Home Away From Home

Where did you come from? Where did you go?

Remember the 45-minute walk it took the girls to get to 'The Spot'? Yeah, well it took them an hour and 15 minutes to get back to Maggie the only completely sober one, however, Emily seemed to have cleared up pretty quickly, still rereading that note. Erin seemed a bit sluggish but she had puked most of it up back in the clearing. Then there was Sam. Sam was, well she was completely shitfaced to say the very least. Sam added at least 15 minutes to the walk with her nonsense and Emily looked about ready to rock her shit, clearly not forgetting the conversation they had been having earlier.

When they finally made it back to their dorm, Maggie wanted an explanation, and she was going to get one if it was the last thing she did.

"What the FUCK is going on?" She yelled,

"Can we not do this tonight, please?" Erin asked, holding her head, heading towards her bed, and stepping over Sam who had decided to just camp on the floor, deeming the top bunk an impossible climb.

"No why don't we talk about it."Emily prompted loudly, startling Sam awake. "Personally I think something is very wrong. And if none of you want to discuss it, then I'll figure it by myself."Maggie was impressed really, in the past 48 hours she hadn't heard Emily get actually get mad, she figured she was fueled by a bit of liquid courage. But when no one responded to her ,she huffed a very deep breath, pulled Sam off of the ground, put Sam in her bed underneath Maggies bunk, and she climbed up to Sam's bunk and turned over.

Maggie couldn't sleep again. But this time for a different reason, every time she closed her eyes, she could see the deer head. She wasn't a vegan or anything, but it was pretty gory, especially in the middle of the woods at night, fairy lights or not. Maggie also realized that it was placed there. How it had been without anyone noticing... Maggie didn't know, she knew it wasn't a bear, which gave her some relief because a bear wouldn't have calmly placed down a cleanly decapitated deer head and then scurried away without anyone screaming before hand. It just wasn't possible.

On the other hand.... that meant someone had put it there, a whole human person that attended this school. A major weirdo for sure, that was the only thing she knew. And that... that was what kept her up throughout the night, that someone like that was around her.

When the first sign of sunlight began to shine through the cracks in the blinds, Maggie once again quietly ascended from her bunk and snuck into the bathroom and started the shower. She really needed something to pep her up because she hadn't slept at all last night and at the moment she wasn't particularly inclined to go walking around by herself this time around.

After she got out and got dressed and opened the bathroom door, she peaked out and saw everyone still asleep. So instead of walking around the campus she walked down three flights of stairs and went to the infamous phone with a paper in her pocket. No not that paper, Emily still has that one. No this one had the numbers of all of her friends of home.

She stood there for a hot minute, because it occurred to her that it was around 8 in the morning on the weekend so this might have been a bit of a Bad Idea on her part. So she decided she would wait at least a half hour. So she went to go sit on an old yet cozy looking couch. She sat there folding and unfolding the paper, twiddling her thumbs, overall looking like a freak. When she glanced at the clock and it had finally been 30 minutes , she practically jumped up and ran back to the phone.

Maggie decided to call Alexa first, it went straight to voicemail. Skank. But then she remembered Alexa always has do not disturb on, so she dialed the number again. And this time....

"Hello...?"Came from the other side and Maggie was about to cry because of how much she missed her. 

"ALEXA!!!" She screamed, then covering her mouth so no one came down and punch her in the face for being so loud so early. 

"Maggie?!?!"Alexa exclaimed, then it sounded like she pulled the phone away and said distantly, "It's Maggie!" In the background Maggie could hear grumbles of 

"Shut the fuck up."

"it's too early for you."

And finally: 

"wait Maggie?"

"where????"

"On the phone idiot."Alexa said exasperated, then something smacked the phone so Maggie could only imagine someone threw a pillow at her. Suddenly Alexa's voice was back loud and clear into the receiver,"I'm with Shannon and Fiona and-OW!" more muffled arguing,  "Okay wait I'm gonna put you on speaker." there was some shuffling and then: "Okay tell us everything."

     So Maggie did. She told them about the school, her room mates, Mikey, the party, the mysterious Mia girl, and the deer head. 

"Well the Emily girl is the only one with sense then, right?" Alexa asked, "I mean the other girl's stories don't make sense... it's a bit odd." 

"Yeah,"Maggie agreed, "I just don't understand why Sam got so mad about it,"

"She probably felt bitter about it, they were probably friends and Sam thought one thing, and now there's a possibility theres something wrong and she probably feels guilty for not realizing it sooner, she could be in denial," Shannon reasoned.

     Maggie blinked at that, she hadn't thought about it from Sam's side, she was drunk, and Maggie had just confirmed her friend was not where she was supposed to be. 

"Or maybe, and hear me out on this one," Fiona started, "This Mia girl didn't actually like these girls and transferred schools without telling them and just ghosted her boyfriend?" Maggie sighed in frustration, there were too many options, most of them made a bit of sense, but Maggie didn't have enough evidence to prove any of their theories. 

"I need to find out more." Maggie decided, "I'll try to get more information and I'll let you guys know,"

"You better. Now we're all invested and if you don't fill us in your gonna disappear next," Alexa threatened, which of course was a horrible thing to say, but Maggie laughed despite it, "And about this boy, he's yet to be approved, even with The Smiths playing. 

"Alright I have to go so by-" Maggie started,

"Wait, is this number like from your dorm or main office or what?" Alexa asked 

"Oh I'm calling from Elizabeth."Maggie stated, 

"...what?" All three girls on the other line asked,

"oh um thats what the phone is named, but its in the common area of my dorm building so if you wanna call me, call this number and say your calling for Maggie Winz in room 3D,"

"Alright, we miss you, love you, byeee"

"I really miss you guys too,"Maggie said, slightly tearing up a she hung up the phone. 

     Walking back upstairs Maggie decided to put a plan into action, she would have to be more open with them, if they knew more about her, maybe they would tell her more about them, including their relationships with Mia Cappa. So once she made it to her room she waved at Emily and Erin who were finally awake. Emily reading and Erin gathering her laundry together. She was about to ask where Sam was but then she heard throwing up in the bathroom, and she figured that made sense. 

     Maggie walked over to the closet, pulled out her suitcase, pulled out a few pictures in frames and put them up on the dresser closest to her bunk. Emily looked over to what she was doing and smiled at her in what looked to be understanding. She walked over to the closet once more and pulled out a Phoebe Bridgers album and held it up for Emily to see, her smile got wider as she nodded and reopened her book. 

     Emily would be easiest, Maggie thought. She clearly wanted to talk about it so as long as Maggie seemed trustworthy enough, Maggie would know everything in no time. So Maggie laid down on her bed as Funeral by Phoebe Bridgers played throughout the room.