The Cheshire - Halloween Story 2017

”Have you seen this video of the man disappearing”

“What video?”

“Here, look at this. See how the man just disappears”

“Is it real?”

“Well I don’t think anyone has manipulated the video, but I don’t believe that he actually disappears. He probably just walks into a blind spot”

“Play it again… Wait stop it there, I think I saw something”

“What’d you see?”

“If you go a bit back… Look, there is some kind of flash or glare right there”

“What, I didn’t see anything”

“Let me… Right. Here. There is some kind of flash there”

“Where?”

“Right above the man’s eye, right here”

“You are right, there is some kind of glare”

“Try find some more videos of people disappearing”

“Easy enough, there are tons of them. Here is one”

“There is also a glare in this one”

“Yeah, this is weird, what could it be? Here is a third one”

“Another glare, maybe they are fake or something”

“I think it is a coincident”

 

“Tommy and Benjamin, thank you for volunteering to set up the Halloween horror house” a woman calls down to the back of the classroom where two sixteen year old boys are watching Youtube videos on their computer.

Tommy is the taller of the two. He got blue eyes, short red hair and a slightly crooked nose. He is nerdy and scrawny of appearance but not ugly. Benjamin is about a head shorter than Tommy. He got medium length dark hair, blue eyes and glasses. He also got a nerdy appearance but with a more muscular physique.

“But Miss Tarp, we didn’t do anything” Tommy tries to argue with his teacher.

“Save it Tommy, just show up in the auditorium after school tomorrow. I’ll be awaiting you with the other volunteers” Miss Tarp says and proceeds to write down names.

“Miss Tarp, I would also like to volunteer” a purple haired girl sitting right in front of Tommy and Benjamin calls to Miss Tarp.

“Thank you Sophie, it is nice of you to volunteer” Miss Tarp says and writes Sophie down on her list.

Sophie is younger than the two boys but just as tall as Benjamin. Her body is slim and subtle body very unlike most of her female classmates. She has green eyes, shiny red lips and pale skin.

Sophie turns around to Tommy and Benjamin “don’t you guys think I’m gonna let you have all the fun” She whispers with a smile.

“Remember to read page 105 to 127 till Thursday” Miss Tarp calls out over the class as the bell rings.

“What where you two whispering about?” Sophie asks as the three leave the school grounds.

“You know those videos, where people suddenly disappear? We were watching some of those and it looks like there is an odd glare just before they disappear. It happened in all of the videos we saw” Tommy says while Benjamin pulls out his phone to find one of the videos they watched earlier.

“Just watch this and pay close attention to around this man’s eye just before he disappears” Tommy says and hands his phone to Sophie.

For ten minutes Sophie watches and re-watches the video and then shakes her head “I can’t see it” she says and hands the phone back to Benjamin “so this is why you got busted and we now have to help out tomorrow, you guys are crazy”.

“Well you didn’t have to volunteer” Benjamin laughs at her.

“Of course I had to volunteer. You two are going to be bored out of your minds without me. By the way, have you guys found a date for the Halloween party next week?” Sophie asks.

“Well I’m gonna go with Betty, she asked me yesterday, I think she likes my muscles. But T here just rejected Sam” Benjamin says and jabs Tommy over the arm.

“Don’t play it so cool Benja, I know you been pining after Betty for some time and you know the girls talk, they say you showed up on her door step with a bunch of roses and a puppy” Sophie teases Benjamin “But Tommy did you really reject Sam? Sexy cheerleader Sam with the hot legs and big boobs? Why’d you reject her?”

“She is not my type” Tommy says staring at the sky.

“Well what is your type then Tommy” Sophie asks curiously.

“My type is, uhm, the, exact opposite of you. Ehm, you know like long brown naturally hair, tall, nice curvy body, athletic, uhm, popular and not at all nerdy” Tommy says nervously fiddling with his hands and avoids eye contact with Sophie.

“So you rejected Sam, a hot curvy cheerleader, the most popular girl on our school. The girl that is a whole head taller than you, have long brown and beautiful hair. A girl that is the complete opposite of me, because she wasn’t your type? You are so lying. Well this is my stop, see you tomorrow nerds” Sophie says gives them both a high five and heads into her house.

“T you got to be better at lying, you just contradicted everything you said” Benjamin says and slaps Tommy now they are alone.

