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I was sitting at the lunch table with the others, but now Dustin had joined us. He kept giving Ted awkward glances, and I could tell it was getting on his nerves.

"... Anyways, it's not like we can do the Hounds, I mean, we'd have to establish that Tanner's the good doctor, and that's a lot of work." [Garrick]

"Not really, just refer to him as the good doctor from-" [Titus]

"What is your problem?" [Ted]

"Huh?" [Seth]

"Not you, him!" [Ted]

"Well, I think I know a song you guys could sing." [Dustin]

"Oh, what?"

"Ninety Nine Red Balloons."

"Yeah, that song doesn't exactly scream revenge." [Titus]

"Okay, what about Take a Bow?"

"... Uh..." [Garrick]

"Fucking genius!" [Titus]

"I've never even heard of that song, who did it?" [Ted]

"Muse." [Titus and Dustin in unison]

"And I've never heard of them." [Ted]

"They did that one song, Super Massive Black Hole." [Dustin]

"That sounds kinda like revenge song." [Garrick]

"No, it's the one that goes-" So this moment impressed me. In less than a second, Titus' voice raised two octaves to sing, "Ooh baby don't you know I suffer, ohh baby can you hear me moan-"

"Dear god, stop that screeching!" [Garrick]

"No, that's spot on, I remember that song, it was really popular a few years back, right?" [Ted]

"Yeah, that one." [Dustin]

"So, the band who did that song, also did a song called Take a Bow, and it's just... Well I don't know if you can play it. It's pretty fast and you'd need an electric guitar, so-" [Titus]

"Oh, I've got electric instruments. Anything electric I can handle." [Garrick]

"Really, how long have you been into music?" [Daniel]

"Like my entire life. My parents weren't very musical, but once they figured out I was, they started buying me all these instruments and shit. I don't know how we're gonna move all of them to my dad's." [Garrick]

"Wait, your dad already got custody?" [Me]

"Yeah, he's picking me up after school, and he said he'd figure out a way for me to keep going to school but live with him. Currently, his idea was to go to work early enough that he could drop me off at school and then head to work, which is good since his business is in town, rather than way out in the other county."

"Wait, he owns the business?" [Ted]

"Yeah, it's some civil engineering company or something."

"Wait, that's the place my dad started working for." [Me]

"Oh, you sure?"

"Yeah, Earthwork Services, right?"

"Yeah, woah... Cool."

"Wow, even more of the bullshittingly impossible connections." [Seth]

"Huh?" [Titus]

"There's just a ton of random connections. Me and Ted have cousins who hooked up, Ted and Daniel's younger siblings hooked up, Ted's dad is the pastor of my parents' church, that my old boyfriend just happens to go to." [Me]

"Well. That's fucking complicated." [Garrick]

"Really? I've noticed things like that, too. I mean, my cousins, Alan and Deran used to hang out with us. Then I left the group, and they're probably still in deep with the cult of Tanner. Anyways, my uncle also just so happens to be in a relationship with Tanner's brother, and Kiari is Marko's second cousin." [Titus]

"Holy fuck, this city's weird. There's no reason anyone's lives should be that complicated." [Daniel]

"Really? Says the person who's grandparents just so happen to have founded Theorium Industries, who's parents live on an island with a deranged psychopath, and who's sister is dating my younder brother." [Ted]

"... Shut up."

"Wait, Theorium Industries?" [Dustin]

"Yeah." [Daniel]

"Huh. Well, uh... Try to arrange something with your dad for him to come here for the Fine Arts Competition."

"I don't think he'll be able to, Greg's working on some new project that... why does it matter?"

"Come on, wouldn't it be nice to show off how talented your boyfriend is?"

"Yeah, but... What's this about?"

"... Fine, never mind, enjoy the end."

"The end? What the fuck are you talking about?" [Seth]

"Yeah, you're acting kinda weird." [Me]

"Yeah, almost like... Tanner." [Titus]

"Oh great, here we go again." [Ted]

"... I have nothing to do with Tanner." [Dustin]

"Oh you do to! You're trying to arrange an event to occur! Just like they do! That's probably why you told us what song to play!" [Titus]

"... You know what. If I tell you, will shut the fuck up and stop complaining about it?"

"No, I'll try to stop it."

"Trust me, you can't stop it. Thousands of people around the world do what we do, it just so happens that in a few weeks, another ten thousand will know. A few months, millions. It'll subside to only about a thousand or so, then a few years later spike to billions. A couple months after that, only a hundred thousand or so people will do it."

"... What are you talking about?" [Garrick]

"... The end..." [Titus]

"There you go, put the pieces together." [Dustin]

"Wait, you think the end of the world is coming?" [Me]

"No. I never said that."

"It's not the end of the world, it's- ... But that... How-" [Titus]

"I'm not saying any more with this many people. Follow me." Dustin just walked off and Titus got up, leaving his stuff behind, and followed. We all just looked around at eachother.

"... Uh, should one of us have followed?" [Garrick]

"To listen to two conspiracy theorists? Not worth it." [Ted]

"Hmm... It isn't the end..." [Daniel]

"Don't tell me you believe them-"

"No- no, they're insane, but my dad was talking about something, it was a lecture given at Theorium Industries, talking about some kind of world ending event. No one takes it seriously, but dad said the guy is trying to single handedly build a massive rocket ship. Yeah, I know, it sounds ridiculous, but a lot of things do when you're talking about Thoerium Industries." [Daniel]

"Yeah, no shit, Sherlock." [Garrick]

Titus came back with Dustin, looking completely stunned and shocked, "Hey, Ted, we're playing Take a Bow."

"Why?" [Ted]

"Weren't you just against it a minute ago?" [Garrick]

"Fuck off, we're playing it. It sounds like a vengeful song, and it'll hit Tanner hard. We're fucking playing it."