Groups of Three and Ghosts of Thee

---------- 𝒟𝒶𝒾𝓈𝓎 ---------

----- 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕸𝖚𝖓𝖉𝖆𝖓𝖊 𝖂𝖔𝖗𝖑𝖉 -----

"There you guys are!" shouted a voice from behind the barrier of mist, stopping Liath mid-sentence.

From behind the great wall of particles, emerged Andrea and Lee, smiling. They had spent the last few minutes scavenging the field, like two lost sailors on a stormy night, in search of a lighthouse called Daisy. They had seen her leave the coach, however they lost her after the great separation began.

They were tempted to shout Marco, in hopes that a Polo would return from Daisy.

"There you guys are! I've been looking for you! It's been like half an hour," Daisy exclaimed.

"Daisy, I know you like to exaggerate stuff, but half an hour when it's only been ten minutes? My baby is growing up too fast!" Liath said, clutching her heart through her shirt, a small smile spreading across her face, revealing two deep dimples.

She felt like a proud mother at that moment in time.

"What? I'm not, I looked at my phone and it's been half an hour," confusion began to settle, within Daisy's stomach as those words escaped her lips.

Liath glanced at her wristwatch and knitted her eyebrows.

"Baby we saw you guys get off the coach ten minutes ago. We literally just walked over. God, what is this mist?" Liath said, adjusting her scarf once more, "Anyways, here, I'll even show you my watch."

Liath twisted her wrist towards her friends, and there, low and behold, was a time that was ten minutes behind Daisy's.

What? I just checked my phone, let me check again.

And so, she did. Daisy took out her mobile, for the millionth time of that day, and couldn't believe it.

11:45! Did I read the time wron-?

"Addy, are you okay love, you look like you've seen a ghost," Liath asked, genuine worry in her voice.

Daisy tore her eyes away from the shapeshifting time and looked at Addy. Her normally pale skin was sickly white, almost reflective in the gathering mist. She looked a bit like one of those creepy dolls, inspired by snow-white... skin white as snow, lips red as blood, and hair black as ebony... (except she had hazel hair, but that's just a small detail). She looked small, almost like a terrified mouse, in those large baggy clothes, and three sizes too big wellies.

But Addy's never scared...

"Andr- "

"OOKAY! In your groups, so I can count you! It's already been five minutes, that's more than enough time," screeched the tubby old beast called Ms Casto.

Holy sh*t! It has been only five minutes!

Daisy looked at her phone again, and screamed when she saw it read 11:40. She dropped her phone as well as jumped back violently, crashing into William behind her. Everyone turned to look at her.

Fortunately, the mist was thick enough so that you couldn't make out Daisy's face.

Unfortunately, fog isn't noise cancelling.

"Yes, what's wrong love?" asked Ms Casto, standing on her tiptoes as she tried to make up Daisy's face.

"Nothing, sorry! I saw a spider in the grass!" Daisy said loudly, pushing herself off William and frantically apologising to him.

She swiftly picked up her phone, silently praising the heavens the long grass broke the fall and she didn't have a cracked screen. A few people around her jumped back, clearly arachnophobes, but the focus was quickly moved back to the matter at hand.

"Okay, just move away from that spot then! Right! Silvia swap with Mark, you are not going in a group with Leslie!-"

Silent shuffling commenced, as Ms Casto furthered separated and muddled the groups to her liking. They were like clay, and Ms Casto a person who only dreamt of destruction. Many friends were separated. Factions were broken up. Betrayal clearly written on many faces, annoyance on others.

"Ah shit," Will muttered.

He quickly grabbed Daisy and Liath and pulled them into a group. They were not well known by the teachers, so the teachers shouldn't meddle with them. He quickly mouthed a quick apology to Andrea and Lewis, who were left in a pair, a vacant seat left for them to deal with.

At least Daisy wouldn't have to worry about being left to join with another group.

Eventually, the moving about quietened. Prayers that were exchanged evaporated as Ms Casto finally stopped making people move. From time to time, she'd throw in a snarky comment.

"Why can't some of you count the three?"

"Really? Ellie? I can clearly see you behind Dora, you're not invisible with that fedora."

"Stop talking for god's sake!"

But now, all that was left was an awkward silence.

All was well.

Worry and stress had flown away with the noise.

That was, until eventually, Ms Casto locked eyes with Lewis and Andrea.

