A Forgotten Mess: A Hawdence Story

The Soon-To-Be Annual Ball Part 2

About an hour into the ball...

Three adult guests were passed out drunk, Thaddea was nowhere to-be-seen, Tommy had flirted with over ten of the girls present and Hawthorne was eating his twenty-sixth sausage roll whilst eyeing off the cheese puffs.

Unit 919 had split up with the agreement to meet back with the rest of them at the drinks table at 8:50 so that they could get good seats for watching the performances.

(Time skip to 8:45 because every other time I tried to write something here it's never something entertaining.)

At 8:45, Cadence decided that it was best she and Hawthorne head over to the drinks table to meet back up with the group. As they walked over, that bumped into Francis, Mahir and Thaddea who were also on their way over.

"Thaddea, you weren't supposed to get into any fights tonight, remember?!"

"But his girlfriend was being a bi-"

"So you beat up the guy?"

"I warned his girlfriend but then he came over and told me to get lost," Thaddea said, obviously still very annoyed at the previous situation.

"And you said 'no'?"

"Of course she did."

Hawthorne grinned at Cadence, "See? I told you she wouldn't be able to go tonight without fighting at least one person!"

Cadence rolled her eyes, "Yeah, she's probably gonna go finish him off later."

Once they made it to the drinks table, they only had to wait another minute for everyone else. The chairs had just been set out so the group went and sat down as the rest of the guests followed suit, filing into the remaining chairs.

When 9 o'clock came around, the lights dimmed and the curtains opened revealing Frank with a microphone. As he gave half of the grand speech he had been preparing for since the day he announced the idea of the ball, he looked around, eyes twinkling feeling (and looking) rather pleased with himself. He announced the opening act and left the stage as a Wunimal choir filed on from the other side.

Time skip to after the performances

Everyone rose to their feet, giving a standing ovation to the last act (Dame Chanda) and then to all of the performers. Frank stumbled back on the stage through the sea of woodland creatures who had been called in by Chanda's voice. Frank thanked the guests and then announced the Performing Events as closed, making everyone stand up and leave as staff members came to take the chairs away.

Cadence looked around at her friends, they all seemed to have really enjoyed this part of this evening – Thaddea was practically yelling and re-enacting the group of dance fighters who had put on a thrilling show involving fire torches.

As she turned to look next to her, Hawthorne met her eyes and smiled.

"C'mon, let's go outside," He said, grabbing Cadence's hand, pulling her along with him.

He led her out of one of the balcony windows and only let go of her hand when they were at the railing, but still stayed close by her. Looking up at the night sky, Cadence thought it looked... no, felt different. It didn't feel as large and easy to get lost in. It felt comforting, like it was telling her to hold on to what she's got and she'll make it out okay. It was the feeling of looking at something wonderful yet terrifying, but having a friend by your side who has promised to never let you go.

Cadence turned her gaze from the sky to the curly-headed boy next to her. He was looking out at the moon. It was a full moon, larger and brighter than usual, just like the stars seemed to be. It was a breathtaking sight (the sky, not Hawthorne), the dark night sky lighten up by the shining stars and moon.