FRIDAY

Lucas did not sleep at all that night. His fear kept him up late. He heard his dad wake up. He came in but Lucas stayed curled up not moving. He heard the door open and close. He had to go to work. He was never home. Lucas felt more tears come to his eyes. He wished he could stop crying and shaking. He lay in bed for what felt like years. Decades passed and nothing changed. 

Moss and rot were growing over Lucas. He shut his eyes, feeling his body age and decay. After a small eternity had passed there was a knock on his door. He sat up. There was again a knock.

“Lucah? hello?” It was his grandpa. 

Rubbing his eyes Lucas got up and opened the door.

“Yah?” he muttered with a half smile. 

“Yeh got some friends here to see yah.” He said smiling and gesturing to the living room.

“Pretty ones on that.” He said grinning and shouldering Lucas in jest.

Lucas in turn mustered a smile. It was Penny and Roxanne. He was relieved that they were ok. The fear that the monster would come for them had kept him awake all through the night.

“Hey, Lucas,” Roxanne said.

“How are you feeling?” Penny added. 

“I-Im fine,” he said half smiling. 

They must have heard about his accident. Who else heard? Made sense for Penny as her mom was there and Roxanne was a long time friend. But who else knew? He did not need the entire school in his private life. It didn't really matter anyway though. Dark thoughts swirled in his head. Doom the monster would catch him anyway. His eyes must have shown his thoughts as the girls looked at each other and then back to Lucas. 

“So… erm. You want to grab a coffee?” Penny asked.

“Looks like you need it,” Roxanne added, smiling slightly.

“I don’t know,” Lucas started to say but his grandfather cut him off.

“Now, I dont know this might be what you need to have fun with your friends. Don’t worry about all of this. I wouldn't tell her father. Just go and relax. Just be home before dinner, aye,” he said with a smile.

Lucas sighed but nodded. They had taken Penny's car and all drove to their diner, all just getting coffee. Soon they sat comfortable and warm. Lucas felt safe here. Yes, the diner had big windows and a thin door. But it was bright and well lit. Surrounded by many well frequented buildings. Too many people for a monster to sneak up on. Lucas comforted himself. 

“So. erm. I mean,” Penny started but stopped not knowing how to word it, looking to Roxanne for support, but she only shrugged helplessly.

“You want to know what happened?” Lucas asked, sipping the hot coffee. It felt good slipping down his throat and into his gut. 

“Well. Yah,” Roxanne said quietly. 

He nodded and the two leaned forward.

“So what was it?” Roxanne asked. 

“It found me,” it was all he had to say. 

Penny closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Roxanne audibly gasped.

“By it… you mean. IT?” Roxanne whispered sharply, leaning in again.

Lucas only nodded.

“What. what happened?”

“Where?”

“After I left the diner. I just wanted to be alone,” Lucas began but Roxanne cut him off.

“About that. I'm so sorry I didn't mean any of that,” she began.

“It's ok. I know you're scared. I'm sorry I shouldn't have walked away like that.  I really shouldn't have,” he added, his eyes darkening.

They sat in silence for a few minutes before Lucas started speaking again, “I must have just fallen asleep or something in an alley and when I woke up it was dark outside. My phone was dead and I was about to bike home when I heard the thing behind me. It… It chased me and I just remember running, running as hard as I could. And then I lost it somehow and a cop found me.” He stopped there, his eyes glazed over as he remembered the terrible eyes.

“What. what'd you say to the cops?” Roxanne asked.

Lucas shrugged, “Nothing. I just told them I didn't remember.” 

The two nodded, seeming to agree.

“So. what now?” Penny asked after a bit of silence. 

“Do you think it came after you on purpose?” Roxanne asked very quietly as if she was afraid to voice the thought.

Penny looked shocked and pursed her lips. It reminded Lucas of how her mother had done the same. 

“Do you?” Penny asked, half afraid of what the answer might entail.

“I-I dont know,” Lucas said, rubbing his eyes again.

