Mary didn't feel much like going to a ball, but with all the pressure put on people, she had a little inkling of hope that maybe Johnny would end up here too. Hell, maybe he'd have the same idea. Though the longer she went without him turning up, the more she started to lose hope.
Her dress was a silvery-blue satin and weighed about three times as much as any normal outfit that she would wear ordinarily. The only plus side to the dress was that there were a lot more places to hide weapons, salt, and holy water. Not that any of that would do her any good if she couldn't run when she needed to run. She felt more vulnerable than she would have liked, but she sucked it up and stayed through the dinner. Once the dancing started, she did a loop around the edge of the floor, eyes watching the crowd in the hopes of seeing the one person that she wanted to see more than ever.
Her dreams weren't getting any easier to cope with, though she was at least getting a handle on the anxiety during the day. She'd found her own ways of burying it deeply and just finding something to take her aggressions out on. There were certainly creatures to hunt in the nearby forest. She'd gone out alone ever since the arrival here. It was riskier, but she found that she needed the time and space away from people. She didn't want to talk about what happened with the serial killer and she didn't want to talk about Johnny. She didn't want to reassure people that she was okay, either. She just wanted time. Period, end of story.
And yet, here she was out in the open and sort of making herself available for socializing. All in the hopes that he'd show up. That he wasn't missing so much as temporarily misplaced.