The small town of Morrow's Peak was isolated from any major hub of civilization. Nestled among national forests and the foothills of the mountains, its humble homes enjoyed nature as their backdrop. Few people came from outside the town to visit, and the few who did were often passing through, never really staying for more than a night at the town's only running hotel. Yet this quiet life was what the locals preferred, and such few people rarely left the secluded borders of the city limits, except for the young, bright-eyed college student who went off to study in the big city. Yet, the call of the home often brought them back to the town to live out the rest of their days.

  As uncommon as it was for people to leave the town, even more rare was the arrival of newcomers moving into the area. Yet fourteen years ago in the summer, a young couple and their daughter moved into an old house on the hill. They were the Waters. They were an odd family, as for the first couple of years, they mostly kept to themselves. The miss, Amila Waters, took a job working at the local clinic as a doctor, a most valuable profession in such a small town. As for Mr. Waters, he took a job at the local library, but he only worked there for two years until he quit one winter's night, left town, and has not been heard from since. Since then, only Amila and her daughter, Wryn, have lived in the old house on the hill, but they have managed to become an integral part of the town, as if their family had lived there since the founding, like so many other local families.

  Wryn was now seventeen, enjoying her last year in high school. Her dark, rusty brown hair was cut short just below her jaw. Her mother often said she got her deep emerald eyes from her father, though Wryn didn't even have a picture to remember him in return. The only thing she had from him was a necklace with a silver crescent moon pendant she never took off. Wryn often fiddled with it as she was lost in thought. It was often her only source of comfort when the world started to get overwhelming.

  ... "Wryn.... Wryn darling? ... Wryn!" Her mother's voice, which started as far and distant, suddenly jerked Wryn out of her daydreaming and back into the present. She was in the kitchen at the small dining table for two that sat next to the large bay windows that looked out into the woods surrounding their home. With a startled blink, she looked up over at the doorway that led into the hall where her mother stood looking slightly annoyed with her. Wryn's mother almost looked nothing like her. Amila's hair was blonde, bordering on white, and her eyes were a deep blue, though they did share a nose and a jawline. "Hurry up and finish your breakfast, or you'll miss the bus, Wryn." She spoke in her motherly tone.

  "I know, Mom." Wryn sighed heavily as she ate another spoonful of her cornflakes. It's not like she had ever been late to school before, but her mom was the type who liked to worry, as all moms tended to.

  Amila was sent over to the small table by the door that held the keys and her purse. "I will be working late, but there should still be a box of frozen lasagna in the freezer for dinner tonight."

  "Great, frozen lasagna. My favorite," Wryn spoke sarcastically, not too thrilled by the prospect of yet another frozen meal for dinner. Wryn couldn't remember the last time they had a real home-cooked meal that didn't come out of a box. She knew it was because of how hard her mother worked, but deep down, she still wished that they could have a normal family meal now and again.

  "Oh come now, Wryn, there's no need to be this snarky this early in the morning," Amila spoke as she put a hand on her hip and frowned. "At least not when I'm putting in these extra hours so you can get the dress for the dance this Sunday." Mrs. Waters' eyes lit up as a new thought popped into her head. "Speaking of which, your dress is finally ready for pick up at the tailors. We will get it tomorrow. How does that sound?"

  Wryn smiled softly, "Yeah, that sounds good to me. I was worried it wouldn't be ready for Sunday." She spoke between mouthfuls of cereal.

  "Don't talk with your mouth full, it's not ladylike," Amila chided as she put her earrings in, which prompted Wryn to roll her eyes. That made Mrs. Waters chuckle as she came over and kissed Wryn on the top of her head, "I'll see you when I get home, okay?"

  Wryn smiled, "Yeah, see you when you get home." And with that, Amila walked out the door and to her car to leave for work at the clinic.

