Disclaimer: I do not own Splatoon, it is owned by Nintendo. Although original characters are created by me, they are using the Splatoon IP as their back-bone (or lack of one, squid-kid). However, you still cannot claim this piece of fiction as your own. Use this story under fair use, or distribute the link to the story itself.

Thank you.

Prologue

Hello. I'm in my dorm room right now. This feels like talking to myself.

My name is Cerl. My last name doesn't matter in the slightest. Just know, that's who I am, that's what people call me. Cerl.

I never really had a problem. In many ways I still don't. My blood family: they're alright. My parents: around and active. Siblings? My relationships with them vary. My younger sister, Dorothy, I don't spend as much time with anymore. My older brother, who I called Clam, became a victim of the outskirts. He's been gone for a long while now. Friends: well, I could do a better job of keeping in touch, but in general, they're fantastic! I've met this absolutely amazing group of people, and what I love about them is that, as a whole, we're super different. I can just bring out the best of my character around them, and we'd all benefit from it. So, in summary, not a whole lot is noticeably wrong. I'm not really normal, but that doesn't create a problem, now does it?

I have an extra notebook and, some old friends used to write diaries all the time, but I want to go further than that. Create some log that I can carry around, that'd be a weird way to pass the time, considering it's a mental time machine. I'm not certain the ball will start rolling on this, especially since I have a lot of things to get working on. School is quite the amount of work, and life is quite the time consumer. But, if everything goes well, I'll keep on writing in here. Who knows.. and even if they do know, they'd take the fun out of that saying.

God, I haven't used this notebook in months. It just collected dust. The date is July 5th, I'm currently 19, and there's a LOT of good stuff in here. Confessions, stories, and, well, language assignments. Anyways, here's attempt two at a proper journal. So... here.

The Plaza of Yesteryear.

Chapter 1: Cerl.

I'm on the train to my destination. Inkopolis Plaza. The older place to be. Of course, like anything, times change.

I hear laughter. Tons of voices surrounded by me, the entire subway is packed to the brim, and there's no way to stop the noise. The common question that arises is, do you want to stop the noise? I don't even know. I'd just like some sleep.

I'm sitting alone. By myself. I've been on here for a couple of hours and I was wide awake when I entered the train, so the past four hours have been staring at blurry lights fading in and out of view. But now we're almost here. It wasn't deathly quiet when I came on, but the closer we got, the more noise arose. More people have woken up. More people being picked up by the train through its numerous stops, and the closer I got to Inkopolis, the louder those kids got. The big city, for a moment I even forgot why I was going there in the first place. But then I recalled. I'm there to visit a friend. She's been going some though some, grief, to say the least. And of course, being surrounded in a place filled with the latest and greatest would make it harder to open up about anything, she's probably doubting people want to hear about her at all. I don't blame her. I don't blame her for anything.

The train got louder. I took this chance to see what, and who, was around me. The interior of the train was nice. Most of it was a roughened up silver, a tad bit of green splashed across the colour pallet, and windows at every pair of seats for people to stare at the tunnel's curved walls or the other sides of the big city. The noise was a good way to unwind, it definitely slowed my mind down to a more steady pace, and helped the time fly. Minutes didn't fully feel like minutes, and I could mistake a lapse of twenty for five. Sometimes I would try and hear what certain people were saying. It was mostly along the lines of how excited they were, a lot of people were going there for their first Turf War match, whew. Everyone was fully aware the "bigger picture" had moved onto the new, developing Square, but they retaliated. Some said it just wasn't the same. Others wanted to go back for a whole slew of reasons. But we weren't slowing down. We were on the last leg of our trip, and we had already passed our last stop. It was the afternoon, so the sun is beaming out the windows now. And the conversations turned into a mix of excitement and a handful of bags rustling. I stared out the window, glaring at the light blue the sky always has shown, it's consistency being a counter to the flinging objects as we moved at an alarming pace.

And then someone tapped my shoulder. I didn't wonder who. I wondered why.

