Welcome! This story was written back in 2004, but never published on this site. I have fixed it up greatly, adding more details and fixing many errors… I would like to thank my "personal" editor, Cyram, and myself for being so great…

There will only be seven chapters in this story. You will see why as you read on…

The story is set in 2011, so things are obviously different.

Read up! A new chapter should be up tomorrow, or tonight…I just have to fix up it up, give it to my editor and edit it myself. Hope you enjoy it!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So, tonight is going to be a good night, as I will be meeting up with one of my friends from the Internet. I've known him for many years, but we never actually met. His name is James, but I call him Cyram, as that is his nickname. We would meet here in my hometown, Sayreville. Cyram was twenty, and I am twenty-one. This is going to be the first time that I will be meeting him, so it should be fun. For tonight, we plan on watching some movies, playing some video games, getting dinner, and possibly hit the bar or something. I am waiting for him at the airport... I am holding up a ridiculous sign that has the word "Cyram" on it. I feel like an idiot, but how else is the guy going to notice me? An airplane arrives at the airport, and all of the passengers exit the airplane.

All of the passengers on the plane quickly walk by me. I am standing in front of everyone, so it should be pretty much impossible for him to miss me. I guess that wasn't his plane. Greetings and happy voices are being exchanged behind me. Everyone seemed to be out of the plane, but it was still there. Out of nowhere, an ambulance comes driving towards the plane, and the paramedics hop out of it. They rush up the air plane stairs and enter. I hear screams coming from inside the plane…

The vibration of my cell phone startles me, as I was still glaring at the airplane, waiting for someone to come out.

"Hello?" I say in the cell phone, wondering who was on the other end.

''Hey! I am going be a little late, maybe a couple of more minutes. Not sure,'' Cyram says. I hadn't heard his voice in a while, so it startled me. Nobody has exited the airplane as of yet.

''That's all right, I have all day. Heh, I took the whole week off just to hang out with you,'' I said to him. He gave out a quiet chuckle.

''Okay, see you there,'' he said hanging up. I then flipped up my phone and put it back into my pocket. I was still anticipating the people from the airplane to come out.

About five minutes later, another plane comes into view. The plane was nose diving at extreme speeds, almost straight down to the ground.

''Holy shit!'' I screamed. The people behind me all started screaming, murmuring, and gasping. The plane crashes, a few hundred feet before the first plane. Everyone started to run over to the crash, but I could do nothing but stand in astonishment. I call up Cyram's cell phone. No answer, I started to think, and picture, terrible things. Is he dead? Was that his plane?

I decided to wait. I went a little closer to where the crashed plane was. More ambulances came driving in quickly. The whole plane was in flames. A fire engine was heard in the background…

About ten minutes later, another plane comes into view. This one was going much slower than the one that had crashed. The plane lands far away from the other two, obviously noticing that landing near them was no good. The passengers take a while to file out, obviously taking a look over at the flames. Some passengers come running towards the airport, while others walk away slowly, staring at the flames. The people, who had run to the plane earlier, crammed into the airport screaming and hollering. Some of them ran right out of the exit, some came to the people who were waiting for them, some stayed to watch. None of them, however, were Cyram. There were still people outside, so hope is still here. I saw one of them look straight at me, and then started running over. I figured this was Cyram, but I could be wrong.

He came running in, walking straight to me. He smiled, and walked right by me and started to talk to the person behind me. I let out a long, drawn out sigh. Looking over at the other plane, I noticed that the ambulance finally started to move out of there. The firefighters started to take out the fire on the downed plane, as a few security guards walked out towards the crowd of people. They started to signal to the door, as the P.A. came on.

"We are going to be shutting down the airport. Please leave and go home as soon as possible," an old lady said over the P.A. She started to go on about exits, and what to do if you are waiting for a flight or people from the flight. I tuned her out, as everyone started to file back inside. I put the sign up, nice and high, hoping that he would show up.

