dawn to twilight. ( FILLIE )

three: from the moment i first saw you,

chapter three | before the storm
3:56pm

grey clouds loomed over waverly, stirring up a dreary feeling inside of my chest as sat alone in the middle of a bleacher. wind blew through the football field, reaching me with the scene of dead leaves before it calmed down.

i rubbed my hands together and tapped my feet to try and create some warmth.
it was only september twenty-seventh and somehow the temperature had dropped severely, causing trees to begin turning dormant very early. the weather forecast even had said that there would be a snow shower at the end of week. just flurries was my guess.

though chilly weather is my favorite because it means holidays with friends is coming up, i couldn't make myself look forward to it. the greyness only made me think about the horrible things that had been going on.

my eyes trailed along with caleb's figure as he practiced with his team for the big homecoming football game.
i sighed as i remembered a certain morning when sophia came up to my locker with bright eyes and raised rosy cheeks as she grinned from ear to ear.
she admitted to me that she believed someone was going to ask her to homecoming, and specifically someone who she'd be longing after for months.
i had pushed her bangs out of her eyes and whispered to her, "don't get your hopes up".

now the whole school is in a fluster about sophia missing that they have to constantly remind themselves about the huge event coming up. teachers and faculty, amongst other town citizens spend most of their free time in search parties for sophia, searching every inch of waverly but they're yet to venture as far as where we were when we discovered her corpse.

i shook my head, attempting to steer my mind away from its train of thought. i'll admit, it was exhausting to carry a secret of such horrifying manners. but for some reason, the fact that i am keeping a huge secret of those such horrifying manners is giving me a thrill.

another strong breeze suddenly blew my hair in all sorts directions, i rolled my eyes, now not able to see football practice as my curly brown locks covered my eyes. with my hand combing through, most of my hair laid back in its normal placement, a few stray strands still bothersome on my face.

i squinted as i heard the coach raise his voice. it was typical for him to get angry with his team. in fact it was alarmingly typical. before i was able to pull my phone out of my pocket and message sadie, i saw someone coming to sit beside me from my peripheral view.

"millie, hi," spoke finn. he smiled at me, his face cold and pale as usual, but something was off. "uh hey," i nodded in the response, ignoring the fact that i felt like i should've asked him if he was alright. i wasn't good with asking questions, i felt like i was always intruding, even if it was a harmless question. i also didn't like being asked questions.

finn tapped his foot nervously and glanced down, seeming to be rehearsing something to say to me over in his head. i raised an eyebrow in curiosity and didn't break from my vision from him, my hands clasped together.

when he looked back up to, confident in speaking a full sentence to me finally, he choked back. a sigh escaped his lips and i could feel that he was uneasy. to make things easier, i placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "what is it?" i asked softly, my glossy lips forming a small grin. "i need your book, the one sophia gave you."
my expression sharpened. "no way." i replied shortly, exhaling loudly.
finn appeared to be defeated, but he definitely had plans not to be.

"please, just for the rest of the day!" he begged in a whiny tone. my eyebrows furrowed as i sternly shook my head.
"oh cmon, please. this is serious, i just need to look in it." finn's voice had now dropped into a lower and more serious tone.