One You Need Mum often told me all kinds of stories about Evelyn, it was no surprise really, after all they had been best friends for years, lived together, found their feet together and alone in Ljianstipol together. Mum told me tales about how they had shared the highs and lows of life, side by side but there was one story buried amongst them all that always seemed to encourage a strangely wry smile from mum, not a sinister smile but something she shouldn't have been proud of but somehow was? Evelyn had been banned from attending the annual steampunk festival in town for years and it was telling the story about how Evelyn got banned from it, that imposed that curious and almost naughty smile on mum's face, like recalling it was a guilty pleasure of some kind? According to mum, she had been having some trouble with a local journalist, he had built up her trust and messed her around just to throw her back to the wolves when she needed him the most and when needed the readers he would try his luck all over again. Mum parted ways with him quickly but Evelyn was never quite happy with how he had treated her best friend and when he and Evelyn crossed paths at the steampunk festival a year later, she exacted revenge in mum's honour. That part of the story was when mum's first cracking smile would appear, she would cackle to herself with an odd satisfaction as she told that part before descending into her own guilty pleasure as she told more. Evelyn caught him in her glance on the far side of the park, he was wandering around brimming with confidence and snapping pictures of anyone vein enough to succumb to his lens, lost in his own indulgence, he was fully unaware that he was now being shadowed from afar. While Evelyn may be small, she was also pretty quick, mum said she had no idea what Evelyn was about to do as she all but made a bee line for him, with a transfixed purpose, walking at pace through everyone and anyone that offered her additional cover. Mum watched as he found a new pair of targets just as Evelyn drew close enough to strike, running at full pelt, using a bench as leverage and doing little shy of a running jump to deliver a heavy right hand straight to her ex-boyfriend's face. As he fell to the floor Evelyn loomed over him and started yelling at him furiously about what he had done to my mum, all but screeching at him about how he had betrayed her trust and violated her, drawing as many eyes to herself as possible to publicly shame mums ex for what he had done. Mum would all but cry her eyes out cackling to herself and the reason for mum's unfiltered laughter? Evelyn did all of this for her while dressed as some kind of cartoon rabbit. Mum's side of story was funny but hearing Evelyn's side of things was equally interesting, she still to this day gets angry about what that guy did to mum, her voice becoming gritty and frustrated as she talks about what happened. Evelyn somewhere will grin smugly and simply say “No one fucks with my best friend!” The strangest part is it seems like Evelyn feels she should have done more about him but mum always tells me a simple truth about it. Mum simply says that Evelyn is "That one friend, the one you hope to find and the only one you need" I never fully got what mum really meant but I remember Evelyn saying that she thought that for me at least, Paisley might be that friend, the one who would have my back no matter what. I guess in some way the funny thing is that mum says exactly the same thing, like they think in the same circle or something? It was weird as I thought mum would have said that about Yui? But then I remember how proud she was after I stood up for Paisley both at school and then that night in game with Yui? Mum was so oddly proud that night, she got quite emotional about it all, I guess maybe mum knew something I hadn’t yet figured out? Not that she was telling me that if she had, or at least not directly. Nearly six weeks had passed since school had ended and Yui and Lavender had returned to Tokyo to spend the summer with their mum. Both hadn’t turned up for the party Evelyn had arranged to be the weekend before they went away and it had been over seven weeks since me and Yui had actually spoken. Part of me was downhearted about it all, mum kept saying that she thought Yui would see sense and eventually everything would work out but I had no hope it would. Yui had been my first friend at school and we had been so close I couldn’t believe that just defending Paisley was enough to end that once happy union. I had spent just about every day of summer with Paisley, just hanging out either at home, in town or in game and we had become super close. Mum said we reminded her of her and Evelyn, how we almost just knew what each other were thinking or going to do. Truthfully I had grown to really like Paisley, we shared everything and sometimes I got what mum meant about just knowing what she was thinking.  