A/N: Okay, I know, it's been almost all OC up until now, except for the hooded man and "Marly". But, it WILL get more interesting... Eventually. Trust me.

p.s- I've been studying for exams and final tests, as well as finishing final projects for school. So, I haven't been able to write as much. However, I have a break! I'll try and get around 2 more chapters done very soon.

Well, enjoy! :) Thanks for reading.

"Dude," she gasped, as she cupped in her hands something she thought to be almost impossible for herself to possess. There it was, a small, red, crystal in the shape of a star. Around it hovered small shards seemingly made of the same material. "This... This can't be what I think it is. It can't be." she muttered, baffled, as it began to slowly hover above her cupped hands. "How...how did you...?"

He chuckled, as if she was over-reacting over the thing. "Pure blazing crystal," he explained, gesturing with his index finger as he spoke. "Harder to come across, but much more common than other materials, you must know."

She blinked her wide, pale blue eyes. "This is nuts. I'll have to show Leo!" she chimed. Her expression then darkened, and she looked up at the boy. "But...why would you show me this? Why not someone at that Laboratory?" she questioned, rocking her cupped hands left and right and watching the crystal mimic her movements. This wasn't normal. He could have donated it and earned some serious cash.

He gave her a simple grin. "They don't need to know. It's not their business to meddle with other worlds," he replied as if it was nothing, scratching his head. He shifted his gaze from Laura to a couple of people jogging on the trail.

She gave him a look. "Huh?" she asked, and his attention was shifted back to her.

"But us? We're a completely different story, you and I..." he trailed off, taking back the blazing crystal he had shown her and putting it in his pocket, and took a hold of Laura's hand. She was still in stupor. 'Is this guy for real? Is this day for real?'

"You and I are meant to search for the unknown. Can you feel them?" he asked her, lifting his other hand to rest where his heart would be. He received a shocked look from her as he withdrew his hand from hers. She was never one for physical contact. 'Plus... that feeling... almost like he was looking into me.'

"Eh? Feel who?" she questioned, wanting to get up and walk away. He was beginning to act a little sketchy to her. 'Is he high?' "Listen. The crystal deal was pretty cool and all, but honestly... I have no idea what, or who you're talking about!" she laughed nervously.

He sighed. "Maybe now wasn't the best time to come talk to you. Although..." he mused, staring into her eyes. He shook his head, chuckling sadly. "No. I'll see you again, but later on, I suppose-"

"Hey, Laur, you wouldn't BELIEVE what I had to go through to get these!" she heard Lionel call out to her from the trail, holding two bars of sea-salt ice cream.

"Marly" chuckled. "Seems to be a popular ice cream flavour even here." Laura turned to him to give him another strange look, but was suprised at what she saw. Nothing.

'He... Dissapeared? What?'

"You okay, Laura? You just looked over to the trees over there and completely dazed out." Lionel remarked, handing her her ice cream. She shook her head in confusion. "Didn't you see him? The guy I was just talking with. Pink-brown hair?" she asked frantically. Her friend shook her head, and gave her a concerned look. "Come on! He was sitting right next to me." He shrugged. "Heat's getting to you. You sure you're not becoming schizo?" he joked.

Laura sighed, taking a bite of her salty-sweet ice cream. "Great, now you think I'm crazy." she joked, punching him softy in the arm. He laughed, taking large bites of his ice cream.

"You know, this ice cream isn't all that bad, eh?" he said, deciding to change the subject.

Laura gave him a puzzled look for a second, wondering why he didn't push the previous subject further like he usually does with other things. She discarded the thought and smiled. "I told you it would be good! Just like salt water taffy."

He took another large bite. "Bittersweet. Kinda like your little moment with sir football captain, eh?" he joked, flashing her a cheesy, toothy smile. She scoffed in mock annoyance, and punched him in the arm playfully.

"Ha! Yeah right. He couldn't impress me if he was the only guy left in the world!" she exclaimed, shooting her arms up in the air. He grinned evilly, and took a bite of his ice cream.

"I'll hold you to that, you know." he warned jokingly, pointing at Laura with his half-eaten ice cream. She simply shook her head and smiled.

Already having finished his ice cream, Lionel lay back to gaze at the sky, but his expression darkened as he caught a glimpse of the dark clouds approaching from farther away. "Sheesh, one moment, it's a beautiful sunny day, and now tonight, we'll be hit by a storm..." he whined and stretched his arms and legs out as far as humanly possible.

Laura frowned as she noticed the small dark clouds approaching slowly. "Lame! And just when I thought it was going to be summertime for real..."

'What a weird day..'

The wind whistled ruthlessly through the weather panes throughout the apartment floors as Laura ascended the apartment stairwell. Ever since the elevator incident of '08 in her apartment building, she vowed to never, ever take the elevator ever again. The wind through the weatherpanes whistled sharper and sharper as she climbed the stairs, sounding more and more like a loud, distressed train whistle. It made her nervous.

As she reached the 12th floor, she felt more and more like someone was following her up the seemingly endless stairwell, without making a sound. The presence made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Her uneasiness had interpreted her patter against the cold to a ticking time bomb.

It's not even light out,

But you've somewhere to be

"Damn, the one weekend Adam takes off on a business trip," she panted, running faster up the steps, "why does he have to be some rich businessman, living up on the freakin' 15th floor?!"

As she reached the 14th floor (she always thought the lack of a 13th floor made no sense to her), she was relieved to have only one more flight of stairs to cross before she reached her set of hallways.

The metal door seemed colder than usual as she pushed the large bar into the mechanism, opening the door and running down to her hallway. As she slowed her pace down to a brisk walk, the air around her was chilly and crisp, like the air after the morning dew in April. On the 15th floor, the weather panes' whistling on the lower floors was now replaced by an eerie howling heard all throughout the apartment building. As she neared the turn to which her apartment was, the power was shut off.

She let out a quick yelp, but regained her composure. 'Freaking out isn't going to get me anywhere... I've gotta find the door,' she reassured herself mentally, placing her hand on the side of the wall and doors to feel out the numbers. As she came nearer to the intersection of the hallway, a very bright, menacing bolt of lightning came down, illuminating the hallway for a mere half a second.

Crash

As she peered forward to the hallway in front of her, she gasped as she saw a silhouette of a person, standing, watching her. As soon as she saw him, however, it was dark again. Frozen in fear, she was thankful that another weaker flash of lighting came down, seconds after the first one.

Crash

But this time, the silhouette was nowhere to be seen.

I know what you're thinking,

Still very afraid of this haunting, menacing figure she had seen, she bolted down her hallway. Almost stumbling from realising she had almost passed her door, she quickly fished her spare key out of her bra. Swiftly placing the key in the lock, she slid inside, locking the door behind her in several places.

But darling you're not thinking straight

Sliding her back down against the reinforced steel door, she finally felt safe. Panting from the running, she glanced over to the shaking windows, absolutely drenched on the outside from the incredible amount of rain. Regaining her composure once again, steadily breathing, she watched the water stream down the windowsill above the window like small waterfalls.

"At least I'm safe now... Even if I DID see someone out there... They can't get in. They can't touch me...' Laura ran her fingers through her hair, sighing.

Sadly things just happen we can't explain

~*~

A/N: ;) Appearances in the next chapter, and that's a promise! Review, and I'll update more ofteeeeen~ !

PS - Sorry this one is so short!