Chapter 1: Back In Montreal

The sounds of birds singing sounded across the area. The sun shun brightly as the morning fog started to cease. Inside a quiet brick house, laid a young teenage girl sleeping soundly on a large sofa in the living room of the house. The young girl had long, dark red hair with one black streak on the left side of her head. She was about 15 years old, she wore a grey and baby pink T-shirt, with light blue jeans and had smeared makeup on her face. The girl had gone to bed quite late the previous night, 2 AM, to be exact. Since she was on summer vacation, she could turn it at the latest hour. When she finally realized that she should go to bed, she decided to leave her clothes on as she slept, and change in the morning, since she was too tired. She was a very quiet girl, who never seemed to have many friends. However, truth be told, she had many friends, even though she preferred to be alone most of the time. This girl mostly went by the name of Donna.

As the sunrays shined through the windows, the teen's eyes fluttered open. She sat up and stretched her arms as she yawned, then proceeded to rub her eyes. The young teen then turned her head and starred at the clock resting just above the computer desk across the room; it read 9:32. By what Donna's mother had told her, the flight her family had booked had left about 3 hours ago.

'They must be about half way there by now.' She thought as she lazily stood up from the oversized couch.

Then, right next to the sofa, a small dog stretched its front legs as yawned loudly. The puppy was her grandparents' Shi-Tzu, named Buck. He then came over to Donna, jumped on her leg, and started licking the tip of her fingers. The teen chuckled softly and petted Buck's head. She then scratched her own head and made her way to the bathroom, slightly closing the door behind her. She opened one of the drawers and took out a hairbrush, then passed it through her hair a few times. She put the brush back down and examined herself in the mirror; her makeup was pretty smudged up, so she looked like some sort of street kid. She then walked out of the room and headed to the kitchen. She opened the fridge and grabbed the carton of milk, a bowl of blueberries and a few eggs. She then went to the pantry to get some flour, sugar, a large bowl, a skillet, a large spoon and a measuring cup. Buck came over to her and jumped on the side of the counter. He growled playfully at the teen, as if saying; "You're gonna save me some, right?" The girl chuckled and took out a few berries from the large bowl, then dropped them on the ceramic floor for the puppy. The Shi-Tzu went over and licked away the berries from the ground. The girl smirked at the dog and shook her head, then got to work on breakfast.

Although young Donna seemed to be alone in the big house, with her canine companion by her side, there was another presence in the building; in a separate room, was another young girl, approximately 10 years old, with curly hair, and was a few feet shorter than Donna was. This girl was her younger cousin. The young middle school student was a friendly, kind, sweet, outgoing kind of girl. While Donna was the dark, reserved, mysterious type, she seemed like the very opposite for her elder relative. Her name was Tracy.

While Donna was working on the food, the smaller figure stepped into the kitchen, tiptoeing her way to the other girl. Suddenly, as the elder girl started to open the milk carton, she felt something grab her sides and a loud shout echoed inside the oversized house. This shout, of course was answered by another yell that came from the younger family member, which was answered by a loud bark. The eldest girl dropped what she was doing and turned around, glaring at her younger sibling.

"Jesus Christ, Tracy! Are you trying to give me a heart attack or something?!" She asked.

The young pre-teen grinned mischievously at her cousin as she leaned against the counter.

"Maybe… but if you do, I ain't givin' you mouth-to-mouth." The younger one replied.

'Sarcasm. And in one so young…' Donna thought as she rolled her eyes at Tracy's comment, and then continued with her work.

Tracy observed impatiently; she knew Donna was always slow with her cooking, but it was worth the wait. The younger one had even tried to convince her cousin into opening a restaurant when she graduated. Donna, however, was interested in going into medical school; for animals, that is. Becoming a veterinarian has been her dream for as long as she can remember. In fact, she even started working at the vet clinic in town; she was in charge of feeding the animals and cleaning their cages, not to mention giving them some exercise occasionally. However, today was her day off, so she decided to make the best of it. After several minutes of fiddling with the ingredients, the teen opened the stove and put it on high. She then placed the skillet on the stove. Suddenly, the phone rang.

"I'll get it!" Tracy shouted as she ran up to the computer desk. She pressed a button on the charger and turned it on speaker mode.

"You've reached Donna and Tracy's hotline, how may I help you today sir?" She said.

"First off, I'm a lady, thank you very much." The woman said as she laughed. Donna recognized the voice and smirked.

"Hey mom, what's up?" She shouted as she placed some of the pancake batter in the pan.

"Not bad sweetie, not bad. How are you two holding up this morning?"

