Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

          It had been a bit of a hectic day at Monster High. Twyla didn’t get all the details, but something, something, someone caused a huge explosion by bringing their biteology project to the creepateria. Headmistress Bloodgood had sent the students home early that day to deal with the aftermath.
          She wasn’t sure about what she was going to do now. She had been looking for Howleen around the school thinking it might be a good idea to hang out with her, but she was out of luck. She probably just went home like everyone else. Although Twyla didn’t really like sunny weather (there’s never any shade and most of the time it’s too hot to do anything), today had a nice breeze, so she decided to head over to a new park that had been made. She didn’t plan on doing much. She had a reading assignment so she was just going to go over there to read and relax after such a long week.

~~~~

          A few days earlier, what is now known as the “eclipse incident”, had happened and it had taken a lot out of Twyla. Mostly because she had been running around trying to help her ghoul friends prevent absolute chaos from breaking loose, but it was partly because she couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened with Howleen. Once her friend, she had turned into some kind of dictator and brainwashed everyone across the school. It was disturbing to say the least but more importantly she was worried Howleen might have become too far gone with whatever Whisp had manipulated her into doing. Needless to say, it was a huge relief when everything had come to an end and everyone had turned back to normal. Although, despite her rather profuse apologies, a few monsters still weren’t too happy with Howleen. Twyla really couldn’t complain about much. After aiding Frankie and her friends, she suddenly became a lot more popular (which she appreciated to a degree but didn’t particularly enjoy). She worried she might have distanced herself from Howleen though since on the contrary, Howleen had become a lot less popular and had basically given people another reason to dislike her. Twyla had contemplated whether it might have been her fault. None of this might have happened had she been a better friend…

~~~~

           Maybe she’d talk with Howleen about it, but in the meantime she would just read. The park itself wasn’t too bad either. It was a big field with plenty of grass and room to do all sorts of activities. Twyla wasn’t too keen on doing anything like that however and she began scouting for patches of shade she could sit in.
           After some careful observation, she found a short grassy hill that had a willow tree on it. The tree was large and its long, hanging branches were blocking the sun. It was perfect. She walked over and sat down on the patch of grass. It was nice grass too and felt soft and cool unlike a lot of the dying grass she had been seeing around lately.

          She started reading but couldn’t get herself to be interested in the material. It was Philosophy book about the nature of being a monster, the nature of their connections with each other, but the book must’ve been old since it was impossible to understand anything it was saying. She firmly closed the book and started looking around the park. She hadn’t seen them at first but there were a few cobblestone walkways that were cutting through the grass and some benches around them. There were a variety of other trees that seemed to be a border for the park, but the willow she was sitting under must’ve been the only one they planted since she couldn’t spot any others. She turned her attention back to the stone walkways and saw two monsters chatting with each other, smiling. That made her upset for whatever reason. She thought maybe it was because she wanted to hang out with Howleen that day too, but deep down, she felt something else. Something that felt a little too sinister for her to accept.

          Jealousy.

           It was something about the way they were smiling, the way there were laughing about something on their iCoffins. She wanted to feel happy like that too, but she felt even with her friends it would never feel like that. She looked down to her hand on the grass and reminded herself she was happier this way. It’s what boogeymen do after all. They hide in shadows and let the world go by them, doing a thankless job of keeping nightmares away and watching and observing from the sidelines. But after everything that happened those past few days, she wanted more. She seemed to have become more ambitious, much to her confusion and dismay. Maybe she was just tired. While her day hadn’t been eventful, she hadn’t gotten sleep for days now. She had been plagued with strange dreams of her own. When she sat by herself in her room, she could only think selfishly. The shadows had become strange to her and she didn’t want to hide anymore. Perhaps those wishes were more enticing than she thought. Sometimes she did think about what she would wish for. She didn’t want to be popular like Howleen per say, but she did wonder how bad it would be if she wished…she would like…

           She closed her eyes and fell asleep on that soft patch of grass under the tree, fading away into the shadows.

Chapter Text

“Hey..are you dead Twyla? Can Boogeymonsters even die?”

Twyla was woken up by the unmistakable voice of Howleen. She didn’t know how much time had passed since she fell asleep.

