The drive was long and tiring. Riley wanted nothing to do with any of the new town, the new town that had aliens and heroes. Like that was going to help her Father write his new book. How were alien attacks and superheroes related to romance novels? She had had enough of her Dad manipulating her into doing things she didn't want to do, making her feel guilty for wanting things. She had been forced to leave her friends, to leave her school, and to leave her home. And her sister; her sister was living with her Mom. Her Sister and mother were back in Oregon while she was the one that had to move. How could her sister just let her leave her like that?
She squeezed her pointer finger in an effort to not think about of all the terrible things her sister was getting into. The drugs, the alcohol, that were among all her skid friends that were also a bad influence for her made Riley's skin crawl.
When she viewed her father at the corner of her eye she glared.
She turned back towards at the blurring scene outside of the car and scowled. She was always being forced.
"When are you going to stop being angry?"
Riley tried not to growl. That was the exact same thing her Mother had said to her one night. What was the point of saying what she really thought when it only leads to more arguing? She was sick of it, and anger; anger was the emotion she recognized the most.
"I'm fine Dad, this is for the better," She leaned back into her chair, her gaze still on the passing view. She didn't really think it was fine, she was only saying that to get her Father off her back.
Her Father let out an exasperated sigh. "I'm sick of you just... being down," She didn't want to tell her that she was having a win-win situation. Not only was she being all melancholy for her own case, but she was pissing off her Father. Awesome.
"You've seen the house, you said you loved it. It's big enough and even has a laundry room and a fireplace! You've always wanted those, right?" Her Father casually looked at her but made sure to keep his eyes on the road. If Riley recalled correctly she wasn't the only one to want a fireplace and a laundry room.
"I know, I'm just... doing the teenager thing Dad, it's nothing, really. Just make sure we set up the internet soon. You know me, can't survive without the net," Which had some truth to it. She wanted to talk to her friends and get everything set up. Then she would bitch about it on her blog, which she was pretty ashamed of saying she had. How much more of a high school cliché could she be?
The winding road finally ended and they entered the small town. The sign read "Welcome to Bellwood"
Inside the house it seemed desolate. Which it was, but it lacked life and she felt sad. She had already picked her room. As soon as she found a room with a walk in closet she knew what room she was going to call. She was having a hell of a time setting everything up. Riley had no clue on how she was going to lift her dresser into her room. Her bed frame was so heavy that she had to get rid of it.
She was going back and forth from the truck to the house and her back was starting to hurt her. Her hands were starting to be rubbed raw from having to hold all the boxes from one location to another. She was not cut out for heavy lifting.
"Dad, I thought someone was supposed to help us with this stuff. We can't do anything while it's dark." Her Dad, who was about to walk into the house with a box full of kitchen supplies, turned around and regarded her seriously, "Why don't we hope that a poor sap of a neighbor comes by to offer their assistance," Riley smiled at that. Her Father was always joking.
It took two hours before a poor sap came by to help them. He looked like one of the Father types that likes to help anyone and everyone because he wanted to show his wife that, "Hey honey, look at me, I'm lifting a box full of heavy things!" and so on and so forth.
"The names Carl; Carl Tennyson, welcome to the neighborhood," Riley stood off to the side as her Father and Carl shook hands. "I'm Jamie, Jamie Kyles, nice to meet you. This is my daughter, Riley," He turned his head slightly to introduce her; the look on her face showed that she was slightly embarrassed.
"Hello," She tried not to let the red spread too far onto her too white face.
Carl raised his eyebrow and rubbed his chin before smiling.
"I have a son about your age. Maybe you'll even have a class with him;" Carl laughed, mirth showing on his aging face.
Riley's father smiled as well, "Ha, teenagers,"
Riley walked off, letting the two old men get to know each other a little more while she walked away, back into her new room; only empty boxes in it. The view was nice though she noted as she looked out towards the street. She turned from the view towards her room. It was white; the only colour was the brown boxes and the brown floor boards. She had always wanted wood floors too; easy to clean up.
Half an hour later her Father called her back down. Her pant legs slapped against the wooden floor and when she pounced onto ground level she noticed that there was another person in her house. Her hair was up in a mess clip that her Mother had gotten her for Christmas a few years back; for whatever reason it still had its sentimental value to her. Riley felt a little inferior because of all the men in the house; they all looked clean cut and proper while she had her hair in a ragged knot and had bags under her eyes. That was odd because she was the girl, weren't they supposed to be all proper and neat and clean and smell of roses or watermelon?
