-Beep-Beep-Beep-Beep—
"Gruh…Damn-alarm-clock-always-in-the-way-with-life…" Melissa grumbled to herself as she picked herself up off her dark-blue cushion bed and sat on the edge of it, feet dangling only a few inches off the ground. Her eyes remained shut as she yawned, stretched her arms behind and above her shoulders, and then relaxed. Her lavender sleeves with moon imprints on them had slid downwhen her arms went up (her p-j pants had the same design). Melissa opened her eyes wide and then back to normal, trying to get herself to wake up—she was everything but a morning person. Yawning again, Melissa stood up and stretched again. 'What a weird dream…' she thought as she stepped out of her room and into Kimi's to see if the small four-year-old was sleeping well.
Melissa did not find Kimi in her bed, but found her blanket and "Mr. Snoof" purple teddy-bear wrapped up in it. Melissa smiled and scratched her arm, and then shivered as she went along to the kitchenette, passing the living room.
"Hew-oh, Mommiez!" Kimi smiled as she stuck her spoon full of Froot Loops into her mouth and chewed the crunchy cereal. Melissa returned the smile as she opened the fridge and took out the milk jug and poured milik into Kimi's bowl. Melissa then took out a bowl and spoon and poured milk into, and then put the milk jug away. She went back to her bowl, sat down, and picked up a spoonful of milk, and then stared at it. Melissa heard Kimi giggling.
"Alright, Missy," Kimi continued giggling when she heard her mother's name for her, "How's that Froot-Loops? Any good?" Receiving a nod, Melissa continued, "May I please have some?"
"Only…kayz, mommiez, I want youse to gets somes of its good stuffs so you can grows big and strongs likes meez, kay? You get some…" Melissa smiled as Kimi picked up the box and opened it, and then poured a bit of its contents into Melissa's bowl of milk. Melissa took her first spoonful and almost gagged, but kept the overly-sweet taste of the processed cereal in her mouth. Melissa continued her crunching as Kimi tried to set the box down onto the table, but dropped it instead. The toucan-covered box fell onto its side and Froot Loops were suddenly scattered over the table and floor… "Woops?" Kimi shrugged and smiled. Receiving a blank stare-glare from her mother, Kimi went back to eating.
Melissa sighed and got off her chair and onto her hands and knees, and began sweeping up handfuls of the cereal into her hands and then pouring them in the small garbage can under the table.
"Mommiez?"
Melissa paused. "Guh, erm….Yeah?" Melissa continued her cleaning.
"Ums…What are youze gonna do 'bouts the mans?"
"What?" Melissa stopped entirely, dropped the cereal out of her hands and back onto the floor, and then stood, staring at Kimi. "What man?"
"You knows…" Kimi looked up at Melissa. "The mans. He's here. 'Member, Mommiez? Out the winow-"
'Oh my God, a Burglar!' "Quick, Kimi, come over here, get close. No, wait, just go over onto the couch and wait, kay? Can you do that?"
Kimi nodded, suddenly worried because her mom was. She skittered over to the couch and remained standing. Melissa went to the door to get something to hit the man with, but only found an umbrella. She shrugged and took it, and went back to Kimi.
"Kimi? I said get onto the couch-"
"Noze, Mommiez, he's on the couch, sees? He's-"
Melissa stared as a masked head popped over the couch. "Melizi. You sleep well?"
Her mind was recollecting as she continued her blank stare.
Running.
Halloween.
Window…
The man paused. "Melizi? You-"
Any more words the alien had to say did not get through to Melissa, for she had passed out.
When Melissa woke, she found herself on the couch with a cold wash-cloth atop her head. She grumbled as she stood up and winced at the sudden pain in her left arm, and the washcloth fell onto her lap, which she threw angrily away. Her green eyes scanned the arm to find it bandaged with her daughter's Fisher Price medi-kit wrap. Smiling, Melissa felt her upper lip crack and lifted her right hand to it, and immediately noticed the small drop of blood that remained on her hand once she had removed it from her lips. Melissa kept her tongue on her lip as she stood and went to her desk and looked around until she found her much-desired chap stick. After smothering on about three layers of the goo, she rolled her head around and then, as it rested on its side, she stared over to her stereo, debating if she should put it on and risk waking Kimi. Melissa suddenly heard Kimi's giggles, and so smiled, straightened up, and went to her stereo.