"Hey! I'm from the far back and just wanted a place to sit near the front, especially since we're close to the Plaza and I've brought all of my belongin's!"

I turned my head to the right, a half-a-circle to get a glimpse and-

WHAT? ALL OF HER BELONGINGS?

She was light skinned, blue colour ink and eyes, and her tentacles up and nicely tied by her back. Kind of short, was wearing longer pants than the average inkling from this area, with a long sleeve blue sweater. And no, I don't really know gear. With a wide grin and her eyes now closed, I was in complete shock. Everything? In just a fraction of a second all of this went through my head, and I knew I needed to make some sort of response but, well. It'd be rude to say no, soo.

"Umm.. yeah! Yeah, just, put your large, suitcase, under the seat." I knew I had put on my iconic worried smile and questioned look, maybe with a fang out or something. I was obviously nervous. I didn't enjoy this one bit.

The girl showed herself the seat to my right, as I had the seat closest to the window, which was on my left. Nobody sat with me for the entire trip, until now, at least. I don't mind somebody sitting next to me, I just know friends want to be with friends, so it would be rude for someone to have to sit with me while shouting across the room, or whatever you call it. And even worse, laughing at someone over the phone or having their speakers on them or, something annoying. Nobody here was a true nuisance in the front, they just spoke at an acceptable volume, like normal inklings. There isn't a problem. So I wasn't trying to make one or become one.

By the time she had sat down, she was making adjustments to (now) her seat and trying to make them-self feel at home, even though we weren't that far away. Respectively, that kind of aggravated me, it can't be that much longer. But, I didn't say a word. I went back to staring out the window and calmed myself down. I was almost there. I was almost, there.

"Hey."

I wasn't in any mood to chat. I'm bad at new encounters. I usually need someone else to introduce "us two" and something to happen for me to "hit it off" with anybody. Some common hobby or interest, plus having to work together. This wasn't either of those things. I offered her my seat out of respect. I'm not really looking for-

"Heyyy!"

Okay. Fine.

Don't be a idiot. Don't cause a problem. Don't create a scene.

You know what happens.

I looked at her. In her direction, straight at her eyes. Didn't say anything though. I was just ready to listen. And before I knew it, she was also looking at me. I wasn't going to say anything. Just wai-

"Oh my, thanks! Whew! I was about to loose me mind! An old couple came in on the last stop and they couldn't stop talkin' about love this, kids that. I bet you they got grand-kids! And they never stopped talking, I was livid! Absolutely livid! Just kept on goin', and goin', and then they pointed at me! For an example of somethin' bad, like with this new 'generation' or somethin', like they'd understand anythin', right? I was about to go ballistic! I had 'nough of their bad mouthin' just cause of the way I look or how young I be, it's proper annoyin'! Try to put yourself in that situation and you'll see just what I'm talkin' 'bout! Two old love-birds pointin' fingers at the rest of the world in distaste, it's stupid! If they've got a problem, why don't they talk about anythin' else other than family? Proper annoyin', and they said I was 'vexing' 'em! Wha.. what did I do? Exist? The highest crime of 'em all, existence! You gotta hate it, right?"

Eh. I found myself looking out the window again. I don't even remember turning my head or anything. I just moved. Don't ask why, because you'll be just as confused as I was.

I kept on looking outside, though. I didn't bother moving my head. We were out of the tunnels, well, obviously, and I enjoyed looking outside. The window served as a gateway and my head just decided to remove the barriers.

"Right?"

I felt a poke on my right arm, and.. well, I started to feel guilty. It's not fair for someone to go unnoticed, ignored or anything of that sort. So, I turned back around. The entire half-a-circle turn, to look at her eyes again. They looked, concerned, but also confused. Ugh. I don't want anybody to be feeling those kinds of things.

I had to think of something. I had to say something, as a response or anything. I just had to. I absolutely had to.

And I didn't.

I just stared at her. A lot.

A whole lot.

"Are you alright, miss? Seriously, somethin' wrong?"

Quick. Think of something.