"You two, can you also not count to three?" Ms Casto shouted.

Not even a hint of sympathy, even for her top two students.

"Sorry Ms Casto, we didn't see anyone else that could join us!" Lewis cheerfully retorted.

Andrea looked at him, momentarily distracted from her previous thoughts, and wondered how he could be so nice at that moment. That only lasted a moment, however, as she swiftly returned back into staring into what seemed to be space. Daisy narrowed her eyes. She saw the whole exchange. Her worry was still firmly in place, being held down by a large anchor called paranoia.

"Whatever! That means there must be one of you spare. Show yourself! Or someone volunteered, I couldn't care less at this rate. This is ridiculous! You guys are in year 13! Why aren't you children not capable of getting into groups?!"

Somehow, the previous silence was replaced with an even more deafening one.

Not even the crickets strummed their tunes.

It was so silent, that Daisy could have sworn, that if you listened just a tad bit more closely, you could hear the fog forming. The particles colliding. Now that Daisy thought of it, the fog was thickening surprisingly quickly and was not stopping.

One, two, three.

The seconds seem to be flying by, each longer than the last.

It's not that people didn't WANT to go with the two (they were quite likeable people), it was just that teenage social awkwardness was simply too powerful at that moment. It seemed like no one would be brave enough to break this terrible tension.

"I'll do it."

Just like that, the silence was cut through like soft butter. All heads turned, like a sea of meerkats, to the back of the large crowd. It was a pointless act, really. It's not like anyone could see who was at the back in that fog. However, everyone wanted to know who this mystery person was, that was brave enough to volunteer.

"Who was that?" asked Ms Casto.

Even she had to strain her beady little eyes.

From the mist, emerged a boy.

Daisy could feel her heart plummet when she saw him clearly.

How long had it been?

Three years, maybe four?

He'd changed, at least, from what Daisy saw.

He was still tall, and slouching, 'posture' a word clearly not part of his vocabulary, much like William. He wore a large, black hoodie and ripped jeans, not that it mattered what he wore. Daisy was more entranced with what was happening on top of his head.

Did he dye his hair?

She wondered, as he raked a finger through his long, fiercely red hair. She had to admit, he did always look strange with his jet-black hair and freckled face, all those years ago, when memories had been realities.

However... now...

It just seemed too unreal. Like she still hadn't fully woken up from her dream world back on the coach. She could only think of one, single sentence...

Has Archie lost his fucking mind?

"Ah, Archie. Fine, go with them two. We've taken so long here anyways, we need to get moving!" shouted Ms Casto, jumping down from the picnic table she had been standing on, almost slipping on the wet grass below her, "Of we go! Hopefully, this fog clears up."

So, they began to walk.

Finally.

Through the muddy field, through the thick fog, through the thick woods.

It seemed to be taking an awfully long time. Everyone was talking. Everyone was giddy.

All except Daisy.

Daisy couldn't tear her eyes away from what was happening in Andrea and Lee's group that they had magically migrated to; what was happening with Addy, Lewis and... Archie.

It's weird to even think his name.

They were all uncomfortable. It was clearly visible. From the sweat that was forming on all of their brows, to the silent thoughts and glances exchanged by everyone except the two people in question.

A single thought ran through all of their minds, even Archie's.

What the hell is Andrea thinking right now?

Remember when I said, 'Most groups in Bishop's school contained 5 people, for some reason...' What if I told you, that Daisy's group used to be an exception.

The only exception that everyone knew of.

The group with the strongest bonds, and no drama.

The group that was perfect.

But, that was all before Andrea came to school one day... just one day... and threatened to kill Archie.

But, that was all before Archie had a fight with Andrea... a violent fight.

But, that was all before the group was forced to take sides... you either agreed with Andrea or Archie.

But, that was all before Archie thanked the one person... the only one person... that sided with him after all that happened... and ended it.

That was all before Archie had seemingly pressed 'log off' on earth.

That was, until now.

"Nice hair, dude," Lewis laughed awkwardly.

Even he was struggling to find nice things to say. Memories swam around his head. He felt awkward trying to be nice. He had sided with Andrea, all those years ago. He never even gave Archie a chance to explain himself. Anything that came out of his mouth at that moment, was drowned out by one word that Archie was thinking.

Traitor.

"Thank you," Archie deadpanned.

His voice is deeper, Daisy silently noted.

