<i>Things are changing, can’t you feel it?</i>, Tatum said, and that was a real smile killer. Those few ushered words murdered the smile plastered on his face. The twinkle on his eyes faded even more as Beth landed back onto her seat and placed a period on their little private moment.<br/>Next before you knew it, Tatum was stolen from his side to perform for the more or less eager audience.<br/><br/>Tatum wasn’t the only one who had said something like that today.<b><i>It’s already dark, you just don’t see it yet</i></b>, Wullie had said back at the stream. Were things really changing? He couldn’t see the change, not yet, but somehow.. he sensed it. There were these inconspicuously small changes in the ways people acted, one small change every week. A disapproving glance where there had been just a look before, a small purse of lips added on top of it the next week. One got used to those gradually changing things, little by little, and after few months they became the, Thomas hated the phrase but, new normal.<br/>Had he really become blind to these small changes, or had he just accepted that things were changing, and simply stopped paying enough attention? Was he concerned enough to notice these things, or was Wullie just reflecting these small gradual changes to the time Before?<br/>Indeed, if one compared Today against the time Before, everything had changed, sure..<br/>But to change even more, and into something more sinister?<br/><br/>He pressed his arm on his chin, with two fingers crossing over his lips as he thought about it. A small frown pressed his brow together. Was it really getting dark here, or were the people only adapting to what is now? Making the best of it with the cards they were dealt with?<br/><br/>The flickering golden glow of candles and improvised lanterns threw heavy shadows on the walls as the girls sang. Tatum had a golden glow on her face, and the shadows made the details of her face sharper, yet she didn’t look ominous. This was something to note, as in the eyes of Thomas, the mob surrounding them, now cheering and singing along with the jolly tunes - some even trying acapello tunes - did sure look ominous now when he thought about it.<br/>Their shadows danced on the walls, and suddenly Thomas sensed great fear. Yes, they were all afraid. Maybe that was it. The Happening was, after all, an end of a world. And it was frightening.<br/><br/>His arms folded against his chest, and shoo’ed away the grim thoughts that Tatum’s and Wullie’s words had planted on his head. The girls had fun, and it was fun. He had kinda promised not to laugh, but he couldn’t quite keep it. But he laughed with them, and not to them. It was the right kind of a chuckle, and soon even he joined in with clapping a rhythm. Dark clouds dispersed: but not enough for Thomas to pay heed what Carol said.<br/>This was a small town, and yeah, the houses were a bit separate and scattered around the valley, but there hadn’t been any wolves around. Nor anything else, really. Why were men needed to escort women to their houses, and women to move in pairs? Was it really necessary?<br/>Or perhaps it was. After all, there were no streetlights anymore, no cellphones.. and anything could hide in the darkness. Or anything. Maybe Carol made some sense. He couldn't decide.<br/><br/>His eyes landed on Tatum, and his look in his eyes had softened. He couldn’t help not to smile at Tatum’s laughter and her smile.<br/>“Sure.”, he placed his palms on his knees before pumping himself up from his seat. “You’ll be the first to know, if there’s something to know. Who knows, maybe he’ll send the mayor crawling under the desks again?”, he jested as they lined on their coats. “Or perhaps the sheriff, too. Ah, we’ll probably know soon enough anyway: if there ain’t a meaty moose-meal on sunday, we sure know that Wullie’s done something alright.”<br/>He lent in to reach for his coat and wrapped himself inside the sturdy red-black thing, remembering to pull out his black beanie. The beanie had a LED-lamp attached into it, but naturally it was out of order, too. But it was thick, woolly and warm, so it still had its uses.<br/><br/>The air smelled brisk, and their breaths vapored against the cold darkness that crept to envelope their cradle for the night. People lit lanterns from a white wax candle. ‘And God bless you’, the older lady said after each successful kindle.<br/>Thomas didn’t have a lantern, and the self-confident way he tucked his palms inside his pockets indicated that he didn’t need one. The air was crisp, and the autumn had it’s cold smell on it. A damp, sour smell with pinch of freshness in it.<br/>Wullie wasn’t anywhere to be seen, nor was anyone else “important”.  The church had it’s windows lit, though.<br/><br/>“So..”, he tucked the collar to protect his neck from the gentle, but painfully chilly northern wind. He chuckled out and shook his shoulders. “You girls want an escort to see you safely home? Looks like I’m all free for some escorting tonight. Lucky day, right?”