I went under my seat to grab my backpack. Like anything of mine, it was orange. A medium sized backpack, and the seats on the train happened to be blue, so it was a nice contrast when I plopped the thing right in the middle of my legs. It was moving quite the bit, due to the train. I grabbed the black zipper and yanked it to the other side, opening the contents, and shuffled for what felt like a dumb rectangle. Of course, I'm over-complicating it. I was looking for my phone. I had it in my bag this entire trip. I don't use the thing that often, but I know I had some sort of identification listed there. I went through a slew of items, the thing was a bottomless pit. Towels, clothing, wrist-bands, collars, I had everything when it came to making sure I looked all neat and that I was also able to stand two weeks by myself. I also badly wanted to check the time, since we couldn't be that far away. And shooting a text to Co- yeah I should keep my phone out.

Oh, look. There it is. At the very, very bottom of the bag. That was probably only twenty seconds.

I pressed the button on the side immediately to turn the thing on. It was hard powered off, so I started to hold it, and with my other hand free I decided to re-zip up my bag, but not put it back down. We aren't that far away. At all. It can't be too long before everyone is getting off in some crazy line and the train has to halt for some double digit amount of minutes to make sure nobody wanting to get back into the Plaza couldn't. Which is odd, since it's not even the freshest place around. Eesh, please don't read that in my voice.

My phone started up and, well, my lock screen still gets me. It's from a couple of months ago, a group photo if you will. It's me throwing my left arm over Evi's neck, giving a peace sign with my free hand and a wink at the camera. It's all this weird white and purple lighting, we were at some dumb party, just coming out of classes on a Friday and that says enough. It was like the entire world had shown up for that one night. Even Corbi was there! She took the photo, and you can see her shadow in one of her acting poses, further confirming it's her. Same hat, headphones, shoes, everything. Corbi's the kind of girl where, you can tell who she is from the look on her face, but not from her face. A tremendous body language that's so, her. That's the main way you can tell. Frankie somehow snuck in the back, but still looking over, smiling for the camera in her low-key way. Right in-between the two of us. I knew she was having fun, even if they weren't jumping off of the walls. The red tentacles, hidden(ish) face, ahg. And me? Whew, that was crazy. I was in a white tee! It's awfully rare to see me in one of those, goodness. Evi was obviously dressed up, the kid definitely has a sense of fashion. I guess I had to be some sort of counter. It was, fun. We all had smiles that night. I love being reminded of that.

E, ehnm, yeah, ID. ID, ID, ID. Goodness. Swipe after swipe after swipe andd..

Ha! Here it is! My name, age, thing of that nature. It's a standard ID. I'm hoping you have one, but, if you don't, you will.

I handed my phone over to the girl on my right, and she seemed awfully excited to take a look. I don't really know how much time passed. But they didn't seem impatient, so, it all worked out. The train started to slow down just a little bit, we probably hit our max speed earlier in the ride. And no more bumps for now.

"Cerl?", I hear her ask. I was kinda shocked by it. I nodded, up and down. "You a kind of toggl' mute or somethin'?"

God, that's embarrassing.

"No. I'm just not an expert at meeting new people." I said it real soft, looking down at the ground, but not directly. It happens.

"Oooo! Ya' got a great voice tho! 'Specially for a girl, reminds me of those ads my parents used to show meh back when they were littl' with 'em mysterious girls. Why don't ya speak up? I'm sure you got people waitin' for you where we headed, the Plaza's marvelous! Absolutely wild!" Her way of speaking confused me. But I could understand it. Nothing sucks more than not being able to understand people.

"No, I'm going out here to visit a friend of mine. They've had some problems as of late. I'm probably going to be here only for the next two weeks before I go back to my hometown or something along those lines." I found myself resting my head on the window, looking straight out. It's crazy how much of my mind is sucked up when I speak.

"Wha.. you bankin' on leavin'? Not another! So many plan on leavin' after the span of a few weeks or somethin', honestly a shame. There's a lotta do here, girl!" She seemed so energized yet, kinda down. It's hard to explain. I was only listening, after all.

