IN MY DREAMS
Title: Playing House
Author: Shannon
E-mail: slaygirl2000@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: Roswell and the characters are owned by Jason Katims, Melinda Metz, some other people I can't think of, and whichever network has the rights now. In other words, a whole bunch of people who aren't me.
Rating: Hmm, PG-13, maybe R I guess
Category: M&M mostly, but everyone's in it
Summary: This is the first episode in my series on how Season 3 should go. I will write an entire season of episodes (21). This is like the season premiere, starting with the end of summer. This is also a response to Jade's Season 3 challenge.
Spoilers: Everything that's happened so far in the series, nothing that I write is based on anything I've heard for S3.
Distribution: If you want it take it, but let me know please.
Feedback: YES!!! I'm not going to publish the next episode until I get some, but please be gentle, this is my first fic.
Author's Note: Like I said, this is the first episode of what I think season 3 should be like. Because these are supposed episodes, I'm going to put an air date on the beginning of each one. The air dates will work like they would if these were actually on TV, and you should look at timelines the same way (i.e. even though the season premiere airs in October, it's still set in September). It's my way of making time gaps make more sense. If you find them too confusing, let me know. Character thoughts are in italics. Thanks to Jade for the challenge! Hope you like it.
Air Date: October 9, 2001 (see author's note)
She was perfect.
Lying there in his bed in the not-so-early morning hours with a gentle smile curved on her lips she looked like an angel. The sunlight spilled in through the windows, illuminating her face and making her blonde hair shimmer a beautiful shade of gold. Her ivory skin seemed to almost glow, and he couldn't resist running his fingers lightly along the length of her arm. She stirred under his delicate touch, and her eyes fluttered open to look into his.
"Hey," Maria whispered softly.
"Hey," Michael replied, smiling down at her. He pulled her a bit closer, never breaking eye contact, and continued moving his hand along her arm. They stayed like that, in a peaceful silence, until the loud buzzing of his alarm clock broke through. "Damnit," he muttered, shutting off the clock.
"Senoir orientation day," Maria said as it occurred to her why they had turned that on in the first place.
"What's that about anyways? We've been in the school for three years, what the heck do we need to be oriented on?" Michael grumbled angrily, unhappy at his last full day with Maria being disturbed over something so trivial as school.
Maria smirked at him. "I take this to mean you're not planning on going?"
Michael raised his eyebrows at her. "Depends. Are you?" he asked, as he began to trail light kisses down her neck. Maria sighed and rolled onto her back, pulling him on top of her. "I could be persuaded into staying," she said. "Really?" he said. Before she had a chance to respond, he covered her mouth with an intense kiss that he knew would remove any doubts she had about spending the day with him. She moaned into his mouth, and began to move underneath him. Michael felt his body instantly respond. Oh God yeah, he thought, I'm not leaving this bed all day. Whatever it takes, whatever she wants. I'll kiss her, I'll touch her, I'll...
BANG! BANG! BANG!
...kill the bastard at the door. Maria broke the kiss to see if he was going to answer it. "Ignore it," he told her, and resumed what he was doing, his hand trailing lower on her body. The knocking grew louder and more insistant. Finally Michael rolled off Maria with a growl of frustration coming from both of them. He pulled on a pair of sweat pants, and went to get the door, fully prepared to kick whoever's unfortunate ass was on the other side. Much to his unsurprise, Max and Liz were standing on the other side.
"Michael, come on, get dressed, were going to be late for the principal's address," Max said.
"Yeah? Well, my loss I guess. See you guys later." Michael moved to close the door in Max's face, but Max stopped him.
"Michael this could be important," Liz said. Mmm-hmm, Michael thought, let me think - principal's speech or naked girlfriend in my bedroom. I wonder. Just as Michael was desperately trying to think of a way to make Max and Liz leave, he felt a small hand on his back. He turned his head to the side to see Maria sidle up next to him. She slipped under his arm which he wrapped around her, and placed her other hand on the door. She was wearing nothing but a black top of his, with only a few choice buttons done up. Max and Liz quickly figured out what they had interrupted, and a mixture of surprise and embarrassment registered on their faces.