Me and Paisley weren’t the only ones who had gotten closer throughout summer either, after a final interfering shove from Evelyn at that beach party, mum had finally admitted that she was quite fond of Paisley’s dad. I remember Evelyn imposing herself as our babysitter that night, forcing mum to take a night off, whether she wanted to or not. Of course neither me or Paisley knew who the guy was that mum spent that evening with until the next morning. When both came home and confessed to me and Paisley, that they had been seeing each other on Wednesday nights, after mum’s sessions at the Davizioso. Ever since they had been spending more and more time together, it was nice to see mum happy and Paisley’s dad too. During the week, they met up a couple of nights a week before they spent Saturday nights together, giving themselves a night off from being parent’s and me and Paisley a night to do just about anything we wanted. Home delivered takeaway meals, rented films, duvets on the sofa, all night gaming, as long as the house wasn’t a complete shithole the next morning, mum was happy for us to just enjoy ourselves and they were just a text away if we needed them. During these nights alone is when me and Paisley had grown closer still, learning each other's past. I learned about Paisley’s mum walking out on her and her dad when she was eight and she learned about my foster family history and my Serbian roots. We had become really close during summer but knowing each other in person was one thing but online was quite another. After so much time gaming together, we found a kindred groove and we both just knew what each other was going to do in any situation. During those nights we had gotten better and better in game and neither of us could wait until our team was finally back so that we could tackle the next mission. That first week back at school had been tough, Yui didn’t speak at all but her place was more than filled by Paisley, but the strange thing was just how much Yui seemed to hate that. Each and every time she caught a glance of me and Paisley together she would just glare at us, especially at Paisley. Mum and Evelyn had both warned me what could happen if she got jealous, I guess I just didn’t believe it could truly happen? Not to me and not with Yui of all people. Either way I was relieved when Friday night arrived and I could sort of forget about facing Yui until Monday morning. Deep down I hoped that maybe if we played together on Saturday night, a first healing patch might be laid, especially as we both got a message from Lavender asking if we would be playing tonight. Mum had sent me a text to say she would play, but only to complete the mission before she and Paisley’s dad went for dinner. One by one we all came online, me and Paisley were sharing my room, while Hana came online followed by Abbie and then mum along with Yui and Lavender. Yui was now going to be taking the lead while I would hang back with Paisley, making sure that our rear was covered and there wouldn’t be a repeat of what had caused the break up between me and Yui. Or at least that’s what we hoped, but I had no idea just how wrong I was going to be.  The first part of the mission was to make our way down into the subway system, it was almost pitch black and there were guards everywhere and they were taking no prisoners. This was a merciless assault on the senses, peering into blackness looking for any kind of shimmer or shine off a rifle or scope and just hoping it wasn't friendly fire. Mum told me it was giving her a headache but she wasn’t alone, the odd flickers of failing neon lights and little fires made sure that your eyes never really got used to the darkness. Together we somehow found a set of disused steps that plunged down through the blackness into a dimly lit chamber of the station. Everyone else ventured down first while me and Paisley kept guard up top, peering through darkness and listening to shots echoing up from below, it was harrowingly long to wait a few minutes. As our team called “clear”, me and Paisley barred the door shut, sealing us in the stairwell as we descended to join our team. We kept covering each other as we made our way down, criss crossing each other around the steps like a well engineered zip all the way to the bottom. Flickering blue and green lights greeted us as we descended to the subway chamber and ventured into the open lights as the stairwell opened out into a platform.  We both paused briefly before we ventured out onto the platform, I took the lead and as I rounded the corner from the stairwell and ducked to take a last look to check the left, a single shot echoed from nearby. We knew there were no npc’s down here, so it had to be one of our own, I watched as a tracer flew right past my eyes, stunned as I glanced downrange and could see Yui with her rifle up trained on me. Yui had fired a single warning shot, shocking me into a trance and disbelief that she had fired upon me. Whether it was intentional or not didn't matter, Yui was rusty in game and while Yui’s shot might have missed, Paisley’s reply didn’t. Without thought Paisley yanked me back and leaned over me, twisting and firing two shots, a few moments apart, the timing set by her whisper over the radio “Fuck you Yui!”