I meant to have this chapter foreshadow the events of the next chapter, not make them worse. Yikes. I'm so sorry guys.

Please, I'm begging you, no matter what, never forget to eat something at least once a day and drink plenty of water. Even if it means hoarding a box of granola bars and a gallon of water next to your bed

Thank you for reading.

If Strelitzia didn't know any better, she would almost say that there was one director for this year's play. But that was absurd- surely not one person alone signed up to help. She, personally, only saw the ends in the costume department – she was proud costume adjuster for four years strong – but it was becoming more obvious that only one director was helping the other departments.

Because of her rather menial role in the play, Strelitzia only saw Skuld in passing most of the time. Maybe that was why she could tell that Skuld had lost a lot of weight over the past month. Strelitzia had thought it was only her imagination the first time she thought Skuld's half jacket seemed a bit too big. But it wasn't even a week later and her jacket continued to fall off her shoulder as she was talking to Olive. It really annoyed Skuld, but she didn't question why it was happening.

The oddities didn't stop there either. Everyone in the costume department was confused on who Anora was, and what exactly her role was in the play. The main rumor was that she was only an understudy. And, sure, it wasn't unusual for understudies to sit in for rehearsals. But they never tended to show up in the same frequency she did. Anora had been present to every rehearsal in the past month. Strelitzia wondered if Anora knew she didn't have to- or maybe it had something to do with that boy that came with her.

Of course, that was the other rumor; the rumor that Anora was only trying to worm her way into some guy's business. Or bed. The rumors were everywhere and they all hurt. Strelitzia always tried to divert the conversation- it's not like there wasn't a lot to do so they needed to gossip about other students. Seeing Skuld apparently work alone only made Strelitzia want to work harder.

"How's everyone doing here?"

Speaking of Skuld…

Olive was the first to notice Skuld. She turned to give her the report before getting a good look at Skuld's complexion. Strelitzia couldn't help but look up from her sewing to see what was going on. Skuld looked awful. There were deep, dark bags under her eyes, and there was a thin definition of her rib cage from under her shirt. If Strelitzia had to guess, she'd almost think that Skuld was more skeleton than human.

"Are you alright?" Olive asked, her eyes growing wide.

"It's fine." the Seventh Year dismissed. "I think I'm getting a cold. Haven't been sleeping too well while trying to get this play together."

But Olive didn't believe her for a second.

"We'll be fine here for now." she told the director. "How about you go get something to eat? I hear the cafeteria made extra marshmallow bars earlier and are practically giving them away."

"I'm not hungry." Skuld quickly dismissed. "If you don't need my help, I'll see how the other stage prep is going. Thank you for your time."

Olive watched with uncertainty as Skuld walked away. Slowly, carefully, Strelitzia started to return to her sewing and pretended she didn't see a thing. They were both incredibly worried and by now everyone knew that you couldn't change Skuld's mind easily. But someone needed to do something. Skuld wasn't going to make it another day if she kept this up.

. . .

Anora knew now that she didn't need to sit in on every rehearsal. If it wasn't for Ephemer, she probably wouldn't be here as often either. It did feel nice to see how the play started to come together. The closer they got to the play's debut, the less need there was to constantly have an understudy at the rehearsals. Still, Ephemer insisted that Anora be there. So Anora started to sit in the auditorium's front row seats, giving small feedback on the others' performance as they went on.

She wasn't aware that Strelitzia was carefully making her way over to Anora as the actors on stage went over a second act monologue again.

"Anora…?" the older girl's small voice whispered, coming from the left of her. Anora turned her head around to see Strelitzia. Raising an eyebrow, she gestured for Strelitzia to come on over. Well, Strelitzia shuffled over, as if she were afraid of making Anora mad for some reason. When they were close enough, the older girl didn't even look the younger in the eye.

"I have a note for you." Strelitzia quickly told her, presenting the folded paper with a small bow. Anora recoiled a little before carefully taking the note. Strelitzia didn't waste any time leaving after.

Weird, Anora thought for a moment before turning her attention to the note. She flipped it open to reveal a handwriting that looked familiar for some reason.

'I'm not sure how familiar you are with this year's director. But I think you need to talk to her. I do not think she is doing well, no matter what she says.'

Something in Anora jolted in revelation. Strelitzia's note… was it talking about Skuld? Anora honestly hadn't seen much of Skuld after the first rehearsal. There wasn't much Skuld needed to do when it came to the actors themselves- at this point in the play it was all preparation for the first dress rehearsals, which meant costumes, lighting, and background changes.

But still…

Anora held Strelitzia's note a bit tighter as she turned her attention back to the actors. Her eyes trained onto Ephemer- suddenly aware of his body language as his character started to accuse another as the villain. The boy held himself as if it were all some sort of game. As his character went on about the villain's motives, Ephemer would recreate the motions with his whole body to illustrate his character's point. But while his body was obviously enjoyed having the upper hand, there was something in Ephemer's eyes that didn't seem right.

Ephemer's eyes seemed to dart somewhere off stage, trying to find something he couldn't see. Occasionally he'd steal a look at Anora herself, gave her a confident wink, then turned his attention back to the other actors. But something still wasn't right. Anora wouldn't have thought much of it had it not been for Strelitzia's note; let her deductive reasoning be damned, she was sure that Ephemer was worried about Skuld.

When the actors called for their break, Anora was the one to get Ephemer instead of the other way around. He was very surprised to see Anora before he could get her.

"Really desperate for a break today, huh?" he playfully teased as grin stretched onto his face.

"Have you seen Skuld recently?"

Ephemer immediately looked like Anora had chosen to insult him out of nowhere. His face then started to pale slightly as he carefully asked, "Why?"

Without saying another word, Anora gave him Strelitzia's note. He looked at her with skepticism for a moment before reading the note over.

"I knew it." he murmured under his breath. He looked back up at Anora- a glimmer of fear in his eyes. "Anora, can you do me a favor?"

She must have looked surprised because Ephemer bit his lip in thought. He nervously crushed the note into a ball with his hands. He didn't want her to do this. He had a really, really bad feeling about asking her to do it.

"I haven't been able to get in touch with Skuld for awhile. She doesn't meet me at the cafeteria, and I've seen her less around here since stage rehearsals. I've tried calling her phone but it's always busy." He gave a long, conflicted sigh before going on. "This rehearsal is scheduled to be a long one, and I don't think I'd be able to flag her down before curfew. If I give you her dorm number, can you go check on her for me? I'm worried."

At first, Anora wanted to say she couldn't. She was getting just as bad a feeling as he was about this whole ordeal. But over the past month it had become quickly apparent that Skuld had been working on the play alone. There had even been a week where no one could find her- only for Skuld to say that she had been busy with the set designers. Now, it seemed that it was becoming remarkably apparent that Skuld was putting her personal health aside for the play.

Anora's eyes quickly darted around the room before finally training on Ephemer. His desperation of knowing that status of his oldest friend was not lost on her. Despite herself, Anora gave him a small nod of agreement.

"Thanks Anora." her friend sighed. "You're a lifesaver."

Little did either of them know that, in the next 24 hours, that one little phrase would become an incredibly drastic understatement.