Well hello there! Thank you for clicking onto this story! For people who've read my other stories, I've decided to write yet another! For newcomers, welcome! I hope you like the story, and, regardless, I hope you review. Or favorite. Or follow. Whichever floats your boat. Just do something. Well, enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 1
"I told you, I'm almost there." I say into my cellphone, scanning the brightly lit strip mall outside of the car.
"Ok, whatever you say; I'll be the one standing alone on the side of the building." I laugh to myself and scan the road until my eyes land on a familiarly lit building. I quickly turn into the parking lot, glancing along the sidewalk for Sing.
"Calm down, I'm here. Good bye Sing." I quickly end the call and place my cell phone on the center console before pulling into an empty parking space. After double checking that the parking break is in place, I grab my purse and step onto the wet asphalt.
Wind slaps at my cheeks, and I shiver before wrapping my sweater more tightly around my shoulders, trying to keep myself as warm as possible. The cotton stretches across my chest and tightened slightly around my frozen arms.
It still amazes me how cold it can get at night here, especially after a rainstorm. You'd think the Tucson heat would at least last through the nighttime. Maybe it's an Earth thing.
I walk towards the theatre, my shoes making little splish splosh noises on the road. I purposefully step in all the puddles, laughing like a child when the cold water splashes on my legs. Across the parking lot I can make out Sing's head of long black hair leaning against the side of the building.
As I step onto the sidewalk she smiles and sits up.
"Hello Wanda, I'm glad you made it,." She says as she walks in front of one of the doorways, the light flashing across her silver eyes.
"Hello Sing. I would have made it here earlier, but the roads were really crowded. The movie hasn't started yet, has it?" I ask worriedly. I hope I didn't make her miss the movie.
"Don't worry, we still have 10 minutes; just enough time to get some popcorn." She smiles and starts walking ahead, glancing back after a few strides to make sure I'm following. I laughed and follow, but nod towards the door to tell her to go ahead. Out of all the food on Earth, popcorn is one of Sing's absolute favorites.
I glance around me, scanning the different movie posters hung up on each of the walls. I don't actually know what movie we're seeing. I've never really found much interest in movies; they always end the same way, which gets boring after a while. But, it's always better than staying at home alone for another Friday night.
I push open the doors and start walking towards the concessions, where Sing is currently holding a jumbo-sized popcorn bucket.
"You do realize that I'm only going to able to eat about 10% of that, right?" She nods quickly, her mouth already filled with the salty yellow food. I glance over and nod my thank you at the attendant currently standing at the popcorn station. Thanks yous are our pretty much our only form of payment, so I give all I can.
I follow Sing through the twisting path of hallways before stopping outside of one with a sign above the doorway that read Theatre 18.
"Here we are." Sing says. We walk inside, around the wall and into the mass of seats. We walk up the stairs and take two seats above an elderly couple. Almost immediately the dark screen turns green, announcing that a trailer was about to start. I lean back, trying to ignore the scratchy seat on my bare leg.
"So how was your day?" I asked, trying to break the silence. She visibly freezes, her hand pausing mid-grab. She bites her lip, and glnaces at me, only to quickly glance back at the screen.
"Oh, um, it was fine; nothing special." She says quickly. She
clamps her mouth shut and looked towards the screen, shoveling popcorn in her mouth. I feel my eyebrows furrow together, and I open my mouth to say something, but then quickly shut it.
"Are you ok?" I ask. I instantly regret asking; I don't have any right to intrude in her business, and I'm being absolutely rude.
"Nothing happened. I'm fine." She turns away from and back towards the screen, sending me in into a parade of guilt. I feel my cheeks flush crimson, and it's suddenly very warm in the theatre. I take off my sweater, careful not to bump Sing, and sit it neatly on my lap. I'm too embarrassed to talk to Sing or look at her, so we sit in silence until the movie starts.
Through the whole two hours I don't eat any popcorn, and I can barely pay attention to the movie. I glance over at Sing every so often, just enough to notice that her face softened more and more as the movie progressed.
When the movie finally ends we get up in silence and head back through the maze and then outside. The squishing noises my shoes make are no longer as interesting.
"Sing, I must apologize; I should not have pried in your business. If you don't want to tell me about your work, then you don't have to. I'm sorry." I look down at my shoes, embarrassed about the whole situation.