  Wryn didn't have much food left as her mom went to work, only about three more bites, but that was enough for Wryn's cat, Smoky, a spray young black tomcat with a love of cereal milk. As soon as Mrs. Waters was out the door, he jumped on the table, the one place Amila forbade him from being. Yet there he sat begging his mother for her leftover milk in the bowl. Wryn glared at him, amused. "You know you're not supposed to be on the table, Smoky," Wryn said as she took one of her last bites of food. Smokey just chirped as his tail swished expectantly for the milk bowl. "I'm not giving you my milk.

  Smoky's ear just flicked as if he didn't believe such nonsense. Since when did Wryn refuse to give him what he was rightfully owed? Wryn eventually rolled her eyes as she put the spoon down, "Fine, you have until I get back from brushing my teeth, but then I'm pouring the rest of it out." She stood and stretched as Smoky joyfully came over and started to lap up the tasty milk from her bowl. "Spoiled brat," Wryn mumbled under her breath as she walked to the bathroom and started brushing her teeth. And as promised, once finished, she came back to clean up her bowl, which Smoky the cat was not too fond of losing his grand prize so soon. She picked up her backpack by the door and walked outside to the bus stop to await her ride to the high school.

  It was the heart of winter outside. A soft blanket of snow dusted the icy ground, and with every breath, Wryn could see the smoke of her warm breath as it flowed out into the open air. Wryn was dressed for the cold weather with a nice jacket and heavy pants, though she skipped the gloves and scarf that a few other students also waiting at the bus stop clung to in the winter air. Wryn had always been able to withstand the cold more than most of her peers. So could her mother, who could seem to walk outside in the dead of a winter's night in only her PJs to set out the trash can and return indoors without so much as a shiver. Thankfully, for those students who were not as resistant to the cold, the school bus came only a few minutes after Wryn's arrival, and they all started to file into the bus. Wryn found herself a seat way in the back next to one of the last window spots that was still unclaimed by another student. Her friends didn't take the same bus as her to or from school, so she was content to sit in silence as the bus puttered along the quiet streets of Morrow's Peak.

  Morrow High was always a bustling center of activity. It was the only high school for the whole area of Morrow's Peak, and as such, it was packed full of the teenage inhabitants of the town. Though despite the high volume, it didn't feel overcrowded, just... alive. The walls of the entryway were lined with trophy cabinets filled with the many accomplishments of the students' past and present. Along the top in big red bubble letters was written, 'Morrow High, Home of the Brilliant Billy the Beaver.' The local town's mascot, Billy the Beaver's image, was sold just about everywhere in the town. The dinner on Main Street even sold beaver tail-shaped pancakes, which were a local favorite on the mornings of game days. Wryn did not like Billy the Beaver. She had an unfortunate encounter with the mascot when she was five, and her mother took her to a softball game. She watched as the costume 'ate' a fellow child whole, and such a sight had visited her in her nightmares ever since. Even after twelve years, she shuddered every time she had to walk by the display case that held the demonic fur suit that was Billy the Beaver to get to her locker.

  Already at Wryn's locker waiting was Wryn's friend Gigi Brown, one of Wryn's oldest friends and classmates for two of her morning classes. Gigi was short for Georgina, which was a family name that had been passed down for as long as anyone in their family could remember. That being said, if anyone outside of Gigi's family called her by her birth name, they were likely to get their throat punched by her. Gigi was a short and stocky girl with big, round eyes and shoulder-length brown hair. She was dressed head to toe in warm layers of clothes; unlike Wryn, she couldn't stand the cold.

  Gigi's eyes brightened when Wryn stepped up to her locker, "Hey, Wryn. How are you today?" She asked as she held her first-period books close to her chest.

  Wryn smiled as she started to unlock her locker, "I'm alright." She admitted as she glanced at her friend, "You look... Warm." Wryn poked at Gigi's arm sleeve, "Man, Gigi, what you got, five layers in there?"

  Gigi huffed and straightened up defiantly, "Two if you don't count the jacket." Her eyes focused on Wryn, "I'm volunteering at the fairground tonight, and it's supposed to get cold if we stay out there late tonight."