“I know, I know, I got confused by her eyes. You know how it is, you been like that with Betty for a long time. But I just can’t ask Sophie out, it would ruin our friendship and we both now friendship is most important” Tommy says sounding a bit down.

“I know T, but it is easier to pretend when you have a distraction like Sam with you. Anyway, I don’t think Sophie is going to find out, so you are good” Benjamin says and puts his arm around Tommy “well, see you tomorrow”.

Tommy walks the way home with his head in the clouds. He passes the police captain who is checking out a parked car. The captain walks slow like a zombie as if his inner light has gone out. Tommy stares blankly at the captain as he passes him. Without looking where he is going, he trips and falls down into a bush. A flash of light happens and he looks up from the bush to see the captain is gone. But something even stranger is happening, three hovering lights in the shape of two eyes and a mouth is hanging in the air at the exact spot where the captain just was. The face of light turns around slowly just like a head turning, Tommy drops back down into the bush before the face gets the chance to look at him. Quietly he moves some of the leafs to stare at the face of light. But nothing is to be seen, there is no captain and no face of light. There is only the parked car. He waits a few minutes lying in the bush trying to understand what just happened. He gets out of the bush with a last glance to the car.

Tommy calls Benjamin over the phone while walking the last of the way home “hey Benja, I just saw something weird. I Think the captain just disappeared like the people on the videos” he says.

“What do you mean T? The captain disappeared?” Benjamin asks confused.

“Yeah, maybe, I don’t know. But I just walked by him and he was total zombie. Then I tripped over a bush, a flash of light happened and when I got up he was gone. Instead there was some kind of weird thing happening, like a floating face of light. Reminds me a bit of the Cheshire cat from Alice in Wonderland when he goes invisible, just more evil looking” Tommy says, he can hear how stupid it sounds.

“Are you trying to pull a joke on me T? Or did you just hit your head” Benjamin laughs.

“Maybe I did hit my head, can’t say for sure, but that’s what I just saw. Well I’m home now, think I smell pizza, see ya” Tommy hangs up and walks inside.

“Come get some early dinner sweetie, your dad and I are leaving for the opera soon” his mom calls to him from the kitchen.

Tommy drops his bag in front of his bedroom door before heading out in the kitchen. His mom and dad are wearing their best clothes and eats pizza with fork and knife. He has always found this sight of his parents funny but at the same time a very precise description of who they are as people. They are both working as high class art curators but have always had time to give Tommy a cozy home with a lot of love and fun.

“Sweetie, we are leaving, be good and do your homework. There is another pizza in the fridge if you get hungry later, love you” his mom says before leaving.

“Yeah son, do as your mother says and no party on a school night” his dad laughs as he follows her out of the door.

Tommy grabs the pizza from the refrigerator and walks down into his room in the basement. With a movie on the TV and the pizza at his side he soon falls asleep. It is five in the morning when he wakes up after getting a little over eleven hours of sleep. He grabs a piece of pizza, packs a clean set of clothes in his bag, gets dressed and gets out on the street for a morning jog. Tommy loves this time of the day, all gloomy with lights dancing all over the sky and everyone is sleeping. Benjamin joins up with Tommy and together they run down to Sophie’s house, where she is waiting for them. They drop their bags off in her garden and they go for a run around the town.

“Do you really think that the captain disappeared T?” Benjamin asks between his breaths.

“How’d you know the captain disappeared? It got called in two hours ago. I heard my dad wake up as they rang him” Sophie says surprised.

“Yesterday I walked by him as he was checking a car or something, I stumbled over a bush, a flash happened and when I got up he was gone. Only thing left was some floating face of light, but I probably hit my head” Tommy explains to Sophie.

“Then you would have been the last to see him, you got to talk to the cops, but leave out the part of floating heads” Sophie says looking at Tommy a bit worried.

“I can talk to your dad when you get home to you after the run and then it would be done quickly” Tommy says, he is already getting exhausted and needs to focus on his breathing.

“Smart thinking, I’ll shoot him a text and speaking of after this run, I just downloaded Crash Team Racing. We can do some good old school gaming before school” Sophie grabs her phone and starts tapping while they run. Ten seconds later the sound of a text getting send is heard, just to be followed by the sound of a text getting received “dad is gonna be there to take your statement, as they call it”.

