Didn't make word count tonight, :/

     “Where are all the cars in this town?” asked Perry, trying to break the silence and distract everybody.  “Doesn’t anybody go anywhere after dark?”
     “Not the old people,” said Gali.  And all of the students have nowhere to go except for each other’s rooms and the common rooms on our campus.  It’s only quarter after 11, so nobody is going to be leaving the bars yet, either… And aside from the bars and the school, there really isn’t anything in this town.  Even for their public schooling, the few kids there are are bussed elsewhere.  The supermarkets and the good restaurants are at least ten miles away.  We get Mickey D’s and our prison-like school.  Do we even have a police station here?”  Mr. Rhodes turned slightly, so that everyone could hear him.
     “I think that the county officers are supposed to cover it, as well as neighboring towns.  It’s a little unnerving if you think about, is it not?”  It almost sounded like he was smiling, but as they could only see his back, nobody had any way of knowing whether he was trying intentionally to be creepy or not.
     “Yeah,” said Samantha, frowning.  “I didn’t know that.  You would think that they would tell our parents that when they’re signing us up and everything.”
     “Not really,” said Perry.  “You don’t want to skip over things that might make people want to send their children somewhere safer instead of to your wonderful, prestigious school, now would you?”
     “No, I guess not,” she said.  She glanced over at Anthony, who was walking next to her.  He had not said a single word since telling her that he could not be alone right now.  She couldn’t figure out what was wrong with him, no matter how much thought she gave to the problem.  He wasn’t hurt physically in any way.  He definitely had not been crying.  What would bring him to his knees like that, clawing at his ears and cursing, acting like he could scarcely hear her voice calling out to him?  They had been looking for ghosts, but if he had seen one, couldn’t he just tell the rest of them?  And why couldn’t she or Mr. Rhodes have seen it?
     “I think I’m going to have to go with a McFlurry,” said Perry, as the fluorescent golden arches came into view.  “Yeah.  Oreo.”  As Mr. Rhodes was about to reach the door, Anthony quickened his pace so as to reach him first.  He pressed his thermos into his hand and ducked inside, making a beeline for the men’s room.  Everyone exchanged raised eyebrows.  “Well… what the hell, am I supposed to go in there after him, or what?  I mean, if it was girls, then yeah, but with dudes… I don’t know….”
     “Don’t go,” said Gali.  “He won’t talk to you unless he wants to anyway, and if he wanted to, he wouldn’t have gone away like that anyway.  He’ll be back soon, I’m sure.  Let’s just order.  We can get him some fries or something.”
     “Yes, I think that Gali must know Anthony best,” said Mr. Rhodes.  “I’ll get us a table.”
     “Yeah,” Perry quipped, “You’d better elbow all of the people in here out of the way and get the best plastic booth!”
     After having spent so much time in the dark, the bright lights of the restaurant made it seem particularly surreal.  The bold colors on the walls and ceilings were unsettling compared to the muted tones of the cemetery’s surroundings and the darkened streets they had walked on.
     Carrying sodas, fries, and burgers, everyone crowded in to the booth selected by Mr. Rhodes.  Anthony emerged from the bathroom, and slid into the booth.  He left the seat next to Samantha open, choosing instead to sit next to Gali.
     “Fries!” exclaimed Perry, setting the greasy cardboard container in front of him, sliding a paper cup full of ketchup along with it.