It had a black, sleek look with speakers to the side of it with silver lining. After cranking the volume up to five, Melissa opened the cd-compartment and slid in her Spineshanks cd. As the beat suddenly filled the air, Melissa smiled, music being her release from the world around her.
"The blackened coal reminds me…of all the distance we have crossed…and if your darkness finds me, I could never be more lost…
"But I'm not the one to seek your protection, I'm not the one to share the disguise…and I'm not the one who reeks of rejection, I'm not the one to tear the same way twice…
"You push from the inside—smothered, you push from the inside out, smothered…you push from the inside-"
"Ooman Melizi. Are you well?"
"Hmm?" Melissa turned her attention away from her stereo to a large, masked figure. It cocked its head to the side, waiting for an answer. "Oh, uh…Hey, Iremember you."
The being nodded. "I was hoping it to be so. I seem to have forgotten…" He turned his head and seemed to be staring at Melissa's stereo. "…What is this? It is most intriguing…" He lifted his hand and, before Melissa could protest, he pressed a button that lead to another song.
"...You wear a cheap disguise, your only vice until the end…Don't have an alibi, you never try…You just condemn, You pressure everything, You never bring, You take away…I can no longer breathe…You've taken me and everything too-"
"What does this mean? How do you understand what they are saying when they scream as they do?" He turned back to Melissa and stared at her with his dark auburn eyes through his mask, waiting attentively for an answer. Receiving none, he turned back to the stereo.
"…This is a war I cannot fight, I can't let you tear me down…I will ignore all these lies—you will never tear me down…"
Melissa shrugged and flicked the stereo off. "Anyways…Do you remembering anything? I thought it was all a dream. …So you really saved me…"
"Yes, I did." He paused. "I think."
Melissa smiled. "…Well, thank you. …But all of it happened? Just last night? You're not really Shaun and-"
"Shaun?" The being paused. "Is that my name?"
"Well…" Melissa sighed. She contemplated the matter—first, she knew this name would be so much easier to say than…and second, she couldn't really remember his name. So what could she do now? "Uh, erm…Let's call you Shaun for now until your memory, uh, comes back, okay?"
"Shaun" nodded. Melissa took this time to again look over the person who would be staying with them for a while. He had thick, black dreadlocks with silver metal bands around each one at least once, a mask that seemed to have met a hammer or acid a few times, a strangely overly-muscular build with mesh covering the areas that his armor did not… Truthfully, it reminded Melissa nothing of Shaun, her former high-school sweet heart who was a lanky book-worm. Shrugging, Melissa turned around and walked away to find Kimi.
'God only knows what that child is up to…'
Stanley was in his office, sorting papers. He was supposed to meet with the team-members again who would be later briefed of their missions. Sighing, he walked over to the small television set (which only played in black and white and had three channels) and flicked the "on" button. The black screen immediately came to life…with black and grey images.
"Our top story today is…are your kids safe? Police reports are finding most of the kidnapping to be around the downtown areas, but also along those rich roads…"
'She may be a hot reporter, but she knows damn next to nothing about the New York roads…'
"…Yes, Jean, that's horrible about the five-year-old taken away. Truly tragic. Ka-hem, in lighter news, a breakthrough for leukemia has been found, thanks to an un-named society. We thank you all for it."
Stanley abruptly flicked the set off. Un-named? He had been working on that project for years, and yet only a small recognition as an 'un-named society' was supposed to pay him back? Stanley cursed under his breath and swept his hand across his desk, blowing away a few papers onto the floor, one of which was a newspaper. He paused, and then turned towards the fallen newspaper. Picking it up, Stanley's eyes drifted over a column. "Higher Death Rates in Past Week…more on page D12…"
Suddenly a thought struck him, and Stanley hurriedly ran to his boss's office.
FPM: …bleh. Has anyone ever tried this Hawaiian goo called, um…well, it can be white or brown, and it's supposed to cleanse the tongue of any taste so it can "start fresh" and re-start eating? It's weird stuff…I think it starts with a "k"…
FPM: thanks for that one review, it made me feel special. And loved. :) I think people like the story, but I'm not to sure…with almost no reviews, it's kinda hard to tell! Anyways…
FPM: I saw "psycho" the other day by Alfred Hitchcock… it was …a little different. At first, I wasn't really scared, but, later, after it got under my skin… (-shudder…-)