"Everyone has to get out, now!" a security guard screamed. One of the passengers pushed one of the guards out of his way, and made his way towards me. He was carrying two suitcases. I gave a quick look behind me to make sure there was not anyone else behind me. "You have to get out!" the security guard behind the man said towards us.

"We better get the hell out of here before things get worse," Cyram said to me. Nice greeting, but it was necessary.

"Yeah… Follow me to the parking lot before that security guard attacks us," I said trying to lighten up the mood.

"That's the least of my worries. A plane just crashed outside. A plane; that doesn't happen very often at an airport," he said, as we headed toward the parking lot.

"Yeah, I know. I actually saw it happen. It scared the shit out of me, I thought it was you. I called up your cell phone to see if it was you or not… No answer." He started to say something, but I couldn't understand him. The place was very loud, with sirens and P.A. announcements, screaming people, yelling security guards, crazy. "Let's talk later, we gotta get to my car first," I said to him, trying to project my voice loud enough for him to hear me. He didn't respond, as we made our way to the parking lot.

After seven minutes of trekking out of the airport, we finally entered the parking lot. The parking lot was about as noisy, if not more, than the airport itself. We were in the bottom level of the parking lot, and my car was up on the third level.

"Okay… That was crazy," Cyram said as we entered the stairwell up to the second floor. It was actually hearable in here.

"Agreed. Car's up on the third floor," I said practically running up the stairs. We reached the second floor. The second floor parking lot was absolutely full. The noise was unbearable. I almost decided to turn around and go back, but other people were coming up the stairs. Why the hell would the stairwell break off at every floor…? I searched for the stairwell up to the third floor. It was all the way on the other side of the parking lot. We made our way to the other side of the parking lot, pushing people out of the way and dodging terrible drivers. I pushed the door open to the third floor stairwell.

"Almost there," I said reassuringly to Cyram.

"Yeah… I just can't wait to get out of this place… It's crazy!"

"You always were a bad luck charm," I said to him with a chuckle.

"Oh just shut up and get us to your car."

I pushed open the door leading to the third floor parking lot. This one wasn't as packed as the second floor. I spotted my car just as I opened up the door, which is very rare.

"There it is," I said, pointing at my '06 3000 GT. I've been in love with that car since I was a kid playing Gran Turismo. It's a shame they stopped making those games… The car was jet black, with black rims and leather interior. It was high class. I never thought about getting a newer car… But this one is only five years old. I got it used back in '09.

"Pretty fucking ridiculous, but, nice car either way," Cyram said. I opened up the trunk, and he threw his two suitcases in. Then, I unlocked the passenger's side door for Cyram, and ran around to open up my door. I quickly started up the engine.

"Alright, let's check out the news," I said to Cyram.

"Yeah, that would be a good idea. I wonder what happened out there…" I turned on the radio, and put on my favorite news station. I haven't really noted Cyram's appearance yet. I never saw what he looked like. He had white skin, with hazel eyes and bushy brown hair. He was quite taller than me, which is something that I wasn't used to, being six foot one. A lady on the news team said that there was an important announcement:

"At the Newark Airport, there were two accidents. Both of them are major, but the most important one is a plane crash. Everyone on the plane died besides one person. The pilot had abnormal bite marks around his neck and shoulder area. There was a passenger right next to him on the ground, who was the lone survivor. We don't know what exactly happened, but scientists are inspecting the pilot as we speak. We will update you later when we find out exactly what happened. In the other accident, a passenger was injured on another plane, which landed before the one that crashed. When the paramedics and police officers entered the plane to help out the injured man, a passenger lunged at the leading paramedic and bit him in the neck. The police shot him down to the ground. The paramedic's condition, as well as the injured passenger, is still uncertain. The passenger had weird scratch marks and bite marks all over him. And that is all for this special update."

