Back At The Dorm
The dorm felt wrong.
Too quiet. Too still. And the darkest side of it looked even more dead than usual.
Yoko sat at the edge of Enid’s bed, watching her best friend stare blankly at the ceiling. It had been three days.
Three days since the alley.
Three days since Enid had cradled Wednesday in her arms, so sure—so absolutely certain —that she would wake up.
She hadn’t.
Ajax leaned against the doorway, arms crossed, his gaze flickering between Yoko and Enid, his expression unreadable. "Did she eat anything today?" His voice was quiet, but the weight behind it was impossible to miss.
Yoko shook her head.
A sigh. A tired hand dragging down his face. "We have to do something. She can’t just—just sit here forever."
A second later, Bianca appeared, a plate of untouched toast balanced in her hands. "She won’t even look at it," she muttered, setting it down on the desk beside the bed. "I don’t think she’s even processing that time is passing."
Yoko followed Enid’s gaze, trying to trace whatever invisible thing she was seeing in the ceiling.
What are you looking at, Nid ?
What are you waiting for?
Wednesday had been gone for three days.
But Enid still believed .
"Enid," Yoko tried gently, reaching for her hand.
No response.
Bianca shifted beside her. "Do you—do you want to talk about her?"
That got a reaction.
Enid’s head turned slightly, her sharp eyes meeting Bianca’s. "She’s not gone," she said simply, like she was stating a fact.
Ajax stiffened. "Enid —"
"I mean, yeah, sure, technically she is," she continued, propping herself up on her elbows, looking at them like they were the ones acting strange. "But she’s coming back. She pinky swore."
Yoko’s heart clenched.
Ajax ran a hand through his hair, his voice dangerously close to breaking. "Enid, she died."
Enid just smiled at him. "Yeah, I know. And now we’re in the waiting part."
Bianca’s breath caught. "The waiting part? "
A nod. "Weds isn’t—she’s not normal, you guys. You think she’d just let something like death stop her?"
Yoko swallowed hard, forcing herself to stay steady. "Nid, I get it. I do. But… you have to understand, that’s not how this works."
Enid’s gaze was calm. Unshakable. "For most people, maybe. But she’s Wednesday."
Ajax looked away, his jaw tight. "This isn’t healthy."
"I’m fine," she insisted.
That did it.
Bianca shot to her feet, the chair scraping against the floor. "You are not fine! " she burst out. "Enid, you watched her die. You felt it happen, and you’re just—just ignoring it! You won’t eat, you won’t sleep, you won’t even talk about her unless it’s to act like she’s gonna walk through the door any second now!"
Enid blinked. "Because she is."
Yoko let out a soft, broken breath. "Enid…"
"Guys, I love you, I really do," Enid said, sitting up fully now, tilting her head at them like they were the ones being irrational. "But you sound really stupid right now. Of course she’s coming back."
Ajax looked like he wanted to punch something. Or scream. Or both.
Yoko pressed a hand against her temple. "How, Enid ? How is she coming back?"
A simple shrug. "I dunno. She didn’t give me the specifics. But she promised me. Wednesday pinky swore it."
The room went still.
Bianca’s hands curled into fists. "You have to let her go."
Enid just smiled.
Not forced. Not sad.
Genuine.
Like she knew something they didn’t.
"Why would I do that?" she asked.
She reached for the plate of toast beside her bed, took a bite, and chewed thoughtfully.
Ajax’s breath hitched. "Enid…"
"You guys are freaking out over nothing," she said around a mouthful of bread. "You’ll see. Just wait."
And then, as if the conversation had never happened, she turned to them with a bright, expectant grin.
"So, what’s the plan for today?"