“I think you are getting better T, you are slightly less exhausted than usual. Let’s sprint the last part, only about two hundred meters left” Benjamin teases and before Tommy can answer, both Sophie and Benjamin starts sprinting.

“You guys ... are ... evil” Tommy pants as he finally catches up to them “dibs on the first bath ... since I’m gonna ... talk to mister police dad” he continues trying to catch his breath.

Like always the three heads home to Sophie where Benjamin and Sophie starts up the Playstation while Tommy takes a shower. As soon as Tommy is fresh in his clean clothes he finds Sophie’s dad to tell him all about what he saw when the captain disappeared. Sophie takes a shower after Tommy and Benjamin is the last one to get clean. They hang out playing Playstation until ten minutes to eight where they have to get to school. The three spent their schooldays at the back of the class where they for the most part can stay unbothered by the teachers. They are quite good in school so they often do whatever they feel like and this day is no different. Today is spent by talking about what could have happened to the captain and at the end of the school day they meet up with the other volunteers in the auditorium. Most of the other volunteers are either theatre nerds or trying to get extra points for their university application.

“We have just over a week to turn these halls into a haunted house. We need to paint frightening figures to hang on the wall and put up decorations like fake spider web and tombstones. We also need someone to dress up and act scary around the halls. So we have to make some costumes like zombies, werewolves, mass murders and whatever you can think of” Miss Tarp explains while pulling out big piles of cardboard and cans of paint.

The other students rushes to get materials and begins to cut out werewolves and The Frankenstein monster. But not Tommy, Benjamin and Sophie, they take it cool. With one piece of cardboard each they withdraw to a corner and starts drawing cutting out ghosts. It is simple and easy which gives them time to fool around.

“Look at those three, slacking again, just like they do in class” is heard from one of the groups.

Where to another voice answers “yeah, but they still get high grades, they aren’t stupid they just don’t care”.

“Yeah you are such a slacker T” Benjamin says laughing while giving him a light punch on the shoulder.

Tommy looks up at Benjamin with an indifferent smile “well, I don’t care…” he says but gets distracted as a floating grin moving by behind Miss Tarp. “Guys, I see a floating face” he whispers to Benjamin and Sophie.

“Are you okay?” they both ask Tommy a little concerned.

“Yeah, I’m gonna follow it” Tommy says and walks out of the auditorium after the floating grin.

He follows the floating grin out in the hallway and into a classroom where it just floats under a lamp. As he sneaks inside the classroom he accidentally flips the light switch and turns the light off. The sudden darkness is followed by a weird ice cold scream of pain. It is a sound Tommy has never heard before and never wishes to hear again. It runs down through his bones like nails on a blackboard. He quickly turns the light on again and the floating grin is gone. He is all alone in the classroom but the sound clings to his mind like it was bolted. He slowly walks back towards the auditorium checking around every corner for the floating grin is there. Every time he thinks of the sound he shivers. But unlucky for him, he only finds Brad, the captain’s son, standing with his head on his locker. Brad is a two meter tall, really muscular brute of a guy, with a flat nose and a flat face.

Brad turns around at the sound of Tommy’s footsteps “heard you saw my dad disappear?” he says threating and pushes Tommy.

“I didn’t see him disappear Brad, I saw him, I fell and then he was gone” Tommy scuff at Brad. Brad has always bullied Tommy for being a nerd.

“Yeah a flash of light and he was gone, like some magic shit. I heard you talk with your nerd friends are you trying to get attention of my family's pain or something you stupid nerd” Brad says and punches Tommy hard in the stomach.

Tommy falls to the ground gasping for air and Brad walks away. He lies on the ground for a moment trying to catch his breath before getting up and walks back to the auditorium.

“Where’s your floating face” Benjamin asks teasingly.

“Followed it into a classroom, I accidentally hit the switch, heard a scream and when I turned the light on again it was gone. Oh and I ran into Brad’s fist. He just got another reason to hate me” Tommy whispers trying to sound nonchalant.

“Brad hit you again?” Sophie asks worried.

“One in the stomach, harder than he’d ever hit me” Tommy says.

“He’s a stupid gorilla. Luckily for us he’s gone next year when he goes to college or the army or something. But look we made two ghosts while you were chasing one” Benjamin says proud and shows of one great ghost and one really dismal ghost.

“I see Sophie is still good at painting, but I think you have gotten worse at it” Tommy teases.

“If that is the attitude, then you are now a ghost behind” Benjamin laughs.