“Oh so you aren’t dead.”, Howleen said sarcastically. “Why are you sleeping here? I thought you’d be at home instead.”

“Where were you?”, asked Twyla. She started thinking back to when she was looking for her at monster high and couldn’t find her anywhere.

“I should be asking you that question! I looked all over the school ‘cause I was convinced you might’ve been hiding in some dark corner. But nope! Guess you decided to leave without telling me!”

Although she sounded mad, Twyla could tell Howleen wasn’t actually angry, She had a tendency to speak loudly as if she needed to be heard. Looking back at it, Twyla hadn’t really searched too hard for her. After looking around, she realized the sun had moved positions causing the shade under the tree to disappear and reveal her location.

At this realisation she started blushing a little since she put two and two together and had an image in her mind of her just laying down on the grass. Everyone probably saw that too. Oh well, she would just be more careful where she sat down next.

“Sorry Howleen, I guess I just wanted some time alone. You know how I am”, she shrugged.

“Eh, I guess it doesn’t really matter now, but you have the rest of the day to yourself and you chose to spend your time here?”

“Uh…Yes?”

“See Twyla? This is why you need friends so you don’t end up wasting your life away like this. C’mon! There’s a new store that opened in the maul and I wanna go check it out! Maybe they’ll have some cute clothes you could wear!”

Howleen was pretty eager and Twyla was too surprisingly. Although Howleen’s words had hurt her a bit (she didn’t think she was really wasting her life but ok), she did like that quality of Howleen. She was ambitious and never seemed to stop thinking about what she wanted to do. All Twyla wanted to do was read and occasionally peep around in the shadows. That’s all she ever did really. It’s why she liked having Howleen as a friend. She was always willing to do whatever and whenever, and it’s fun.

“I guess that doesn’t sound too bad. But I don’t have any money on me right now so i’m not getting anything.”, she said plainly.

“Don’t worry about that. I’ve got tons of cash so i’ll buy you something. My treat!”. Howleen started slow running off and away from the park on the cobblestone path. “C’mon are you coming?”, she waved.

“I’ll be right there!”, Twyla said with a little hurriedness

~~~~

They had been looking at and trying on clothes for a while now.

Twyla had found a nice dress she tried on a couple of times. It was a greyish blue color and had white accents and patterns across the whole of the outfit. The bottom part of the dress was long and it had some flowy fabric bits at the bottom. It also didn’t have any sleeves which was really the only downside she saw. She considered getting it for the summer since it would be hot and wearing a dress like this might help her stay cool (not like she went outside a whole lot anyways). She put it back where she found it and started looking for Howleen around the shop.

The place was actually pretty empty (which made sense since a lot of monsters were probably still working). She found Howleen looking at some accessories including some gold chain necklaces and belts. Twyla didn’t find anything to be particularly enticing. She didn’t wear a lot of jewellery besides her earrings, but she did see a bracelet that didn’t seem too bad. It looked like a friendship bracelet since it had a matching pair next to it. It was a black braided string that had some silver beads on it and had a broken heart in the middle. Looking at it more, she thought it was a little childish and even a little dumb, but the idea of a friendship bracelet didn’t seem too bad to her. She wanted to ask Howleen what she thought but she looked busy looking at other stuff.

Luckily for her, it looked like Howleen had noticed she was staring at it. She hadn’t realised she was spacing out a bit and it didn’t take Howleen long to put two and two together.

“That bracelet does look pretty cute doesn’t it…”, she said almost teasingly.

“Huh? Oh, I wasn’t…”

Twyla was caught off guard. She didn’t want Howleen to think she was weird since she had been staring at it for so long.

“Hey, we should get a pair! I think it would look great on us.”, Howleen said with much enthusiasm. “We don’t have anything like that do we? We’ve been friends for so long I think it’s only fitting.”

“I guess so. Do you think it looks nice?”, asked Twyla. They were both staring at it now like it was a painting in an art gallery. Twyla looked a little unsure but Howleen seemed pretty quite entranced in it. It was as if she they were the most beautiful pieces of art she’d ever seen.

Howleen turned to her and grabbed a matching pair of the bracelets off the display, “Well, I don’t know about you but I’m totally getting them!”. She ran off to the register leaving Twyla to contemplate the choices she just made.

