PISTANTHROPHOBIA
Noun.
The fear of trusting people due to past experiences with relationships gone bad
Previously:
"I won't be sleeping much anyway"
Present:
As they lay awake, they couldn't help but let their mind wander, soothed by the sounds of their friends sleeping in the room.
Who is Y? What beef do they have with me? Why are they doing all of this?
Questions swarmed their thoughts, overwhelming them slightly. They didn't even realise how much time had passed until an orange glow fell through the cracks in the window, birds soft tweeting filling the room. They yawned. Not long after, they heard their friends begin to stir.
The first to awaken was Moe, groaning as he slowly sat up on his bed.
"Sylvia? I thought Willow was meant to be on watch now?" He grumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"I may have lost track of time." Sylvia replied, nervously chuckling at the end. Moe raised an eyebrow suspiciously before getting out of bed.
"I'm gonna change, then we can figure out what we're going to do." Moe said, walking off with some clothes in hand.
"Stay close so I can hear if something goes wrong." Sylvia said quickly, he nodded, turning into one of the closer rooms.
As he changed, more people began to awaken.
Eventually, Moe had changed, and everyone else was also ready for the day. They sat around the main table.
Charlie unrolled a large piece of paper across the table and wrote a Y in the middle.
"If we write down everything we know about them, it may be easier to figure out who they are," They suggested. Everyone quickly agreed.
"So, we know, whoever they are, that they obviously have some kind of problem with Sylvia," Moe started. Charlie quickly wrote that down, connecting it to the centre.
"Sylvia made a choice that they didn't like"
"They know that Sylvia cares about Springy a lot"
"They use the letter Y to mark their stuff"
"They can get around without anyone noticing"
"They know the layout of the town"
The group continued to add to the mind map until they all had many points.
"Well, from what we have, I'm guessing that Y is one of us, is more secluded and doesn't like Sylvia." Toasty said, looking between them. Many tried to be subtle, but many eyes fell on Geko.
"I mean, there is someone who fits that description pretty well." Moe said, looking to Geko.
"If you're just going to accuse me, how do we know it's not you? You don't openly dislike Sylvia, but you have Y in your name. You look no more innocent than I do" Geko said monotonously, glaring at Moe. Moe simply stayed silent.
"If we all start accusing each other, we're going to destroy ourselves. Y wants us to fall apart so it's easier for them to get in." Charlie said, stepping in between the two. Geko sighed, looking away from Moe.
"Sadly, I do have to admit that you two are the most likely suspects right now. Obviously, we can't know for sure, but it's the truth." Sylvia said quietly.
"But right now, we need to focus on how to find Springy." Willow nodded.
"Yeah, she could be in a lot of danger." She replied.
"Where could she be though? It's not like they would be in town, that would be too obvious."
"Maybe we should do a scout of the surrounding area, make sure there's nothing new." Charlie suggested.
"Let's get some weapons and head out." Sylvia said, folding up the mind map.
After some short preparation, the team went out, decked in the last of their iron and wielding bows and swords, even some axes. The started their trip at the river behind Moe's house. After inspecting the area, they found nothing new, so they continued.
They made a large loop around the perimeter of the town, watching it quickly become night. They could easily fend off the monsters, however, because of their large group.
Sadly, they found no traces of their friend or of the mysterious Y.
The group slowly made their way back to Moe's house as the sun began to rise on a new day. As they entered again, many decided to sleep for a while as they were fighting through the night.
Eventually, the only ones left awake were Moe and Sylvia. The two had known each other for almost the longest, second only to Sylvia and Geko.
The two of that sat next to each other in silence, appreciating the moment of calm they had.
"You don't really think it's me, do you?" Sylvia heard Moe mumble quietly. They hummed.
"Realistically, I don't see why you would do it, but there are a few things that can't be ignored. You know, with Y being the letter used, and you being kind of separated from us in the first place..." They explained, turning to him.
"But I really hope it's not you." They mumbled. Moe sighed.
"Sylvia, I wouldn't do that to you. I wouldn't do that to everyone." He said sincerely. "Even if I joke about anarchy constantly" That enticed a small chuckle from Sylvia.
The two returned to a comfortable silence, watching the group sleep peacefully.
"You should get some rest, you didn't sleep last night." Moe said, gesturing to an empty bed.
"I can't sleep without Springy there." They said, shaking their head.
"Worried?"
"That, and it's comfort thing. I don't like sleeping by myself. I like having another person there and Springy is okay with that, so it's just a habit at this point." Sylvia explain. Moe nodded.
"I get that, but at least try, okay?" He asked.
"First, and don't try to avoid this, why do you dislike Geko so much?"
"Huh?"
"You seem to just dislike Geko for no real reason-"
"I have every reason to not like him." He seethed out. That caught Sylvia's attention.
"Really? What happened?"
"I don't..." He sighed "Don't tell anyone, okay?" Sylvia nodded, scooting closer.
"Okay, so, Geko and I got quite close after I found you guys, right?" I nodded.
"Well, you know who I'm gay right? I started to kinda like him. I don't know if it was just me being lonely or if I genuinely liked him, but I had strong feelings for him." He sighed out.
"And then, you know, after we found Charlie, he seemed to like her, and started talking to me less." He said, looking away.
"And it hurt. And then I told him about my feelings, and he told me he was straight." He said quietly.
"I knew he was, it still hurt, and he seemed so unfazed by it all." He mumbled angrily.
"So, you're against him cause he rejected you?" Sylvia asked, only receiving a nod.
"That's understandable I guess, but that was a year ago at least. You need to let go" They continued, once again, only receiving a nod.
"You want to take watch?" He nodded.
"Don't stress out too much, I'm sure everything will be okay" Sylvia said before heading to bed.
I mean, they tried to.
But it just turned into lying in bed, thinking about Springy.
They just prayed they weren't already too late.