"What the…," Cyram said with a look of thought on his face. We had just exited the parking lot at the end of the message.

"I don't understand," I said, thinking as well. I glanced at the clock, which read 7:30 P.M.

"I guess he was hungry… Or he was trying to imitate a zombie…"

"I don't know… This isn't Resident Evil, you know," I said to him, sensing his joke.

"Yeah, yeah… I know… But still, what the hell."

"Well, I think we should just try to forget about it and stay indoors for the rest of the night. See what happens tomorrow morning."

"Yeah… But a plane crash… An insane passenger… All during my arrival? It is kind of hard to ignore that, do you get what I am trying to say?"

"Yeah, I feel your pain. You want to just go straight to my house or do you want to stop somewhere for something to eat?" I asked him, trying my best to change the subject.

"I think going to your house would be the best idea. I have lost my appetite for the time being," he said. His voice was a bit shaky. What can I say to make him stop thinking about all that stuff? He was born in New York… But he lived in Arkansas for a bunch of years. After hearing the stories he told me about New York, I figured he would be able to get over this. I guess that's what Arkansas does to you… I took the turnpike home, doing fifteen miles over the sixty-five speed limit. This would lead to double fines, but I don't think the cops would stop on their way to the airport to give me a ticket.

The car was completely silent for the half-hour that it took to get to my house.

"Here we are," I said to Cyram breaking the silence.

"Good… I almost passed out," he said taking a yawn. He did look pretty tired, but who could blame him? I pulled quickly into the driveway, turned off the car and got out. I went around and opened the trunk, grabbing one of Cyram's two suitcases. He got out slowly and took the second one. I shut the trunk slowly, and made my way to the back door. It was still kind of light outside, so my keys were visible. I forgot to leave the outside lights on. Thank god for summer. I unlocked the back door, and bumped it open, holding it open so Cyram could get in. "I have a question, why do you open the door with your key and not with the thing on the key-chain, or the trunk? What century are you in?"

"The remote on the key-chain is busted… I gotta get a new one… Anyway, let me bring you to the guest room," I said to him, leading him out of the kitchen. The house had one floor and a basement. The kitchen, living room, bathroom, and master bedroom were on the first floor. The basement held the boiler room, guestroom, and washer and dryer machine. The house was small, but it was good enough to fit my needs. I opened up the door leading to the basement, and went down the stairs. From the end point of the stairs, the washer and dryer and boiler room were to the right, while the guestroom was to the left. Another door was there to secure privacy. I opened up that door, and led him inside.

"Alright," Cyram said.

"Yeah… Could be better… I'll give you some time to settle in, come up when you are ready," I said to him, putting his suitcase on the ground.

"Ok then, is there a bathroom anywhere down here?"

"Yeah, that's what that door is for," I said pointing at the door on the far end of the guestroom.

"Ok, then I shall retreat to that room for a moment"

"If you need anything, just yell."

"Okay," he said as I left the basement. I walked up the stairs, and headed to the bathroom, which faced you as you opened the basement door. I took a leak, flushed the toilet, and went to my room to see if I had any messages. I made a left right when I exited the bathroom, and my room was to the right when you reached the end of the hall. I opened up the door to my room, and noticed that I had no messages. I then kicked my shoes off, and headed to the kitchen for a soda. From the bedroom, you make a left and follow the hall down. The kitchen is right there. I grabbed a root beer from the bottom of the refrigerator, and then headed to the living room. To get to the living room, you make a right as soon as you leave the kitchen. I sat down on the couch, and thought about turning on my forty-two inch plasma television. Everything in me wanted to turn on the news, but I didn't want to upset Cyram anymore than he is now. I heard the basement steps creaking as he walked up.

"Grab something from the fridge if you want anything," I said to him sipping at my root beer. I hadn't turned on the television yet, I decided it would be a good idea to ask him what he wanted to do first. He came in with a root beer.