"Lizzy," Maria began, "Michael and I are sick, and you know the best thing for that is a day in bed, so tell us what we missed. Bye now." With that she shut the door, and this time Max and Liz were to stunned to stop it. They stood there staring for a minute, then left as quickly as possible when the screaming-giggling started inside.
In a dark alley in the bad part of town, a young girl was walking home. Suddenly something reached out and grabbed her. There was a searing pain in her head, and then everything went black.
Max and Liz returned home early from the orientation. Evidently not many students were willing to go to the school even a second before they had, and only a handful had shown up for the new principal's motivational speech. They walked into the Evans' house to hear someone sobbing. Max walked upstairs to see Isabel standing in front of her closet, bawling her eyes out.
"Izzy, what happened?" Max asked, immediately worried that it had something to do with their parents, or something alien related.
"I ... lost... my... bear!" Isabel wailed into Max's shoulder.
"What?" he asked, not sure he had heard her right. This was Isabel after all, and crying over a stuffed animal was definitely not her style.
"Mom shrunk my favourite sweater, and I couldn't get the kind of flowers I wanted to bring to Alex's grave, and the University messed up one of my courses, and I'm out of my favourite lipstick, and now I can't even find my favourite bear!!!" she sobbed.
"Okay, okay, Is, just calm down. Alright? I'll help you find it, and you can fix your sweater, and everything will be okay just relax. Please?" Max pleaded with her, completely unused to seeing his sister like this. Isabel nodded, and sat down on her bed. Max began to rummage through her closet, and a few minutes later came up with the elusive bear. "Here!" he announced triumphantly, only to have his face fall when he saw the far off look in his sister's eyes. Her sobs had subsided, but she still had tears running down her face. "Isabel?" he asked softly.
"I was packing," she said quietly, "and I kept finding stuff. Little things he gave me, pictures of him, tickets from movies we saw. I miss him, Max. I miss Alex so much." Max sighed and sat down next to his sister, putting her head on his shoulder.
"I know Is. I wish I could make it better. But I can't. Maybe you'll feel better when you move into the dorms, and get away from here for a while. But it's still gonna take time." Isabel nodded defeatedly, and moved to finish packing her things. Her parents were supposed to take her up to the University of New Mexico dorms so she could get settled in her room (single, thank god) in a few hours, and she was nowhere near done. She cleared her throat, obviously not willing to dwell on the topic, and asked Max, "So how was orientation?"
He snorted. "I think maybe 30 people showed. Even Liz practically fell asleep during the speech." Isabel laughed at that. "Michael and Maria must have been out cold then." Max coughed and shuffled his feet uncomfortably. "They didn't go." "Well there's a surprise," she said sarcastically. "Why not?" Isabel asked looking up. The look on his face gave told her everything. She groaned. "Do they ever stop? I don't think she's left his apartment since the summer began." "They're happy," was all Max could say.
"Spaceboy I will kick your ass!"
"In your dreams, Blondie!"
"You did not just call me that!"
"Wanna bet?"
"Noooooooo!"
"Yeeee-es! Go, go, go baby, go! WHOOOOOOOOOO-hooo! HA! In your face DeLuca!" Michael jumped up and started dancing around the room, laughing and chanting "I Won!" over and over and over again. Maria threw down her controller angrily. "Stupid video game," she grumbled, then said louder, "Well of course you'd win, we're playing Alien Invader. It's your field of expertise." She crossed her arms, stuck her tongue out at him, and sulked further into the couch. Michael stopped his happy dance and looked over at his pouting girlfriend. "Ahhhh," he began in a voice you might use when talking to a baby, "is the wittle girw upset? Hmm? Did the big bad man make her angwy?" Maria continued to glare at him as he sat down next to her, and he continued in the same voice. "Does she want me to make it better? Hmm? Ga? Goo?" Maria could feel herself starting to crack under the sheer ridiculousness of Michael talking to her like this, but she refused to let him win, so she held back her laughter. When Michael could see that his string of non-sensical syllables was starting to wear her down, he decided to speed up the process. "No? Okay, well you asked for it," he said, shrugged his shoulders, and began tickling her for all he was worth. Maria shrieked and laugh and tried desperately to pull away from him. When that failed, she tried tickling him back. Pretty soon neither of them could breathe, and they fell on the floor in heap. "I love you," Michael said breathlessly. "I love you too," Maria replied. "You up for another round of Alien Invaders?" Michael asked her. She grinned wickedly at him, and he caught on to what she was thinking. He had to laugh at her dirty mind. "I've got a better idea," she said and got up off the floor. He heard her rummaging in the kitchen and she came back a minute later. He looked at her inquisitively. With the same evil grin on her face she held up the chocolate syrup and whipped cream.
