The rest of the day went surprisingly slow. Time dragged on relentlessly, making sure that I felt every agonizing second. I mostly stayed in my room with my door locked, weighing the pros and cons of the stupid carnival.

Why do I even bother? I asked myself.

That night, I lay down for some rest earlier than usual, while the sunset still painted the sky a nice crimson. I still had to think about tomorrow. Go or don't go? The thoughts float around in my head over and over. I hear voices in my head, telling me to go while other voices tell me to not. I close my eyes and try to shut out all my thoughts. Why can't I rest peacefully for once? Soon, the last edge of the sun went behind the mountains and the sky started turning darker and darker, the slim orange barely separating day and night.

Now, it's too dark to see much. I then hear the door open, and a figure, Dan, walks in. Silently, he lowers himself onto the bed next to me. What's he doing? At first, his breathing is slow and steady. He embraces me, and to my surprise, he's shirtless. I wrap my arms around his back, pulling him in closer. Wait, why am I doing this? His right hand slowly creeps down to my pants where it plays tug-of-war with my belt. His lips and my lips touch ever-so-gently at first. He quickly starts nibbling on my lower lip as he rests his left hand on my cheek. He manages to take my belt off and throws it onto the floor messily; now he goes after my pants. He breaks away from the kiss, and gently pushes my hair out of my face. He takes my pants off and sneaks his hand down south under the last piece of clothing I had left. Slowly but firmly, he starts pumping with a smirk on his face. My breathing picks up speed, matching his motions…

Suddenly, I sit up, grasping at my chest; my eyes shot open from shock. That… What I just saw… What I just felt… were all just a dream. Oh, god, I hope it doesn't come true like it did with Ice. Seems like Dan's been growing on me. I look up at the clock and I see that it's only 2 AM. I'm still breathing a bit unsteadily, but better than before when I was panting like a dog in mid summer heat. I reach over to the windowsill to grab my cell phone where it sat, plugged into the charger. I tried to check the messages when my hand slipped and dropped it in my lap. That's when I noticed the little bulge in my boxers. I can't believe I was turned on by that shit. I don't like Dan. I'm just settling for him, just until Ice comes to me. Suddenly, I hear the thud next door from Dan's room. Did he fall off his bed again? No matter. I'll just go back to sleep.

I'm woken up by abrupt banging of the door, accompanied by Dan's shouts.

"Norge! Wake up! Norge!"

"Shut up, will you?"

"No! Wake up! Come out! Now!"

I sit up on my bed as I yawn sleepily. It's only been an hour since I last woke up. I go put some pants on and I head out of my room.

"What?" I ask, obviously annoyed by all the noise he's been making.

"Someone was in my room! Look!" His hand reaches out and grabs mine, pulling me towards his room.

"Well, no shit, Sherlock, YOU were in your damn room!"

"No, no, I mean someone else!" He uses his free hand to point at the mess in the room, still gripping my hand tightly with the other.

"Your room's always disorganized. What are you trying to prove with this?" I take my hand away from his and hide it in my pocket to protect it from future invasions.

"What if it was some serial killer and he's hiding somewhere inside the house?"

"Nonsense. Was the window open?"

"No."

"So where did your 'serial killer' enter the room? The fucking DOOR. Like a NORMAL person would. Hell, you probably didn't even close your door all the way and Hanatamago got in. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get the sleep I deserve!"

"But—"

"But what!"

"…I saw him. It was too dark to see, but I saw someone's shadow, and he was standing over me. I got up and he tried to run, and tripped on something! Before I could find out who it was, he got away. And I've already asked Finny and Svi and Ice about them, and you were the only person who was still asleep. Didn't the big thud wake you up?"

"Yeah, I just thought you fell off the bed," I replied, now wondering who this imposter was. I was about to ask something when he interrupted me.

"Well, let's get ready for the carnival!"

"W-what?"

"It's today! And it's from 8! We only have 2 hours to get ready and go! So, come on, let's go!"

"Who said I was going?"

"I did." He smiles and reaches for my hand again, forcing it out of my pocket.

"No," I said sternly as I pulled my hand away. "I don't want to."

"So? You're still coming with us."

"…Us?"

"Yeah. Me and you and Icey, too. I think Finny said that he was busy, and that Svi was gonna help him. So it'll just be us three."

Great. I'm already in the count. What happened to the "maybe" or "I'm not going" that I mentioned?

A/N: That was quite literally the last of the story I had written before I went AWOL. I'll be writing chapter 8 and so on FRESH literally years later since the original dare... Please read, like, favorite, follow, whatever else, and remember that REVIEWS ARE ALWAYS APPRECIATED!