"What makes you so worked up about me leaving, genuine." I should of been more specific, but my point came across.

"Do me a favor an' stop bein' so pessy, yeah? I've spent years, yeah, years! Right on this place, and I never ever ever considerd' anything that's been poppin' to be somewhere else for the past month and a half! It's bizarre! Maybe all those ray-chasers can maybe get some of em' meds, right? Cause the action is where we headed! I'm certain ya' home town is nice, yeah, and all dem fancy controversies about the city can be that tad bit scary, but havin' one place where everyone be at is luxury!"

She cracks me up man.

I stopped looking out the window and turned to her. I also grabbed my phone from her, thankfully it seemed like she didn't snoop around or anything of that nature, I just stuffed it back into my pocket. She seemed awfully cheery. I asked nicely, "What's your name?"

"Caroline! And ya don' wana see me with nothin' sharp!"

She changes a little bit every slew of words.

"Tell ya' what, why don'cha come crash at my place, yea?"

"Yeah. That'd be nice."

The announcement went on.

"Two cents be droppin', we're actually here yo! I get a lot of y'all are gettin' off on dis stop so I'll make sure to stay here for a little while. Don't get mad, yo. It's just reasonable. Anyways, if any y'all ready to go into the plaza of yesteryear, go dead ahead. Next stop, Angelica Shore, ooh!"

The plaza of yesteryear. I like that.

I dozed off a little, but Caroline was on her phone doing something. Not really sure what, probably playing a game. We had to get up off of this train and leave. I let the other people go first, get their bags and stuff. Caroline brought some suitcase that was really lengthy, so since we were half-way within the front, we waited until about half of the cart had got up and left. I got my backpack on and the two of us ended up walking off. I was still a bit drowsy. It was weird being so tired on a day like this. It's nice, late in the afternoon, but the sun is still beaming, and everyone seems pretty happy to be coming out here. All of my money I saved up didn't actually need to be used, I realized. I have a place to stay. It's been a while since I've been out to the plaza though, maybe things have changed and there's some stupid fees. I'll keep my eye out.

I said my thanks to the conductor and waved off. Whew. Since we took the train, we had to go down, and back up, a set of stairs. There's a wall covering the Plaza now, it's actually pretty tall, probably to prevent some crazy people from just jumping it and saying "whew!". So, I made sure I was with Caroline. Just looked to my left. And there she is, texting someone. I shrugged it off. You know it's a decent person when they can take silence for an answer. Walking down the first set, there's a nice area of grass to look at. You're still walking on metal, of course, if you want to get to where the train took you, but there's a nice field on your way down. Some security guards looked at the two of us and gave each-other a questioned look. They were at the high point of the set of stairs. We had to get over this concrete wall to get to the Plaza, and obviously we're gonna get checked. And with that huge suitcase I had some concerns, but, eh. We walked up, and obviously they stopped us. In those yellow-black suits, they kinda looked cool, I can't lie. I looked at Caroline and she started looking at me, we just chuckled and let it all happen. They searched us and our bags, if you wana call the suitcase a bag. And everything just went fine. They let us through. And now, we walk down, to Inkopolis Plaza.

Wow. Things really do change. 'Cept for that big fish starin' at me. Heh, I'm totally not making fun of Caroline's speech.

People looked different here. More, individual. Not following too much of a trend, probably making their own trends. The Turf War tower that was originally green was now a fusion of green and purple, and the purple looked spray-painted. The stores were completely replaced, since, of course, the original shops and their respective owners moved over to the Square. A whole host of new colours were showing themselves, red and white being the main ones, but also the idea of mixing ink in your tank. Is that legal? I, what? How could Corbi survive in a place like this? Or even next to it? I was just, in shock. Absolute shock.

They had a band recording blasting through the speakers of the tower, and the television screen that provided us with so much info about what the hell was coming next (which, well, you know who started that) showed us the visual.

"I know that there could be..