~~~~

They had walked out of the store wearing their newly purchased friendship bracelets. 

Much to Twyla’s surprise, Howleen didn’t get anything else. It was getting late around that time so they decided to start heading home. Howleen had called her sister to pick her up and was asking if she wanted a ride too.

“It’s fine. My house isn’t too far from here anyways so I can just walk back.”

“Are you sure Twyla? It’s not like Clawdeen would care too much anyways if you came along.”

She made a good point. Twyla didn’t really have a reason not to come with her, but she figured Howleen had done enough for her today already. She figured Howleen would want to be alone for a bit too. 

 “No really it’s fine. I wouldn’t want to keep bothering you anymore today. I’ll have to pay you back for this bracelet though. I’d feel bad if I didn’t.”

She was looking out towards the sunset. She wasn’t sure how long they’d been in the maul, but it was clear that night would fall soon. She looked back at Howleen, and judging by her expression, she’d realized she made a poor choice of words with her last statement. Despite their cheerful exchanges, it was clear their friendship was going through a bit of a rough patch. It wasn’t anything harmful per say, but a rough patch nonetheless. 

“You’re not bothering me Twyla. That’s just what friends do.”, said Howleen with less energy than before.

They had to walk a little farther since the place where Howleen was getting picked up was a little farther than where they had initially started. Howleen was walking a little bit in front of Twyla so she couldn’t see her face. So it was a little surprising when Howleen had suddenly stopped walking. 

“Twyla, do you think i’m a bad friend?”, she asked, still facing forward.

The question was jarring. Is that what Howleen thought she was thinking? That she was a bad friend? Twyla was getting worried that she might have pushed Howleen a little too far again. 

“Of course not! You're my best and only friend! You’ve been nothing but nice to me today, why would I think you’re a bad friend?”, she said with a bit of alarm.

“If you had other friends, would you like them more than me?”, Howleen asked her.

“Where are you getting these ideas Howleen…”, Twyla said with worry. She hadn’t expected their conversation to go so south. The day had been so good so far, so then why was this being brought up. She must have messed up really bad since Howleen just kept walking without saying anything back. She was hoping she would just get “mad” at her like she usually does, but this time she just kept on walking.

The atmosphere had grown strange but Clawdeen didn’t seem to notice since she looked at Howleen with her normal loving expression. Twyla couldn’t see Howleen’s face well but judging from her hugging Clawdeen, she must’ve just let their previous conversation go. She saw Draculaura and Cleo in the back. It looks like they had brought her car and had been driving around doing something fun together. She’d seen them all together with the rest of their group and they always looked so happy. It made her feel worse for making Howleen so upset. 

“Hey little sis! Hey Twyla! How are you doing?”, Clawdeen asked with her usual confident demeanour.She was always happy to see her and Howleen together. She wished she was confident like her too. Sometimes she wished she had just been born like that, always making friends and always happy around everyone else.

“I’m doing good. I’m glad to see you again.”

Her words kept coming out all wrong. She still sounded worried and was hoping her face hadn’t given anything away to her.

She was about to wave goodbye to Howleen when she suddenly came over to Twyla, face to face and grabbed her shoulders (a little harshly).

“I’m..I’m not mad at you or anything right now, but I just wish you’d care more I guess. Iknow I’ve been a bad friend even if you don’t say it Twyla. I’m selfish. I just really like you and I don’t want you to be mad at me. You’ve done a lot for me these past days and I feel like-”, she paused, “I haven’t done enough for you to be my friend.”

She didn’t have any words. Howleen’s face was smiling but her eyes looked sad. She wondered if this was because of what had happened with the lamp. It wasn’t her fault, but to some degree she agreed with what Howleen had said. She was being selfish and she was being a bad friend at the time. But Twyla hadn’t been perfect either. She had been ignoring Howleen for those past few days. She had been trying harder to get herself to spend more time with her friends, but she never felt comfortable being outside for so long. She had convinced herself she should stay in the dark but knew she was neglecting something important doing so. It turns out that was Howleen. The more time she spent with her the more she started understanding her desire to be seen by everyone. It couldn’t have been fun living in your sister’s shadow. But she couldn’t relate to it to a degree. How could she? They wanted completely different things. But that should’ve been behind them now. They made up on the day of the eclipse. So why couldn’t she shake the feeling that something was still wrong. That she had wronged Howleen somehow.

