chapter 8

~reno~

       The rain has finally stopped in Hayside, but that didn't stop the town from still being creepy. In fact, now that it isn't raining, it seems to be even creepier than before. No one is outside and all the shops are basically empty.

       Why aren't people outside? It's not raining. The weather isn't too bad. I feel like there's some reason why, but I don't know what it is.

       At least Weisz and I aren't the only ones experiencing the weirdness of the town. I can't tell if the other guests of the motel think the same way as us, but so far, they don't seem to mind staying at the motel. The only thing that bothered them was the power outage, which has thankfully been solved since then.

       Even some of my new friends don't seem to be too bothered by the fact that we probably have to stay here another. I mean, Jamie was at first because he wants to get home to see his horse, but now he's complaining that there's nothing to do.

       He lies on the floor of my and Weisz's motel room, where we all decided to hang out in since it was the closest to the entrance. He looks over and Sawyer before whining, "I'm bored."

       "Well, what do you want to do, Jamie?" Sawyer asks.

       Jamie stares at Sawyer for a bit. "I can't say. You always tell me to watch my mouth around other people." Sawyer only sighs in reply, knowing his fiance well enough to have an idea of what Jamie was going to say.

       Nolan is another person who was wanting to leave, but is now more worried about being bored. He has just been staring at Jerome for a while, but Jerome is too busy on his phone to notice it.

       "Hey, you think if I call a cab here, the cab will break down?" Jerome asks.

       "Probably," Weisz says. "I wouldn't want to do that to the poor cab driver."

       Jerome sighs. "There goes my one and only idea. Hmm... I can always risk getting my best friend to come here. But then my brother-in-law would tag along, and he would likely get himself killed by the ghosts because of how reckless he is."

       "Yeah, it's probably not the best idea to get anyone to come down here," I say. "I've been having to text my dad almost every hour to tell him that I'm fine and he should just stay home. Also, I think your husband wants to tell you something."

       Jerome looks over at Nolan, finally noticed that he has been staring at him this entire time. "What is it?"

       "Do you think there's a shop here that sells leather jackets?" Nolan asks. "I want to see you in one."

       Weisz sighs as I laugh. Weisz then glares at me. "I don't see how that's funny. Look what you started."

       "Technically, you started it," I say. "You're the one who insisted I wore a leather jacket to the 50's dance. If you just kept quiet about your fantasy..."

       "I don't have a leather jacket fantasy. Stop telling people that."

       "Hmm... Leather jackets..." Jamie muses. He sits up and looks at Sawyer. "Interesting."

       "What's so interesting about leather jackets?" Sawyer asks.

       "I'm imagining you in one," Jamie says. "It would be different from your normal flannel, tank top, or shirtless look. Want to get one?"

       "I'd rather not."

       Jamie sighs before he looks at me. "How did Weisz convince you to get one."

       Weisz makes a noise of protest, but I ignore him as I say, "He didn't have to. I already have one. Part of me thinks he's only dating me because he knows I have one."

       "That's not true, Reno, and you know it," Weisz says. I only smile at him in reply.

       Jamie decides that he's bored of sitting on the floor, so he gets up and walks to the window. "I'm glad it's not raining anymore, but I can't help but still feel weird about this town. Like, why is no one outside. It's late in the afternoon. Surely, there would be people walking around."

       "Exactly what I was thinking," I say. 

       "I mean, there have always been rumours about this place," Jamie says. "People call it Hayside Haunt because weird things happened yearly around this time. But they never say exactly what the weird thing is. It's always stuff like they forgot what happened, but they feel like something weird happened. I tried telling Sawyer that, but he pressured me into coming here with him."

       "Yes, and I believed that Hayside Haunt is just a rumour, like that forest I took you to for camping once," Sawyer says. "And I didn't pressure you to come. I asked if you wanted to come to Hayside with me, you said no, but then you changed your mind the moment I got into the truck."

       "You looked hot getting into the truck, so that was enough pressure." Jamie stares out the window again. "Hey, does anyone have good memory? Mine is trash because of a brain injury, and I need help with something."

       I get up and walk over to the window. "What is it?"

       "Hold on." Jamie waits for a few moments before he points to a car driving by on the street. "That car. I swear, that car keeps driving by every ten seconds. I try to remember the license plate, but like I said, bad memory. Wait for it to come back."

       I do and sure enough, a car identical to the last one drives by. I look at the license plate and keep it in my mind before another identical car drives by. A car with the exact same licences place. It drives by again. And again. And again.

       "It is the same car," I say. "Same make, same model, same license plate. And if I remember correctly, that is the direction of the town's exit. I don't think anyone can leave the town even if they wanted to."

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i got to work on this more so i get it done in time for halloween.

also my halloween costume finally came! i had to order it twice because there was an issue with the first one and it's being returned (i just need to wait for the refund).

i kind of wish i was someone from genshin (probably my love aether) since one sister is going to be yoimiya and my sibling is going to be venti. maybe next year since my sister said she'll probably be yoimiya for the next few years. idk about my sibling, but they love venti, so they might want to be him again. (the venti costume is mine since i was him last year, but i never mind sharing my costumes hehe)(my mom is very happy she won't have to buy my sibling a costume this year lol)