The three sat in silence for a while. No one knew what to say.

“Have you guys seen or heard anything?” Lucas finally said, breaking the silence. 

The two shook their heads.

“Don't go out in the  dark,” Roxanne said stiffly.

“Never be alone if you can avoid it,” Penny added. 

“Run if you hear it coming,” Lucas finally added.

They all nodded satisfied with their answers. 

They all sat enjoying the company for a while. Finally, Penny drove them home. Soon the day was over and the sun was setting. Lucas flopped to his bed. Closing his eyes. His grandfather had been right. Being with his friends had made him feel safe. He closed his eyes and let the exhaustion take over and he finally slept safe in his bed.

SATURDAY 

He woke feeling safer than he had in days. Lucas lay there enjoying the peace. It was nice. Finally, he could rest. Saturday was nice. He enjoyed the peaceful day. Drawing a little while, working at school. It was nice. Nice normal things. He missed the normal things. He wondered if life would go back to normal. It seemed so easy to forget when one feels safe. The danger felt far away. The day passed quickly. Sunday rolled around. His dad had the day off. He and Lucas went to the store and picked up a cheap new phone from the money Lucas had saved. He, his dad, and his grandpa watched some movies together. It felt nice. It was nice. He was comfortable and home. 

MONDAY 

The school had been fixed enough for it to be open again that Monday. School was a kind of painful blast to reality. People were cruel. As Lucas had feared the word of his incident at the hospital had gone around. Even on the first day back, new rumors grew surrounding him. They circulated and spread. Lucas normally just flew under the radar of these kinds of things. But now, he seemed to stand out like some kind of monster. Roxanne and Penny did a good job ignoring the people’s whispers as they walked through the halls midway in between classes. At lunch they all sat together at a table. No one wanted to talk about Lucas’ newfound popularity. 

“I'll be right back just want to say hi to some friends,” Penny said grinning and running off to another table.

Lucas almost forgot how popular she was at school. He wondered if he was affecting it? Or more her hanging out with him. What if she hated him? I mean he had pulled her into all this with the monster. She had to feel some sort of resentment right? But she had acted so nice this entire time. Lucas wondered if it was fake. No.. It benefited her nothing. He did wonder if perhaps in a few months if the monster was not heard of at all her fear would wear off. And maybe she would go back to her other friends when the fear had really worn off. Lucas sighed, rubbing his eyes. There was no point in thinking about it. Roxanne watched him closely.

“She's nice,” she muttered, raising an eyebrow at Lucas.

“Um. Yah she is.”

“You guys have been hanging out a lot,” she said, grinning a little. “Kind of makes me feel like a third wheel,” she sighed, obviously fake.

Lucas only rolled his eyes. 

But interrupting their conversation they heard someone yell, “Oh yeah sure. And I'm shallow!” 

It was Penny.

“You're all just plastic wax figures. So have fun without me!” she shouted and stomped back over to Lucas and Roxanne.

“What happened?” Roxanne asked tentatively as Penny sat down in a huff.

“They told me I couldn't hang out with you guys!” she said, glaring at the group of girls.

“What?” Lucas asked, glancing over in attempted subtlety.

“Yeah. Cuz you guys are some weirdos or something. They're just shallow. I don’t know why they think they control me,” she said, stabbing into her meal with the plastic fork. One of the prongs broke off.

Lucas and Roxanne looked at each other nervously.

“Um… Sorry,” Lucas finally said.

“Yah, that sucks Penny.”

“Oh, you guys dont have to apologize. I mean honestly yah it sucks they all seemed so nice,” she sighed, glaring at the table again. 

TUESDAY 

Tuesday was not all that bad. He felt bad about Penny and Roxanne being made fun of for his sake. But when he brought up only hanging out as a group outside of school they both immediately shut him down. In some ways he almost wished they would, he hated hearing what people were saying about them because they were with him. But on the other hand, it did make him feel kind of nice that he had friends who really did care.