"Alien sundaes."
At the hospital across town, the doctors tended to a young man with dark brown hair.
"Same as the others?" the doctor asked the nurse on duty.
"Yes, sir. Severe wounds on the arms and to the face. No harm otherwise, and no memory of what happened."
"That's the fifth one this week. Any idea what's doing this?"
"No, Sir."
Isabel sighed as she took one last look around her nearly empty room. She couldn't believe she was moving out already. Although, in some ways she couldn't believe she hadn't already moved out. I would've, if Tess had gotten her way. Of course, I'd be dead by now too, she thought bitterly. Sighing once more in resignation, Isabel closed her door and descended the stairs.
"I'm ready," she called to her parents. Her father picked up her last bag and carried it out to the car. Her mother scurried up to Isabel.
"Do you have everything?" she asked. "Clothes? Toothpaste? Clean underwear? Sunblock?"
"Sunblock?" Isabel replied incredulously.
"Well, you know, at University you spend a lot of time in the quad and it's always so hot, and I'll go get you some just to be sure..." her mother said as she ran off to the bathroom. Isabel was about to protest, when her mother returned with the precious sunblock. "Here," she said, handing it to her. "I can't believe my baby's all grown up and going off to college. It seems like just yesterday..." she trailed off as Isabel threw her arms around her. "I'm going to miss you mom, but I'll be home all the time, you won't even know that I'm gone." Isabel's mother smiled through her tears. "Come on sweetie, you don't want to keep your father waiting." With that, mother and daughter walked out of the house arm in arm.
On the front steps of a simple house in a decent neighbourhood, a teenage girl stood making out with her boyfriend. Neither noticed the rustle in the bushes.
"I'll see you tomorrow," he whispered. Those were the last words he ever spoke. He was dead before he hit the ground, and his girlfriend didn't have time to scream from the pain before darkness took over.
Maria giggled as Michael licked the remainder of the chocolate syrup off her stomach, and then kissed her gently on the lips. She sighed happily and snuggled into his arms.
"See," she said, "now wasn't that game more fun?" He laughed. "Definitely. In fact, I think we should play more often." He looked down at her with a look in his eyes that told her he wanted to play now. Maria smiled regretfully at him.
"Sorry Spaceboy, but we've got that night-before-school-starts gathering at the Crashdown in half an hour and I'd kind of like to see my friends. I'm beginning to forget what they look like. I'll make it up to you later."
Michael's eyes brightened at that last remarked, but he tried to act like he was doing her a favour. "Fine, but you owe me," he said scowling, though she could tell his heart wasn't really in it. That was one of the best things about their relationship. Since that night when he had let her see him, she had been able to read him like a book. She smiled happily at him and hopped out of bed heading for the shower.
"I know, I know," she replied. Then, no longer able to resist the temptation she asked, "Care to join me?" Michael raised his eyebrows but didn't hesitate for a second before her to the bathroom.
"Sheriff?"
"What is it Hanson?" Jim Valenti asked without looking up from his desk.
"Sir, we've got another report of those attacks on teenagers. One was killed this time."
"What?"
"Yes, Sir. A girl and a boy were attacked. Look to be about 17. Haven't been able to get a positive I.D. on them yet. The boy's heart appears to have just stopped, while the girl has the same marks as the others, and has been taken to the hospital."
"Have you been able to find any link between the victims?"
"With the exception of this boy, and the fact that they're all high school students, all the males have had short cropped brown hair, and the girls all had long blond hair. Sheriff, the press has been nosing around. What do you want me to tell them?"
"Animal attacks. That should hold them off. Meanwhile, double the patrol of the city, see if we can't stop this from happening again."
"Yes Sir." With that, Deputy Hanson turned to leave the Sheriff's office, but looked back to ask one more question.
