As we exit the arcade and return to the warm sunlight, Lily smiles as me and asks, "what time is it?"

"Oh," I reply turning on my phone, "uhhhh... two thirty."

It's then I notice a text from Morgan in all caps that reads, "DUDE DON'T JUMP!"

Fuck. She saw me on the bleachers didn't she? Best lie. I text back, "I have no idea what we're talking about right now."

Like five seconds later, I get a text from Morgan. "Jesus fucking christ! You scared me and Whitney half to death! There was a rumor you were seen by someone about to jump off the bleachers at the football feild!"

"All lies," is the lie I tell, "sorry I didn't reply my phone wasn't on. Make sure to stomp those rumors out for me."

"Alright," Morgan replies, "where are you?"

"Skipping school," I reply.

"I have several questions," I get a text from Whitney.

"What are you looking over Morgan's shoulder?" I ask.

"Yes," Whitney replies.

"Let me handle this," I text back before opening a group chat with both of them before getting in the car and returning my phone to my pocket.

"Where to next?" I ask.

"Why don't we-" Lily's phone goes off, cutting her off. She checks it and sighs. "Ugh, it's work. Dammit." Lily puts the phone in her pocket and explains, "they need me down at the boat docks. I can give you a ride home if you like though."

"I'm in no rush to get home," I reply, "trust me. I'll just walk from the docks."

"You gonna be OK?" Lily asks.

I shrug.

"Hey," Lily offers, "if you ever need anything, like, your parents push you over the edge or something, just give me a call."

"What's your number?" I inquire.

"I'll put it in your phone," Lily smiles, stretching out her hand for my phone which I comply. After typing in her contact info, she hands it back to me.

"I noticed you had Poke," Lily explains, "that texting app, so I added myself there too."

"Cool," I smile, pocketing my phone.

"Why have Poke on your phone though?" Lily inquires, "I mean, your phone can text anyways so-"

"So my parents can't get my texts from the phone company," I reply, "I've learned to keep both eyes open."

"Man you're paranoid aren't you?" Lily asks.

"I just don't leave tracks," I reply, "I cover them."

"I suppose that makes sense," Lily shrugs, starting the car, "considering what rumors I've heard about your mom."

"Rumors?" I ask.

Lily tenses up, almost as if she made a mistake, and replies dismissively, "oh it's nothing you wouldn't already know."

"Yeah," I chuckle, "chances are it's something I started anyways."

"Yeah," Lily chuckles, "I mean, who else would know about it? Me? I don't even know her!"

"Yeah," I reply, "and it's better if you never meet that toxic, manipulative son of a bitch."

"Sounds like it," Lily replies, driving towards the docks, "when did she... start acting like that?"

"I dunno," I shrug, "when I began to near ten year olds she would be a lot angrier about stuff. Things just kept getting worse. My dad was always a dick though. He was never nice in the first place."

"There are just bad people," Lily replies, "but things will get better for you."

"When?" The voice compels me to ask.

"I don't know," Lily shrugs, "but things will improve."

We pull into the docks and get outta the car.

"I gotta clock in," Lily explains, "see you later."

"You have a good one Lily," I smile.

With that, we part ways, and I begin to walk down the road towards my house, slowly, in no rush to get there. My check my texts again, and the group chat appears as follows.

Morgan: What do you mean you skipped school?

Whitney: Your parents are going to kill you!

Richard: Calm down guys. I was hanging out with a new friend of mine. You guys know Lily?

Whitney: Yeah, I know Lily. She's the athletic girl who was in my English class right? I hear she's already on the roster for the next Olympics. Her parents are loaded.

Morgan: She's damn arrogant about it though. She thinks she's some perfect little princess but she has an ego the size of Kansas.

Richard: She's nice though, if she has some problems listening. If she wants to do something, she does it, and she doesn't care if it's risky. She called my mom and almost got me killed. (Not literally.)

Whitney: Hey, no one's perfect.

Morgan: True true.

Purity: Actually, most people suck.

Wait what? I didn't type-

Whitney: Dude, it's just this town. It's OK. Things will get better when we're all in college.

Purity: I saw a man pressuring his son to drink. His son was only sixteen.

Morgan: What did you do?

Purity: I knocked that-

Error: Message deleted.

I'm not sending that! Voice! Shut the fuck up! You're gonna get us caught!

"Don't you trust them?" The voice asks.

"Should I?" I ask.

"I dunno," the voice shrugs, "but if you do, Purity doesn't have to work alone. I just thought we'd need others to help hide a body."

"We're not killing anyone!" I exclaim, the words escaping as muttering under my breath, "we're not!"

"Then alone it is!" The voice exclaims, "but where's the fun in not bragging?"

"I'm just going to ignore you now."

"Fine fine, but without fame, we can't make things change."

Whitney: That's horrible.

Morgan: Why did he do that?

Richard: I don't know. I overheard him say, "in memory of grandpa," but then had to run away from aniexty.

Whitney: That's messed up.

Richard: That's just this town.

Morgan: Are you OK?