“That’s a challenge, I’ll make more and better ghost than you” Tommy says and walks over to take a pile of cardboard.

It is seven in the evening before Miss Tarp lets them off for the day. Sophie made two ghosts and then went on to do several zombies. Benjamin and Tommy took the ghost challenge serious and made sixteen ghosts each, more ghosts that are even needed. Tommy started off by making better ghosts than Benjamin, but he had to compromise his quality to catch up. Together the three leave school and walks home. The streets are covered in darkness only broken by the sporadic streetlight and Tommy has to walk the last part alone. The sky is thick with dark clouds not even the moon is seen to keep him company on his way home. He stops at the spot where the captain disappeared to look around. He wants some answers, are the floating grins real or is he going crazy. The streets are empty and he walks over to the car that the captain had investigated. He finds the trunk is slightly open with several canvas bags inside. He looks up from the trunk as he hears a sound a little further down the street. Something is floating under the streetlight. It is hard to see what it is as it is shining brightly. But he can see it is floating above the ground. He slowly walks closer with his fear growing in his body. There is something familiar above this floating being and as it turns around he recognises it as one of the floating grins but this one is more bodily than before. It is still sort of invisible but with a fuzzy shape, like it is covered in fur. Its feet are not to be seen and its hands are consisting of three long claws. Its face is round with cat like ears and the evil grin. It is unaware of him being there, it just floats in the light, waiting for something. A bird flies under the streetlamp, leaving the floating being in a shadow for half a second. It hisses angrily at the bird like it is hurt by the darkness. Tommy walks back to the car and grabs a canvas bag. This is his chance to get some answers. He sneaks up behind the floating being and in a quick movement he pulls the bag down over it. It screams in pain just like the one at the school. The sound chills him and he runs home with it. To his surprise he finds the being very light to carry.

As Tommy walks in through the front door his mom’s voice sounds from the kitchen “come get something to eat sweetie, the food is getting cold”.

“Be there in a minute mom” Tommy answers and walks down into his room.

He covers his window, places a desk lamp in the corner and turns it on and then turns off every other source of light. Now that his room is completely covered in darkness except for the one corner he pours the floating being out in the light. It is more visible than ever before but it looks like oil in a puddle of water, all disturbed and coloured. Drops of multi coloured fluid rolls down over its body. It has stopped floating and is cuddling up in the small amount of light the desk lamp provides. Tommy walks carefully out of his room trying not to let light in. He walks out in the kitchen, it is one of the few times they actually have time to eat a homemade meal together. His mom and dad often work at odd hours, so they take time to really enjoy these rare evenings. His dad has been slow roasting a duck for several hours, with a juicy red wine duck sauce and various oven roasted roots. His mom puts on some music by a new upcoming jazz name, she usually wants to hear his opinion on whether she should use it in her museum or not. But tonight his are distracted by this mystic being lying on the floor in his room.

“Are you okay son, you seem stressed” his dad asks worried.

“Yeah, yeah … yeah everything is fine” Tommy says trying to sound convincing. 

“Are you sure you are okay sweetie? You can always talk to us if there is something” his mom says as loving as she can.

“Yeah, it’s … it’s fine, I can handle it. I just need to focus on school, it’s still the start of this year” Tommy lies convincingly.

”Well just don’t do any drugs or worse son” they say collectively after giving each other a quick glance.

Tommy finishes his meal and gets down into his room. The floating being is still lying in the corner with its face close to the lightbulb. Tommy writes to Benjamin and Sophie in a group chat “my house at five tomorrow, got something to show” whereas they both replies with a thumbs up emoji as accept. He hangs a wall of blankets between his bed and the floating being before going to sleep. Knowing that it is there, even in its seemingly weak form, brings him unease and he has a hard time falling asleep. Big scary grins of light float in and out of his dreams making him toss and turn all night. He wakes up with a shock more than once to look at the floating being in the corner.

“Hey assface” Sophie yells before body slamming Tommy.

“You said five, not six sleepy head” Benjamin says and starts giving slaps to Tommy.

“Let’s get some lights on” Sophie continues.

Whereas Tommy sits up with a rush “NO!” he yells “no lights”

“We waited outside for an hour, it was freezing” Sophie says with a manipulative sugar sweet voice.