  "Ah, right. You are a part of the decoration club, aren't you?" Wryn nodded as she stuffed her textbooks into her book bag.

  "I am," Gigi started to say, "and I was wondering if..."

  Before Gigi could finish her statement, their friend Roy Tomson suddenly came up and put his arms around both the girls' shoulders and pulled them into a big hug. "There are my two favorite girls in school!" He laughed with his big, goofy grin.

  Roy was as tall as a beanstalk and almost as skinny. He had long dark dreadlocks, which were the bane of every strict teacher's existence, as male students were expected to keep their hair short, but since his father was the principal, he was able to get away with it. He had dark chestnut colored eyes, and he wore his signature red Billy the Beaver windbreaker, which he was seldom seen without.

  Roy chuckled, "Sorry, Wryn. I'm just so excited for Sunday. It's going to be so much fun."

  The event that Roy was referencing was the Hallowed Night's Dance. A local holiday celebrating the winter solstice, where the whole town gathers at the local fairground just outside of town to dance and enjoy the night together. There were a lot of little holidays like that here in Morrow's Peak, and the town's people took them very seriously as if they were all national holidays celebrated nationwide. The whole of downtown was decorated for Hallowed Night, and the local dress makers had been booked for months leading up to the days before the dance. Wryn had almost missed out on getting her dress made for the dance, as she and her mother had both kept pushing the search for a dress back until it was almost too late. Thankfully, though she wasn't going to win the best-dressed award, she had managed to find a lovely autumn leaf-inspired gown left over from the harvest festival to wear to the event. They got it for a good price as well, including the slight alteration that needed to be done to the dress for it to fit perfectly.

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  Wryn rolled her eyes and re-situated her backpack on her shoulder, "Well, excited or not, that doesn't mean you get to knock us over with your hellos."

  "Ah, come on, Ryry. Where's your Hallow Night spirit?" Roy jested with Wryn.

  "I told you not to call me that," Wryn said pointedly as she closed and locked her locker. But she only got a chuckle out of Roy.

  Seeing another opportunity to ask her a question, Gigi started to speak, "Oh hey, Wryn, Roy, are you guys by chance... ?" 'RING RING' The first-period warning bell rang out of the speakers.

  The three students jumped at the sudden clanging of the bell. "Hold that thought, Gigi," Wryn spoke quickly. "Ask me at lunch." She instructed as the other two nodded before the three scattered to reach their first class of the morning, before the second bell went off, and they would be marked as tardy.

  Wryn's first period was world history, a subject she was decent at but was far from her favorite. Dates and names were not the easiest to keep straight, and this semester, they were learning about the world wars back to back, and she knew that on the tests, she was going to get them switched around. Next up was British literature, where, of course, they were going over Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Wryn was not one for romance plays or tragedies, so the book held little interest for her. The fact that Gigi was in this class with her was the only thing that made the subject bearable. Next up was Algebra 2, the bane of her existence. The equations the teacher put up on the board might as well be in a completely different language, for as well as she could understand them, half the time. Wryn would be an A or B student if this class didn't exist. Thankfully, she wasn't completely failing due to the tutoring Roy offered during homeroom, where he also helped her with her math homework. Even still, she was hardly passing with a low C in the class. After the hell that was math, it was time for the first wave of students to go to lunch. Roy was in Wave B, but thankfully, Wryn and Gigi were in Wave A. So as Roy went to the gym, the two girls walked together to the cafeteria.

  The cafeteria was set out in a large room that seemed to amplify the thunderous, low hum of the hundreds of students who began to file into the place for lunch. The line to pick up food for a hot lunch was filling up quickly, so Wryn quickly went over to get herself a good place in line as Gigi and her pre-packed lunch went to grab a spot at a table so they could sit together. Though the line moved at a steady pace with little time completely stopped, it still felt like it took ages to finally get to the part where she could choose what she wanted.

