cruel summer | ray hall [panic]

chapter 3

chapter 3 - PANIC

☀︎☀︎

The day after Grace had told her friends that she was indeed planning on playing Panic, she was working a shift at Dot's Diner, along with Dodge Mason.

Dodge was the new kid in Carp as he had just moved there a year before with his mom and sister. Grace didn't talk to him much in school and had a pretty professional relationship with him at work. They were friendly but never talked much and never about anything personal.

Around mid-afternoon, Heather entered the diner in search of a break from her long morning of searching for jobs. Grace, who had just finished refilling a customer's coffee, looked up and the sound of the doorbell to see the sulking girl.

"Hey, Heather," Grace greeted the girl comfortingly. Grace knew she had been working hard to find a job and Heather didn't seem too happy, indicating it was more difficult than she thought it would be. "My shift ends in like two minutes, so how bout when I'm done I can help you with your job hunt, yeah?"

Heather nodded at the girl, glad to have someone helping her, and walked over to the counter.

Grace headed to the back of the diner, removed her apron, and clocked out. She waved goodbye to the few other members of the wait and kitchen staff and walked back out front.

As she was walking to where Heather was sitting, talking to Dodge who was behind the counter, Grace heard him say very loudly, "Then how'd those two kids die last summer?"

Grace quickly hurried over to the two, suddenly worried about the conversation they were having and what the restaurant's patrons were thinking.

"Whoa. Keep your voice down, for fucks sake," Heather whisper-shouted at Dodge.

"Yeah, Dodge what the literal hell?" Grace asked angrily as she arrived at the two and quickly took the barstool next to Heather. Grace understood that they must have been on the subject of Panic if Dodge was bringing up Abby and Jimmy's deaths.

"Oh, so it's real," Dodge concluded. "You know, I thought Ray was just shaking me down at first. 'A dollar a day, every day school is in session.' But then when I saw that everyone else had to pay in..." Dodge trailed off, proving he understood how real the game was. Grace was also not surprised at how much Ray shook Dodge down. Dodge started again, now addressing both girls: "So, how does it work? When does it start?"

"You wait for the judges to send out a signal," Heather began, giving into Dodge. "It's different every year."

"Hmm, and what, we're just supposed to wait until then?" he asked, impatient for the start of the games and his chance to win.