\/\/\/Cary\/\/\/

"Bad things happen... But you can still live."

Joe looked the alien in the eyes, and we all stood stock still, waiting with bated breath. The alien seemed to understand Joe on some level, because it's face seemed to soften...

Before it's features set into a snarl and it crushed Joe's body in it's hands. Alice screamed and clung to me, like I did to her, and I stared in shock. Everything I had thought about the alien, that it was just lost and afraid looking for a way home, went out the window in that moment. It had just killed my friend in cold blood.

I let go of Alice and reached into my bag to pull out my biggest firework, which looked like a mini-bazooka but was just a bunch of roman candles taped together. I lit the fuse, pointed it at the alien and snarled at it.

"This is for Joe, you fucking son of a bitch"

The alien moved to grab Alice again, but before it could touch her the roman candle bazooka went off and stuck it first in the arm then the face, causing it to cry out in pain and run away. I dropped the firework and dropped down next to Alice, wrapping her in a hug and letting her cry against my chest, my own tears spilling down my face.

\/\/\/Alice, one week later\/\/\/

I stared down at the casket that held my friend, and to be honest the boy I liked a lot, as it was lowered into the ground. I just stood there in shock, numb. One week later and I still couldn't get the image out of my head, seeing Joe murdered right in front of me then tossed aside. Just thinking about it sent shivers down my spine. A warm hand wrapped around me and I looked to my left to see Cary with a look his face that was sure to match mine. We had both been there, had both seen what happened.

Forty-eight hours after the alien left the planet, found Cary and myself inside the office of the town shrink, and he kept asking us how we felt about what happened, me getting kidnapped by the alien, Cary getting attacked by it on the bus... How we felt about Joe's death. Every time he mentioned it, the memory would spring into my mind, unbidden. Seeing Joe relax, thinking he was about to be let go and that this nightmare was over, then...

Crunch

I didn't even have time to react when the alien's hand closed around Joe and crushed his body. I could only scream in horror as the alien looked at the now broken and lifeless body in it's hands before carelessly tossing it aside.

I blanked out when I saw his body hit the ground, and woke up with my head buried in Cary's shoulder and him yelling at the shrink.

"-The hell do you think your doing you dumbass? We just saw our best friend murdered and all you can ask is 'how do you feel about that'? What kind of sick twisted son of a bitch are you?"

The shrink let us go after that, and nobody made us go back. We had spent the rest of the time in each others company, consoling each other and being each others support.

I came back to reality when they where asked to leave so they could fill in the dirt over the casket, and we turned to leave, Cary still keeping his arm around me.

\/\/\/Two weeks later\/\/\/

I eased the gate to the Lilian cemetery open, silently walking toward Joe's tombstone. I had been coming here everyday after his funeral, sometimes talking to him, others just to sit and thinking back on our brief time as friends.

I placed a bouquet of flowers in front of the tombstone and sat off to the side, staring at my friends name engraved in the granite.

"I really miss you Joe... I wish you were here, all of us eating at the diner, laughing at the Charles and Cary fighting, and Martin saying something cause someone to call him "smartin" even though he hates it... I know Cary misses you too, he told me he missed going out on late night adventures with you, like you did when you were kids..."

I trailed off into silence and closed her eyes, reliving happy memories, of making the movie and just hanging out. I don't know how long I sat there, at least an hour or so, when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped and turned around, only to find Cary holding a few flowers in his hand, looking down at me. He placed his flowers next to mine, then sat down beside me, putting an arm around my shoulder and letting me lean my head on his. We sat in silence for a few moments, before...

"You know... Joe is probably laughing at us because we never were close friends, and now we are closer than anybody out of our group"

This brought a smile to my lips because I knew it was probably true. I had first thought that Cary was a nut case always carrying around fireworks and setting them off at random times, but I've since learned it's just what makes him unique.

"Come on, lets go get something to eat. My Treat."

I smiled and nodded my assent, Cary smiling back and standing before helping me up. We started walking out, but before we got to far I turned back and smiled softly.

"Bye Joe... I'll be back"

I could has swore I heard his laughter behind me as I walked out.