Richard: Yeah. At least you guys are safe.

Whitney: Yeah, we're fine, you don't need to worry about us. Right Morgan?

...

...

...

No reply.

Richard: Morgan?

...

...

...

Is she OK? Is she not safe? I'm starting to worry. What if she's and danger and I-

Morgan: Sorry was busy.

Whitney: It's fine.

Richard: Don't scare me like that!

Morgan: Sorry sorry.

Richard: No no. It's my fault. I need to work on my aniexty.

Whitney: You really do.

Morgan: So I tried to work on the rumors, but there are people insisting they saw you, to the point a teacher was called out, but you were gone when they arrived. Everyone thought you were dead!

I take a photo of myself.

Richard: Photo. Caption: Still kicking y'all!

Richard: Send them that.

Morgan: OK.

I arrive at my house, and find that my parents aren't home. Good. Better that way.

"So what's Purity's next move?" The voice asks.

"What?" I inquire.

The voice chuckles, "don't tell me we're done. The fun, our change, has only just begun."

"We will bring our change with our stories," I reply, "what Purity did, what you did, was a spur of the moment thing."

"But shouldn't we be ready?" The voice, Purity, inquires, "just in case? We should be ready."

"I'm listening."

"You know your dad's shed at the bottom of the hill?"

I look down at the shed, his work shed where he keeps all his tools and miscellaneous junk, small, white, one large door at the front at the end of the hilly yard.

"Go inside," the voice demands.

I comply. The shed is musty, dark, and dusty, with boxes lined up on the back and left walls, and a workbench on the right wall.

"Third box on the left wall."

I open the box and find an old, white  hockey mask with a broken strap.

"Make it pure."

I turn around to see a bottle of spray plastic, and use it to cover the holes in the mask except the eyes. I find a piece of rope and use it to make a new strap for the mask. I then make sure to place everything just as I found it before, making it as though I was never here. It's not like my dad will notice anyways. I proceed to grab a sharpie from the workbench and draw a huge, plastered grin on the mask, to give it a more menacing feel.

Let's see, what else? Right. The voice.

I look around and spot an old toy megaphone with a small voice box in it. I speak into it, the old toy making my voice raspy and menacing, the once jolly voice it was meant to produce distorted by age. I sneak out of the shed, knowing no one's going to notice this old thing being gone, and break it, gutting it for the wires and voice box and throwing what's left into the trash, taking out the other trash bags and putting it under everything else.

Afterwards I return to the musty old shed and prepare to grab a battery, but my dad would notice missing batteries. I must resort to...

Other methods.

I get on my bike, putting the mask into my jacket in such a way that it's held in place by being pressed against my ribcage, but not visable, and head to the hardware store, roughly twelve miles from my house, a long and exhausting ride. As I enter the massive store, I look around, looking for blind spots in the security cameras near the batteries, and after finding one, I walk confidently over to it to hide my intentions and steal a large battery, roughly the size of my fist, and slip it into my pocket.

No one sees me. The cameras don't catch shit, and I walk away a free man, looking for the electrical tape, and finding some on the third shelf of a rack of different tapes. However, the camera is looking right at it.

"What's our play?" I ask.

"Block it," the voice sighs, "obviously."

I nod and find a large metal staircase on wheels used by employees to access the higher shelves. I make sure I'm in a blind spot, and give the thing a push, moving it to where it blocks the camera on the tape, allowing me to take one.

As I exit the store, a thought stops me dead in my tracks. This is theft! This is wrong! No one here has done anything to deserve to be robbed! I can't just-

"Kid kid," the voice reassures me, "think of it like this. We can't help people without the mask can we? It's more like, a contribution to our cause. Society paying us back just a little for our work. Besides, you're stealing, like, seven dollars worth of stuff. Who cares?"

"Fine fine," I mutter, "let's go."

I exit the store and bike back to my house, where I take out the mask and attack the voice back to the battery, which outta last a while, and if it dies, I can change it out. I then wrap it in the electrical tape where my mouth will be when I put the mask on. I put it on just to test, and my voice comes out mechanical and twisted, "I am Purity. I shall purify what is impure."

I remove the mask, and I smile. I put it back under my jacket and zip my jacket up.

I feel the voidful feeling once more.

"I should write," I think aloud, quickly typing up another chapter to fill the emptiness as I enjoy the fresh air.

About half way through, the voidful feeling calms.

"The void gone?" The voice sighs.

I nod.

"Excellent," the voice replies, "so, when we gonna purify some shit?"

It's then I realize, that purifying that man who attempted to abuse his son...

I had no voidful feeling.

So...

Lily changes it somehow.

Making things pure makes it go away.

Writing makes it go away.

OK.

I'm not sure which I should go with here.

"Well," I shrug, "next time I can't write I suppose."

"I'll be waiting," the voice chuckles, "I'll be waiting..."

With that, the voice goes silent. I take a deep breath, enjoying the fresh air and check my phone.

"So how's school?" I ask, deciding to chat with my sisters until THEY get home...