"And our few good times will be rare because we have the critical sense and are not easy to fool with laughter." - Charles Bukowski

As we took our seats at the table in the outside dining area of the restaurant, I instructed one of the waiters to bring a booster seat for Trunks, along with the massive order of food that was only considered a small lunch for the two Saiyan men. I had my son seated on my lap as we waited , and noticed the way Vegeta was shaking his head.

"What is it now?" I asked, not really caring for the answer.

"I still don't understand why you insist on having him sit in one of those things," he said, genuinely confused.

I sighed . "We've been over this already. He's just a child, Vegeta, and children need things like that to help them," I explained, trying not to get too frustrated in front of said child.

Vegeta gave an unconvinced face. "Help him how?"

I shot him an annoyed face right back. "Seriously?" I deadpanned. I lifted Trunks off of my lap and placed him in the seat between the two of us, and the only part of him that could still be seen was the top of his head.

"He can stand up to eat," he suggested.

"That's definitely not happening," I shot down, immediately, before picking my son back up and seating him back on my lap.

"Even still, his motor skills are up to that of someone three times his age,"

"And I don't doubt that,"

"So why the need for that ridiculous cup?"

I gave him an incredulous look. "His motor skills have nothing to do with the fact that he is prone to spilling things,"

"He wouldn't be spilling things if he had more practice drinking from a real cup,"

He had a point, but I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction. "Okay, now you're just grasping at straws," I brushed off, picking the boy back up when the waiter came to put the booster seat in place. I thanked the man as he said that our food will be out shortly and left. "I know that you believe him to be above all of this because of your half of his DNA, and in some ways he is, but he is still just a child. I don't want him to feel like he has to grow up so fast, because we both know what it's like to have pressure placed on us at a young age," I lamented as I strapped him to the seat. I finished and settled in my seat before turning to look at him. "Can you honestly say that you want him to grow up the same way you did?"

Vegeta visibly softens, well as much as a person with an infinite scowl could, but didn't get the chance to respond to my question when multiple waiters and waitresses approach the table with our meal.

With our food laid out before us, the unorthodox brood that was us began to eat in plain to see, tension-filled silence.

Halfway through lunch, Vegeta surprised me by being the first to start a conversation. Probably surprised himself, too.

With his eyes still firmly on his plate, he asked me a question. "What did you find out about the damage to the field?" He continued to slowly eat at his food, obviously waiting for an answer.

I looked up and placed my utensils on the edge of the plate before wiping my mouth with a napkin. "I had just gotten the report a couple of minutes before you walked in, so I haven't had the chance to properly look at it," I reached over and grabbed my glass of water, took a sip, and placed it back down. "The team that I sent out took some photos of the scene that looked odd to me,"

"What do mean? Odd how?" he asked , still looking down.

"There were some things that I saw in one of the photos that just didn't look right to me." As I relayed this information, there was a sudden feeling that crept up my spine, like winter itself was dragging its fingertips along my back. I calmly peered around us.

He finally looked up at me. "What is it?"

I didn't see anything out of the ordinary, so I turned back to him. "Nothing," I convinced myself of this.

Vegeta gave me a look before shaking his head. "The scene was a complete mess when I saw it. The ground around it was burnt and that turbine was reduced to nothing but a pile of smoldering ash, so I checked to see if I could sense something off about it, and I didn't find anything,"

That fully grabbed my attention. "You didn't sense anything wrong about the field?"

"No, I didn't,"

"But..." I trailed off. That report mentioned that the field had dangerously high levels of electricity flowing through it. Surely Vegeta would have picked up on that, right? I chose not to share this with him, deeming it unimportant. I just stared thoughtfully for a moment before speaking. "So do you have any theories on this?"

"Not really, but you know that it's not impossible that it could have been caused naturally,"

"I know that it's possible to place blame it on that storm, but...I just can't seem to do that right now,"

He sighed. "Okay, based on what you've read and seen so far, what do you believe happened that night?"

I sighed , thoughtfully. "I don't know, but I intend to take a better look at those photos." Something about not knowing much about that situation was making me increasingly uneasy. I was a woman who needed to be in control and aware of her surroundings at all times, but, with me not even being in control of my own love life, by that point that need had only gotten greater. Although I was content on being content with my personal life, I was still a perfectionist businesswoman who only enjoyed her mysteries in movies and books.

Vegeta was about to say more when he was interrupted by the sound of my ringtone.

I quickly fished the phone out of my bag. "Sorry. I forgot to put it on vibrate," I apologized, looking at the small screen. I sighed upon seeing the name. "Excuse me, I have to take this one." I got up from the table and walked a fair distance away before answering the call. "Hello,"

"Hi, B," non other than the voice of my ex-boyfriend came through the speaker in his usual friendly tone.

"Hey, stranger, long-time no see," I said with a small smile. "Well, technically, I still haven't seen you but... you get where I was going with that,"

"Yeah, I know its been a while. I've been pretty busy since the season started," he told me.

I placed a hand on my hip. "To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?"