Somethin' for you and me.."

This had a different sound than the tunes of the Squid Sisters. More sinister. Slower. Dare I say more refined.

"Yea, don't get too work'd ova the changes, 'ight? I dunno how long tis been since you and ya buddy eva' had a talk or a couple moha but ya gotta realize, this place is on fiya!"

Haha, thanks Caroline. I think I missed a lot of that.

"No, but it certainly caught me off guard. At least the dark floor stayed the same." I thought of a couple of bad ideas, but since nobody here seemed too friendly to a stranger with some off-the-shelf clothing, I thought it would be a good idea to keep my mouth shut. I waited, since we weren't the only ones coming off of the train. But then, I realized, it would probably be an even better idea to ask where the hell to go next. Levi Circuit, Levi Circuit, where the hell could this be? Was it a complex? Was it even here? Or do I need a ride to get there? I looked for a map, near the train stop they'd usually have directions, but then remembered I have a thing called a phone. I did a quick search for it, and I found a couple of things. The main answer was that; yay! It was within walking distance of the Plaza. I'm gonna have to call this short with Caroline and walk over there. We can bond at some point soon.

There was a door on my right that led to a side-walk. Right in that corner of the Plaza, if you have a top-down view, it's the bottom right corner. There's a couple of entry points over there, and some exit points. So, I tapped Caroline on the shoulder, waved, and just started walking. She grabbed me before I could get too much distance, somehow. "Ya think ya'gonna leave without some more info? You got'a place to crash!"

Wow. Yeah. I should really get her number, and we can text some later. "I'm running off to the visit I was talking about, of course it has to be just as I arrive but, it won't be the only one." We exchanged info pretty quickly, she's got some fast fingers.

"Gotcha' girl! Go sooth 'em to sleep with that voice!"

I chuckled and ran off. I'm so impressed with this place. Slower paced music and more creative endeavors, and yet I met someone that obviously comes from, well, not where I'm from. I hear the voices of the music in the background of my mind, they were just humming and singing, it was really melodic (still obviously down-tempo). It felt good though. Bittersweet? Is that the right way to put it? I had a smile, of course. Caroline spoke damn funny, I can't help but break a smile on a good, bright day like today. I need to take a deeper dive later, I've got a place to run to.

I wish my brain worked a little bit better during moments like these, so sorry that I'm not doing the best job.

Maybe I shouldn't had run so fast. It was like three minutes away from the main center. Jeez. Levi Circuit was a nice apartment place that costs a good chunk of coins. That explains why Corbi is here. Her family is loaded with money.

I texted her, but I didn't get anything back. At all. But I looked back at the massive message she sent me, and that gave me a room number. 116. I didn't have to pay a fee since I was just visiting, so I walked up the staircase with this golden-yellow paint everywhere. It was kinda weird. I hoped the apartment Corbi was in wasn't filled with gold. I hate that stuff. And so does she.

I felt kinda bad though, about cutting it short with Caroline. I ended up shooting her a text on my way there. Obviously, she responded in a heart-beat. I was laughing just at the sheer speed of the response. Wow.

"Glad ya' keepin' good with me! Ey', whereva' ya headed, don't be pessy, 'ight? Pro'lems ain't gonna be fixed with anotha!"

She texts the way she talks! Ahhh!

I responded back, letting her know that I wouldn't be "pessy", that I wouldn't cause another problem, and left it at that. I got to thinking about other things, and put my phone away. I hadn't seen these guys in a hot while. Again, they were still my background, but, even then it had been a real solid while since I last saw them in the flesh. I'd kept in decent contact, but I wasn't one that could pull off constant contact at all. Nothing every day. Maybe once a week, though. I know that doesn't sound like a whole lot, but it was enough for us. An hour or two well spent, a crazy long chat with my back on the couch, just staring at my phone screen whizzing at the keyboard to the best of my ability (not the best at texting). It happens. I quite like it. Not every day.