"Sir, these aren't really animal attacks are they?"
"What do you think, Hanson?"
Liz flopped down on chair in the Crashdown. Her feet were killing her after working the 8 hour shift, but it was almost closing time and she could finally relax. All her friends would be here soon (assuming Michael and Maria could tear themselves apart for a couple hours), and they could have a nice night before heading back to school the next day. Truth to be told, Liz was looking forward to going back to school. Even though it had been nice to have the time off, she needed something to occupy her time. She still wasn't sure where she stood with Max. She loved him, but she was still having difficulty trusting him. Kyle had left on a Buddhist retreat right after school started. Isabel was still grieving over Alex. Sean wasn't exactly the person she could go to with this. And since Maria had been tied up all summer, God not literally, I hope, she hadn't had anyone to talk to. So it had just been her and her thoughts, and frankly, she could use a break from them.
Just then she heard the jingling of bells that signalled someone's entrance into the café. She sighed, hoping she wouldn't have to serve anyone, and looked up.
"Kyle!" she squealed, jumping up to hug him, happy to see him for the first time in months. "How are you? How was Buddha camp?"
"Hey Liz. Amazing. We went to this really secluded part of the mountains in Colorado. I've had a lot of time to reflect on everything that happened, and I've come to a sort of inner peace about it all," Kyle replied. He really did look much more relaxed than when she had last seen him.
"That's great," Liz said, though she was a bit jealous. She still wasn't over the whole Tess incident, and could have used some peace of mind.
"Wait, that's not the coolest part. You know those freaky powers that the Czechs give you a bit of when they heal you? Well, because I've been able to focus my energy so well, I've gotten a lot better at using them. Check this out," Kyle said excitedly. He then managed to levitate a ketchup bottle, bring it to him from across the room, and change it into Coke. "Pretty impressive huh?"
"Yeah," Liz said, a little shocked at what she had seen. "How..." she was cut off by the opening of the door, and looked over to see Max enter with Maria and Michael.
"Hey chica," Maria said, "Max was just filling us in on what we missed this morning. Kyle! How's the Buddha?"
"Good. Hey guys, how's it going. Evans, can I talk to you for a minute?" Kyle asked.
"Sure," Max replied looking a bit confused. The two guys stepped over to a corner. "What's up?"
"I just wanted to tell you that I forgive you. When all the stuff with Tess happened at the end of last year, I blamed you. Not to mention I was still bitter about everything you put Liz through. But I had a lot of time to thing this summer, and I realized that you didn't know about Tess, and even you, Mr. Perfect, can't help but be a jackass sometimes. So it's cool, but don't ever send anyone to live with me again, got it?" Kyle said.
"Got it. Thank you Kyle, and I am sorry. If I had known..." Max trailed off. Kyle just nodded and walked away.
"Hey guys." Everyone looked over at the new arrival.
"Isabel, hey. I didn't think you were coming," Michael said, surprised to see Isabel there.
"Well, I wasn't going to, but I decided I didn't want to miss my last night with you guys."
"Alright then, let's get this party started," Maria said enthusiastically, bounding off to turn up the sound system.
Sheriff Valenti walked in a few minutes later. At this point, Kyle and Isabel were talking quietly, Liz and Max were dancing in the middle of the room, and Maria had given up on getting Michael and dance and was giving him a psuedo lapdance. The others were trying not to watch. The Sheriff cut the music and cleared his throat. All eyes turned his way.
"You all know about the recent attacks on the teenagers right?" Everyone nodded. "You don't know anything else about them do you?"
Max, ever the leader, asked, "You think it's alien related? Why? On what grounds?"
"I didn't say for sure. We have no real evidence to suggest that. I just want you all to be aware, and let me know if you see anything unusual."
"We will," Liz responded.
"Sheriff, do you really think it's related to us? That it's an alien thing," Maria asked in a frightened voice. Michael wrapped his arm around her for comfort.
"I don't know. Be careful. But it's probably just some psycho."
The others nodded their heads uncertainly, and went back to their conversations.
Deep in the desert, in the place which once held the Royal Four, something lurked in the ruined chamber. The creature looked up from it's prey, and uttered a single word, "Soon."