"Riley this is Carl's son, Ben." Her Father had a small smile on his face. Riley could see the lines on the sides of his mouth from too much smiling but found that she wasn't smiling herself. She kept a deer in the headlights look on her face. Ben Ten was in her house. Ben Ten was in her house and he looked like he was pissed beyond belief.
"Hi..." She tugged at her shirt sleeves and her Father gestured her over. Carl smiled at her and she noticed that he had his hand on his son's shoulder. She wondered why because Ben looked like he would rather be anywhere but where he was.
"Hey..." Ben replied back. She felt slightly irked by his manners, but decided to just ignore it to the best of her abilities. She was new, and by all means that probably that meant that she was the enemy. "Carl and Ben have decided to help us, isn't that nice of them?" She smiled and remembered the poor saps comment from her Dad and imagined Ben and Carl being suckered into helping them.
"Thank you, my Dad is sort of old, needs all the help he can get," She smiled and the two men laughed, Ben let the corner of his lips quirk up into a small grin. She was glad that she was able to get a few laughs at least.
Strange enough, Ben looked different up close then he did on TV. Here, he was more human, and when the blond looked down she noticed the ultimatrix. Of course it helped that he wasn't in 2D and wasn't pixilated from shitty YouTube clips.
"Don't count me out just yet; I got a few more good years in me." Her Father pattered her shoulder, mirroring Carl and Ben. She tugged the edge of her shirt again, biting the corner of her lips and looking towards the floor. She had totally zoned out for a second. Though, Ben still didn't seem too… friendly, Riley figured that: hero, kind of busy, probably doesn't want to be here, understandable.
"Ben, why don't you get a few boxes from the truck?" Carl asked his son, who nodded and left to go get a big brown box. She was starting to hate that colour.
It wasn't fair. All she wanted was for her new bed frame to be set up but her Dad was tired and wanted to sleep in his bed; his bed that had a frame while hers was lying on the floor. She didn't even know why she was so annoyed about it. She just really wanted to set up her room so she could at least get some kind of homey feeling from the house. It was starting to get dark and she didn't want to have to sleep on her mattress unless it had a frame under it. She knew that in the back of her mind it was because she kept thinking that it was easier for bugs to crawl up on her, but wouldn't tell her Dad that. Riley sighed and decided that the couch would be a lot more comfortable and less... enticing to the potential threat of spiders.
She brought her radio with her, thinking that it would make her go to sleep faster; which didn't work. She was awake for a few more hours until she was sick of just watching her wall. She grabbed her jacket from upstairs and her shows, shoving the carton of cigarettes in her pocket and the lighter in the other one. She felt the engraving in the metal and clenched her fist around the lighter after, stepping slowly out of the house and locking the door.
When Riley knew that she was far enough from her house she picked out a cigarette and inhaled deeply before coughing out a cloud of smoke. She watched it dissipate into the air and glared at the space before she took another drag.
She continued to do so for a few minutes before she heard the squeak of tires on the road. She lifted up her hood and put the cigarette down beside her, away from the road hoping that no one would notice her or the cloud of smoke coming from her side. She watched as a green car curved the corner of the road. She stared at it strangely; it was going way too fast for a neighborhood road. The car sped past her and she turned her head and looked into the car, trying to see past the shadowed windows. It was that Ben kid.
She span around as the car passed her, watching as it came to stop outside of one of the many cloned houses on the streets. Out came Ben as he waved off the person or persons who were in the car. The last time she checked it was almost five in the morning. Riley stared on in wonder as Ben slowly crept into his house and the car drove off at a slower speed. She knew it was Friday, or Saturday; maybe he had a really late curfew? Maybe she would ask him if she ever got the chance.
She looked down at the cigarette and frowned. She had wasted so much time wondering what was going on that the cigarette had almost burned away. She inhaled the rest and blew out another cloud of smoke while she walked home. She was unaware of the gazer that was looking upon her as she stomped out the tobacco stick and walked back into her house.
The next morning Riley had realized that she had only slept for four hours. It was stupid; she made sure to bang her head against the pillow she had brought down with her from her bed room. Riley was exhausted but didn't want to sleep anymore. Her Father was making something.
"Oh my frickin' god Dad, are you making pancakes?"
Turning around, seeing the pan in his hand, she found her answer, "Why yes I am! You want two, right?" Riley nodded, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. Letting out a long sigh Riley looked out the window and tried not to think about Ben and the time he had gotten home. What was worse is if he saw her. Would he tell his Father and Mother that she smoked? That would ruin her Father more then he needed to be! Riley bit her lip and swore a few times before shaking her head and telling herself to calm down.
