Titan: The Dark Path

Night on the Town

Rose Foote stared at herself in the mirror. She wore red lipstick and her hair was fixed with product. She wore tight jeans with a pushup bra and a tight, green button-down shirt with the top two buttons undone. She spritzed her neck with perfume and gazed through the mist. She set it back in the drawer next to a prom ticket with dried blood droplets on it.

Behind her, Constance said, "I don't want to do this." She sat on the edge of Rose's bed slouched forward biting her nails. She wore simple jeans and a loose T-shirt. There were sleepless rings around her eyes and her hair wasn't brushed.

Rose held out her hairbrush. "I can't go alone. I need you with me, Connie."

Constance stared at the brush and didn't comprehend the gesture right away. Finally, she accepted it and stood beside Rose brushing out knots. She stared at herself absently.

"You hate things like this. You never came with me to any high school parties," Connie said.

"I want to feel better," Rose said. "Let's be bold. Get out of our comfort zone. You need it more than me."

Connie's eyes turned red. "I can't just forget him, Rosie. It's only been two weeks since he was just... laying there... I'll never forget. I'll never forget that monster..."

Rose felt the back of her eyes burning, too. She saw herself in the mirror and stifled it. "Because you're just sitting around thinking about it, hon. Believe me, I can't forget either. I think about it all of the time. I think about... well, it doesn't matter. If we can't forget, maybe we can ignore it for a while. Maybe we'll have fun by accident."

"I can't believe you want to go out when Eric's still missing. There's been no word?"

"No word," Rose said. "He might never come back. I can't wait forever."

"Geez. You talk like he just left. It was those men... the terrorists..."

Rose wiped her eyes and cleared her throat. "I know. I know. It's just with graduation and college I feel like I'll fall behind if I wait for something that might never come."

"God, what is with you?" Connie said. "You sound like a robot."

Rose turned to face her. "College is supposed to be different, right? It's supposed to be a fresh start? Well, why wait?" She grabbed her phone and walked to the door. "Are you coming or not?"

They stared at each other for longer than a moment. Connie finally nodded. "Yeah, okay. You can't go to a college party alone."

"Thank you."

They passed Rose's dad on their way out. He held his hand up with the remote in it to stop them. Rose looked past him at the TV. There was a three-way split screen of talking heads debating replaced by a blurry image of Titan with a caption underneath: "Are Superheroes Real? Tell us what YOU think with the hashtag #WhoIsTitan."

"Hold up. Who? When? Where? Why?" Mr. Foote said.

"Uh, meeting Sammy and Griz at 8:30 at the mall... for ice cream. Don't need to fit into our prom dresses anymore." Rose hesitated.

"Need to think about your 'story'?" he said.

Rose blushed. "Ah, no, I just saw the TV and got caught up for a second..."

Connie saw it, too. "Him."

Mr. Foote switched the TV off. "I'm sorry. I was just watching for the weather and it's on every five minutes..."

"What else is there to say?" Connie said. Rose eyed her and bit her lip.

Mr. Foote shook his head. "They spotted him in St. Louis a couple of nights ago and now they're repeating everything we've heard a million times by now every hour on the hour. I should've turned it off."