Title: Playing House
Author: Shannon
E-mail: slaygirl2000@yahoo.com
Disclaimer: Roswell and the characters are owned by Jason Katims, Melinda Metz, some other people I can't think of, and whichever network has the rights now. In other words, a whole bunch of people who aren't me.
Rating: Hmm, PG-13, maybe R I guess
Category: M&M mostly, but everyone's in it
Summary: This is the first episode in my series on how Season 3 should go. I will write an entire season of episodes (21). This is like the season premiere, starting with the end of summer. This is also a response to Jade's Season 3 challenge.
Spoilers: Everything that's happened so far in the series, nothing that I write is based on anything I've heard for S3.
Distribution: If you want it take it, but let me know please.
Feedback: YES!!! I'm not going to publish the next episode until I get some, but please be gentle, this is my first fic.
Author's Note: Like I said, this is the first episode of what I think season 3 should be like. Because these are supposed episodes, I'm going to put an air date on the beginning of each one. The air dates will work like they would if these were actually on TV, and you should look at timelines the same way (i.e. even though the season premiere airs in October, it's still set in September). It's my way of making time gaps make more sense. If you find them too confusing, let me know. Character thoughts are in italics. Thanks to Jade for the challenge! Hope you like it.
Air Date: October 9, 2001 (see author's note)
She was perfect.
Lying there in his bed in the not-so-early morning hours with a gentle smile curved on her lips she looked like an angel. The sunlight spilled in through the windows, illuminating her face and making her blonde hair shimmer a beautiful shade of gold. Her ivory skin seemed to almost glow, and he couldn't resist running his fingers lightly along the length of her arm. She stirred under his delicate touch, and her eyes fluttered open to look into his.
"Hey," Maria whispered softly.
"Hey," Michael replied, smiling down at her. He pulled her a bit closer, never breaking eye contact, and continued moving his hand along her arm. They stayed like that, in a peaceful silence, until the loud buzzing of his alarm clock broke through. "Damnit," he muttered, shutting off the clock.
"Senoir orientation day," Maria said as it occurred to her why they had turned that on in the first place.
"What's that about anyways? We've been in the school for three years, what the heck do we need to be oriented on?" Michael grumbled angrily, unhappy at his last full day with Maria being disturbed over something so trivial as school.
Maria smirked at him. "I take this to mean you're not planning on going?"
Michael raised his eyebrows at her. "Depends. Are you?" he asked, as he began to trail light kisses down her neck. Maria sighed and rolled onto her back, pulling him on top of her. "I could be persuaded into staying," she said. "Really?" he said. Before she had a chance to respond, he covered her mouth with an intense kiss that he knew would remove any doubts she had about spending the day with him. She moaned into his mouth, and began to move underneath him. Michael felt his body instantly respond. Oh God yeah, he thought, I'm not leaving this bed all day. Whatever it takes, whatever she wants. I'll kiss her, I'll touch her, I'll...
BANG! BANG! BANG!
...kill the bastard at the door. Maria broke the kiss to see if he was going to answer it. "Ignore it," he told her, and resumed what he was doing, his hand trailing lower on her body. The knocking grew louder and more insistant. Finally Michael rolled off Maria with a growl of frustration coming from both of them. He pulled on a pair of sweat pants, and went to get the door, fully prepared to kick whoever's unfortunate ass was on the other side. Much to his unsurprise, Max and Liz were standing on the other side.
"Michael, come on, get dressed, were going to be late for the principal's address," Max said.
"Yeah? Well, my loss I guess. See you guys later." Michael moved to close the door in Max's face, but Max stopped him.
"Michael this could be important," Liz said. Mmm-hmm, Michael thought, let me think - principal's speech or naked girlfriend in my bedroom. I wonder. Just as Michael was desperately trying to think of a way to make Max and Liz leave, he felt a small hand on his back. He turned his head to the side to see Maria sidle up next to him. She slipped under his arm which he wrapped around her, and placed her other hand on the door. She was wearing nothing but a black top of his, with only a few choice buttons done up. Max and Liz quickly figured out what they had interrupted, and a mixture of surprise and embarrassment registered on their faces.
