She heaved a sigh and whimpered before answering. “Hello?”

“Hey, My Lady! It’s me, Ryan.”

“Yeah, the contact address said so.”

He chuckled. “Grouchy…”

Meg sighed. “What’s wrong?”

“Well, My Lady. We wanted to invite you out, we’re going downtown.”

“When?” Glancing at her wrist watch, it says 4:54 pm.

“Later, we’re planning to get you around 5:30.”

“I’m kind of hectic tonight. Samantha wouldn’t let me go out either too.”

“Why don’t you try asking first?”

“Sure, I’ll try.” Meg shrugged.

“Ok. Bye!” He hung up.

Meg wasn’t––at first––planning to ask Sam’s permission or to call Ryan back; she was uninterested. Though she changed her mind after seeing that the website she usually browsed through was ‘Under Maintenance’. Meg went to the stairs and peeked at Samantha.  She was busy working with her paper works.

No harm asking, Meg thought.

“Sam, I’m going out later. Lissa and the others will pick me up.”

She turned her head around, her eyes looking at Meg. “Sure. What time will you be home?”

Meg smiled. “Not sure, yet. Before 10 or 11 o’clock, I guess.”

“Before 10.” She said firmly, then added, “And buy me some Tacos.”

“Fine.”

Meg returned to her room and dialed Ryan’s number.

“Hey Ryan. You can count me in. Sam’s looser today than usual.”

“Great! We’ll stop by later…”

“Alright.”

“We’ll be using Lissa’s car. See you later!” The phone conversation ended, with Meg completely forgetting to ask Ryan where he’d been all day.

 

 

Ryan placed his phone in his pocket. After the long and tiring first day of school, he somehow found himself inside Lissa’s car. They were driving with Andrea and Robert, heading nowhere in particular.

“What did Meg said?” Lissa asked.

“She’s in.” Ryan smiled.

“That’s good. Hope Louise could come, too.” Andrea said.

“Yeah… but what can we do, she’s busy.” Lissa shrugged then continued, “according to her.”

The brand-new sports car circled around the city a couple of times. People were eyeing them every now and then. Some were mesmerized by the spectacular car, while others were cursing because of jealousy. Simply, the fact that it has a one-piece glass roof was head-turning.

As time passed by, Ryan was starting to think that he shouldn’t be there and that he should be at home just like what Peter told him. Peter sounded worried and tense and commanding; as if he was preventing Ryan to do something rush. Peter was warning him. Warning Ryan about something he wasn’t still aware of.

“Hey Ryan, this is Meg’s house right?” Lissa asked.

Ryan panicked for a second, his mind was somewhere else. “Y-yeah…There. That one.” Ryan pointed out a two-story red house, with a silver gray-color rooftop.

Lissa stopped the car infront of the Lewis residence’s yard.

Ryan turned his head towards Meg. She was wearing a black cashmere jacket covering her body down to her thigh, a jean and a Chanel shoes.

 

 

“Sam, I’m leaving. Bye!” Meg said, running out of the house and into the car.

“Take care and don’t forget the Tacos!” Samantha shouted as Lissa revved her car away.

“What’s with the clothes?” Andrea asked.

Meg pouted, “Ask Samantha.”

Andrea shrugged, “Oh, well. Looks good anyway.”

Meg brought a spare jacket with her, a more casual one. She changed into them.

“Hey, is Louise coming?” Meg asked after seeing that there’re only five of them: Lissa, Ryan, Andrea, Robert and herself. Lissa was the one driving; she wouldn’t let anybody touch the steering wheel. Robert’s in the passenger seat while Ryan and Andrea sat besides Meg in the back seat.

“Nope, she backed out at the last minute.” Lissa answered.

“Louise got a part-time job, she won’t make it.” Andrea added.

Meg simply nodded.

The car’s features were great; the seats were comfy and nice. The smell of a new car still lingers. Lissa wasn’t using any car-perfume, trying to keep her car’s smell the same.

Meg stared outside, checking out the different houses. Then she noticed that the road they took was wrong.

“Lissa, did you just made a wrong turn?” Meg wondered.

“Nope! We’re taking a shortcut.”

Meg looked at Lissa through the front mirror. “Are you sure about this?”

“Don’t worry! I’ve been down this road.” Ryan interrupted.

The road they took led them to some isolated-looking area. There’re few residences, some were occupied and others were not. The streets were darker than the typical streets, but it wasn’t enough to make Meg feel creepy.

“See? This path is the usual way. We’re near downtown.” Ryan grinned as he turned his head towards Meg.

She rolled her eyes, directing her sight outside. Then she noticed a light––like a big dragonfly’s tail––hitting something.

“W-what was that?” She stuttered out to Andrea, pulling her arm.

“What was what?” Andrea asked.

Meg calmed herself up. Acting normal, she said, “Nothing. I-i thought I saw a… wishing star?”

“Wishing star?” Lissa repeated and then added, “In this gloomy night?”

