Maria fell
on to her pillow crying her eyes out.
"How can he
do this to me again? After everything that'd I've done to show him that
I'll be there,
he does a 180 and says that he can't protect me but he'd watch over me. What
the hell was that?! I can't protect you but I'll be watching over you?
Could
things be anymore confusing?"
Liz knocked on her door, and then came in. "Hey babe-- oh my god
what happened Maria?"
Maria smiled at her friend.
"Micheal--
that's what wrong. That's what's always wrong!"
"Aw, come on Maria, things will work out. They always do".
Maria
glared at her.
"Maybe for you! You've always been the perfect one. You have
the
perfect family, the perfect boyfriend, perfect grades, and you've always been
popular. I've always been second. I mean there must be something
wrong with me
if first my dad leaves and now Micheal. So don't tell me everything is
going
to be ok!" yelled Maria.
Suddenly there was a loud crack of thunder and a blinding flash of bluish light that made Maria's bedroom look eerie and unfamiliar for a second, and then the lights went out.
Maria
jumped like a scared rabbit. She'd felt stronger, like a power surge for
a second. She just shrugged it off, probably just the burst of adrenaline
she was getting from all the ranting she was doing.
Liz glanced out the window looking startled, but just went back to staring down
at her lap. She'd never seen Maria this angry and sad. She didn't know
what to do or say.
Maria looked back at her friend, and her face softened a bit. "Liz,
I'm sorry. I really am. I don't
know what came over me. It's just all this is getting to me. I wish
that I could just get a way for a while"
"I know what you mean, Roswell can be down right suffocating. Why
don't
we go up to the attic and some of those aroma candles to put around the
house. It doesn't look like the electricity is going to be back on any
time
soon".
Maria nodded and wiped her mascara-streaked cheeks. Then she went and pulled the
attic stars down from the ceiling in the hallway. The candles were
in a trunk somewhere in the corner. Maria spotted an old wooden trunk
against the left wall.
It had been awhile since anyone had been up here to clean and there were
cobwebs all over. "Where's your mom?" asked Liz, following
Maria across the creaky floor.
"She over at Sheriff Valenti's" answered Maria making a face.
"I
swear, I think those two are more horny then some of the kids at school."
"Maria! That's just -- eww!" said Liz laughing.
"Eureka! This has to be
the right one" said Maria motioning for Liz to help her pull the trunk to
the
middle of the attic floor.
"Maria! Maria! Do you see what I see sitting on the rafters over
there?"
"What? Where?". Liz pointed to the other end of the attic.
Yellow
eyes.
Fear griped Maria's body as she clung on to Liz's arms. After the
first shock of fear, the owner of the eyes looked a bit like a bird.
Maria took a few steps closer.
It was an
owl.
"How in the world did an owl get in here? Are any windows open
Liz?"
"No", Liz looked around nervously. This was the first time
she'd seen an
owl up close and in person. From the looks of it, the owl seemed to be an
adult. An adult with very sharp talons.
"Ok, I'm gonna open a window. Maybe it'll just fly out" said
Maria, starting to lift up the window about twenty feet away from the owl.
It just stared at Maria and Liz, it tipped it's head to the side.
It suddenly began flapping it's wings and flew over to the trunk that the
two girls had just
placed in the middle of the room. Its eyes seemed to glow for a
minute, again it flapped its wings and flew past Maria and Liz and right on out
the window.
They stared out after it for a couple minutes before turning back towards the
object that the owl had landed on.
*Yea
ok, that happens everyday* thought Maria as they both knelt down next to the trunk. They
blew off the dust on top of it and
lifted the lid.
"Here
are some." said Liz reaching in and pulling out white and purple candles.
"What's this?" asked Maria lifting up a shiny box with a painting of
a
unicorn on it. She set in on her lap and gently pulled the top off.
Inside of
it, there were letters. Some looked new, others were yellowed around the
corners.
Maria looked at the return address on each of the envelopes.
A few
simply had "Hogwarts" printed elegantly in emerald-colored ink.
"Hogwarts? What kind of name is that?"
Liz looked at the letters on her friend's lap, "Open it up and see what's it
about".
Maria decided to open up the newest looking one on top of the stack.
"What do you girls think your doing!". Both girls looked up to
find Ms.
DeLuca glaring down on them.
"Mom, we didn't hear you come in…" Maria stammered, trying to hide
the
letters behind her back without success.
Why is
she acting like she had been doing drugs secretly or something? Maria thought. Her mother was
pretty mellow most of the time. The only time she had ever been mad was once
when Maria had tried to sneak out with Liz, Isabel, and Tess to go to a party.
Even then she had
only given Maria a lecture and had grounded her for a day.
Ms. DeLuca grabbed the letters from Maria. "You're not to go through
things that aren't yours".
Ok, she was offically confused.
"Mom
they have my name on the outside! Besides when did you start hiding my
mail from me?"
"These... These were hidden away for a reason. You are to NEVER read
these, understand. It's for you own safety, for your own good."
Maria could see from the look in her mother's eyes that she was not
going to budge on the issue, no matter how much she protested, so she just
grabbed Liz's hand and walked out of the attic and out of the DeLuca house.