Ben was a teenager, and if he did see her, then she would just have to black mail him back. Teenagers were stupid jerks, and could be caught very easily. Lifting herself from the couch, Riley slowly walked to the kitchen table in the corner of the room. Her Father put the pancakes on the island counter. She stared at the stack.
"Ahem? I'm waiting for some service here." Leaning back in her seat, she watched as her Father laughed and placed the plate full of pancakes just out of her reach. She smiled and got up to set two plates down for her and her Father.
"Thank you Dad," Riley smiled and hugged her Father.
"You're welcome dear. Sit down, and let's break in this table hey?" He sat down at the table and started cutting away at his pancakes with vigor. She followed his antics and shoveled the fluffy food into her mouth and down her throat before she even had a chance to chew it.
"Your stomach is going to hurt if you don't chew," She stared at her Father and shook her head, "Yeah, I know Dad... so I was wondering if I could... go out today? Look around town? Take the car and stuff?"
That was where she flinched, expecting her Father to say 'no' instantly and let it be. She would have let it be as well; she never fought for what she wanted. But she was surprised when her Father answered her. "Sure, you have your license now. I need to set up some stuff in the house still, but could you go to the grocery store?" She was already up from the table and grabbing her jacket, pulling on her shoes, and picking up the keys to the grey Honda.
"Love yeah, I'm gone, see you later today!" And the door was slammed as she ran down the drive way and unlocked the car. Riley started the black Honda and drove away. Of course her Father didn't bother to think that she had no idea where anything was or how to get around town, but she was thankful enough that his memory wasn't what it used to be.
She made sure to drive slowly when going past Carl's house. The house looked normal, it really did, like any other normal house, and Ben didn't seem to be home. The front room seemed to be empty from what she could see. The only human thing in the house was the Mother washing the dishes like the good little American wife. She huffed and rolled her eyes as she drove off. Mother fucker was probably doing some drugs, like any normal teenage boy.
She contemplated what Ben was doing. It was interesting. Maybe she could entertain herself by thinking about what kind of mischief Ben was getting himself into. The hair, she realized, totally said "bad boy," along with his green jacket. The thing that angered her though, -while his hair and jacket were nice and everything- his attire seemed to match his "I'm too cool for school" and his regular sonsofbitches attitude. Whatever one, because Riley really didn't like Ben, she didn't know why, but there was something about it.
Instead she decided to drive around town. Her Father had texted her a grocery list, and although she had taught herself to never check her phone while driving, she felt guilty for just running out on him like she did. So she picked up her phone and read the small list.
That was almost how she hit Ben.
She hit the brakes. Hard. And stared at him; he stared back before he took off again. He looked to be going back home, and not only was he in a hurry, but he seemed to be stressed, maybe even worried -Probably missing some kind of curfew-. The young teen girl smiled to herself before driving off again. She was lucky that there were no cars behind her and that it was a small neighborhood road.
But what was weird was that she had only seen him a few hours prior. Had he really gotten out of the house and started his day? Wasn't he exhausted? And why didn't he have bags under his eyes, while hers were outlined in a light purple! Huffing out and clenching the steering wheel Riley drove to the closest supermarket store.
When she got there she expected to see no people. It was a Saturday morning and by all means, from where she lived, she had never experienced early morning shopping Madness in a grocery store. She was ultimately wrong in that account. It seemed that everyone was there. The entirety of Bellwood's women was there, shopping for their demanding families. She sort of felt sorry, but would have felt sorrier if her Father ended up going.
Humming was a nice way to distract her, but the downside of humming was eventually she started mouthing the words, and then it would eventually evolve into her right out singing the lyrics to whatever song was popular on the radio and down and funky with the teenagers.
The cart she had started to fill; fruits, vegetables, a frozen box of chicken, a loaf of bread, and some eggs. She checked her text message and found that she had no idea what evoo was. She looked at the isle she was in and figured that it couldn't be toilet paper and deodorant.
She pushed the cart, looking up and down. She knew that it was a bad idea to be walking around and not looking at where she was going. And just when she was about to look where she was going she hit some one's cart. She started apologizing, saying a few sorry's before she realized who was in front of her.
Ben stood in front of her, the same shocked expression mirroring her own, and he was standing beside what he assumed was his Mother, seeming panicked and fidgety. The lines around her mouth and on her forehead showed Ben's mothers age, but she still looked fairly good. She almost growled because of that.