"Okay," he came in scratching his head. "So I do have your permission to go into the fridge. I'm pretty hungry now, though."

"Of course you have permission to go into the fridge… What the hell do I care? Anyway, what do you want?"

"I don't know; whatever you want."

"No, the guest always picks what he wants to eat. I don't feel like cooking, so I was thinking about some fast food thing, unless you wanted to go out for something."

"Pizza is fine… And you don't have any alcohol!"

"Well… I ran out the other day and didn't realize it. I'll pick some up tomorrow… Pizza sounds good!" I said getting up off the couch. "Make yourself at home, turn on whatever you want."

"Okay, thanks." I walked out of the living room and walked quickly to the bedroom. Thinking ahead, I turned back around and went back to Cyram.

"What do you like on your pizza?" I asked him.

"Pineapple and Canadian ham," he said. I had never heard of either of them on a pizza before. I hoped they had it…

"Odd toppings for odd people…," I said to him with a laugh. I walked out into my room again, and picked up the phone. I pressed the hot key for the pizzeria.

"Hello, this is Pizza Heaven. What can I get you?" a man said on the other side of the phone.

"Hi, I want to place a delivery," I said to him.

"Okay, what would you like?"

"I would like one large half plain, half pineapple and Canadian ham pizza, light on the sauce," I said, almost laughing at Cyram's half.

"Was that pineapple and Canadian ham?" he said. He sounded quite serious.

"Yes, do you have those toppings?"

"We sure do. Now, what is your phone number and address?" I told the man my phone number and address, and he said that it should be ready and at my door in twenty-five minutes. I returned the living room, and found that the news was on and Cyram's mouth was agape. "Should be ready in twenty-five minutes," I said hanging at the doorstep. "Why are you watching this shit?"

"I wanted to check for an update, and I like the weather," he said.

"I told you that we should let it go until tomorrow morning. They aren't going to have any results or updates until then."

"Alright, I just wanted to know…"

"Yeah, well… Don't worry about it. Now, what do you want to do for the rest of the night? I got XBOX Three and a crap load of movies."

"Hmph… Well, we do have pizza on the way… So I say we play some video games until the pizza gets here, then take a break and eat, and then play some more,"

"Sounds good. Which game do you want to play? I would assume you would want to play my newest game… HALO Four!" I said laughing.

"Yeah, haven't got much playtime on that one yet." I set up the XBOX three, and popped in HALO Four.

About forty-five minutes later, the pizza arrives twenty minutes late.

"Sorry I'm late, but we got stuck in traffic. Hear about the air port business?" the delivery guy, said to me.

"Yeah, it's a shame. How much is it?" I said to the guy. He had dark skin, but blonde hair. Looked like he was younger than I.

"Twelve bucks." I dug in my pocket, and pulled out a twenty.

"Keep the change," I said to him with a smile.

"Wow, thanks a lot!" he said.

"Yeah, have a good night," I said shutting the door.

"You too!" he said just as I shut the door. I heard the car rev up, and he sped off. Probably was busy tonight.

"Oho" Cyram said dropping the controller for the XBOX Three. "I love my pizza combination, hope they didn't screw it up!"

I gave out a chuckle and said, "Yeah. This isn't cold, though." I said bringing the pizza box into the kitchen and getting out some plates.

"Looks pretty good," Cyram, said grabbing a slice of his pineapple-Canadian ham pizza.

"Yep, best in town," I said grabbing two new root beers and a slice of plain pizza.

"So… How did you get off a week during the summer, I'm only off college for the summer and I used some of my saved vacation time for my job," he said, talking with his mouth full.

"Well, I actually planned this out a while ago. I don't take many days off, so it worked out almost perfectly. One problem: I'll be staying there pretty much all day Saturday and Sunday."

"Wow… That's gonna suck!"

"Yeah… How'd you take off again?"