"Lizzy," Maria began, "Michael and I are sick, and you know the best thing for that is a day in bed, so tell us what we missed. Bye now." With that she shut the door, and this time Max and Liz were to stunned to stop it. They stood there staring for a minute, then left as quickly as possible when the screaming-giggling started inside.
In a dark alley in the bad part of town, a young girl was walking home. Suddenly something reached out and grabbed her. There was a searing pain in her head, and then everything went black.
Max and Liz returned home early from the orientation. Evidently not many students were willing to go to the school even a second before they had, and only a handful had shown up for the new principal's motivational speech. They walked into the Evans' house to hear someone sobbing. Max walked upstairs to see Isabel standing in front of her closet, bawling her eyes out.
"Izzy, what happened?" Max asked, immediately worried that it had something to do with their parents, or something alien related.
"I ... lost... my... bear!" Isabel wailed into Max's shoulder.
"What?" he asked, not sure he had heard her right. This was Isabel after all, and crying over a stuffed animal was definitely not her style.
"Mom shrunk my favourite sweater, and I couldn't get the kind of flowers I wanted to bring to Alex's grave, and the University messed up one of my courses, and I'm out of my favourite lipstick, and now I can't even find my favourite bear!!!" she sobbed.
"Okay, okay, Is, just calm down. Alright? I'll help you find it, and you can fix your sweater, and everything will be okay just relax. Please?" Max pleaded with her, completely unused to seeing his sister like this. Isabel nodded, and sat down on her bed. Max began to rummage through her closet, and a few minutes later came up with the elusive bear. "Here!" he announced triumphantly, only to have his face fall when he saw the far off look in his sister's eyes. Her sobs had subsided, but she still had tears running down her face. "Isabel?" he asked softly.
"I was packing," she said quietly, "and I kept finding stuff. Little things he gave me, pictures of him, tickets from movies we saw. I miss him, Max. I miss Alex so much." Max sighed and sat down next to his sister, putting her head on his shoulder.
"I know Is. I wish I could make it better. But I can't. Maybe you'll feel better when you move into the dorms, and get away from here for a while. But it's still gonna take time." Isabel nodded defeatedly, and moved to finish packing her things. Her parents were supposed to take her up to the University of New Mexico dorms so she could get settled in her room (single, thank god) in a few hours, and she was nowhere near done. She cleared her throat, obviously not willing to dwell on the topic, and asked Max, "So how was orientation?"
He snorted. "I think maybe 30 people showed. Even Liz practically fell asleep during the speech." Isabel laughed at that. "Michael and Maria must have been out cold then." Max coughed and shuffled his feet uncomfortably. "They didn't go." "Well there's a surprise," she said sarcastically. "Why not?" Isabel asked looking up. The look on his face gave told her everything. She groaned. "Do they ever stop? I don't think she's left his apartment since the summer began." "They're happy," was all Max could say.
"Spaceboy I will kick your ass!"
"In your dreams, Blondie!"
"You did not just call me that!"
"Wanna bet?"
"Noooooooo!"
"Yeeee-es! Go, go, go baby, go! WHOOOOOOOOOO-hooo! HA! In your face DeLuca!" Michael jumped up and started dancing around the room, laughing and chanting "I Won!" over and over and over again. Maria threw down her controller angrily. "Stupid video game," she grumbled, then said louder, "Well of course you'd win, we're playing Alien Invader. It's your field of expertise." She crossed her arms, stuck her tongue out at him, and sulked further into the couch. Michael stopped his happy dance and looked over at his pouting girlfriend. "Ahhhh," he began in a voice you might use when talking to a baby, "is the wittle girw upset? Hmm? Did the big bad man make her angwy?" Maria continued to glare at him as he sat down next to her, and he continued in the same voice. "Does she want me to make it better? Hmm? Ga? Goo?" Maria could feel herself starting to crack under the sheer ridiculousness of Michael talking to her like this, but she refused to let him win, so she held back her laughter. When Michael could see that his string of non-sensical syllables was starting to wear her down, he decided to speed up the process. "No? Okay, well you asked for it," he said, shrugged his shoulders, and began tickling her for all he was worth. Maria shrieked and laugh and tried desperately to pull away from him. When that failed, she tried tickling him back. Pretty soon neither of them could breathe, and they fell on the floor in heap. "I love you," Michael said breathlessly. "I love you too," Maria replied. "You up for another round of Alien Invaders?" Michael asked her. She grinned wickedly at him, and he caught on to what she was thinking. He had to laugh at her dirty mind. "I've got a better idea," she said and got up off the floor. He heard her rummaging in the kitchen and she came back a minute later. He looked at her inquisitively. With the same evil grin on her face she held up the chocolate syrup and whipped cream.
