It was six o'clock when Brandon shot out of bed. He paused for a moment to yawn and rub his eyes, then woke up near instantly and slipped onto the hard wood floor. Brandon was an early waker. The boy could run a full day on nothing more than six hours and he loved doing just that. The boy took a look at his calendar to find it was Saturday. He nearly leapt for joy, but decided to keep all noise to a minimum as his parents and his two younger sisters were both still asleep.

Without thought to getting dressed, Brandon slipped out of his room and nearly fell down the stairs in the direction of the kitchen. He dug through the cupboard until the boy found a cereal he deemed worthy and poured four servings worth into the largest bowl he could find. As he ate, Brandon pulled out his Mom's laptop and clicked over to the site where Kelly posted her art. Sure enough there was the new picture of Michael she had shown him a few days earlier. Brandon scanned around her page, looking over her older art and some of her newer art for amusement, as he didn't want to turn on the TV and wake his parents up.

He took notice of an old MSN message from Kayla. She must have sent it to him the day earlier. He frowned as she didn't seem to be online anymore. Oh well…might as well see what she'd sent.

Brandon smiled at her short messages, asking if he were there and that she missed him, followed by death threats for not getting on the computer faster. He was glad that Kayla still thought about him and Kelly even though she was far away with a bunch of new friends. Brandon chewed away at his cereal, becoming lost in thought for a moment.

Kayla had always been the popular kind of kid. It wasn't just that she was stunningly beautiful with a very lady-like figure and perfectly tanned skin. Kayla had always been tough and strong, the one to make the decisions and never take no for an answer. Brandon laughed a little as he remembered her temper. Kayla's temper…whoo…that was a scary thing to think about. The girl was ruthless and nasty when she was angry, quickly resorting to screaming and physical confrontation and she was short tempered to boot. But even though Kayla had been pissed at Brandon almost twenty-four-seven when they were friends, she was equally as protective, confronting Brandon's bullies and sticking her neck out for him on more than one occasion. Brandon was really grateful for Kelly, at the beginning Kayla and him had hated each other with a passion…well…it was more like Kayla hated him and Brandon just loved pushing her buttons, but Kelly had convinced the two of them to set their differences aside so the three could foster a new friendship.

Kelly had been so timid back then. She was shy and withdrawn and never said anything without a stutter. Fortunately, with the combined efforts of himself and Kayla, they had brought her into reality, where she was cooler headed and more confident. Although recently she was very spacey.

Brandon took a quick bite of his cereal and leaned over the computer to write a response to Kayla. Which sort of ended up with him just writing the most random words his crazy mind could conjure and then clicking off, grinning satisfactorily.

"Helloooo?" Came the high, drawled out voice of Sarah over the phone, Brandon groaned.

"Hi Sarah, is Kelly there?" He responded, as monotonously as possible.

"Brandon!" Sarah cried with glee. "How are you?"

Brandon sighed. "I'm fine. Now can I please speak with Kelly?"

"Sorry!" Sarah sing-songed. "Kelly's still asleep!" If he could see her, Brandon would be certain that she was smiling evilly by now. "I coooould…wake her up for you! Ehehehee!"

Brandon waved his arms around for effect even though the only person who could see them was his little sister Ashley, who just laughed at him. "No no! That's okay, just tell her I called when she wakes up okay?"

"Aww…That's no fun…but okay!" "Bye Sarah."

"Hehehe…Byyyyye Brandon."

Brandon shut his phone off as quickly as his fingers could move. He sighed in relief the moment Sarah's stalkeresque breathing disappeared from his ears. He just knew she was doing it on purpose. That girl was such a lovely-dovey creep. She freaked him out all the time. Brandon wondered how Kelly managed to live along side her all the time.

Speaking of Kelly, the boy was a bit surprised to find her asleep at 2:00 p.m. The girl didn't normally sleep that much or for that long.

Brandon didn't dwell on it, instead he bounded back up to his room to entertain himself with Halo Reach for a couple hours.

Brandon wondered if she was sick. Kelly hadn't been to school that day and normally she told him if she was planning on missing. The girl was kind of frail, she was anemic and suffered dizzy spells, but she never let that stop her. Normally if she missed she was pretty out of it.