I arrived at the door. There's a keypad, a card reader, it's got all this fancy stuff. I'm even standing on some extended rug right now. Whatever. Here goes nothing.

Knock, knock.

I waited a couple of seconds and didn't get an answer. I was wondering what was happening, as I couldn't hear anything. I put my ear to the door, focused really hard, but all I could really hear was the wind or a couple of conditioners whirling around, throw in a couple of lights buzzing as well. I waited for what felt like a little while longer, but was probably a couple of minutes. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I'll try again.

Knock, knock.

Finally, some footsteps.

It took a little bit, but, someone opened the door. And to my surprise, it's someone who's well dressed. And a finger to their mouth, making that "shh" symbol. So I thought it was just the wrong time to be loud, until I realized how dark it was behind him.

I whispered. "Evi!" He was happy to see me too, since he smiled. I greeted myself in, and closed the door behind me.

"Hey, Cerl. Just, hush, alright? Corbi's taking a rest. We'd been talking about some stuff, and she got pretty upset around the end. I don't know if you've been reading the group chat, but-"

"Yeah. She writes brick walls. It fills up my entire screen at times." We laughed, quietly, at my remark.

"We all know she's going through a rough patch. I think she just wanted to lay on the bed but, she just passed out. And now she's talking in her sleep! I was scared your knocking was a maid of some sort and it would do more trouble to answer, but a maid would leave after a few minutes. I knew it was you after that."

I nodded. It was a fair assumption that ended up proving to be true.

The apartment was compact, the bed was the first thing you saw, to your right when you walked in. A window, which had it's curtains up, was to your left with a TV, and further forward was a small kitchen with a nice table and some seats. It was small. Not that tall either. But it looks marvelous, even in the dark. It wasn't too dark, but certainly not enough light to blind anybody or to brighten up the room to let its paint pop. I liked the place. It certainly works, right? Not too complex, but enough to get you thinking. No sofa, but the kitchens got a table for some of that interaction. It's cozy.

I heard Corbi shuffling in the bed. I started to crack up a little, as Evi had his eyes dead-set on her. I don't really know what the hell happened, all I know is that I was brought up here to talk. I planned for a lot more than talking but, eh. I did plan to visit on my first day and here I am. And, hopefully she says stuff. It's been a while. A decent while. Hopefully they don't think I'm a second-hand friend now. Things like that.

But for now, I wait. For words. Sleep-driven words. Just like Evi, practically staring. The star-gazer.

The air got thick. Nobody was saying much. Corbi wasn't really sleep-talking, and, it had also been a while since I'd seen Evi. We just kinda sat on the bed where she was and stared at her, waiting for something. Wrapped up in a sheet and everything. It felt like a little while, just staring. It was cute. And she's a quiet sleeper, like, whisper quiet. But, I came here to talk, so I shot the first word.

"How long was she out before I came in? Just out of curiosity." And to get things going.

"Certainly not in the double digits. Hence why I was so scared of the 'maid'."

"And what's up with your whole, outfit going on? I mean, this wasn't anything formal, right?"

"No, Cerl, it wasn't."

Interesting. It wasn't. "Anything else?"

"Well, if anything, you look like the most generic Inkling girl I've ever seen. Right down to the colours. What.."

He started wheezing. Just, cracking up. Could barely get past the sentence. "What the hell is wrong with you Cerl? Going to a photo-shoot for the next Square promotion?"

Phhbt. I started laughing too. Yeah. He's not wrong. I didn't wanna be too loud though, and I was surprised at the volume of his voice in all honesty. Evi isn't naturally reserved but, if he needs to be, he will.

"I think it's kinda cool, I dunno."

"I mean, yeah! It works! On you."

A couple more laughs broke between us in this barely lit room. A nice, warm apartment room to just hang out on the bed. I did have a question for Evi, though.

"What's-"

"OH! Shoot. It's been over twenty five minutes! We should wake her up, don't you think?"

WHAT? Twenty five? How long did we wait? "But she didn't even say anything!"

"Yeah.. I'd feel bad if I didn't wake her up though."