"Alien sundaes."
At the hospital across town, the doctors tended to a young man with dark brown hair.
"Same as the others?" the doctor asked the nurse on duty.
"Yes, sir. Severe wounds on the arms and to the face. No harm otherwise, and no memory of what happened."
"That's the fifth one this week. Any idea what's doing this?"
"No, Sir."
Isabel sighed as she took one last look around her nearly empty room. She couldn't believe she was moving out already. Although, in some ways she couldn't believe she hadn't already moved out. I would've, if Tess had gotten her way. Of course, I'd be dead by now too, she thought bitterly. Sighing once more in resignation, Isabel closed her door and descended the stairs.
"I'm ready," she called to her parents. Her father picked up her last bag and carried it out to the car. Her mother scurried up to Isabel.
"Do you have everything?" she asked. "Clothes? Toothpaste? Clean underwear? Sunblock?"
"Sunblock?" Isabel replied incredulously.
"Well, you know, at University you spend a lot of time in the quad and it's always so hot, and I'll go get you some just to be sure..." her mother said as she ran off to the bathroom. Isabel was about to protest, when her mother returned with the precious sunblock. "Here," she said, handing it to her. "I can't believe my baby's all grown up and going off to college. It seems like just yesterday..." she trailed off as Isabel threw her arms around her. "I'm going to miss you mom, but I'll be home all the time, you won't even know that I'm gone." Isabel's mother smiled through her tears. "Come on sweetie, you don't want to keep your father waiting." With that, mother and daughter walked out of the house arm in arm.
On the front steps of a simple house in a decent neighbourhood, a teenage girl stood making out with her boyfriend. Neither noticed the rustle in the bushes.
"I'll see you tomorrow," he whispered. Those were the last words he ever spoke. He was dead before he hit the ground, and his girlfriend didn't have time to scream from the pain before darkness took over.
Maria giggled as Michael licked the remainder of the chocolate syrup off her stomach, and then kissed her gently on the lips. She sighed happily and snuggled into his arms.
"See," she said, "now wasn't that game more fun?" He laughed. "Definitely. In fact, I think we should play more often." He looked down at her with a look in his eyes that told her he wanted to play now. Maria smiled regretfully at him.
"Sorry Spaceboy, but we've got that night-before-school-starts gathering at the Crashdown in half an hour and I'd kind of like to see my friends. I'm beginning to forget what they look like. I'll make it up to you later."
Michael's eyes brightened at that last remarked, but he tried to act like he was doing her a favour. "Fine, but you owe me," he said scowling, though she could tell his heart wasn't really in it. That was one of the best things about their relationship. Since that night when he had let her see him, she had been able to read him like a book. She smiled happily at him and hopped out of bed heading for the shower.
"I know, I know," she replied. Then, no longer able to resist the temptation she asked, "Care to join me?" Michael raised his eyebrows but didn't hesitate for a second before her to the bathroom.
"Sheriff?"
"What is it Hanson?" Jim Valenti asked without looking up from his desk.
"Sir, we've got another report of those attacks on teenagers. One was killed this time."
"What?"
"Yes, Sir. A girl and a boy were attacked. Look to be about 17. Haven't been able to get a positive I.D. on them yet. The boy's heart appears to have just stopped, while the girl has the same marks as the others, and has been taken to the hospital."
"Have you been able to find any link between the victims?"
"With the exception of this boy, and the fact that they're all high school students, all the males have had short cropped brown hair, and the girls all had long blond hair. Sheriff, the press has been nosing around. What do you want me to tell them?"
"Animal attacks. That should hold them off. Meanwhile, double the patrol of the city, see if we can't stop this from happening again."
"Yes Sir." With that, Deputy Hanson turned to leave the Sheriff's office, but looked back to ask one more question.