"Aren't you the new girl that moved in across the street?" Realization lit up in her face, "You just moved in with your Father! Oh gosh I just adore his books!" The woman smiled, the lines on her mouth stretching, but still looked fabulous.
Ben had his arms shoved into his pockets while looking around the aisle with a frightened expression. Riley looked from him to his Mother again and smiled, "Yeah I am," She gave a complimentary smile, "Just trying to fill up the new fridge, y'know, and all that stuff,"
The conversation was awkward and they talked for a few more minutes. Ben gazed on like Riley was the plague and she tried her hardest to ignore him. Around them a few strangers glanced down the aisle, trying not to be noticed. She raised her brow at them. Was something interesting going on down the aisle she was in that she wasn't aware of? Oh wait, right, Ben Tennyson, the hero.
As soon as their transaction was finished Ben apologized to his Mother and bolted, her scoffs of disappointment evident. Riley walked away as quickly as she could from awkward scene.
When she got home it was starting to rain. She quickly dropped off the groceries in the kitchen and went back out, her hands playing with the keys. The rain was harder then and she thought that maybe it wouldn't be a good idea to go driving in the rain but she wanted to go somewhere, do something instead of setting up her new house. Her Father could get along without her for a while, why not explore?
Riley had a hell of a time finding where the school would be, and the closest mall really wasn't all that close. She frowned and sighed and did a little 180 for whatever else was in the vicinity. This was nothing. There was a whole lot of nothing in Bellwood.
The rain was still coming down hard and it was really starting to irritate her. The roads were unsafe and she didn't want to go back to her house. She looked left and right for somewhere to stop. She passed a small park and viewed a small pavilion before she realized that it would be as good a place as any to stop. Plus she was craving a cigarette.
She quickly turned into a parking lot of the communal park. She fished through her purse and found her pack of cigarettes and her engraved lighter. She looked out the car window and watched as little droplets of water rolled up and merged with other water droplets, making one large one. The water droplet riveted down and Riley frowned. She really didn't want to go through the rain but she really didn't want to smoke in the car either. The smell would linger and her Father would find out about her little habit.
She bit her lip and opened up the door and booked it towards the gazebo. Riley tapped one of the buttons on the remote for the car and the lights flashed on and off, signifying that the Honda was locked and secure.
Riley had made it to the gazebo with more water on her then she had hoped, but was happy that she was able to wait out the rain. She pulled out the carton of cigarettes and the lighter and flipped it on quickly, the cigarette in her mouth and the light so close to her face that she could feel slight warmth coming from the puny source of fire.
Inhaling deeply Riley took a chance to look around. The park was pretty small, and the pond that was off to the side was nice to look at, once she noticed it was there. When the hell was there a pond there anyway? She finished off her cigarette in record time.
As the rain finally started to settle down Riley realized that she had left her phone in the car. Oh well, she thought as she was taking out another cigarette, the stick becoming enclosed around her lips. She would call back anyone that had called and-
"Don't let it out of your sites!"
Out of the bushes came a large orange creature, hunched like a dog and running, no eyes on its face but its growl distracting her from the lack of orifices where the eyes would have been. The creature resembled a dog and it stopped in front of her for a second before she realized that she was probably staring death in the face. The lighter in her hand was struck, the flame close to the edge of the cigarette.
"Why'd it stop?" Following the creature out of the bushes was Ben, again, along with two other people; one tall boy, probably her age, and a skinny little red head in a red shirt and black skirt. She frowned when she realized that she was more concerned that a red head was wearing red, instead of the deadly creature in front of her.
The creature looked towards the three teens, and then lunged at Riley. In fear she dived over the edge of the gazebo, falling into the wet grass, muddying her entire body. The creature followed, landing on top of her and its mouth almost an inch from her face. It growled at her then sniffed.
Her eyes started to fill with tears. Oh god she didn't want to die, she really didn't want to die from a random alien attack.
"Get off!—" here a loud sound reverberated throughout the park and a pink bolt flew over her and the beast, the creature ducking before the bolt could hit it.
The resulting growl caused Riley to shiver in fear, and as she did so the beast lifted her into its mouth. No teeth crushed her, no fangs shredded her, and it just picked her up and started to run.
The three started to run after her, or it. They were probably more concerned about the creature then her. They were chasing it beforehand; she was just a stupid thing they had to make sure to avoid when attacking.
Screaming seemed to be a valid point at the time of her arrival in a large barn.
