Chap 8 - Are You Back With Us? Chapter 8: Are you back with us?

The rays of early dawn came through the window that needed a little cleaning. Two young men came in, tiptoeing quietly as to not awaken the slumbering pair. But one of them was conscious, and she opened her dark eyes a crack to see who had come in. *hmmm.. Cye and Rowen… I don't really want to talk to them right know. Please… Go away.*
"Shhhh! You'll wake them up." Cye whispered to Rowen. Rowen's next step made the floorboards creak.
*Ugh! Go away!* "Can't you guys see us sick people trying to get some rest!" She sat straight up on her bed. This resulted in a small whine from the bed next to her.
"Stop it! No! I don't want to hurt them!"
The expression on Rowen's face was a cross between fear and confusion. "What's wrong Josie?"
"Can't you see she's talkin in her sleep? Sometimes Rowen! And I thought you were smart!" Annie barked. Cye and Rowen backed away.
"Sheesh Annie! What's wrong with you?" Troubled blue-green eyes looked over at the girl in front of him, the one he met just weeks before, and thought he knew so well.
"Sorry. It's just that… I kinda have a headache, and I don't know." She tried to hide what she was feeling, to wear the mask she always does, ever since she was a little girl. Her head really did hurt, but there was more to it than that.
"I think you should rest now… Go back to bed." Cye tucked her in (awww. How sweet!) and grabbed Rowen's arm to lead him out of the door.
He stood his ground and instead dragged Cye to a nearby couch. "Let's just sit in down in here. You never know when they're gonna wake up again and if they need something." Annie was already in a fitful sleep. "I have a feeling that Annie's not telling us everything." Cye looked dubious, as if about to say something, then changed his mind. "Okay Cye, tell me what's on your mind."
"Well…"
"Divulge your little secret." He stared at Cye with his blue blue eyes and dared him to not to speak. "Don't worry, I won't tell. Besides, you can trust me." He said, making sure to accent on trust.
"Oh, okay I guess. You see…"
Josie woke up in the middle of their conversation. *What are they talking about?* Then she heard her friend's name, and knew right away whom it was about. *Sooooo… Annie liked this guy? She never told me! I guess I'll have to talk to her about this, after they leave…* She went back to sleep, with nothing else to do.
"What!?! He told you what?!?"
"He didn't exactly tell me… I kinda just, um, overheard." She watched her friend, sitting cross-legged on her bed, her breakfast untouched. *Geez! You have to eat!*
Annie started to pick at her food. "Well, maybe it wasn't his fault. Maybe Rowen pried it from him?"
"I don't know! I heard what I heard!" Her breakfast tray was still full too. *Why is she making such a big deal out of this? I think she's getting worse… everyday she gets more and more depressed, then she lashes out at people.*
"Yeah, whatever." She replied in an indifferent voice. "I find out about it, sooner or later." She suddenly snapped her head towards the door.
"Knock, knock." Kento came in with a huge smile on his face. "the other peeps kicked me out of the kitchen, and Cye found out about me keeping snacks in the room…"
"Let me guess… he locked you out, and now you come running to us for food." Josie placed her hands on her hips.
"Uh, no, not really… well, maybe… they said they were going to keep me from eating for more than two hours… Don't they know there's a law somewhere out there about cruel and unusual punishments… this is worse than school, not that I like school….." he drifted off. Annie felt bad for the guy, and being kind hearted as she was, gave him her breakfast. "Thanks." He said between mouthfuls "You gonna eat that, Josie?"
*Eeeewwww. Doesn't he have any manners, just stuffing himself like that! I don't think I 'want' to eat now.* "You can have it." The dark auburn haired teen gulped.
"Gee, thanks a bunch!" the happy Kento walked off, both hands holding empty trays.
"So much for them trying!" Annie sighed.
"You just had to give it to him, don't you?"
"So? What's it to ya? Huh?"
*Not another mood swing! Like she has PMS every other day!* "Nothing." Josie flatly replied.
"Sorry." She hung her head, "Better go downstairs, I have a feeling, actually a little more than a feeling that they want to talk. Besides, we're fine now." Her eyes flashed and a glimmer of life came through the clouded eyes, and reminded Josie of how her friend was, not too long ago. And somehow, she sensed something else… Something different about her, but it disappeared as quickly as it came. "…Last one down is an ashlock…" (German word, though I'm not sure how to spell it, ^.^ can't tell what it means… *Bad Misty! Bad!*)
It was already lunchtime, and after their talk, the group decided to go to the mall. "Hey! I need a little break from life just about now." Sage uttered, and they decided to go.
As they passed the round ledge that Rowen and Josie first met, they saw a familiar figure. "Megan?" a larger female came over to her friend.
"Who are you?"
"Don't you remember? It's me, Josie! From math." The smaller of the two brought her eyebrows together, scrutinizing the situation.
"I think I remember you from class, but I don't think we ever met."
"Oh." She looked somewhat downcast, then brightened up. "Maybe, you want to hang around the mall with me and my friends? That's if you're not already going with anyone."
Megan seemed to consider this. "Uh, sure! I was supposed to come with my friend Liana, but she's sick and I had to go myself." They stroke up a conversation, while heading back to the group. It looked like a small scuffle had started among Cye and Annie, the supposedly two most peaceful people in the group.
"I think this is as close to being normal as it gets." Sage spoke to Rowen and Ryo. He leaned against a tree, planted in the sidewalk as decoration.
Kento tried to make sense of the fight. "Yo! Stop it!" he grabbed both of them.
"Yeah, think so too. At least the Nether World is at bay." The other teen said, blowing a lock of his blue hair away from his nose.
Ryo stopped his train of thought, "For the time being…" he said quietly before going over to Kento and the squabbling pair to help out.
"Oiy! Not again!" Josie laughed, and Megan, not knowing about the situation, joined in too.
Hidden by the endless crowd, a figure watched them solemnly. *Ha ha ha! Foolish humans! My time to serve the empire will come. And very soon, I think!*

~TBC

*Hehe…. That next chapter or so is written by a friend, revised and edited by my best friend Josie (whose anime name (eg. Misty) we are still in the process of making up) and rewritten by me… it's sooooo messed up! It's funny. I think it's came out pretty good, considering that what we got was a bunch of torn paper with a ridiculous picture of, uh (turns it over, side ways, upside down…) um, I, a person? Maybe? I don't know! Ask Catherine…. Hold on.. I have to wait till Josie emails it to me… So long and sayonara!
~Misty