of it all?"
"Yeah, man, I think I am. I mean, I was still kind of mad and sad, but I think I will live."
Paul felt more relief. Looks like his friend group would stay undisturbed. "Good, now let's get to class,"
The following week flew by fast for Paul. Between school, football, and work, lollygagging was out of the picture. Before he knew it, the weekend was here. His Saturday shift started out normally. Townspeople came in and out for breakfast and then in and out for lunch. One of his lunch patrons was Mr. Everald. He stopped by to chat. "What's up, Mr. E? Excited for the fair?"
Mr. Everald shook his head in agreement while wiping his mouth with a napkin. "Oh yes, I love me some fair food, basically all fried things."
"So I have a question. You mentioned your ancestors did weird stuff to keep the town safe a few weeks ago when I asked about them in class. What was the weird stuff?" questioned Paul.
"Oh, you caught that." Mr. Everald laughed. "Well, they used witchcraft."
"Witchcraft?" Paul asked in disbelief.
"Yep. Witchcraft was their answer for safety. My ancestors had a powerful witch family they worked with. This witch family had a long lineage of every male getting powers when they hit puberty they would help my family set spells for protection,”
Paul was flabbergasted. "Spells? Your family had a warlock cast spells?"
"Sounds ridiculous when you say it out loud," laughed Mr. Everald.
Paul went back to work. When he walked away, he noticed Melissa's parents sat down with the history teacher. It was probably something about The Historical Society, but it was peculiar them meeting here. The mayor and his wife rarely came to Firesides. Aiden walked in and came toward him. He looked a little jumpy and on edge.
"Woah, you're looking rough." Paul exclaimed.
"I'm good, just you know, normal teenage angst. Is your mom working tonight? I want to ask her about Melissa, like if she's really okay." said Aiden.
"Uh, no, most of the hospital will be on call and at the fair. The hospital will have a skeleton crew."
"Oh cool, that might be better." Aiden responded as he ran off, leaving Paul a little confused, but he thought it was nice how concerned Aiden was for Melissa.
Customers left one by one probably to get ready to go to the town fair. Soon it was empty. You could hear a pin drop. The only other people here were a cook named Theo and a server named Luz who was flirting in back with the cook.
The counters needed wiping down, so Paul did just that. The bell on the door jingled. Paul looked up to see who entered but no one was there. He walked over to see if anyone was out of view but still no one was there.
When he turned around he saw that guy from the bathroom, Zane's brother. Paul was perplexed on how he got over to the bar without him noticing but chalked it up to him not fully paying attention. The man reached over the bar to grab a glass and a bottle of booze. Paul walked towards him “You know this isn't a serve yourself establishment.”
“Hey, I know you. You were in the bathroom, and we spoke at my house and in the mini mart." The man said before taking a shot.
Paul was a little confused. "We didn't talk at your house “
"Never mind that. We should be properly introduced since I've decided to stick around. I'm Noah. Zane's older and cooler brother." Noah said.
Paul shook his hand, "I'm Paul and you already introduce yourself at the mini mart"
"So where is everyone? Isn't this place usually busy?” asked Noah.
"Oh, everyone's at the fair, so this place will be pretty dead for the night."
Noah took his leave without saying anything else, which was weird and a tad bit rude. That didn't faze him because he only had an hour left of work, then he could go hang out. The hour went by, and the tavern was officially closed. So he left to go to the fair.
When he arrived there, everything looked great. The rides and snacks all looked awesome. Paul focused on trying to find his friends. The first ones he encountered were the twins. They were playing one of those test your strength hammer games. Tyler was about to slam the hammer down when Paul interrupted. "Ten bucks Tyler fails."
Beatriz embraced him with a hug. Tyler clapped back, "Hey, don't let this good-looking exterior fool you, man. I've got like a sleeper build. Plus, it's all about the mind power." Tyler hit the hammer, and it shot up straight to the bell and dinged. He proudly said, "You owe me ten bucks."
Tyler went over to the booth to pick his prize. He came back with a black cat plushie and gave it to his sister. "Here," he said while handing it over, "Don't say I never got you anything."
The three teens journeyed to get some food before the mayor made his big speech. Funnel cake and corn dogs were some of the best parts of the fair. They stood all the way in the back of the crowd and the mayor started his speech. Paul tuned it out. It was the same speech every year, community and history and blah blah blah. It was super cliché and filled with meaningless buzzwords.
As Paul was looking around, he noticed Beatriz. Her face started to get pale, and she looked a little sweaty. Before he could ask, the fireworks started so he looked up. After a minute or two he looked back at Beatriz. She was on the floor unconscious. Paul bent down to check on her. He looked over to Tyler, and he was passed out as well.
Paul called out for help. No one was listening. He felt so helpless. What do you do when your two friends pass out for no reason? That's when Mr. Everald ran up to him. "Paul, what happened? Are they okay?"
"I don't know. They were fine and now they are on the floor." Paul stammered.
Mr. Everald grabbed his shoulder. "Stay calm," he said. "My car is right there, help me put them in, and it's like a three-minute ride to the hospital."
Paul hesitated. "We can just grab help here." He looked around and noticed others passing out. He didn't recognize who, but a huge commotion started in the crowds of people. He was worried. "Okay." He finally agreed.
Paul picked up Beatriz while Mr. Everald picked up Tyler. They put the twins in the back of the car, and his history teacher drove off with his friends. Paul looked around to see if he could find any of his other friends. Panic began to set in. That's when someone hugged him. It was his mom. "Hey Paul, don't worry, it's fine. Luckily, a big chunk of the hospital staff is here. I'm sure we can figure out what's going on. I need you to go home, okay? I love you, go."
His mom kissed him on the forehead and left. He was so relieved to see his mom. Paul stopped to pick up the cat plushie. As he walked to his car, he tried to call Quinn, then Melissa, and then Delilah. No one picked up.
He lingered in the parking lot. Watching unconscious people get put in the ambulances to be driven to Autumnvale Memorial. He didn't recognize any of the victims. It was too hard to make out faces in the chaos. There was nothing he could do from that parking lot so eventually drove home and went to bed. At least tried to go to bed. There was no way he could sleep.
An hour or two went by when his mother finally came home. She went to his room and slightly opened his door just to check on him. Paul pretended to be asleep. As much as he wanted to ask, he was afraid of bad news. If he pretended to be asleep, he could be in a state of not knowing.
Suddenly her phone started to buzz. She picked it up, and Paul overheard her part of the conversation.
"Hello....yes, Hey…..How is everyone?....oh that’s terrible....keep running the lab work.....the hospital records?.....I mean, who would want to steal those....Okay, I'll be at the meeting tomorrow."
His mom hung up and looked in on him again to see if Paul was still asleep. He still pretended he was.