Dinner with the boys was nice, but somewhat awkward; my dad felt uncomfortable talking to Jimmy because of his disability, which I thought was somewhat funny, because he was probably the easier of the two to talk to; Tweek was sweet, but he was spazzy and sometimes he would get into weird trances where he wouldn't respond right away.

After the boys went home, I went upstairs to put Van to bed since dad agreed he'd do the dishes tonight. As I expected, Van was somewhat afraid of the apparition, but I didn't dare to tell him that it was real; instead, I tucked him in and said I would stay with him until he fell asleep; I was going to stay up to investigate, but I ended up falling asleep too. I finally woke up from his bed around four in the morning, a bit earlier than I typically woke up, so I chose to go back to my bedroom; I had a small television in my room that I turned on and scrolled until I found the history channel; Terrance and Phillip wouldn't come on for another two hours since it was Sunday.

As I was dozing off, I heard a rattle at my window and fell out of my bed. Skeptical, I went over to the window to investigate; upon opening I saw what I expected, but didn't want, to see. The entity with the mask and purple cape. I could see an M on his chest this time. I couldn't show fear like last time; he wasn't tall, I might be able to take him and I could always get dad or call the cops. Hesitant, I took a deep breath and opened the window.

It looked at me, silent, still.

"What?" I asked, backing away.

It swooped into my room, carefully and I flinched a bit.

"I am Mysterion," The voice, clearly male, stated.

"Okay…" I didn't know what else to say. "Um, I'm Emma, but listen you can't just–"

"There is someone plotting against you," He said.

"What are you even talking about?" I asked.

"His name is Mosquito and he is trying to ruin your reputation," He said. "You must be careful."

I couldn't believe any of what I was hearing. Before I could say another word, he disappeared into the night. Confused and afraid, I shut my window and ran downstairs to make coffee. Caffeine calmed me down. The sun wasn't up yet when I poured my cup, but I didn't care; I left a note on the counter incase dad woke up saying that I went for a morning jog, which was a lie, and I ran to the only house I knew would listen to me at five in the morning; Kenny's house.

It was a longer walk, but his house was the only one I knew would be awake at five in the morning and that's because that's when his parents went out for the day; I didn't know what his dad did, but his mom worked at Olive Garden; my dad said he saw her there once when passing by.

I could tell his parents were gone by the time I arrived, but I knocked on the door anyways; I wished I knew which window was to Kenny's bedroom; their house was one story anyways so I wouldn't have had to climb up anything to get to it either. After two minutes, a little girl timidly opened the door; she only looked to be a few years younger than I was at the time; I was the oldest fourth grader, too, which was sometimes awkward. I wondered if she was Karen; I assumed so, so I went with it.

"Hi, Karen," I greeted and smiled. "I'm sorry it's early, sweetie, but is Kenny home?"

She looked behind her; Kenny was already in the living room, looking onward at us in his pajamas. Their house was worn down and it made me feel sympathetic that they had to live in such conditions; back in NY I had a friend like them that didn't have much money; sometimes we'd find their family on the streets and let them live with us for a few days, but that was back when mom was still around; her heart was so grand. She turned back to me and nodded; taking my hand, she led me inside.

"Hey," I greeted him. "I'm sorry it's early, I'm just a bit spooked and I thought you might be able to help."

He nodded. Karen let go of my hand and shyly walked away, probably to her room. I hoped I didn't wake her.

Kenny sat on the stained sofa; I did the same.

"There was… something," I began. "And initially it terrified Van and I didn't think it was real until I saw it myself but it was watching us; it called itself Mysterion and warned me of something called Mosquito, but I don't think it was talking about the insect."

He nodded.

I continued, "I don't know what to do but it has been going on for a couple of days now and Van can hardly sleep and now it's effecting me too. Does weird stuff like this happen often in South Park?"

He nodded.

"I'm sorry, I just couldn't sleep and I didn't know who else to go to and I figured you'd be awake because your parents leave so early," I shrugged. "I can go, I don't mean to be a bother."

I stood up frantically, prepared to leave, realizing how annoying I must've been as he grasped my hand.

"What?"

"It's okay," He sighed. "Whatever it was; it's a being that looks over people. I've seen it. It's here to keep you safe, Em."

"Really?" I asked.

He nodded.

I smiled a bit, "Thanks. Oh, and before I leave… I'm going to go shovel yards later with the other guys if you want to join us; I don't know if they told you, I called them last night to ask but I figured you were asleep, because Eric said to not call you."

He looked surprised at this but shrugged.

"So, if you want to come, we'll split what we make with you; and if Eric tries to take it all, I'll make sure you get your cut. I'm heading out around ten and we're meeting at Kyle's. After, we were going to go to Benny's."

"Isn't that where the Goth kids hang out?" He asked.

I nodded, "Yeah, well Eric isn't invited but the others are because I promised Henrietta and she said I could bring you guys as long as Eric doesn't come."

He nodded. I bent down to hug him quickly since he was still sitting on the sofa and said, "Oh, tell Karen that I think she's very pretty."

And with that, I took my leave, reassured over what I assumed to be the town's guardian angel, and excited for the day.

It was only six thirty when I got home and nobody was awake. I reheated the coffee pot and took another cup from it. I considered calling Jimmy's home phone to talk to him for a while, since he was also an early riser, but decided against it and started breakfast instead. It was weird; there were only four early risers besides me in town: Kenny, Kyle, Jimmy, and Tweek; Tweek and Kyle were the only ones with valid reasons to get up early, so it amazed me that there were more kids who enjoyed the mornings like I did; I figured I'd have to have the four of them sleep over sometime so we could watch sunrise together and take pictures; it was one of my favorite pastimes in the morning.

The day was bound to be exciting, nonetheless.