. Paisley’s first shot thumped straight into Yui’s chest, the second timed with just enough delay for her to gaze at Paisley in shocked disbelief before it thundered through her skull. I watched as those cases spun through the air before my eyes, drifting down in slow motion before clattering on the ground in a puff of smoke. With that little misjudged moment, just like her chances of surviving the game, any chance of me and Yui patching things up rattled and fell dead to the ground. The silence was deafening as everyone in game fell completely silent and I couldn’t believe what had just happened as Yui and Lavender quit the game together.  I took off my goggles to see the real world and catch my breath briefly but in kind Paisley had too and she winked at me as she put her hand on my shoulder and whispered into my ear “Fuck her, you don’t anyone thinks they can treat you like that” I took a few deep breaths as mum’s voice echoed “Savena?” in the headset “Savena?” she sounded worried, almost desperate as Paisley winked “Come on, let’s get this done” again and put her goggles back on, I did the same as mum’s voice echoed again. “Savena? Are you okay?” Mum sounded oddly worried as Paisley answered her “She’s okay Fae” looking at me as I put my goggles back on to rejoin them “I’m okay mum” mum’s voice settled down as she sighed in relief “As long as you are both okay” I could hear her deep breaths as she sighed “What the fuck was she thinking? Huh?” Paisley stepped in “I bet it wasn’t what she got for it” mum laughed in that same tone she did when she told that story about Evelyn before sighing “Well, fuck her Savena, you don’t need people like that around you” I couldn’t believe mum and Paisley were thinking the same thing as I uttered “That one you need right?” Mum's voice suddenly grew calmer and cheerful as she uttered back “Well, I guess you have her now” mum paused briefly before asking “Let’s get this shit done” and we rallied together before pressing deeper into the subway, ready for the next mission, our team now smaller but closer than before. We finished that mission and mum headed off to dinner with Paisley’s dad after checking again that me and Paisley were okay after our run in with Yui. While me and Paisley ordered takeaway at mum’s insistence and as we waited I got a text from Evelyn? I opened it and gasped as I read what she put “What’s it say?” Paisley asked as I started laughing and handed her my phone “Oh fuck!” Paisley started laughing as she saw mum had sent Evelyn a screenshot of Paisley taking Yui down and Evelyn’s words of wisdom? “Fuck her, you don’t need people like that Savena” I guess they all had the same thought about the same thing and I was the last to see it coming. We spent the rest of that evening talking about it, Paisley laughing away as she impersonated the face that Yui had pulled as that first round found home in her chest. There was no doubt she was proud in the same way as mum was when she spoke about Evelyn punching that journalist at the steampunk festival. Like she shouldn’t have been proud of it at all but deep down she was unquestionably proud of it, as if it somehow was a forbidden guilty pleasure of some kind. Where she didn’t really tell anyone else but me, her best friend, it felt weird realising just how close we had become over those few weeks of summer and how distant me and Yui had become at the same time.  While Paisley slept I sat up thinking about it, recalling that moment as Yui winced in despair knowing she was about to die at Paisley’s hand in a scenario of her own making. Briefly I worried what might happen on Monday morning at school, would Yui confront me or Paisley about it all? Then I felt that sadistic rise on my lips, just on the left hand side as I glanced at Paisley sleeping with a strange grin on her face “Fuck her” I whispered to myself as I grinned smugly to myself. I guess deep down I was no different to mum after all, that single moment online now serving as a defining line between what was and what had come to be. After an hour or so giggling silently away to myself, I sent mum a text to say goodnight and that we were okay as I joined Paisley sleeping on the sofa. My unquestionable best friend, the only one I truly needed, the one mum hoped that I would find and in kind so had I. Paisley became the second reason I had to smile every day and think how in a strange way I had been lucky to find myself here. When I had first come to Ljianstipol, mum told me that finding good people was a bit like finding Islands in a vast ocean and that night Paisley became my second Island.