Brandon tossed his things into his backpack quickly and slammed his locker closed to dodge people and run up the stairs. He and Kelly were Sophomores, Kayla had been too, so their lockers were located on the first floor. Jaimie and Melanie were Freshman and Sarah was an 8th grader so their lockers were on to top floor, luckily they were close enough for Brandon to make it in time to catch them.

"Hey guys!" He called, prompting Jaimie, Sarah and Melanie to spin around and stop abruptly. Brandon hadn't foreseen this so he accidentally slammed into Jaimie who reeled back and stuck out her arms for balance. Brandon, unfortunately, was not as graceful. He came tumbling into the ground.

Melanie looked down at him with a raised eyebrow. "Nice going chicken legs." She joked and stuck out a hand to help him up. The boy grabbed it quickly and yanked himself to his feet.

"Augh…Fuck Brandon, what was that all about?" Jaimie groaned and readjusted her backpack around her shoulders.

"Ahaha! Sorry." Brandon apologized and rubbed the back of his head, smiling sheepishly. "I wanted to ask if you guys knew where Kelly was, she missed school today."

Jaimie and Melanie shook their heads and looked over to Sarah who shrugged. "Kelly's sick, she couldn't even get out of bed this morning."

Brandon looked worried. "Oh man…is she okay?"

Sarah shrugged again. "I think so. She'll probably be back tomorrow."

"I'll draw her something to cheer her up." Jaimie declared.

"No you won't." Melanie leaned over and crossed her arms with an all-knowing smirk on her face. "You always get distracted when you say that and never end up doing it."

Jaimie looked flustered. "What? Uhh…yeah, I'm a lazy shit aren't I?"

"Oh, but you're our lazy shit Jaimie!" Brandon joked and slung an arm around her shoulder.

"Thanks…" Jaimie muttered as the group picked up their pace, not wanting to miss their buses.

Brandon rushed to pick up the phone as it rang off the hook. His calls of "I GOT IT!" Rang through the house. He picked up the receiver and said as politely as he could, "Hello?".

"Oh, Brandon."

Brandon paused, it was Kelly's mom. "Oh, Hello Ms." He said quickly. "Do you want to talk to my Mom?"

"Oh, yes Brandon, but I would like to ask you a question first." She said, Brandon could tell she was distressed as Kelly's Mom was very open with her emotions.

"Um…Sure." Brandon swallowed, he could feel a lump growing in his throat. Something was wrong.

"You haven't happened to have heard from Kelly recently have you?" She asked, it was obvious in her voice that she was trying to sound calm.

"I…" Brandon stuttered. "I…No I haven't."

"That's alright." Kelly's Mom assured. "Could I speak with your Mom now?"

"Okay." Brandon said and called for his mother to pick up the phone. When he heard her voice on the other end he hung up and just stood there, staring at the ground.

Kelly was missing? How could that be? Kelly didn't go anywhere and she didn't have any friends who would be willing to take her somewhere or who even knew how to drive. Kelly was always careful to tell her parent's if she was going out. She would call them every time she went to his house if she hadn't already warned them in advance. Why would she just disappear?

Brandon rubbed his head and grabbed his Mom's laptop, checking to see if she was on. She wasn't and that scared him a little. Kelly was pretty much on the computer all the time.

The boy had to tell himself not to worry, that Kelly had probably just forgotten, she did that all the time. Yeah…she was okay. No problem.

Brandon couldn't help the knot in his stomach that told him otherwise.

A voice whispers sweetly into an empty abyss, the sound is lost to the darkness which hangs heavy as if a mist. "Oh my sweet Alice, you've become lost in Wonderland have you? Tut tut, I wouldn't take wonder in such shady desires if I were you…but you won't listen to me will you?"

There are footsteps that click and clack against a stone floor, one that cannot be seen. Swirling, dancing figures in the darkness recoil as the sound draws nearer, then stops altogether. A sigh drifts into the silence.

"This was a mistake…Something has to be done soon or it'll be too late." There is a pause. "Hmm…I don't have enough power over this place to do this on my own. As positively degrading as it is to admit…I'm going to need some help…"

Something sharp taps against a surface idly, the owner of such a weapon lost in thought at a decision they needed to make before time had run out.

"…but who could be trusted with such an important task?"

A jagged grin as long and wide as a human face could stretch appears out of the darkness. The disgustingly yellow crescent glows in the dim light.

"Of course. Why didn't I think of that sooner? Heeheeheeheehee…."