However the beast snarled at her and she figured it translated to "be quiet." So she stayed quiet as the creature circled a pile of hay to lie down to sleep. Riley took her time going over the morning. There was the grocery store, the drop off of the groceries, the cigarette break, then the beast attack which ended up with her in a ransacked barn, being captured by said beast.
Three hours, three god damn hours of her first day in Bellwood and she was already a prisoner of war. God she knew the town was going to be the death of her. She wiped at her cheeks, smearing the dirt while trying to dry her face from the rain and her tears. Crying was all she really wanted to do, but she was far too scared to make any noise.
The beast looked up from its nap, whimpering and moving over to her, and started to push her with its eyeless head. She fell down and her hand landed on something rough feeling.
There was slight whimpering and Riley found herself flinching back, her hand clutched to her chest.
"Holy shit," in the hay was smaller creatures, four of various sizes and colours. If she wasn't so scared she probably would have let her inner dog lover come out and "d'aw" all over the canine-looking aliens.
As it was, she was already starting to feel; what was it, slightly faint. Like the world was growing darker and she was going to faint at any second. Too much for one day, she thought.
The… puppies or whatever they were got up and starting to nudge at her, two at both hands, and the others struggling to get in her lap.
She was going to be eaten; she was going to be eaten. They were going to rip off her body parts and then the big one was going to eat her torso and her head was going to be the snack for all five.
It wasn't until one of them licked her hand that she jumped, causing one of them to make a sound like growling, but without the anger and blood lust behind it. Kind of like… a giggly growl, like it was a game.
Then one of them gave a small bark and licked her hand again, and she gave a shaky smile. Maybe they were kind of cute; a maybe-cute, slightly cute but still very scary.
"Good… alien… dog things. Don't eat me, don't…" The parent stalked toward her and circled her before lying down in the hay behind Riley.
Truth be told, the only thing that kept popping up in her mind was the image of the alien taking a huge bite out of her side while her guard was down. It nuzzled her. The image still didn't disappear, but it did lesson. Then the puppies nuzzled her.
Biting the inside of her mouth, Riley tried her best to try not to communicate with the aliens. Who knew if they could even understand human dialogue? And why did they even like her to begin with? She loved dogs, but did that even work for alien dog-life creatures? Her nose started to itch, but she was too scared to move. She would rather suffer an itchy nose then let a small movement mean death.
So she sat ramrod straight, trying to see her surroundings, not daring to move.
It was possibly 45 minutes later when Riley heard something outside. A very light something that sounded like feather light footsteps. Oh god, if there were more aliens, Riley was going to break down into a sobbing, blubbering mess.
Or, it was more likely help. If it was her rescue party she was going to worship the ground they walked on.
Outside, her would be liberators seemed to be having a bit of a tiff, and every second it was going on, the louder it got. The mother started to stir,
Her eyes darted from the mother alien to back outside, wishing she could carry her thoughts outside, to vocalize them, and tell them all to shut up, hurry up, and save her. As if to anger her more, the shouting only increased, and the young girl feared for her life, and the people outside. This thing was dangerous, and just because it didn't seem to kill her, it didn't mean that it couldn't do it to others.
Another low snarl and Riley turned, staring in absolute fear at the orange dog alien. And then, what Riley assumed where her "would be" eyes were, awakened with a growl and stalked to the door. The mother stood there, bending down. It sniffed the air and leaned down, resembling more of a lion then a dog at that moment. Before she could really view the scene any more, to paint the picture in her mind, momma-alien burst through, splintering the wooden door.
The puppies seemed to stay with Riley, instead. They were licking and slightly gnawing on each other playfully. It was so not the time, she thought. A raging battle was going on outside, and every once and a while there would be a flash of pink light that would fly from some direction.
A large scream resounded from outside, and when Riley heard it she jumped up, the four puppy aliens nudging at her feet. She ushered them to stay there in the hay pile, thinking that she was way out of her boundaries to be giving alien puppies orders like some Alien Dog Whisperer, but the last thing Riley wanted was for them to get hurt.
The battle outside was seeming more daunting; some more screams, and then a loud roar from the mother. The thought suddenly occurred to her that they probably didn't know that the alien they were fighting were protecting her young.
Mommy dog-alien jumped back into the barn, but not before a large, golem looking man threw a huge-ass log into the unstable building. The mommy dog-alien jumped out of the way, while Riley had the unpleasant job of taking the entire log head on. It hurt like a bitch.
And thusly, she passed out.