March 24, Year 1
Mathias Thomas squinted at the night sky.
The clouds were barely illuminated by the partially hidden moon. Sometimes Poptarts imagined himself sitting here many years into the past, when there was nothing but untouched nature. He'd seen stunning pictures of the night sky, in the wilderness, away from the bright lights and humdrum of modern life. He thinks it's the Milky Way in those pictures, but he isn't too sure. There was an awe-inspiring quality to space, but Poptarts can't quite figure out why. The allure of space, perhaps was the same as the great unexplored lands of the world, back in the olden times. It was simply the act of not knowing, of needing to know.
Street lights and storefronts lit the path home, the occasional car driving by as they shuttled their drivers to a good night's rest. The two boys had no problems and few fears about walking about the streets at night. After all, the two had lived here all their lives and knew the area like the back of their hands. The cool, calm night time air filled their lungs. The gentle breeze danced past them, almost inviting them to dance along down the streets and past alleys and deep into the heart of town. The two boys were headed home, bundled up in jackets, Poptarts even wore a scarf.
"So, Matt, are you ready for that test next week?" Connor McKinley asked, making casual small talk. The redhead repositioned his messenger bag back onto his shoulder as it threatened to fall off yet again.
"If I must be truthful, not really. I can't seem to understand what it is we're supposed to be doing in that class." Mathias lamented, glancing at the passing buildings. The blond hated math, it was just so confusing.
"Well I'm sure if you study this weekend you'll get it down. What part are you struggling with, exactly?" Connor asked. Despite his resourcefulness, Connor wasn't much better at the subject than his friend.
Mathias gave Connor a hopeless look before answering, "All of it, Connor. All of it." He sighed, running his fingers through his hair.
"It's just that one chapter that's giving me the most problem, but it's all the chapter that most of the test is on.
What am I going to do?"
Sympathetic, Connor was about to answer when a certain classmate of this caught his eye.
Kevin Price.
Tall, handsome, a model student.
Connor felt his heart flip as he watched him walking down the other side of the street. The two had interacted on several occasions, it helped that the two of them shared a few classes as well. He was accompanied by a shorter, chubbier fellow with dark curly hair. Connor could just barely make out the conversation they were holding. Or rather the one-sided conversation the other fellow was having by himself, with Kevin just barely keeping it together.
"-but then Mister Timmul said that I couldn't use Star Wars in my Shakespeare literary analysis paper. I mean, it Star Wars has everything to do with Shakespeare!" He cried out, as if he was personally insulted.
Taking a chance to detour, he lightly jogged ahead of Mathias once they crossed the street to catch up to the two. Poor Mathias was left to play catch up, suddenly finding himself alone without any warning.
"Hello, Kevin. Fancy meeting you here." He greeted, trying to keep his dumb smile from showing too much. It wasn't exactly working, he was just too happy to be seeing him here of all places.
'It's like heavenly father wanted us to meet here.' He thought to himself with a sense of giddiness.
"Oh, hi." Kevin answered back, a little flustered by Connor's sudden appearance.
"You're Connor, right? Connor McKinley?" His eyes lit up at the mention of his name.
"Why yes, that's right. I am Connor McKinley. We're in the same physics and history class together."
Heavy footfalls from behind announced Mathias's arrival.
"Why'd you take off so fast, Connor? You could have warned me." He whined, leaning against a wall. His hair was a little messed up and out of place. Otherwise, he only looked annoyed and confused.
"So, sorry about that, Mathias. This is Kevin Price, we're in the two of the same classes together." Connor replied, gesturing to the taller boy.
"Kevin, this is Mathias Thomas, my best friend."
Mattie waved, a bit red in the face from the run in the cold air.
Kevin and the other boy waved back.
"Nice to meet you, uh, Mat-Mathias?" Kevin greeted, stumbling over Poptart's unusual name.
"You can call me Mattie. Or you can call me Poptarts." Mathias responded, his usual peppiness bursting through.
"..." The other two gave slightly concerned, questioning looks.
"They call me that cause I love them so much!" Poptarts continued with a light squeal, explaining the origin behind his nickname.
"I see." Was all Kevin could reply with.
"I'm Arnold Cunningham!" The chubby boy announced, introducing himself at last. "And Kevin's my best friend." He seemed quite proud at this fact. Kevin sighed, patting Arnold on the head.
