Meds and Monsters

Chapter 2: More to the Party

It's been only a few days since Julia and Maria escaped from death by the hands of Rhino and Scorpion. They have locked themselves inside of FEAST, not daring to go outside. Julia fears that Rhino and Scorpion are so angry, that they are scouring the city for the two girls. Maria has tried to console her friend and tell her that they have more important things to do, but Julia has a constant feeling in the back of her mind that something bad is going to happen.

For the last two nights, the girls haven't slept that well. Maria keeps having vivid nightmares about her and Rhino inside of some pitch black maze. Julia dreams about Scorpion killing her loved ones. So, of course, it is only natural for the two girls to be walking close to one another as they scurry across the street and onto the sidewalk.

They would never have gone outside again if it wasn't for Julia's cousin, Hannah. See, Hannah had booked a flight to meet up with the girls because they didn't come home when they were supposed to. Honestly, they have no idea how Hannah was able to get a flight to Manhattan, as there was no transportation coming from in or out of the city. Julia tried to contact her, saying that Manhattan was no place to be right now, but Hannah was persistent and took matters into her own hands. If the girls needed help, Hannah was going to be there.

Knowing they couldn't leave Hannah to walk to FEAST from the airport by herself, Julia and Maria take to the streets once more to meet up with Hannah and escort her back. Julia tries to take her mind off things by thinking of past jokes her and Maria shared while they were in high school. "Hey, Maria. I have an idea."

"Really? What's that?" Maria asks, surprised that Julia was able to speak through her feared state. Well, now that she thinks about it, she isn't that surprised. Julia is known for talking in uncomfortable situations to lighten the mood.

"I have some Kroger brand AirPods. Wanna listen to some music on the way with me?" Julia pulls out the green box from her pocket and opens it. Maria gladly takes the left one and Julia places the right into her ear.

Julia scrolls through her phone for a few moments and smiles when she finds the perfect song. Maria almost stops in her tracks, her heart lifting instantly, and she jumps up and down. "JUST LIKE ANIMALS, ANIMALS, LIKE ANIMALS-MAAALS!"

"Hey, what's eighteen divided by six?!" Julia jumps as well and slings an arm around Maria's shoulders. Right after the question, both girls yell, "THREE!" and start cracking up laughing.

"Why did you hit your head on the ceiling?" Julia laughs, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't know. Why did we try and explain the Bible to Ghirahim and Zant?" Maria elbows Julia in the side softly, reminding her of the day the two girls were most likely high on lack of sleep.

"Remember when they tried to get me drunk off of Gatorade?" Julia asks, which makes Maria laugh uncontrollably. Julia lowers her voice to sound funnier and says, "You lost me at the snake part!"

"Man, I miss the simple times when we obsessed over those two yanderes." Maria sighs, calming herself down from the laughing outbursts. "Now we have to worry about real life scorpion-rhino-man hybrids."

"Yeah..." Julia blinks, feeling herself deflate a bit. However, she smiles again and rolls her eyes, trying to reassure herself. What is she thinking? There's no way those two idiot villains dressed for Halloween are going to find them. "I mean, no! We shouldn't be worried. Like, those two couldn't find a sticky note that was trapped to their foreheads. Their intelligence combined is less than the amount of water I pour onto my balcony plants."

"I'm sad to hear you think so little of us," a voice says from behind Julia's shoulder.

"Come on, Maria. There is no way you weren't thinking the same thing." Julia chuckles, but pauses when she doesn't get a response. "Maria?"