Twyla still couldn’t really think of what to say so she looked down. She didn’t want this to come between them later, so she would just reassure Howleen. She put put her hand gently on one of Howleen’s arms trying to comfort her.

“It’s ok Howleen. I forgave you a while ago. It’s not like you needed it anyways, that’s just what friends do, right?”

Howleen looked at her for a brief moment and she looked even less sure of how Twyla felt. She couldn’t linger on her expression for long since Clawdeen told her they had to get going so she let go of Twyla and started running away. She turned to look at her one last time waving with her happy expression again.

 “Ok Twyla! I’ll see you tomorrow!”

She waved back slowly while looking at the bracelet she had gotten with her friend. As they all drive away, Twyla was left behind again to contemplate what she had done. She wasn’t proud of herself and couldn’t keep looking at the bracelet. She felt bad and she felt like it was deserved. She hadn’t done anything good with her time and still gave herself an excuse not to see her friend. But that’s not what she wanted. She wished she could have ambition like Howleen, so that maybe she would stop hiding away anymore and reading. She let her friend down without even knowing she did. And she wouldn’t forgive herself for that.

Chapter Text

Twyla had been walking around the Boogey mansion for what she guessed was around 36 minutes. She couldn’t get her mind off what Howleen had said to her before she left. It was night now so the mansion had gone completely dark (although to be fair it’s almost always dark there). Twyla had gotten herself a candle and was looking around through the various mirrors, doors, and rooms of her house. After the eclipse, Howleen had started acting differently around her. She thought the eclipse would have been the end of Howleen’s strange behavior, but it really seemed to only have gotten worse.But it made sense for the most part. She could only imagine how strange it would be to look at the same people you imprisoned and brainwashed. It was even a little strange to her since she really couldn’t believe that Howleen did all of that within 3 days.

She felt bad that Howleen might not be thinking too well of herself. To her knowledge, she didn’t really have any other friends either. It was another thing they had in common on top of plenty of other things.

Most importantly, despite anything she’s done, she would always be Twyla’s friend. No matter how bad a friend she considers herself to be, she would always be with her. She wanted to tell Howleen at that very moment how important she was. She wanted to make up for whatever lost time she needed to make up.

With her candle still in hand, Twyla stumbled upon an interesting room. It looked similar to the attic but lacked the roof shape in the ceiling. It was pretty big and there were a couple of large mattresses on the floor and various boxes around as well. It gave her an idea.
She would invite Howleen over for a creep-over. If she wanted to be a better friend, she had to be the one to initiate their activities together. She needed Howleen to know that she still cared about her and that she still wanted to spend time with her despite everything that’s happened.

But much to her dismay, she still had to go to school tomorrow. She wanted to get a head start on her sleep schedule since she hadn’t gotten too much of it. She started walking to her own room and thinking more positively with her newfound hope in trying to keep her friendships stable.

The hallways were long and winding. There was a strange amount of mist everywhere despite the lack of any humidity in the mansion. Everything was dark and if she wasn’t a boogeymonster, she wouldn’t have been able to see anything. There was dust everywhere and strange doors that led to even stranger places. It really was home for her. She hoped Howleen might like it too. She had been to Howleen’s house once and it was quite different from her own. For starters it was smaller and definitely more illuminated. It was also much more lively. Her dad was almost never home nowadays so she would just be left with herself and Dustin. Not that she cared too much. She understood his work is important and that he’s busy. She would just groom Dustin or read if she was by herself, This reminded her, she needed to think of something to do with Howleen when she came by (if she did come by).

