Three times a year, Joyce William Middle School held in their gym a science fair, a books and videos exchanges, and anything else they decided to come up with that year—whether it was a talent show, or family assembly, or something else, they always had something.

Tayoncé strolled through the maze of tables, scanning for her friend.

'Where is Mayonna?' she wondered.

It's been almost half an hour and she still couldn't find her friend…and she kept feeling like she was being watched... The feeling had been creeping up her neck until it tingled at the base of her hair. And she quickened her pace.

"Tayoncé!" someone yelled, stopping the girl in her tracks, her wavy ponytail slapping her in her face from the stop.

Tayoncé turned. "Mayonna," she sighed in relief. She had begun to think her friend stood her up.

"I thought we were supposed to meet at the fiction/sci-fi section," Mayonna reminded her, she pointed a manicured, pink-polished hand in the direction; her curly blonde ponytail and sky blue skirt swishing with her body movements. She was referring to their shared loved of the impossible.

Tayoncé looked around, not realizing she had pasted it. She apologized, telling her she forgot. Mayonna's bright baby-blue eyes looked at her; she completely understood—she had become somewhat of Tayoncé's living diary, in a way, where there were no secrets or awkwardness between them.

"That's okay," Mayonna's mother forgave her, jumping in behind them. She gave the poor girl a reassuring smile which was returned.

To Tayoncé, they were exiting the school on their way to happiness...or so she thought.

*~o~0~o~*

It is almost two weeks since, Tayoncé was no longer afraid to go outside. She was now in new clothes, she didn't have Esperanza with her as much, and for once, she wasn't afraid if she ran into her mother. For once in her life, she felt safe because she knew that she had somewhere to go and she was protected. For once, she had confidence that something good was going to happen in her life. She was believing in happiness, something that had seemed impossible to and for her, for so long. But no, here she was, happier, practically skipping down the sidewalk actually, joy almost bursting from her.

Now—she was on an errand to get...something from Wal-Mart.

She paused. The store was just two blocks away, and already she couldn't remember what it was she was sent to get. She cursed herself and kept walking, eyes open for a pay phone.

She spotted one partly hidden at the corner next to a tall building. Her hand shuffled around in her pocket for change as she held the phone to her ear.

There was no kind of transportation vehicle in sight. She didn't take notice.

After speaking to Mayonna's mother, she hung up and began walking away, but not before hearing a nearby hiss.

"Pssst!"

She paused, fear stuttering her steps.

"...Is—-does your name happen to be Tayoncé Wallis by any chance?"

For the first time she noticed a man looking to be in his early twenties and wearing a tall metal hat standing further down the way. A older, red-haired girl stepped beside him.

"W-who wants to know?" Tayoncé looked to both of them. They wore an odd attire that she wasn't sure how she felt about. "W-w-why? What do you want?"

"So…are you Tayoncé..?" the redhead asked.

"…..Yeah. Yeah, so what?" she shrugged, tried to not appear nervous.

"Oh, good," the man sighed. "We need you to come with us."

He held out his hand; Tayoncé backed away. He let his rejected arm fall.

"...Why...?" Tayoncé asked cautiously, feet still falling in step backwards.

"Because you're in danger!" the redhead said exaggerated.

Tayoncé looked at them just as they appeared to her: crazy and weird. "Of what?" she smiled then laughed sarcastically. "I'm not in danger anymore. I'm safe from—-" She caught herself before giving away anymore information to these strangers.

What if they were with her mother, Darla? Tayoncé knew that Darla wouldn't go for much help with tracking her down, much less a young pair who looked nothing like the woman.

Tayoncé looked back at them and she could've sworn they were looking at her with sympathy and pity, but it was gone before she could make sure.

Tayoncé turned and ran.

Just when she was bringing to feel comfortable and safe, she would run into kidnappers, she thought to herself.

What if they were with Darla, who must have paid ten some kind of way to get Tayoncé arrested for all the bad things she would have allegedly done…?

But what if they weren't…?

Tayoncé just ran. But what she didn't expect were for them to catch up to her and practically haul her over a shoulder.

It was all a blur; she was kicking and screaming one second, and in another someone had called out "RUN!" and Tayoncé had somehow managed to peer behind her, and saw Darla.

Darla. She had seen Darla! The devil-mother herself!

Darla didn't notice them at first, but when she heard Tayoncé's scream, there was no mistaking the rage in her eyes.

'No, NO! Not yet; not now!'

Darla screamed.

Tayoncé's heart dropped, and all at once, fatigue and hunger hit her hard.

She was still bouncing on the man's shoulder, all three still running from Darla's chasing, when Tayoncé noticed they turned down an alleyway. And now, she was certain that something was up; that she was probably going to die.

The strangers were wheezing over their knees. As far as they could tell, they had lost that loud woman.

"We…need…to get her…in the time—" The man began, in between gulps, practically dropping Tayoncé to the ground.

The red-head interrupted: "No…we can't…we'll be—-"

"—-She's already seen it…!" He shot back throwing his arm in Tayoncé's direction, showing that the girl was already staring up at a large red, metal machine of some sort. The two continued to bicker.

This vehicle was unlike any other she'd ever seen—it was red and white, designed similar like an airplane, about the size of an average car. Her mouth couldn't help but drop in awe.

Suddenly the debate behind her stopped. Tayoncé turned her head to see the horrid and shocked expressions on both of the kidnappers' faces as they literally picked her up and put her inside.

Tayoncé wanted to scream and tried to protest.

"She's coming!" Was all the redhead needed to shriek before Tayoncé heard the heels clicking—of the only person who would go out in clothes too bright colored and too tight, a hair wrap, and a cigarette between lips.

"Darla," Tayoncé rasped.

"Hurry up!" the redhead called to the man.

Tayoncé felt herself being lifted and thrown onto a couch of some sort before the man scrambled around to the driver's seat. He jumped in at the last minute, as they all saw the older dark skinned woman at the end of the alleyway. Raging brown eyes met the frantic green of the red-head, fellow brown and almost black of the stranger and Tayoncé.

Tayoncé had never seen her so angry - and it shook her with terror.

She knew that if Darla had anything in her possession, that Darla would be throwing whoever it was their way.

The man quickly pressed buttons and pulled levers; the vehicle began to rise off the ground. Tayoncé looked around still in shock, then the red-head screamed and pointed behind them. The clicking of metal echoed the alleyway walls and they looked back to see Darla aiming a gun their way.

The gunshots hurt her ears.

A glass shield surrounded them just in time as the bullets bounced off. The young girl's eyes widened as the two strangers scurried to strap themselves in; the man trying to make Darla's aiming difficult as he gained altitude, swerving the vehicle left and right.

Tayoncé didn't care if she was in a weird flying vehicle with complete strangers at the moment - they were being shot at!

Bullets ricocheted off the vehicle. Tayoncé shrinker backwards into the seat.

Small town buildings, the alleyway, Darla roughly the size of a dime was the last she saw before everything became a rainbow-blur, and was soon replaced by large, bright and colorful buildings. Tayoncé couldn't help but gawk out the window.

The man looked in the rearview mirror and smiled at the young girl. "Welcome to Todayland. Year 2040."

A/N: Rewriting this poor thing. That's why you will see changes and (hopefully) better writing.