  It was Friday, which means it was pizza or burgers for a hot lunch today. By far the best day to get school food, though Taco Tuesday was a close second. Next up was paying for the food, which was painless as her mother had prepaid for all of Wryn's meals at the start of the year, so it was just mostly Wryn smiling politely at the lunch lady in charge of taking payment and then quickly getting out of line so the people behind her could pay for their food. Finding Gigi in the swarm of students among the maze of tables was what was the tricky part. Thankfully, Gigi had noticed her leaving the line and stood up to wave her arms to get Wryn's attention, so today at least it didn't take too long for her to find Gigi and take her spot.

  With a heavy sigh, Wryn sat down next to Gigi with her tray of food. "I think Mr. Libs is just making up stuff in algebra at this point," Wryn complained as she picked up her slice of square pepperoni pizza and took a bite out of the almost burnt corner.

  Gigi chuckled as she ate her turkey sandwich, "It's not that bad, Wryn. I'm sure Roy has an easy trick to help you out with what we learned today."

  "I hope so," Wryn said, "I need to at least get a B on this next test, or I might be looking at summer school for math again."

  "Yeah, that would suck," Gigi frowned at her food, "then you couldn't come to the lake house with my family this summer." The prospect of Wryn not being able to come made Gigi look sad, and made Wryn feel a bit guilty.

  Wryn frowned as well, but then bumped into Gigi's side, "But hey, I still have the whole spring semester to get better test scores. Besides, I bet all the hard stuff already taught should only get easier from here on, right?" Wryn tried to sound a bit more confident; she didn't want Gigi to be sad or worried about her. Wryn was determined to do her best so she could have fun with her friend this summer.

  Gigi smiled softly, "Yeah, and if Roy and I have to come over every weekend to tutor you, we'll get you passing in math if it's the last thing we do."

  Wryn groaned, "Well, I hope we don't have to go that far." Wryn sighed and took a sip of her carton of milk. "Oh, by the way, what did you need to ask Roy this morning?"

  Gigi's eyes lit up as she remembered what she had meant to ask them. It had completely slipped her mind. "Oh, right. I almost forgot," Gigi chuckled bashfully. "Well, the decoration club is helping the town council set up the Hallowed Night's Dance. But we're a little short on hands, I was hoping maybe Roy could come with the club and I to the fairground to help out." Gigi gave an annoyed smile, "I already asked Roy, but he's busy with the Drama club tonight, so he can't come."

  Wryn gave a thoughtful hum as she thought about it. Setting up the fairground after school wasn't exactly what she thought of as fun. If it were, she would have joined the decoration club when Gigi did. But it wasn't like she had anything better to do, and it was Gigi asking her... Wryn sighed, "Alright, after I eat, I'll go to the office and call my mom to ask if I can go."

  "Oh, thank you, thank you, Wryn," Gigi smiled with glee. "Having you there will make the time go by so much faster." She was very happy, and Wryn liked to make her friend happy. Though she now had to quickly finish scarfing down her food so she could get to the office before the bell for the next period rang.

  When she was finished, she stood and picked up her tray. "I'm going to the office now. I'll let you know what she said at the study hall." She spoke to Gigi as she got ready to go.

  Gigi looked up as Wryn got ready to head out, "Alright, see you at the Study Hall." She smiled, and Wryn made her way out of the cafeteria and down the hall to the Office.

  The trip didn't take too long as the offices were right next to the large double doors into the lunch area. She went to the sliding window where the office lady sat and lightly tapped on the window to get her attention.

  The office lady opened the window with a smile and asked, "How can I help you today, Ms. Waters?"

  Wryn shifted a little nervously but asked, "I need to call my mom at the clinic if that's okay?" Wryn was hoping she wasn't making her stop any important work. It felt a bit awkward to have to be here.

  "Oh, of course," The office lady spoke as she picked up the phone and started dialing the Clinic. "Are you feeling alright, sweetheart?"

  Wryn nodded, "Yeah, I just wanted to ask her if I could go help the Decoration Club set up for the Dance at the Fair Ground." She explained.