After searching through the maze of a mansion, she found the door to her room and plopped herself on her bed. She was so tired that she started falling asleep right then and there. While sleepy, she saw the bracelet she got. It was still on her wrist and would now forever serve as a reminder of her new promise to Howleen. She didn’t want to be popular and she didn’t need to be. She just wanted her and her friends to be happy.

~~~~

Howleen had been staring at the ceiling since she got home. She had made a fool of herself in front of her best friend and worse than that she probably made Twyla feel bad. She was laying down on her bed with a pillow in her arms and started screaming in it. Is she dumb? Why would she even ask her something like that! Her emotions had gotten the better of her again and she had forced herself into a corner.

After everything that’s happened, she’s been trying to get her life back on track. While the aftermath of the eclipse had been a happy one, she wasn’t sure if she could ever face anyone ever again. Her friends, the school, the other students, even her own sister. She had made a list of monsters she was going to apologize to but she kept putting it off since she didn’t really know what to say. She started getting around to it and for the past few days, she was going around the school to apologize to all the monsters she hurt. She went to Gigi first (for pretty obvious reasons) and she had taken it surprisingly well. She had brought up how Whisp had gotten into her head and that she knew Howleen was good, at least, deep down.

Whisp. Going back to that memory, she remembered how she saw a strange shadow in the mirror, telling her–pushing her to wish everyone away from existence.

Think of what you could have…they’re only getting in the way.

She wondered how many other monsters might have wished for things like that. How many other ghouls had Whisp tricked into wishing selfishly. But she had a lingering feeling it may not even have been the shadow genie leading her on. It was exciting to Howleen to have so much power at her claws. There was so much she could do with 13 wishes. She could have done so much good for everyone, and she really did try to. She really did want to grant other people’s wishes, but the lingering feeling she had kept asking her,

What do you want.

The more she thought about it, the worse she felt. She couldn’t even look in the mirror anymore without seeing her shadow and being terrified of what could have happened if no one stopped her. It was why she needed Twyla with her so bad.

Even if Twyla wasn’t very vocal, she always was the one to hold Howleen accountable. She had done it again when she got the last mirror shard and stopped Howleen from wishing for a final time. She was the only one Howleen could trust, and yet she broke that trust with her. She was next on her list of apologies, which is why she started freaking out a bit when she couldn’t find her in the school. Behind Gigi and her sister, she was going to be the hardest one to confront and she had mustered up enough courage for just one chance and she couldn’t find her. And when she finally did, she acted selfishly again and made Twyla feel bad. At least, she thought she did. If she did get another wish, she would have wished to turn back time, and for none of this to have ever happened.. Then, she wouldn’t have to worry about this anymore and she could just hang out with her friend or done some other hobby, like she always did. But she wasted that chance and now it might never come back.

She looked back up at the ceiling and imagined herself flying in the air, completely weightless and without anything holding her down.

~~~~

Both ghouls were sitting in the creepateria in their usual spot. Twyla had a book in hand and Howleen was just staring at her food. The mood was still awkward and neither ghoul was able to face the other. Twyla kept shoving her face in her book hoping to prevent herself from accidently looking at Howleen, and Howleen just kept averting her eyes the other way. Then they started speaking at the same time.

“I just wanted to–Oh sorry you can go…I mean..”

On any other day they would have laughed about it, but this time they were both silent. Howleen was still too scared to say anything back and Twyla (being Twyla), couldn’t really communicate all too well what she wanted to say. But she reminded herself of the promise she made and put her book down at once. She took a deep breath preparing herself for her next words.

“Howleen, I want you to come over to my house to have a creep-over.”, she said with her eyes closed but still trying to be confident.

Howleen had to do a double-take since she did not expect Twyla to ask her something like that, especially after what had happened. She took a second to look at her and noticed she was wearing the bracelet she had gotten for the two of them. She had left her own at home since she didn’t want Twyla to think something she didn’t want her to (and now she felt bad for doing so). But, she wouldn’t keep Tywla waiting on a response so she put on her happy face and promptly answered back.

“Sounds good to me! When do I need to get there?”, she said. Still considering the offer, she realized it would be the perfect opportunity to finally give her a proper apology. She wouldn’t have an excuse to put it off anymore and she could start setting things right with everyone again.

“We can head over some time after school today. Tomorrow is the start of the weekend so we can do something then too.”, she replied trying to hide her anxiousness. She had taken the question better than she thought she would. They’d known each other for so long, but after all that's happened, she was going to make sure her friend wouldn’t forget about all that time they spent together and she was going to make sure of it.

While they still didn’t completely meet eye to eye, they were more determined than ever to set things right with each other. They weren’t going to let each other down.