He can't risk losing that car

"I can't risk losing that car, my dad would **** me!" protested Cedric.

"Nobody's going to steal that old hunk of metal, jeez." Ethan muttered. "Nobody even comes here."

"I'm not coming back here with clothes for you or something, you know. I'll be heading to bed," Keith said matter-of-factly. George quickly nodded, not bothering to cover up a yawn.

"If you're that worried, just pull out the battery or the starter relay or something," offered Ivan, fingers running through his shoulder-length hair.

"And what happens if the car won't start again afterwards? I wouldn't know how to fix it."

"What are you even going to do if someone comes? Scare them away with how pale your ass is? Slap them with your dick?" Adrian tried turning up the sarcasm to pierce Cedric's obstinacy, but it had no effect.

"Fuck off. Anyway, I mean, it's not going to be that long. It's only 3 or 4 hours before the sun comes up. I'd be able to run in and find the key before that."

"What if it rains again?"

"It's not going to," Cedric said stubbornly. "That was just a freak storm."

"About that," Ivan said. "Remember how I said something felt wrong? And somehow, out of the six of us, it was only you two who planted your asses on that gravestone that ended up naked?"

"It can't be anything other than coincidence. Plus, we started out behind you guys, so we probably just caught the worst of it."

"I'm just saying that maybe it's time to be a bit more cautious. Who knows if you've pissed off some spirit, or..."

"Don't be silly. Ghosts aren't real," Cedric adamantly insisted.

"Well, it's your funeral," Adrian gave up. "If you want to stay here, be my guest. Ethan, you can come back to my place for now."

"Well be heading back to our dorm," said George, with Keith and Ivan piling into his car.

"I'll need to come back later too; my phone's in there. It's probably not going to work... but I'd still rather have it. Mind giving me a lift later?"

"Sure. We'll come back and rescue what's left of Cedric and his stubbornness." Before driving off, Adrian purposefully flashed his headlights, bathing Cedric's small but wiry runner's body in harsh, white light for the world to see. Cedric squawked indignantly and flipped the bird at him.

"Fuck off!"

"Just messing with you," Adrian laughed, before driving off into the night, leaving Cedric to his own thoughts.

It took all of 10 minutes for Cedric to realize that maybe he hadn't made the best of choices. He was damp, naked and alone, with no way of contacting anyone and nothing to pass the time away. To make matters worse, since the area was on the outskirts of town with few buildings around, there was little shelter from the cold wind that often blew past. What on earth could've convinced me to stay here? he silently cursed. Ethan was right. No one's going to come by anyway. I should've gone back with them.

What does that meme say? The risk I took was calculated... but apparently I'm fucking bad at math.

But of course, it was too late. Cedric was left to rue the consequences of his actions, which at that moment, took the form of a slowly intensifying pitter-patter of rain as the earlier storm returned. His feet squelched in his soggy shoes as he moved about and rubbed his palms together, trying to keep warm.

Wait, he realized, as a shiver raced from his shoulders down to his toes. The church!

The church itself didn't appear much younger than the graveyard. Appearing to have been constructed somewhere in the late 1800's, it was a gray, single-storied, brick-and-stone building, with a bell tower stretching skywards from the gabled roof. There was no shelter to be found outside, though - the roof did not extend past the walls of the building.

Cedric's desperation mounted as the rain started to come down in earnest, the blustery wind occasionally knocking him slightly off balance while chilling him to the bone. He circled the outside of the church, fiddling furiously with the locked front door and trying to pry the windows open, all while the storm grew around him. He had just began to consider hiding pathetically under his car and waiting out the storm, when he finally received a lifeline - one of the windows moved!

Cedric grasped the edge of the window with freezing fingers and pulled. Inch by inch, and despite some fierce resistance, the gap between the casement window and the wall slowly widened. The thunderstorm provided him with a rare moment of assistance when a strong gust of wind simultaneously blew him over and wrenched the window open just enough, and Cedric didn't hesitate - he leapt to his feet and hobbled as quickly as he could to the window. Grabbing the shoulder-high ledge using both arms, he levered himself over the windowsill with a foot and his remaining strength, promptly toppling over and landing ass-first onto cold, hard stone.

The rain was falling in sheets, now. Cedric, violently shivering, yanked the window shut before wrapping himself up in a large maroon rug lying on the floor. The rug was a large, rectangular piece about five by ten feet, and its long edge stretched nearly from wall to wall; the cocoon Cedric fashioned out of it helped to prevent any further loss of body heat, and he slowly relaxed as his body temperature gradually returned to normal. The rug was long enough to cover most of his body, with his head and shoes peeking out of its top and bottom like some sort of human burrito. Cedric giggled in exhaustion as the ridiculousness of the imagery hit him.

The rug was soft and calming, holding Cedric in a warm embrace. It was very comfortable.

Too comfortable.

Before Cedric knew it, he had fallen asleep.

When Cedric next opened his eyes, morning had already dawned and the sun's warm, yellow rays shone into the room. He quickly unwrapped himself, apologizing mentally to the church for the now slightly damp and smelly rug, and took stock of his surroundings.

He appeared to be in a storeroom of some kind. There were shelves upon shelves of books, most of them religious in nature. One entire cabinet was even dedicated to at least half a dozen versions of the bible, and there was even a copy in Spanish. A water dispenser sat in the corner next to a small armchair and a writing desk, upon which rested a drinking glass, a few pieces of paper, and a fountain pen. Unfortunately for Cedric, there were no clothes of any sort or anything he could use to cover up.

He headed for the door and was just about to open it when he heard the ring of a telephone, which was soon picked up.

Oh, fuck. SOMEONE'S ALREADY HERE.

He cast his eyes about, but there was no obvious place to hide. The only other option would be to head back out of the window... into broad daylight. It seemed stupid, but... if there really was no one else around...

I really should have fucking thought this through better.

The person on the other side of the door was talking about scheduling of burial rites for a recently-deceased 97 year-old lady. He had a gruff voice with a strong, no-nonsense air to it, and Cedric was terrified of what would happen if he was found.