Meet Me at Midnight | Tyler x Reader | School Bus Graveyard

| Ep 17 |

"So, what's your plan then?" Tyler asks as he yanks off one of the chair legs, "Use your magic hearing to save the day?"

I had completely abandoned the glass shards I had been sharpening, seeing as those chair legs would be more effective for us to use. We all stare at Ashlyn, waiting for her to come up with an answer.

"No- Well, yes...But, later." She stumbles over her words, trying to think rapidly on the spot, "I think we should stay here for now so we can rest and...prepare ourselves."

"So, we play the waiting game? That's your plan?" I ask from across the room. Ashlyn shrugs and adds,

"Once we go outside, there's no telling what we'll encounter. And let's not leave the living room. If something happens, I don't want to be split up."

We all collectively nod at this, feeling it's only reasonable we stick together.

I'm sat cross legged on the floor with Aiden sitting behind me. He's quietly playing with my hair while Ashlyn explains what we should do.

"There isn't much we can do right now, so do some mental exercises."

Aiden runs his fingers down my hair as he questions, "Mental exercises?"

"Imagining yourself in certain situations and seeing how you will react." She explains simply, "Any time you aren't asleep, that's what you should be doing."

It sounds pointless, creating fake scenarios in our heads. That doesn't sound like it would be of any help to us at all, but who am I to question her when I don't even know what our best bet is.

"Yeah, great plan," Tyler mocks, "Daydream and sleep with monsters outside the door."

Aiden sighs in disappointment when I turn my head to look at Ty, accidentally ruining the braid he was working on, "Do you have a better idea-"

"Do not start this again, you two." Taylor cuts the argument short, allowing Ashlyn to continue. I face straight forward again to let Aiden redo my braid.

"We'll take turns keeping look out," She advises and then turns over to Logan, who's looking as pale as a ghost in the corner, "Logan, is the time still twelve?"

"O-Oh, um...I'll check..." He raises his phone and checks the time on his lock screen, making a puzzled face, "...It hasn't changed."

"Maybe your phone is glitched or something." I say, trying to find a reasonable explanation.

Aiden lowers his hand from my hair to raise his phone up to my face, showing me that his time is frozen too. Well, that concludes that.

Ashlyn rises from the floor, "Alright, we'll keep resetting a timer every hour then. I'll take the first shift, who wants to go after?"

I look up at her and raise a hand, "I'll go second."

In a blink of an eye, the entire environment shifts completely, throwing me off guard. I feel my stomach churn at the sudden change in scenery and try to reach out to grab onto something. But, by doing so, I feel my body roll and fall off what felt like a bed. I yelp and hit the ground with a soft thud.

"Ow..." I breathe out, rubbing my forhead as I prop myself up on my elbows. I look around from the floor and gasp. I'm back in our motel room?

How? We were all just...

So it was a dream...

I pull myself back up and lean over the bed to see Taylor fast asleep on the other side. I let out a sigh of relief and raise my hand to my face. That's when I notice the absence of the bandage on my hand that Tyler wrapped for me. It doesn't sting, but there's still some sort of tingle creeping under my palm. How the hell-

"Y/N?"

I whip my head around to find Ashlyn propped up in her bed, her phone screen illuminating her tired face. I stare at her in shock, noticing the scratch on her arm was completely gone. But, it was all a nightmare, so obviously she wouldn't have it.

"Hey-"

"Guys?" Taylor stirs awake, rubbing her head. We both turn to face her and hear her small voice say, "Are...we back in our room?"

My eyes widen at her question, not believing that everything that occurred...could have actually happened. I sit myself on the edge of the bed and reach out for her hand,

"Tay, what are you talking about?"

She then gasps and sits up, grasping onto my shoulders, "Where's the others? Are the monsters still-"

Ashlyn jumps out of her bed and lunges herself at Taylor, gripping onto her arms and shaking her, "So it did happen-! You remember, right?!"

I look quickly between the two and take Ashlyn's wrist, "So, it wasn't a dream?!"

I then feel a sickening wave hit me suddenly and drop my hands from both of them. I clutch my stomach and notice the other girls' face grow pale too.

"Holy shit, I'm gonna-" I don't even finish my sentence and instead fly out of the bedroom and toward the bathroom. I lift the trash can by the toilet and vomit right into it. I hear them both enter and copy my actions as well.

Ashlyn weakly bends over the bathtub, gagging out her guts. Taylor grips onto the toilet seat and throws up as well. What is going on?!

I groan when the lights of the bathroom flicker on and feel another wave of vomit come through. I lower my head to let it all out just as I hear our other roommate's voice from the door,

"What the- Are you guys okay!?"

"Ashlyn! Girls! Are you in here?!" Aiden pushes the other girl out of the way, poking his head in, "Ah! Found 'em!"

The girl scowls at the blonde and shoves him away, "What are you doing in here?! Get out!"

He peers over at the girl, a little surprised to see her, "Wait, aren't you supposed to be dead or somethin'?"

That's right, she was nowhere in sight earlier and now she was here. And in perfect condition too.

I widen my eyes, still holding the trash can under my chin. Before the girl could respond to Aiden's bizarre question, a hand shoves his face aside, slamming him to the wall. Tyler comes into view, freaked out when he sees his sister, "Move-"

He visibly relaxes when I look up and meet his gaze. Taylor sits back, seeming to be done and then flushes the toilet. The color has returned to her face, unlike me and Ash, who still look like crap. I give him a lopsided smile before a feeling erupts in my gut and I clench my stomach. I'm not the only one who feels it too when everyone else around me groans in discomfort, including the boys.

"You guys might want to clear out before I- Oh, shit!" I shove Taylor aside and vomit right into the toilet. She checks up on me but can't handle the sight. She gags and leaves the room, not wanting to throw up again. I feel a pair of hands rub my back supportively before pulling the hair out of my face.

"That's disgusting..." Tyler mutters from behind me, revealing who was holding my hair. Gripping onto the sides of the toilet, I lift my head up and wipe my mouth with the back of my hand.

I glare at him with heavy-lidded eyes, "Don't even."

He chuckles and pats my shoulder once I finish, handing me a towel. Aiden then pokes his head in and tosses Ty a water bottle for me. I wave my hand as a thank you and chug it down. I sit down on the bathroom floor beside Ashlyn, who's also drinking from her own bottle Aiden handed her.

Tyler kneels down beside me after he lets my hair go, "Think of me helping as an apology."

"Apology? For what?"

"This is going to sound weird but," He scratches the back of his neck, "I had a dream where I was being a real dick to you. But, to be fair, you were kind of being annoying too-"

"That wasn't a dream, you idiot." Ashlyn cuts in,rolling her eyes at my best friend's stupidity.