Alex

Who invented the Mazda? Not the cool, shiny blue ones like the one Siobahn drives; the stupid looking yellow ones, the ones with no air conditioning and loud, squeaky tires. Who would want a yellow car? I looked up yellow in the dictionary: apparently the color symbolizes cowardliness, hence the phrase "yellow-bellied."

Andy drove a yellow Mazda, and he drove it veeerrry slowly. Andy was Russian by birth, and he looked Russian, with tousled blond hair and marble green eyes, and a popped blood vessel on his cheek. He spoke with a heavy accent, pronouncing his "th" as "fra, and his "o" as "u". Although I haven't met many Russians, with the exception of my math teacher (who is pale and shaped like a heart), I'm pretty sure none of them drive like Andy. Not only does he drive tediously slow, he stops at every stop sign. I mean really stops: he looks both ways, to the left, to the right, then looks again to the left, and then again to the left. He's mad, stark raving mad.

Andy appears little in my tale, but I blame him and his yellow Mazda for the whole thing. If he had been driving at an unlawfully fast pace like most 16 year old boys, I wouldn't have gotten impatient, and I wouldn't have taken the bus. But I was late for my duel with Clark and Andy was no where to be found, so I stupidly took the bus.

Let me explain my situation to you: 13 year old girls do not take the bus in downtown Averon, not unless you want to get abducted, abused, or raped. (Now that I think of it, perhaps I was safer on the bus, I mean, there were at least some good hearted people on it who could have prevented my misfortune. What protection could Andy offer, overpower a Sith Lord with a chorus of "If I Were A Rich Man" ?)

But anyway, there I was, totally unsuspecting and naïve, softly singing a tune to express my glee at the end of classes.

Blue skies shining on me.

The bus screeched to a halt and the door flew open to admit a dark eyed man, dressed in jeans and black shirt, unbuttoned at the top. I should have suspected him immediately. All villains dress in some form of black.

Nothing but blue skies, I do see

He swung onto the seat behind me, but I paid him not heed. I glanced out the window. It was almost my stop.

Blue birds, singing a song.

I leaned down to grab my backpack, when without warning, I felt something cold latch onto my neck. Before I could swat at it, it dug deep into my flesh and for a terrifying moment, I was paralyzed.

"Hey, Alex," the man said, jerking forward and covering my mouth with a cloth. I inhaled, and my head fell back. "We finally meet."

This man (Xantos by name) had no trouble carrying me off the bus and into his car. The other passengers just merely stared as Xantos saluted the bus driver and walked off with me in his arms. While he walked, he sang tunelessly.

Nothing but blue birds, all day long.