“Liar” Tommy answers “you know where the spare key is. You probably let yourself in, ate some breakfast, had a little fun and are now trying to guilt me” he continues and then looks at the clock saying five minutes past five “you only waited five minutes, jerks” Tommy says laughing.

“What did you wanna show us, since we had to come this early” Benjamin says and throws a t-shirt to Tommy.

“I caught one of the floating grins and unless something happened, it should be behind these blankets I put up” Tommy says and puts on some clothes.

“A floating grin, like for real? And why can’t we turn the lights on?” Benjamin asks and starts fumbling with the curtains.

“It seems like they live in the light and that darkness hurts them. Here it is” Tommy pulls down the curtain while explaining.

“What the fuck is that” Benjamin exclaims as he sees the discoloured creature in the corner and Sophie makes a short shriek.

“Is… Is that one of the floating grins” Sophie asks and moves a little closer to get a better look at it.

The floating being turns its evil grin towards Sophie with a quick movement. She jumps back to the others with a scream. It then slowly turns its face back to the lamp.

“But what is it, have you tried to research it?” Benjamin asks, there is fear to be noticed in his voice.

“No, I haven’t researched an invisible creature” Tommy says and turns on his computer feeling a little silly for not thinking of asking the internet about it before now.

“What should we search for?” Benjamin asks looking over Tommy’s shoulder.

“What about living light or killer light or something, maybe Cheshire because of its face resembling the Cheshire cat” Tommy says while typing different words into google.

“Cheshire that is a good name” Sophie says with her eyes locked on the floating being she takes out her phone “I think we should have a picture of it, to show the police or something”.

She kneels down and takes a picture of the Cheshire. But when it is hit by the flash of her phone it rises up into the air in its full form. It lights up and its body becomes cleaner; the colours disappear and it becomes more and more invisible.

“I think you got something” Benjamin says looking on a poorly made web side “it says that these creatures are consisting of light, so the lack of light or the absorption from a material will hurt them but sharp light will be good for them. The more light there is the better these creatures likes it. They live hidden in the lights, but once seen they can’t be unseen” Benjamin recites from the web side “it is not really useful this page, but it is the only one there is. It doesn’t even mention the part about making people disappear or even a picture”.

“Sophie, send me that picture, so we can upload it” Tommy says.

“Oh no! it’s getting late, we have school now” Sophie gasps as she sees the time on her phone.

“I think I skip today to learn more about these Cheshires” Tommy says and the others just nod in acceptance.

“See you later then T” Benjamin and Sophie say before leaving.

“Tommy sweetie, are you home?” his mom calls out in the house as she gets home at four in the afternoon. She opens the door to his room to check if he is down there “why do you have it so dark down here?” she asks and turns on the light.

Tommy stands up real quick “NO, MOM DON’T!” he yells but too late.

The light comes on and the Cheshire turns its head towards Tommy with a devastating evil grin. The next second it flies up the stairs. At the same time Tommy grabs the nearest object to his left and throws it at the loft lamp splintering the bulb. But too late the Cheshire is gone and standing in the dark he can hear something heavy falling down the stairs. He runs to the foot of the stairs and finds his mom lying on the floor. In the light from the lamp in the corner he can see she is bloodied, her throat is cut and she has three big holes in her chest. He runs up the stairs in shock, looking for the Cheshire. He finds it floating outside on the street under a streetlight with blood dripping from its claws. It gives him another evil grin, lifts its claw towards him and makes a loud hiss and then it disappears towards the school. His heart is racing and he is completely lightheaded. He falls to his knees and vomits on the doormat. He crawls back inside and down the stairs. Tears runs from his eyes as he looks at his mother and fear spreads in his chest. He finds it hard to understand what just happened. He fumbles for his phone but it lies broken on the floor. He now realises that it was his phone he threw to break the loft lamp.

“Fuck, fuck … fuck” Tommy whispers through his gasps, sitting on the floor. Then a thought hits him, Sophie and Benjamin, the Cheshire disappeared towards the school.

Tommy gets up, he needs to get down to the school and make sure his friends are okay. But first he needs to prepare. He pulls on a lot of black clothing and finds his homemade lightsabre, made from an ultra violet light, for his Mace Windu costume two years ago. He runs to the school, he has to save Benjamin and Sophie from the Cheshire. It is slowly getting darker as he gets closer to the school. He runs inside, the hallways are dark but his movement triggers the sensors and turns on the light. In his panic, he runs from one empty classroom to another trying to find either the Cheshire or his friends. Exhausted he breaks through the door to the auditorium. Everyone from yesterday is present making more decorations not knowing what creature is out there killing.