  The Office lady smiled, "Oh, well, isn't that sweet of you..." The line got picked up from the other side, "Yes, hello, this is Mrs. Hilly at Morrow High School. I need to get hold of Amila Waters. If she is free, her daughter would like to speak with her... Yes, we can hold." Mrs. Hilly put her hand over the phone. "Don't worry if this takes too long, I'll write you a hall pass."

  Wryn smiled, "Thank you, Mrs. Hilly."

  "No, thank you, child, we need all the hands we can get over at the fairgrounds. You're doing Coach Ginger a huge favor by helping out..." Mrs. Hill was going to say more, but then the hold music stopped, and Wryn's mother's voice could be heard. "Oh, one moment, Mrs. Waters, here's Wryn for you." She handed the phone over to Wryn. "Here you go, dear."

  Wryn took the phone and said, "Thank you," before putting it up to her ear. "Hey, Mom."

  "Wryn, is everything okay?" Her voice was a bit worried; she didn't often get calls from Wryn when it wasn't an emergency, so she was concerned something bad had happened.

  "Oh yeah, sorry, Mom. Everything is fine." Wryn tried to comfort her mom, feeling bad for making her worry. "I just wanted to know if I could help Gigi and her club to set up for the dance down at the Fairground," She paused, thinking, "we go at the end of school, and I wouldn't be home till after...?" She wasn't sure, but when she glanced at Mrs. Hilly, she mouthed 'eight.' "Ah, oh, um, eight o'clock," Wryn said hurriedly.

  "That's fine," Mrs. Waters said through the phone. "If Gigi is going to be there, that's great. Just try to get your homework done at the study hall. You'll be getting home pretty late."

  Wryn smiled, "Thanks, Mom. I'll see you when we get home." They both said their goodbye before Wryn handed the phone back to Mrs. Hilly.

  Mrs. Hilly traded the phone for a hall pass as the bell rang for the end of the lunch period. "Here you go, just in case. I also added your name to the system for those going to help out today."

  Wryn took the pass and nodded, "Thank you. I'll try to make it on time anyway." She waved as she walked away to hurry to get to her locker to trade out her books. Though with how far everything was from the offices, it was a good thing she got a hall pass.

  Wryn's next class was biology, where they were dissecting a frog today. An activity that was both gross and cool at the same time. One of the other students fainted at the start and had to be helped to the nurses' station. After Bio was Gym class, where they played dodgeball, since it was Friday. Wryn wasn't the most athletic, but she was competitive and managed to get three members from the other team before a lucky throw clipped her leg, and her team soon lost after that. After Gym was the study hall, where Roy and Gigi helped her with her math homework, which was always a painful process, but had to be done. Thankfully, there were only fifteen questions today, and she could also work on her other homework for her other classes and get all of it done before they had to go to the last class of the day. Which, for Wryn, was Ceramic. This month, they were making snowflake bowls, and today, they were getting to glaze them. Overall, not a bad way to spend the final hour at school.

  As the last bell rang, Wryn stretched as she stood up from her seat. The School day was finally over, and she wouldn't have to be back until after winter break was over on January 2nd. She could hardly believe the year was almost over already. Not only that, but she and her friends would be graduating the following March as well. Wryn shook her head, trying not to freak herself out. Since she now had to go help Gigi and her club this afternoon. Determined, she picked up her backpack and made her way to the bus parking lot, and looked for Gigi, who was already waiting with the rest of her club off to the side. Gigi smiled and waved at her when she saw Wryn step out of the door and look around.

  When Wryn spotted her, she quickly made her way over to her friend. Only when they got close did Wryn notice there were a few other clubs gathered there as well, one of which was the football team. " Did Coach Ginger call in a few favors with the other coaches to get extra help?"

  Gigi smiled and nodded, "Seems like it. Thanks for agreeing to come and help, though."

  Wryn shrugged, "Anything for a friend, I suppose."

  The two didn't get much of a chance to say much else before Coach Ginger blew a whistle and everyone started to line up to get on a bus. And before they knew it, they were all on their way to the Fair Grounds...