"Well, no one hates me at my job, almost, and I have never taken a day off and actually work more hours then I am supposed to, so my vacation time added up quickly and I used that. Like the rest of my family, I am a work-a-holic."

"Tell me about it," I said. Cyram had finished a slice just as I finished. We both grabbed another slice and started devouring it. "Good, eh?"

"Very," he said with his mouth full. We sat quiet for a time. He finished his second slice about a minute before me this time. "Well since I'm not worrying about my diet, think we can finish through the whole pie in one night?" he asked with a grin.

"Oh, definitely. We still got a movie to watch," I said laughing.

"Yea, and I still have to kick your ass in HALO!"

"Pfft… You haven't beat me yet, and we played four games."

"Don't worry, I haven't gotten as much playtime as you, plus I got your strategies in my mind already. I'll get you before the night is over!" I glanced up at the clock, which read 10:37 P.M.

I let out a laugh, "It's ten thirty, but I can stay up all night. What do I have to wake up for?"

"That late already?"

"Yep… Time flies when you're having fun, eh?" I finished my third slice before him this time. I was on my fourth.

"Eh, guess so," he said finishing his third slice and grabbing for his fourth. I was half way done with mine.

"My stomach is starting to hurt… But it's too friggin' good for me to stop eating it…"

"Ha, I know what you mean, I still miss New York pizza, though," he said, devouring his slice. I finally finished mine, and he finished about thirty seconds after me.

"Okay… So what movie do you want to watch?" I said putting the plates into the sink.

"Err… What do you have?"

"Go look in the living room, right under the TV"

"Okay," he said getting up. I started to wash the two plates. After washing them two, I took the pizza box and broke it up.

"Be right back," I called out to him walking outside with the pizza box in my hands. I put it in the recycling and came back inside. It was nearly pitch black outside now. Cyram was at the back door when I entered the room. "What's the matter?" His hands were behind his back. He slowly took his hands from behind his back, and put a DVD right in front of my face.

"Resident Evil: Damnation!" he exclaimed.

"Did you have to pick that movie?" I asked him, snatching it out of his hands and walking towards the DVD player in the living room.

"Yes. It is my favorite movie… Ever! And I have only seen it four times…"

"It came out last month…"

"Exactly!"

"Alright, alright… Get me a water bottle and get yourself something," I said walking into the living room to put it in. "Damn! This movie is three hours long?"

"Yep!" he called out from the kitchen.

"That will take us up to one thirty…," I said putting it into the DVD player.

"Yeah, I will probably be too hyper by then so, I'll kill you tomorrow," he said walking into the living room.

I laughed and said, "Yeah, okay," he tossed the water bottle to me. I pressed play, and the movie started to play.

Three hours and ten minutes later, 2:02 A.M.

"I love that movie, now I'm currently going to go pass out," Cyram said getting up, stretching and yawning.

"Alright… Get some rest, I have a big day planned tomorrow," I said to him.

"Ohhh, wonderful! I guess you just went and did a little too much planning, didn't you? How nice," he said laughing.

"Don't be a smart ass… You know where everything is down there, right?"

"Yea."

"You going to be alright?"

"No, I want you to sleep with me," he said laughing.

I laughed along with him, "Alright, I'll be right down… See you in the morning."

"Good night," he said going down into the bathroom. I let out a short sigh, and went into my bedroom to get my pajamas. I got a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, and headed to the bathroom. I changed into my pajamas, took a pee that I have been holding for about an hour, and brushed my teeth. I started to turn out all of the lights, besides the bathroom one. I shut the bathroom door slightly, but left it about half way open, just incase he comes up here or if I have to pee in the middle of the night. I normally do this, anyway. I went into my bedroom, shut my door, and got into bed. I glared at the clock, which said 2:17 A.M. I was going to set my alarm, but I figured he would pull some prank to wake me up. I started to think about the whole airport incident. I shook my head, rolled over, and pulled all of the thoughts out of my mind. Well… Almost all of them.