Maria fell on to her pillow crying her eyes out

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.