"Is that so? Well tell us about yourself, Arnold. How long have you and Kevin known each other?" Connor asked, as the four began to walk down the sidewalk, slowly migrating towards their respective homes.
"Oh, uh, well- I've known Kevin since last year-we were in the same English class together, you see- and- we were supposed to do this project as a team. We couldn't decide on a topic." Arnold began.
"But we worked it out in the end, we fought a little, sure, but we compromised and did great on the paper." Kevin finished for him.
"That's just wonderful." Connor replied, clapping his hands happily.
"Speaking of projects, what do you think about that project we have in Physics? Do you have a partner yet?" Connor asked quickly.
"Not yet, no." Kevin admitted. "I was thinking of trying and doing it myself, honestly."
"You know, Kevin, I don't have a partner either. Maybe we could team up?" Connor suggested slyly. He fidgeted with his bag strap as he waited for a response.
"If you're okay with it, then I guess we could team up." Kevin conceded.
"That's just wonderful. We've got it all figured out already! You know, with your brains, we could get this finished in no time." He crowed happily.
Mattie and Arnold were painfully aware of their newfound third wheel status. Pops shifted from one foot to another, while Arnold just watched, head following the conversation as they spoke.
"Why don't we discuss this tomorrow in the morning?" Connor suggested, pleased with his small victory.
"Uh, sure. Yeah, let's do that. What's your phone number?" Kevin asked, pulling out his phone.
"Holy cow, it's really late, you guys." Arnold commented, eyes wide as he saw the time. Arnold wasn't one for keeping track of time, or a sense of planning. He was a go with the flow kind of guy, unless the situation was urgent. Still, he hadn't expected it to be this late at night.
"Ah man, my parents are going to ground me if I'm out past midnight." Kevin groaned, squeezing his eyes shut.
"You know, there is a shortcut we could take." Connor pointed out. "They're not exactly 'ideal', but if we walk together and hurry, we can make it home before then."
"What...exactly did you have in mind?" Kevin asked cautiously.
"Well, there's that old abandoned Church a few streets over, it's pretty safe, I think." Connor suggested.
"You want to trespass?" Kevin cried in shock. The thought of breaking the rules, especially ones with legal consequences attached, was daunting to him.
"Listen, I know it sounds bad, but it's abandoned. If it's a shortcut we should take it if you want to save time." Connor stressed, fixing his bag strap once again.
Kevin bit his lip, thinking it over.
"Nobody has to know." Connor reassured him.
"Mormons don't lie." Kevin stressed, still conflicted over the idea. "But teenagers do. Let's do it." He said, finally resigning.
With that, the four of them headed off into the lesser traveled part of their town. Arnold and Poptarts fell behind, while Connor and Kevin took the lead.
Connor tried to think up of something to say, quickly while they could still talk. Like friends-or just classmates! Yes, nothing more than that. Although...there was the hope that…
"Do you have any siblings, Kevin?" Connor prodded, trying to fill the silence. Most families in Utah were Mormon, and Mormons tended to have large families. While not unheard of, it was unusual to find someone without siblings. Connor himself was the second oldest son in his family, and Poptarts was the oldest in his.
"I'm the oldest I've got 3 younger brothers and a sister." Kevin pointed out.
"I'm an only." Arnold spoke up from behind, sounding a little disappointed to be left out of the conversation.
"I'm sure there's some advantages to being an only." Poptarts pointed out trying to make Arnold cheer up.
"I'd have liked a younger brother or sister. I think I would have wanted a brother. Then we could pretend to be Jedis together. Or maybe go on an adventure. Not that sisters can't go on adventures-" Connor tuned him out as Arnold continued to ramble on.
Ducking between buildings and cutting across streets, the four of them were getting closer to the abandoned church, closer to home. It was a nice church, Connor supposed. It would have looked nicer in the day time.
The building held a strange aura to it. Equal parts fascination and unnerving, Connor felt drawn to the place. Admittedly, it was part of the reason why he wanted to swing by. He'd never seen it at night before. Maybe it was the way the lights from the other buildings bounced off from it, or through the dusty glass that gave it that sad yet inviting vibe.
"...Hey.." A voice said from the darkness, jerking Connor out of his thoughts.
The sudden addition to their group startled all four of them. The voice didn't sound much older than they were, but the darkness wasn't exactly making them feel at ease.
"Who's there?" Connor called out, as the others took a step back. Poptarts was ready to book it and Kevin looked ready to fight if he needed to.
