Dressed In Black

Unwanted Visitor

The possession episode was set to air tonight. I was nervous, as were all of my friends, but what was done was done. Neither Zak nor I were going to watch, but we'd more than likely have to stay glued to our phones to field tweets. The worst thing we could do is not answer questions about this-- that just led to speculation and falsehoods, two things that neither of us had the patience to deal with.

The past few lockdowns we had were in no way comparable to that night, and thank God. Zak was back to his normal goofy self, and I had healed up. The bruises on my face and chest were gone and so were the ones on my back, save for a light-yellow tinge. Once we got through the airing of the episode, the night would be behind us, and not a day too soon.

From the second the intro started to the beginning of the next show, we barely spoke, both of us handling our respective tweets. There was a lot of explaining and clarification to be done, answering a lot of questions about how we stood as friends and as a group after all of that. We had to reassure so many times that we were all fine, that none of us were angry with each other and we all understood the root of the issue: the spirit that fucked with Zak. Most people did well with it, thanked us for the show, wished us the best, and moved on. However, there were always some folks that didn't quite get it, that, as I feared, started throwing all kinds of wild accusations at Zak. All that took was a swift click of the block button and we were done. We didn't have the time or energy to deal with that kind of shit-- people who didn't experience would never understand, no matter how much we tried to let them in, how much we tried to explain.

Zak tossed his phone on the couch beside him and leaned his head on my shoulder.

"I'm exhausted. That was way too much shit to deal with."

"Entirely too much if you ask me. I don't know how Aaron used to do that all the time."

"Simpler times. He likes it, anyway."

"Power to him." I put my head on top of Zak's and flipped off the tv. I was about to ask Zak if he just wanted to go to bed, but I was cut off by a familiar text tone I never bothered to change. I rolled my eyes and looked down.

Where are you? -Danny

I huffed and locked my phone, dropping it onto my lap. I hadn't talked to my ex in months, and I was not in the mood to deal with anything he had to throw at me. Zak and I were doing fine, the last thing I needed as someone to throw a wrench into everything we had going on.

"What?" Zak asked. I rolled my eyes and shook my head as I tried to brush it off.

"Don't worry about it."

"Well you know that isn't happening." He picked my phone off my lap and unlocked it, reading the text that was still pulled up. He laughed, too loudly-- he was annoyed. "You're kidding." He said. I gently removed the phone from my hands and held it.

"I'm not responding." Just as I finished talking, of course more texts rolled in. Zak craned his neck over my shoulder to read too.

Your read receipts are on, Allison. I saw what happened, where are you? - Danny

Dammit.

Don't ignore me. -Danny

Zak groaned and closed his eyes, burying his face in my neck. I felt very much the same way.

Please leave me alone. Everyone is fine. -Allison

So you're with him? -D

Stop. -A

I'm coming. -D

Don't you dare. -A

I'm serious, Daniel. Don't. -A