Sequel to Alien's Angel.
Disclaimer: I do not own Signs. Oria belongs to Colleen. Lisa and Lore are both our creations.
-
"What are you not telling me?"
Rebecca never got the answer to that question. As the next few weeks went by, Aasim became more distant and spent a lot of his time in the backyard or on the roof, avoiding any human, even Rebecca. The sudden withdrawal of her friend left her depressed, and her human friends were having trouble getting to her. Her grades slowly declined and her activity lessened. So it made sense to say that everyone was surprised when she came out of her room, dressed in her black blouse and skirt, hair curled slightly, with just a touch of make up on, ready for the school dance.
"You're really going?" Mrs. Burke asked in amazement.
Rebecca nodded. "I just got off the phone with Oria. They're going to pick me up on their way. It should be about thirty minutes."
Mrs. Burke slowly got up off the couch, taking a minute from her movie to look Rebecca over. "You look nice, dear," she said with a smile. "And you remember what I told you about these dances, right?"
"Yes, Mother," Rebecca said with a sigh, repeating everything, "Don't kiss the boy, don't have sex with the boy, if the punch is spiked, don't drink it, don't ride home with anyone, especially if they're drunk, yada yada. I think I've got it."
"Good girl." Mrs. Burke patted her daughter's cheek. "You're all set to go, then."
Rebecca smiled and nodded, slipping on her black church shoes, which she despised. She carefully made her way across the living room and to the kitchen, going out the garage door and to the backyard, looking for Aasim. She spotted him sitting with his back to her on one of the lower tree branches.
"I wish you would tell me what's wrong," she said.
"It's nothing you need to worry about," came the cold reply.
Rebecca scowled and turned, heading back towards the garage as she heard the Kendrick's suburban drive up in their driveway. "I worry anyways," she muttered, finally kicking off her shoes and just carrying them as she ran through the garage. She climbed into the back of the suburban, wiping off her feet after buckling up.
"We're picking up Lore, Lisa, and her date," Oria announced from the front, dressed in her own white blouse and red skirt. Her hair was pulled up into a bun and she wore a little make up, like Rebecca.
Rebecca nodded, putting on her shoes again. "Alright." She leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes, remaining silent the rest of the ride as they went by Lisa and Lore's house to pick up their lot. Lisa was dressed in her purple dress, Lore wore a navy dress shirt and black slacks, and Lisa's date, a brunette, was wearing a grey dress shirt and black slacks.
Once at the school, they filed out of the car and rushed into the gym, where the dance was being held. They all winced slightly at the blasting music, but put up with that, as Oria dragged Lore away immediately to dance and Lisa and her date, Andrew, went to find some of his friends.
Rebecca placed herself away from the crowd, finding an empty table to sit at as she looked around the gym. It was nicely decorated, with banners, streamers, and the lights dimmed slightly, and a live band playing at the front. There's just… too many people, she thought, resting her head in her hands.
She jumped a little when a hand fell on her shoulder and looked up to see Jeremy, who was holding out a cup of punch to her. "Here, you looked a bit uptight, so I got you something to drink," he said over the music.
She looked him over, concluding that he looked nice, and smiled faintly before accepting the drink, which tasted a little bitter to her.
Jeremy sat down across from her, sipping his drink. "You're not a party person, huh?"
Rebecca had to strain to hear him, but nodded. "Am I that obvious?"
"Kind of," Jeremy said with a grin. "Don't worry, you'll get used to it. I already have." He held out his hand to her after setting his drink down and standing up. "Here, want to dance with me? It'll take your mind off things."
"Sure," she said, somewhat reluctantly, and took his hand, standing up as well.
Jeremy led her to the 'dance floor' and placed his hands around her waist as a slow song started up.
Needless to say, there were only one person's arms she really wanted to be in, and it wasn't Jeremy's.
-
Oria, Lore, Lisa, Andrew, and Rebecca met up several hours later and got a booth they could all sit at. Everyone seemed happy and bubbly, but Rebecca's head was pounding against the inside of her skull. She was tired and irritable, ready to bash her head – or maybe someone else's – against the table.
"I bet Jeremy would take you home if you asked him to," Andrew said, motioning over at Jeremy, who was laughing with his 'posse.' "He's driving now, you know."
Rebecca looked at Jeremy and swallowed. He had put his hands on her body in places she never wanted to be touched. But out of the people she knew, he was the only one that had a car. "He looks like he's having a good time, though," she said with a sigh. "I don't want to ruin his mood."
"You won't ruin anything," Andrew said. "Go ahead and ask him, we know you don't really want to be here."
Rebecca sighed again and shrugged, getting up and going over to Jeremy and his friends.
Oria watched as Rebecca discussed something with Jeremy, who slowly nodded and grabbed her hand, taking her out the door. She sighed and shook her head, not realizing the disaster that was about to occur.
-
Jeremy drove a huge truck that Rebecca needed help getting in. She gave him the directions to her house and sat back, pressing her cheek against the cool window and looking out at the waning moon in the dark sky. She must've dozed off, however, because next moment she opened her eyes, she realized they were nowhere near her house. Sitting up, she blinked and looked around her. In fact, she hadn't a clue where she was.
"H-hey, uh… where are we?" she asked, but didn't get a reply. Jeremy seemed focused solely on the road. That's when she panicked. "Where are you taking me?!" she yelled, punching his arm lightly to get his attention.
That's when the yelling started.
The next few seconds went by like a blur. Rebecca reached for the steering wheel and jerked it off course, while yelling at Jeremy, who was beginning to say odd… weird things to her. As they fought over the steering wheel, they didn't see that they were heading off the road and into a tree on the roadside until it was too late.
BAM!
… Everything went black.
And no one was around to see what happened.
-
Back at the Burke residence, Aasim suddenly doubled over in pain, nearly falling head first off the branch. He clutched his left shoulder and hissed, surprised to see that it wasn't bleeding or injured at all. But like hell did it feel like it!
Then it occurred to him.
If it wasn't him who was injured, it must have been someone he was closely connected to.
And the only person that could even come relatively close to that was Rebecca.
(To Be Continued…)