𝙇𝙪𝙯 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙚𝙙 𝙪𝙥 𝙖𝙩 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙜𝙡𝙤𝙬-𝙞𝙣-𝙩𝙝𝙚-𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙘𝙠𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙙𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙝𝙪𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙛𝙛 𝙤𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙤𝙥 𝙗𝙪𝙣𝙠 𝙤𝙛 𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝙗𝙚𝙙.

She reached her hand out to the moon-shaped one, the illustration smiling down as it was surrounded by various coloured stars and planets. The Latina closed her fist, blinking before she sighed softly to herself, sitting up in her bed.

Sleep had left her body, and she noticed that she wasn't the only one. Far to the left of her room, an empty bed remained along with the messy blanket, but it was still in the same position as in the morning. 

"I guess Georgia's not getting any sleep either..."

The girl turned to her left, spotting her desk lamp on as it shone down on her palisman egg. Luz pushed herself off of her bed and walked over to it, picking up the small item and its blanket as the cloth tugged some papers off the table.

Amity grumbled, rubbing her eyes as she soon sat up, looking at Luz's retreating figure in worry before spotting a flyer that landed near the foot of her bed. The lilac-haired witch picked up the piece of paper, squinting as she read the text.

"Haunted hayride?" She whispered to herself, an idea popping up in her head.

Maybe a break was what they all needed, and along with this, she could break the good news to Luz!

A smile grew on her face as she glanced back at the door, one of determination before she tucked the paper in her pocket, climbing back in bed as thoughts of what costumes the two could wear flooded her mind for the rest of the night.

–––

"They don't hate garlic like vampires, but they weren't entirely against eyeballs when we were watching that zombie movie..." 

Camila muttered in thought, tapping her pen against her chin as she glanced down at her notebook, stacks of books by her bedside while papers dropped onto the floor, bit by bit.

Her hair was wrapped up in a scarf, two hairpins attached to it as she wore her pink pyjamas, sitting in her bed with her blanket pulled up her legs, a book sitting near the edge.

"Gus said that I could get apple blood from the apple butcher, but..." She yawned. "Until I find one of those, I'll have to use food colouring..."

The mother closed her eyes, resting back into her pillows as she smiled, her mind wandering into her dreams as the time ticked by.

–––

A shovel dug the dirt as a six-year-old Luz grinned, the girl gasping as she pulled a small item out of the mud, running towards the other kids in the playground in excitement.

"Look what I found!" She grinned.

The young girl opened her hands, revealing a curled-up item, one that resembled a striped snake as the other kids reacted in disgust, protesting.

"Ew! Gross!"

"Gross! Don't touch that dead thing!"

"It's not dead!" Luz chirped. "This is the skin of a garter snake. They shed their pyjamas as they grow. It means there's a snake near us... and it just got a lot bigger!"

"EW!" 

The other kids screamed, running away from the girl as Camila watched her young daughter, the mother chuckling at her daughter's antics.

"She called them pyjamas!" Camila clapped her hands softly with a proud grin.

"Ugh! So unhygienic!" A nearby mother scoffed.

"That girl must've been raised by wolves," Another next to her added.

"Hey! Wolves are actually great parents! And–" Camila glared, pointing her finger at the two women who disrespected her and her child.

"Huh?"

Camila frowned in confusion as she was surrounded by other parents, seated in front of a stage. 

Luz stood at the centre, a spork in her hands along with three other students who stood by her side. A banner was strewn across the stage with the words 'Romeo & Juliet tryouts' in blue text and it all clicked in Camila's mind.

She was back at Luz's high school play tryouts.

"Oh, happy dagger, give me death!" 

Luz pulled the front of her dress open, strings of sausages tumbling out as they were hidden between the front of her dress and her undershirt, the other girls running away from the sight in fear.

Camila laughed out loud, her rage disappearing as her daughter's actions made her smile widely.

"Her dad taught her that one!" Camila smiled proudly.

"Ugh! Gross, now everything smells like lunch meat," The man behind her scoffed to a blonde woman beside him, a smirk growing on her face.

"Yeah, she's such a try-hard."

"Oye! What did you just say?!" Camila hissed, turning around to face the two figures.

But before she could say anything, her chair fell backwards, the Latina mother fell down through the darkness before she landed on the ground beneath her, now in her vet scrubs as she stared up at the school principal.

"I said, grief can manifest in different ways. Like how Luz has been acting out for attention," He spoke, his hands clasped together as he stared down at Camila.

His form was much larger than hers as a red light shone in from behind him. Camila crossed her arms with a frown.

"L-Losing Manny was difficult for both of us, but Luz has always done things differently," Camila smiled up hopefully, trying to convince the principal.

"Didn't you say you were bullied in high school, Mrs Noceda?"

Suddenly, water began to appear from the ground, Camila hesitated as she looked down at her feet before facing the principal again.

"Uh, yes but–"

"Luz hasn't made any friends, her grades are inconsistent, and I heard she brought a live snake to school?"

The principal flipped through Luz's file, the water pouring in, now waist-high as the male passed a piece of paper to the mother before him.

"Take this." 

Camila read the flyer as it read, ' Reality check summer camp! Think INSIDE the box!', the boy illustrated grinned as he held a thumbs up, trapped within the confines of the said box.

"It could help her."

"Reality check camp?" Camila frowned. 

Water gushed in from the top, lifting the woman up as she felt as though she were drowning despite being able to breathe just fine.

"You don't want Luz to struggle like you did, right?"

"Mom?"

Camila gasped, her eyes opening swiftly as her glasses were askew. She calmed herself down swiftly as she straightened her glasses, glancing over at her daughter who stood at the doorframe of her room.

"Luz? What time is it?"

Camila's vision began to clear as her daughter stood at the doorframe, clutching her little egg tight. 

"Mom..." Luz began. "Why aren't you mad at me?"

Camila sighed, moving aside as she pats her bed, gesturing Luz to come closer.

"Oh, baby. Come here," She frowned. 

Luz walked over, hugging her egg as she got into the bed next to her mother, Camila covering the blanket over her daughter.

"I've been terrified, sure. But believe it or not, I do understand what it's like to want to run away."

"I'm so sorry!" Luz dropped her egg on the bed, hugging her mother close. 

"But the point is, you came home, and everything's okay now..."

"But it's not!" Luz pulled away, gripping her head as tears welled up in her eyes. "It's my fault everyone's trapped here. And... And I don't even know if King and Eda are okay! I wanted you to meet them so bad, but I keep messing up!"

Luz wiped her tears away, clasping her hands together as she placed her arms on her knees. Camila frowned before placing a hand on her daughter's forearm.

"Hey, everyone makes mistakes," She smiled softly. "What matters is that you learn from them."

Luz glanced down guiltily, pulling the blanket closer to her chest.

"Can I sleep here tonight?"

Camila smiled softly once more, pulling the blankets closer to her daughter as she pecked her forehead, Luz smiling up at her mother while resting her head on the pillow.

"Give the palisman a kiss too!"

Camila kissed the egg before picking it up along with her glasses and placing them on her bedside table along with other items, such as the framed-up garter snakeskin, a bi-coloured beaded bracelet, and a string of pictures with Manny and Luz.

With that, a light in the house clicked off, the night silent besides the grumbling of a beast that enveloped a corpse in the forest, its eyes glowing in the dark as it scrambled off.