"Well, I almost died from a heart attack, but besides that pretty good." She said, glaring playfully at Tracy.

"You what?!" The woman asked, obviously confused.

"Long story Aunt Nathalie. Looong story…" The younger one snickered.

"Alright then, well we're on the plane now and the pilot said we could use our cell phones, so I figured I'd give you guys a call. Unfortunately they're gonna start screwing with the plane's controls if we use them for too long, so I can't stay on for long."

"Well, like I said, we're doing well. How far are you guys from Minnesota?"

"About half way there; we've still got a few more hours to go. If everything goes alright we should be there by 2:00 Pm."

"Cool. Hey, is Dominick with you guys? I have to ask him something."

Dominick was one of Donna's other cousins; although Tracy and Dominick didn't know each other well, since they came from different sides of the family, but they still got along whenever they met. Dominick was a few years older than Donna was, and the two always kept a conservation going, which made the preteen feel a little left out whenever the boy came along.

"I'm afraid he's in the washroom right now, and I have to hang up soon; do you want me to ask him, and I'll tell you once I call you back?"

"No thanks, it's kinda between me and him, so…"

"Alright then, I'll talk to you girls in a little while, kay? Bye now!"

"Kay, love ya!"

"Bye Aunt Nathalie!" Tracy said as she hung up.

The reason Donna and Tracy's families left, was that one of their great uncles was getting married. The two young girls didn't like to travel a lot, and Donna proposed that she babysit Tracy and Buck, while watching over the house for the week. Tracy had moved to a town a few hours away-from where she used to live-a few years ago. Therefore, in order to stay in contact, Donna and Tracy decided that every weekend, they would have a sleepover at their grandma's house; kind of like a weekly tradition.

Donna grabbed a spatula and started scrapping the pancakes off the skillet, then placed them in a large plate on the counter.

"So, did you sleep well last night?"

"Yep, although I had the weirdest dream…" the little girl answered.

The older one chuckled.

"Probably not as bad as mine…"

"What was yours about?"

"Mine was about a guy who started singing Spice Girls karaoke every time he drank too much root beer…" The elder girl said grimly.

Tracy gave a rather confused look toward her elder cousin, and then frowned.

"You ate some of grandpa's beef jerky last night, didn't you?"

Donna grinned innocently.

"Maaayybeeee…" she said, although it was obvious the answer was 'yes'. She then proceeded to asking what Tracy's dream was about.

"Well… I don't remember much, but at first, we were running on a beach, then something jumped out of the water. It looked like some kind of hovercraft, then suddenly I saw a blue thing zoom pass us and jump at it-" The young one was interrupted by the red-haired teen.

"What was the 'blue thing'?"

"…I dunno, actually. It looked like some kind of hedgehog…"

"…A hedgehog? Are you sure YOU didn't eat any beef jerky?"

"Yes, I'm sure." Tracy rolled her eyes.

Donna placed the last of the pancakes on the plate and placed it on the dining table. She went over to the pantry and grabbed a bottle of maple syrup. She then placed it on the table.

"So anyway, then what happened?" She asked the other girl.

"Not sure… After I saw that hedgehog go by, everything seemed to be a blur." The younger one replied.

The teen shrugged and grabbed a few plates, forks, and knives.

"Oh well. Anyway, hurry and eat up. We have a few arrons to run in town. And maybe we can go get a slushy at Malenfant's." Donna said with a grin.

"Yay, slushies!" The younger girl said as she clapped her hands together.


After about half an hour, the two girls were getting ready to go to town. Tracy had straightened her hair to make herself look older, and wore a white tank top, a light grey and baby pink hoodie and blue jeans. She also wore her glasses. Donna, on the other hand, wore a blue mini-skirt, black leggings, a black and red T-shirt, and black and red wristbands. She also wore large white hoop earrings, and a lot of eyeliner.

After getting dressed, Donna went into their room, where Tracy slept (she usually slept on the couch, since her grandparents' bed was too hard, and the bed in their room wasn't big enough for both of the girls) and grabbed her purse. Her dad had given her some money in case they ran low on food or other supplies while they were gone. She then went back into the kitchen and grabbed Buck's leash. When the puppy saw the leash, he started barking happily, as he knew he was going for a walk. Donna noticed Tracy wasn't in the house, and quickly slipped on her black flip-flops and headed in the garage. She locked the door behind her and put the key in her purse.

"Ready to go?" Donna asked her younger sibling.

"Ready!" Tracy replied.

Buck barked a few times, as if saying he was ready to go. Donna tightened her grip on the dog's leash, and the girls headed to town.

END OF CHAPTER 1