"Sir, these aren't really animal attacks are they?"
"What do you think, Hanson?"
Liz flopped down on chair in the Crashdown. Her feet were killing her after working the 8 hour shift, but it was almost closing time and she could finally relax. All her friends would be here soon (assuming Michael and Maria could tear themselves apart for a couple hours), and they could have a nice night before heading back to school the next day. Truth to be told, Liz was looking forward to going back to school. Even though it had been nice to have the time off, she needed something to occupy her time. She still wasn't sure where she stood with Max. She loved him, but she was still having difficulty trusting him. Kyle had left on a Buddhist retreat right after school started. Isabel was still grieving over Alex. Sean wasn't exactly the person she could go to with this. And since Maria had been tied up all summer, God not literally, I hope, she hadn't had anyone to talk to. So it had just been her and her thoughts, and frankly, she could use a break from them.
Just then she heard the jingling of bells that signalled someone's entrance into the café. She sighed, hoping she wouldn't have to serve anyone, and looked up.
"Kyle!" she squealed, jumping up to hug him, happy to see him for the first time in months. "How are you? How was Buddha camp?"
"Hey Liz. Amazing. We went to this really secluded part of the mountains in Colorado. I've had a lot of time to reflect on everything that happened, and I've come to a sort of inner peace about it all," Kyle replied. He really did look much more relaxed than when she had last seen him.
"That's great," Liz said, though she was a bit jealous. She still wasn't over the whole Tess incident, and could have used some peace of mind.
"Wait, that's not the coolest part. You know those freaky powers that the Czechs give you a bit of when they heal you? Well, because I've been able to focus my energy so well, I've gotten a lot better at using them. Check this out," Kyle said excitedly. He then managed to levitate a ketchup bottle, bring it to him from across the room, and change it into Coke. "Pretty impressive huh?"
"Yeah," Liz said, a little shocked at what she had seen. "How..." she was cut off by the opening of the door, and looked over to see Max enter with Maria and Michael.
"Hey chica," Maria said, "Max was just filling us in on what we missed this morning. Kyle! How's the Buddha?"
"Good. Hey guys, how's it going. Evans, can I talk to you for a minute?" Kyle asked.
"Sure," Max replied looking a bit confused. The two guys stepped over to a corner. "What's up?"
"I just wanted to tell you that I forgive you. When all the stuff with Tess happened at the end of last year, I blamed you. Not to mention I was still bitter about everything you put Liz through. But I had a lot of time to thing this summer, and I realized that you didn't know about Tess, and even you, Mr. Perfect, can't help but be a jackass sometimes. So it's cool, but don't ever send anyone to live with me again, got it?" Kyle said.
"Got it. Thank you Kyle, and I am sorry. If I had known..." Max trailed off. Kyle just nodded and walked away.
"Hey guys." Everyone looked over at the new arrival.
"Isabel, hey. I didn't think you were coming," Michael said, surprised to see Isabel there.
"Well, I wasn't going to, but I decided I didn't want to miss my last night with you guys."
"Alright then, let's get this party started," Maria said enthusiastically, bounding off to turn up the sound system.
Sheriff Valenti walked in a few minutes later. At this point, Kyle and Isabel were talking quietly, Liz and Max were dancing in the middle of the room, and Maria had given up on getting Michael and dance and was giving him a psuedo lapdance. The others were trying not to watch. The Sheriff cut the music and cleared his throat. All eyes turned his way.
"You all know about the recent attacks on the teenagers right?" Everyone nodded. "You don't know anything else about them do you?"
Max, ever the leader, asked, "You think it's alien related? Why? On what grounds?"
"I didn't say for sure. We have no real evidence to suggest that. I just want you all to be aware, and let me know if you see anything unusual."
"We will," Liz responded.
"Sheriff, do you really think it's related to us? That it's an alien thing," Maria asked in a frightened voice. Michael wrapped his arm around her for comfort.
"I don't know. Be careful. But it's probably just some psycho."
The others nodded their heads uncertainly, and went back to their conversations.
Deep in the desert, in the place which once held the Royal Four, something lurked in the ruined chamber. The creature looked up from it's prey, and uttered a single word, "Soon."