"It's fine; I was kind of a jerk about it." Sing replies; I look back up, relief flooding through me.
"It's just…" Sing looks around us, and then starts walking towards the parking lot. I follow her, spotting her car at the far end.
"It's just that…we found something out today. Have you been watching the news lately?" Sing asks without turning around.
"Yes, I have." I answer.
"Well, have you heard any stories about any break-ins?" I abruptly stop, so surprised that my feet stop moving.
Break-ins? What kind of soul would think to steal from another?
I glance up and, realizing that Sing's no longer right in front of me, speed up until I'm next to her.
"Break-ins? What kind of break-ins?"
"There's been a series of break-ins across town; from what we can tell they've happened in the middle of night, when nobody's home. A lot of seekers from my department were sent to check it out, but they didn't find anything. The main things that have been stolen are food and drinks, give or take some other stuff." I stared, open-mouthed, at the back of her head. (which is rude, but I can't help it)
"Why hasn't any of this been on the news?"
"We don't want anyone to worry and start freaking out; hopefully the robberies will stop, but if they don't we'll work on tracking them down."
"But souls don't steal from each other." I stated, walking faster to keep up with her.
"That's right;souls don't." I watch as she climbs into her car, trying to figure what she's saying.
"I'm afraid I don't understand." Sing bites her lip, trying to decide whether or not to tell me.
"Don't tell anyone I said this, but we think that the break ins were committed by…humans."
"Humans?" I ask in disbelief. I glance around, suddenly feeling very exposed in the empty parking lot.
"What are you saying? Are they here? Now?"
"I'm not saying anything…yet. Just, please, be careful. I'm sorry, but I've got to go. I'll talk to you later."
She casts a final glance over at me before slowly backing out of the space and onto the road.
I watch as she drives away, suddenly feeling really alone in the empty parking lot. I quickly walk to my car and get inside, glancing around me.
Robberies. Souls don't rob each other; why would we? We have all we ever need. All we could ever want and more. That means one thing. Humans.
Humans. We're told they're dangerous. The seekers warn us of them, not often, but we've been warned before.
There was an incident about a few weeks ago, a human found on the outskirts of town. He took down three seekers, two on the road through fighting. My friend, Sun, was the third one that was killed. He chased the human down in a car, but the human ran him off the road and Sun crashed.
It wasn't mentioned in any news station, and the only reason I knew was because of Sing. She had said her department was on alert, but it's long since died down. Until today, that is.
I bite my lip and glance around me again, the dark lot doing little to reassure me. I quickly turn the car on and back out of the lot, calculating the shortest route home.
My house is bigger than most. I assume that my host must have had a lot of money, and spent a majority of it on her house. It sits on the outskirts of the city, right next to the desert part of Tucson. The house is a two-story building, surrounded by grass and few neighbors. what neighbors I do have are all the way down the road and out of sight. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the peace, but it can be lonely sometimes.
The downstairs starts with a long hallway, which leads all the way to the kitchen. The kitchen leads to a sunroom (a room with all windows for walls) and a living room, which stretches opposite of the hallway. There's a staircase between the hallways and living room, which leads upstairs to the bedrooms. Mine is at the end of the hall.
I pull into the driveway and, after pressing a button in the car, into the garage. My car fits snugly into the mostly empty garage. I hop out and walked inside, using the garage door.
I walk down the hallway and up the stairs, all the way to my bedroom. (which is at the end of the hallway) I absentmindedly twist my blonde hair around my finger as I hang my purse up on one of the hooks in my closet. I dig a shirt and some shorts out of the closet and toss them on the bed, pulling off my own shirt afterwards.
I quickly change into the outfit and flop down on the bed, but not before flicking off my light and flooding the room in darkness (minus the moon light coming through my window)
I flip over onto my side so that I'm facing the window, little white streaks flooding my face. Stars surround it like a halo, and I feel as if I could stare at them for hours.
After all, one can never tire of watching the stars.
And that's it; I hope you liked it. I kinda suck at 1st chapters though. Just give it a chance. Please! Now, as I said above, please review, favorite, or follow. Trust me, this story'll be good. Other chapters will be much longer, i'm just making this one short cuz I want to see if you guys like it. So, let me know!