A boy about their age stepped out from the ruins of the church. He wore a navy-blue windbreaker, a little tattered here and there. His sandy hair and dark brown eyes stared back at them.
"I've never seen you around here before. Not frequently anyway." The stranger stated, taking a few steps forward but stopped short of walking up to Connor.
"We don't want any trouble." Connor said, standing his ground. Despite his show of bravery, he terrified. There was safety in numbers, yes, but that didn't stop him from feeling these feelings.
"It's a good night for a walk,isn't it?" The boy that Connor now recognized as Elroy Church asked, arms behind his back.
Connor steeled himself. Elroy was notorious at school for having gotten in numerous fights. Rumor had it that he'd calmed downed, but a reputation like that was hard to leave behind.
"Well, Mister Church-" Connor began, keeping his voice steady.
"Elroy." The boy snapped, a not so hidden anger sprung up from him. "Do not call me Mister Church." His eyes glared at them furiously.
"Elroy," Connor continued, shakily, "we don't mean you any harm and we certainly did not mean to trespass in your...territory." The red head took a deep breath before continuing.
"If you can find it in your heart to let us go, then-"
"Do you live around here?" Elroy asked abruptly. Connor was taken aback.
"Ex-excuse me?"
"You. Do you guys live around here?" Elroy asked again. Connor hesitated. What was he up to? Sure, it could have been friendly conversation but…
"With all due respect, Elroy, we'd rather keep that information private. We're just trying to get home before curfew. We've already apologized for walking through here and we'd like to go now." Kevin answered, pushing forward sternly. His fists were balled up.
Connor hoped there wouldn't be a fight. For one, their parents might find out they'd been walking around back here. They really shouldn't have been, and if they could avoid tussling with one of the school bullies, that'd be great as well. Connor was sure he spoke with the rest of the group, when he'd decided he didn't want to start a feud between him and the guy who'd beat up several other kids in the past.
Elroy made a face as he watched. Connor wasn't sure if he was staring at them or behind them, but he didn't really care to find out.
"Well, we really should be on our way. Come along now-"
"What...what is that?" Elroy asked, pointing to something behind them.
"No, no, no, we are not going to fall any tricks, we just-" Kevin butted in, annoyed with the direction all this was taking.
"Oh, my gosh, Kevin turn around!" Arnold yelled frantically. Connor couldn't tell if Arnold sounded happy or was just as terrified as the rest of them had been feeling during the whole exchange.
"Come on Arnold, don't tell me you've- what is that?" Kevin cried out in shock. Finally convinced, Connor also turned around to see what the big drama was about.
That 'something' was a bright light in the sky, a bright blue white. Connor would have dismissed it as a shooting star, but there something else about this 'light' in the sky. It seemed to be coming in their general direction, growing steadily larger in size. It disappeared a few streets over.
"What do we do?" Someone asked, maybe it was Arnold, maybe it was Kevin. Connor just stood there staring, in the direction of the lights. He could try to argue that it'd been a shooting star, yes. Something in his gut told him it wasn't. That it was something much bigger than that.
"That was definitely a UFO." It had to Arnold, Connor might not know much about Elroy, but he figured Arnold was probably the biggest alien enthusiast there.
"UFO or not, we should be heading home." Kevin pressed, trying to pull Arnold with him.
"Nuh uh, I want to see what it was. Just imagine, a real live alien." Arnold exclaimed happily.
"It's probably just a space rock." Poptarts said, finally saying something after a long period of silence.
"Still, a space rock would still be pretty cool to see. Maybe there's something left of it." Elroy countered, heading off in the direction of the lights.
"There was something different about those lights." Arnold insisted, pulling away from Kevin and following Elroy into the streets ahead.
"Arnold, wait up. Don't just go running off by yourself." Kevin called out after the other boy.
It was just Connor and Poptarts now, alone in the alleyway. The two looked at each other, just as speechless. They could leave, turn around and go home right now, was their hands of whatever the other three were getting themselves into. Or they could follow the others and either find something cool or just be disappointed.
"Do we follow them?" Poptarts asked.
"I guess we should see if they're alright." Connor admitted, before heading off after the other three.
"You don't really want to go, do you Connor?" Mathias asked again, keeping up with him now, despite Connor having the longer legs.
"It wouldn't be responsible. We should at least check in on them, make sure they're alright."
"I suppose so."