Concern
Azele
I woke up to my alarm clock blaring. Argh, I thought, I forgot the turn that off. Figuring that I might as well get up, I slipped out of bed and went downstairs and outside to get the paper. When I got back I looked at the front page and my heart crawled into my throat. There was a picture of a burnt down house and the caption said
The house of Marcie and Sterling Theriault was found burnt down to the ground. Only one confirmed body and it appears to be the body of the mother. The car is missing, and the windows are shattered, but still no sign of the missing Sterling Theriault. Please contact us at (607) 444-4444 if you find any trace of Sterling Theriault.
I knew what I needed to do. I needed to find Sterling before it was too late, and I knew exactly who would know where he was.
I asked my parents to drive me to Sterling's Uncle Sebastian's house just outside of Ithaca, in Lansing. He was the only person I could think of that would have any clues of Sterling's whereabouts, besides Sterling himself, of course. When I got there I noticed something peculiar. There was a silver minivan outside in the driveway and I knew it wasn't Sebastian's. I walked inside and saw Sebastian reading peacefully on his lounge chair.
"Sebastian?" I asked. He looked up and smiled when he saw me.
"Hello, Azele." He said. "I assume you are here for clues about Sterling." I nodded and he pointed in the direction of what I assumed was the guest room. I raced in and saw Sterling laying there, his eyes closed. He looks horrible! I thought. His face was pale and he had cuts all over his arms and face. His body looked red and raw, and his left leg was kind of bent at a funny angle. He still looked cute in my eyes, but I didn't know if he would recover from whatever happened.
"Silver?" I asked quietly, unable to comprehend that this was my friend. The friend that I had so many adventures with and was always so upbeat. His eyes opened weakly and he looked up at me.
"Azele?" He said, his voice rasping. I cried out and ran over to hug him, but pulled away once he winced in pain.
"What happened?" I asked, almost afraid to find out. His eyes sparkled with tears and he struggled to tell me.
"Big while wolf man, Dhârk monster. Killed mom and burned the house, then ran away, taking Kris from bowling alley."
"What!?" I cried and it took me a few seconds to digest what he had said. "Kris is gone?"
"Not gone." He said firmly. "Taken. And we're going to take him back."
"But...what are the Dhârk things you were talking about earlier?" I asked.
"Apparently, they are aliens and I am part of this species that no one knows what it's called, so it's just called the Lost Species. My uncle and I are the only members of the Lost Species left and the Dhârkalen are trying to kill us." I gasped, my eyes widening. All this time my best friend, the one I have known since birth, was from a different species than humans, the Lost Species. He laid back, as if expecting me to run away from him, tell the government, and never be his friend again. Instead, I went up to him and hugged him loosely, not wanting to hurt him.
"Don't worry Sterling, I will always be there for you." He looked up at me gratefully just as a crash resonated around the house. We jumped up and ran outside to see a man with markings all over himself that gave me chills up my spine. Sebastian was standing there in a fighting stance, ready to fight the threat. He lunged and the man threw him into the woods with a swipe of his hand.
"No!" I yelled and lunged at the man. He turned to look at me, but just as he did, I brought my hand down on his throat. He flew backwards and I started to run towards where I saw Sebastian go.
"Azele!" Sterling yelled and I turned around, just as the man materialized behind me. He grabbed me by my neck and started running and choking me at the same time. The man ran fast and I knew that there was no way Sterling would be able to catch up with us. As Sterling faded into the distance, I saw a look of determination come into his eyes and I thought, oh no.