I stared at him. For a couple of seconds. His dark, rich and really healthy skin just kinda shows off how much he cares about how he looks. I'm honestly curious about it. He's been dressed for the occasion quite literally every time I see him. Always looking happy and healthy. It's crazy to me. How the hell does he keep doing it?

Evi started to shake Corbi a little by the arm (she slept on her side), and I'd say a couple of minutes later we had a no-so-lucid Corbi with us. She was happy to see me, but, I don't think things fully registered with her. I'd have to wait a little while.

Anyways, my question. "What's going on with Frankie?"

"Um.. She's.. fine.."

I got a sad stare from a Corbi who looked like she was dreaming. Evi was just staring into the ground as well.

"Okay, and what else?"

Nothing.

Things died out really fast, like, too fast. I heard sheets moving and mouths opening, lips being bitten and probably the worst of it all, a whole lot of what was originally dead silent ambience. Even the air conditioners from outside the room. Eesh. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything.

"..evi, you should go get something to eat."

Oh. Oh jeez. She was tired.

"Alright then, miss. I'll go get a nice, ice cold drink and treat myself to the fridge, but nothing sweet. I'll go take my time, sleepyhead." And off he went to the kitchen. I just watched him go. That really impressed me. He's crazy well mannered.

"hey, cerl"

She was speaking super soft.

"Hey, Corbi. What's going on? How are you? All that good stuff."

"not, fantastic. i've taken a lot of blows, recently, and my family can't do much about it other than drown me in, 'entertainment.'"

Yeah, she talked rather weak. No energy kind of talk. It's enough to mess with someone like me, I'm not used to talking in that low of an energy, even though our entire group aren't social butterflies and never will be. Even I'm not the best at talking to new people, although with friends I can make use of some tricks up my sleeve. Tricks that make me more unique, I feel.

"i'm happy frankie is alright, though.. ever since, she tried to do that really stupid thing."

"What, happened?"

"..you must be really out of the loop then, hehe. frankie tried to, do that thing."

Oh. Oh my god. "What? What's happened since I started fading?"

"fading? that's how you see it? i thought you just started to movee on, and that would be alright.."

"No! That's not, ughh! What's going on!? What's with this crazy different mo-"

"Cerl!"

"What?"

Evi sighed from the kitchen, after yelling my name. He started coming over to me, and I started getting really scared, a lot of questions were being asked in my head. What the hell was going on? What really happened, I mean, after what Corbi said I had a couple of ideas but not the entire picture, just a couple of things to assume or something. But this feels so, different! Frankie didn't speak a whole lot, just was with us as like, a place to belong, and I was okay with that! Just, what's up with this wildly different mood? Last time I saw them in person, it was like, calm! It was collected and, nobody was freaking out or anything, nobody was feeling down, nothing seemed wrong! Was this an emergency? Should I have planned for a shorter stay and just to get there when I could? It'd been two weeks since I was told to come over, I know that's a bit of a while but I wanted to plan something nice and what had the potential to be big or start something new with the four of us. But, now it seemed like this was simply to say a couple of words! What the-

Evi grabbed me by the shoulder, and stared at me. With a good, hard look.

"Cerl. It's been about, four months, since we started considering you more disconnected, maybe more in tune with other things in your life and things would just, play out naturally."

Okay. I get that. Classes ended, well, I'd say two months ago. (I don't really know why it's "four months" and not two but, okay.) Me, Frankie and Evi all went to the same school, and Corbi was always some kind of free considering her parents are, her parents.

"And.."

He started to choke up. I just kept on getting more worried.

"I got a call from her parents, late at night. I didn't know it was them, but, I picked up on this panic they had and stayed. They reached out to explain what had just happened with her, she.."

He paused. Probably collecting his thoughts. I looked over to Corbi, who was listening, but still very, very tired. Her eyes just stared me down during his silence, before doing something that would stay with me forever.

All she did, was make a finger gun, point it at her head, and pull the trigger.

And that's when I broke.