“Tommy!” Benjamin and Sophie exclaims surprised to see Tommy standing there gasping for air.

The other students glance at Tommy like he is some freak and starts to whisper.

“The Cheshire… got out… killed my mom…” Tommy gasps his voice trembles with fear.

“What are you saying T?” Benjamin asks worried “the Cheshire killed your mom?” 

“She came home and wanted to check on me, so she turned on the light and it flew up and out of my room, right by her. The next second she was lying on the floor, dead” Tommy says crying “it disappeared towards the school, so I had to come check on you”.

“We haven’t seen it” Sophie says just before a horrifying scream is heard from the hallway.

One of the girls, Lisa, walks in through the door, with blood all over her, crying “An-An-Anna is dead” she stammers through the tears.

Everyone runs past Lisa and out in the hallway to see Anna’s dead body, she is lying flat on the ground, with three big holes in her chest.

“It’s the Cheshire” Tommy whispers to Sophie and Benjamin.

Another scream is heard from Lisa and everyone runs back in the auditorium. Lisa is lying on the ground with three holes in her chest. Everyone panics and screams and starts running. Tommy, Sophie and Benjamin sees the Cheshire standing with blood on its claws in the other end of the auditorium grinning at them. They run out in the hallway after everyone ells. Everyone storms around in panic. Another scream is heard from somewhere in front of them and people turn around bumping into them. 

“In here” Tommy says and opens a door to a classroom.

He runs through it and out of a door on the opposite side of the classroom out into another hallway. A fourth scream is heard and then a fifth. Tommy runs through three different classrooms before stopping up. He looks around and he is all alone, he forgot to keep track of the others. He walks down a hallway with his hands on his lightsabre. It feels like something is following him. He has no idea of the whereabouts of anyone ells. He hears a familiar hiss by his ear and Tommy swings his lightsabre around. It goes right through the Cheshire with no effect and he hits the wall breaking the lightsabre. The Cheshire gives a sound that resembles some kind of rattling laughter. The Cheshire swings its claw at Tommy. It hits him on the black clothing and small particles of lights flies off. It screams of pain and Tommy takes this opportunity to run. He runs through some doors and makes sure to shut of the lights after himself in every room. He is back at the auditorium, where three theatre nerds are huddling together, shivering of fear. The Cheshire is floating towards them with its claw raised ready to strike. Tommy grabs a brush with black paint and throws it at the Cheshire. It flies through it leaving a hole. The Cheshire screams of pain and turns its attention to Tommy. The bright light in the auditorium heals the hole in the Cheshire and sheds the paint like a scab. The Cheshire grins with its rattling laughter as it moves closer to Tommy. He grabs the can of black paint and hurls the paint at the Cheshire. The paint covers the Cheshire and it lets out a loud scream of pain. The paint falls to the ground where the Cheshire was standing and it is gone. He is surprised at how well it worked. He killed it, he just killed the Cheshire. For a second he can feel he starts to relax but then more screaming is heard. And two boys run in through a door with a Cheshire right on their heels. It swings its claw through the back of the head of one of the boys and lifts him into the air for a second. Tommy runs out of another door with the theatre nerds behind him. The hallway is covered in blood and five people are lying dead on the ground. He runs into a classroom where a Cheshire is about to stab Sophie in the chest. He quickly turns of the light and the Cheshire screams of pain. Sophie runs to Tommy and together they run out in the hallway. They run towards an exit hoping to find safety in the dark outside, but as they turn around a corner they find three Cheshires blocking the door. They turn on their heels but another Cheshire corners them from behind. They are trapped with nowhere to run. Sophie grabs Tommy and pulls him inside a closet and turns of the light. They both know that they are trapped, though the Cheshires is unable to reach them. It is only a matter of time before they will die. If they leave the room the Cheshires will be waiting for them ready to kill. If they stay they will either starve or someone will eventually open the door and let the light in. They just stand close awaiting their death, shivering with tears rolling down. Tommy’s hands hits Sophie’s hand and she grabs it. The tension between them grows. Their heads move closer, they can almost feel each other’s lips. The light turns on in the closet and behind them is a large Cheshire.