It took Meg a minute to answer. “…yeah… I guess I’m hungry.”

“You must be.” Everybody chortled.

Meg lied. It didn’t look like anywhere close to being a star; she was sure she saw something different. It lit up then died.

Meg sensed the vehicle stopped moving.

“We’re here.” Lissa declared, killing the engine of the car.

Meg climbed out and set aside the thought. It must have been a dragonfly, or maybe, it really was a falling star. They went over various shops, from outfit sections to food courts. They picked out lots of things from different shelves and bought them. Although Meg wasn’t able to buy anything, since Lissa grabbed everything that she would say ‘cute’ to. But then, Ryan won a girlie keychain from the arcade; he ended up giving it to Meg. Empathy gift?

Everything was going well and fun, until it felt like Meg was missing a thing. She halted and began to remember.

“Oh, damn! I forgot to buy some Tacos for Samantha.” She spitted the name of Samantha, harsher than she wanted. Then continued, “I’ll go and buy some.”

“Yeah, but the main Taco shop closed a minute ago.” Andrea pointed out, “If you really need to buy some, try going at the near end, over there.”––Gesturing to the right–– “I think I saw a shop there.” She continued.

“Ok. I’ll be right back.” Meg told them as she left.

She passed-by tons of shops that were locking up; the area was becoming dimmer. She fastened her pace. She then decided to follow Andrea’s suggestion. The direction that Andrea told her, guided her to a promising restaurant, though it was a bit secluded from the others. However she didn’t mind that fact, Meg was too impatient to buy some Tacos. She just liked to go home. She hurriedly entered and talked to the saleslady to put an order.

“Tacos.”

The kind-looking seller read her purchase and said, “Right. We’ll get it ready, please take a seat first.”

Meg took the nearest chair and sat down. Her eyes roamed around the place. The store was cramped, but it has good ventilation. She saw several pictures and paintings of yummy foods, like pastas and pizzas. It has a nice ambiance, too. Meg thought that they had a busy day today; the employees appeared to be in a haggard condition.

A waitress came up to Meg, holding a tray of Tacos. The saleslady’s face was familiar.

“Louise?” Meg said out loud, asking.

She eyed Meg. “Megan, what are you doing here?”

“Buying some Tacos.”

She heard the irritated tone from Meg’s voice making her chuckle. “Here’s your order.”

“Great!” Meg said. She just got on her feet when the lady in-charge of the counter shouted. “Ma’am, wait a minute! We made a mistake, that’s not your order.” But the woman she was calling for was already out of the store.

Meg sighed. “I was just about to leave. I’ll go get her.” she volunteered. Louise already had a rough day; Meg was simply expressing her sympathy for her.

“Meg! Wait!” Louise shouted but Meg was already outside.

Meg turned her head from left to right, searching. She didn’t get to see her face but, as far as she can remember, the woman was wearing a lavender jacket with red hearts printed on it. Her hair was neck-long and sleek black. She was around Meg’s age.

People were mostly heading on the other direction that Meg was, causing her to have a harder time. She was thrusting herself through the crowd.

Meg continued walking, until she spotted the woman. Meg walked faster, trying to catch up with her. Meg wanted to yell and tell the woman to wait up but Meg noticed that there’re earphones plugged-in in both of the woman’s ears.

Tonight’s heaven was really dark, clouds were covering the moon, and almost no stars were in view. The woman turned left. A chance. Meg stretched her arms out, wanting to reach her shoulder, but a bat scared the hell out of her; it flew right above her head, making her duck.

Meg looked ahead once again; the woman disappeared when she took another turn. People were starting to stare at her. They must be thinking that she’s a stalker, but it could be worse. The chase continued.

This chase is getting on my nerves. Why did I even volunteer? I shouldn’t have, Meg told herself.

Meg continued to force herself through the throng, hurting her arms every once in a while. Thankfully the mob was starting to lessen.

Meg turned at the same street that the woman she’s after did. The street was empty; the woman disappeared again when she entered a warehouse. Meg suddenly reduced her speed after feeling a chill run down her spine; the atmosphere and the surroundings were getting eerie. She was not good with direction, so returning could be a trouble. Though she was good with memorizing stuff, and it helps a lot with her problem with directions. Animals like bats were gathering all over the place. This was making Meg uneasy; she then decided to run.

Meg was beginning to recognize the place she’s going to. It was where the light she saw earlier came from. Luckily, it wasn’t one like she imagined. Something connected with aliens and monsters. But it was just an archaic, big and rusty storehouse.

Meg ran towards the door. “Excuse, I’m coming in.” Meg barged in, sending the sliding door, rolling open.

That moment, Meg was blinded by some light. It looked similar with the one she saw from afar before. It was alive, big and kind of oval; it was more on the red side of the color wheel than white. She looked carefully, unexpectedly meeting the eyes of a man; he was standing behind the incomprehensible light. The beam was heading, flying straight at her. As it comes closer, the hotter it felt. Meg couldn’t suppress a squeal.