"...So, why red?" Liath asked, her accent weaker, clearly cowering at Archie's presence.

It had every right to do so. After all...

Another traitor.

"Because that's the colour of my natural hair," Archie responded.

He has red hair? Naturally?! Daisy silently screamed, What about the black hair he always had since our childhood?

"Really? That's sick dude, but why did you die it black back then?" asked Will.

Archie didn't even respond. He didn't have to. William was dead to him as well.

Traitor number three.

Daisy couldn't help but stare. Was it from shock, wonder, or from simple confusion?

It didn't matter, Archie noticed.

He looked at her, dead in the eye... and smiled... sadly.

Daisy still remembered the day Archie had thanked her for her support and kindness. It was on the top of the pile of the memories that were too painful to remember.

On the FORGET pile.

But she'd never forget that.

To the tears that were spilling out of his eyes, to that sad smile... that god damned broken smile. Daisy could only smile back, trying to hold back hot tears. There was nothing more she could do back then. It wasn't easy to let go of a friend she held so dear. Of course it's never easy. Especially when she loved him so much, in a way she'd never love any of her other friends. She remembered watching him walk away from her, and her sadly thinking, and he'll never know.

She wished she stopped him, but she knew it wasn't her decision. Just like it wasn't her decision to participate in the silent game the group was playing, as they trudged along the muddy path.

Walking, and walking, and walking, and walking, and walking, and walking... and... walking... and...

"Um... guys? Hate to break the whole silence, but where the hell is everyone else?" asked Lewis, stopping and spinning around.

Suddenly, all of them stopped. They hadn't even noticed that at some point in the silence game, the group had separated from everyone else. At least, they thought so. The fog had become so thick, they could barely even see each other.

"What the hell?! No wonder we've been walking so long! We lost everyone!" Liath heaved, slightly hugging herself.

The cold was setting in even faster than before. She regretted leaving her coat at Will's house. It was fine though, she'd steal Williams when he wasn't looking.

"Can you hear anyone?"

"Someone try to scream!"

"HELLOOOOOOOO???!!!"

"Gods sake Lewis, not that loud! My eardrum almost popped!"

"Well I'm sorry your majesty, but in case you haven't noticed, we're lost in the woods!"

"No signal," sighed Daisy, waving her phone in the air.

Not that she believed it. She honestly had trust issues with her phone after the whole time situation. She put it away and zoned out from the main focus of the group.

"Now what?" asked William.

Conversation broke out between Lewis, William and Liath, while the other three just stood in silence. Daisy included.

Daisy wasn't listening. Her main concern was Addy. She hadn't even flinched when Archie accidentally walked into her a while back. She hadn't spoken since they met up after getting off the coach. Daisy was really worried at that point. Andrea was known in her friend group for being fearless. Stubborn, but fearless.

However, this?

The sight of Andrea scared was making Daisy scared.

What could have possibly scared Andrea so bad?

She walked up to her, only a few steps, as the group continued to argue over what to do next. She could feel Archie watching her, curious as to what she was going to do.

"Andrea, are you okay?" Daisy asked.

All heads turned to look at them, a momentary distraction from the argument. Lewis, Liath, Will and Archie.

All attention was on her and Andrea.

And Daisy hated it. She didn't expect this much attention, even if it was just her friends. Maybe it was because Archie was there, and she didn't want to tick him off. Not after seeing him for the first time in years.

He even moved classes. Moved houses. They were all certain he had moved schools.

She didn't expect him to show up.

Then again, she didn't expect a lot of things.

Such as, when Andrea began... running away?

"ANDREA!" they all screamed in unison, desperately scrambling to keep close behind her.

Their heavy footsteps could be heard throughout the forest, hitting the ground and creating strange echoes. The loud thumps, thumps, thumps, urged them to keep moving. To keep up with Andrea.

They couldn't lose her.

Daisy couldn't lose her.

Tears threatened to pour out as she kept running behind her best friend. She was almost certain that she had managed to hurt Andrea by opening her mouth when she shouldn't have.

Running. They were running. Running behind a hare, like a stampede of gazelles. A mixture of trees towered over them, all a blur of white, brown, pink and blue. They were dwarfed, that's for sure. Dwarfed in this forest, that never seemed to end.

Wait, blue trees? What's going on? Daisy began to think.

They all began to think, but it was too late.

All it took was one blink.

The last thing Daisy remembered was a blinding light.