"Uhh," he dragged out. I could practically see the way he was no doubt rubbing at the scruff of hair on his jaw. "Well, I'll be in town over the weekend and I wanted to know if you were free to meet up...for lunch,"

I raised an eyebrow. "Okay," I said, skeptically. It wasn't that he was asking to have lunch together, we had done so a few times over the last couple of years, it was how unsure he sounded when he asked. "I'm sure I could make some time...but is there any particular reason for this visit? Not that you need one,"

"I kinda need to do something that requires me to be in West City, and it sort of involves needing to see you beforehand,"

I leaned against the side of the building. "What exactly is this something?"

"Something important that I've been putting off for too long," he alluded.

"What is it?"

"I'll tell you when we meet up,"

"Why can't you just say what it is now?" I pressed. I did not enjoy not knowing something.

"Because I don't want to talk about it over the phone. And plus, its a good excuse for us to see each other. I have missed you, you know," he said, an obvious smile in his voice.

I could not stop the sincere but mournful smile that appeared on my lips from his words. Yamcha always had a way about himself, a simplistic charm, that could make a city gal like myself swoon. But, even after knowing him for close to twenty years and having dated him for more than half of those years at that point, I still refused to tell him that. Lord knows he had enough women stroking his ego back in those days.

I continued to smile as I shook my head. "I'll see what I can do for Saturday or Sunday, okay?" I told him.

"That's good enough for me," he agreed. "So, how's the kid doing? He anything like his father yet?" he lightly joked, but I knew that there was no malice behind it. Trunks was still a sore subject for him, having been conceived less than year after we had split up for the hundredth time, but he had shown signs of warming up to him and accepting the way things had turned out.

I looked back over my shoulder at the two people still occupying my table. Vegeta was currently handing our child a napkin, gesturing for him wipe his mouth. Trunks had food all over his face, and Vegeta was cringing at the mess. I smirked at the sight. "Not yet," I playfully said. "Hey, Yamcha, I gotta go," I turned back forward, missing the way Vegeta's eyes darted in my direction.

"Is this a bad time?"

"No, it's just something that I want to get back to. I'll get back to you about this weekend,"

"Alright. Later, B,"

"See you later, Bandit," I said goodbye to my old lover before hanging up the phone and walking back to the table and reclaiming my seat. "Sorry about that. Now, what were you saying?"

We resumed the conversation from before, but I could clearly see that his mood had been greatly soured since I came back to the table, and I wasn't entirely certain as to why that was. Even though he was attempting to be civil by holding a conversation with me, he was behaving far too standoffish for me to not say something about it.

I took a sip of water and placed it back down. "Is there something wrong?" I asked.

Vegeta hadn't made eye contact with me since I sat back down, and he still didn't when he replied. "Why do you ask?" he just continued to eat.

"Is this about me cutting you off to answer the phone? Because if it is, I am sorry about that," I tried to offer.

"There is no need for an apology. You've done nothing wrong, right?" he said, way too pointedly for my taste.

I was slightly taken aback by his tone. "Is there something you wanna tell me? Or are you just gonna sit there and pout about it until I inevitability find out for myself?" I asked this in attempt to get under his skin, wanting him to tell me what it was. I refused to believe that he would actually be upset over me putting him on hold. It truly did happen so much that he seemed to not be bothered by it anymore. So why the attitude towards that particular incident? I didn't know the answer at the time.

Vegeta was visibly frustrated, as evident when his darkening onyx eyes met my annoyed blue ones. His glare was challenging, but I didn't falter, and simply returned the glare.

During our time together, even back in those days, I felt as though I might have known him better than most, that I could read him like a graphic novel. But that was only possible when he wasn't so guarded. And at that moment, he might as well have had a force field up. Something was clearly bothering him, and I just wanted to know what it was. Even though the answer was right in front of me.

I glanced over at the small child seated between us. My eyes softened as I watched him sloppily eat his sundae. I turned my gaze back to the man across from me. "We'll talk about this later. I don't want to do this in front of him," I softly whispered.

Vegeta scoffed , an extreme show of pettiness on his part. "Whatever," and he just went back to eating.

I picked up a napkin and wiped the ice cream from Trunks' cheeks. After I was done, I leaned back in my seat.

Feeling the air around us becoming more and more dour, I relented from saying more. Nothing good had ever come of us bickering in public places anyway; Vegeta would either blow something up or fly through something if he got too upset during one of our heated arguments. Either way, I would always be left to deal with the repercussions. Oddly enough, those incidents had yet deter me from keeping up my part in our tumultuous union.

I inwardly groaned. I had become the woman I thought was long dead and buried after having officially ending things with Yamcha. You would think as a woman with photographic memory, I could've remembered not to fall back into old habits. The only difference between back then and those years with Yamcha, though, was that I was fully aware of how caught up in the void of passion I was with the Saiyan and I had no plans of looking for a way out.

I was stuck...again.

Suddenly, another chill ran up my spine. I quickly whipped my head around to see if I could spot an unwanted observer.

I guess Vegeta decided to take notice of my movements. "What are you doing now, woman?" he reluctantly asked.

I continued to look around as I replied. "I have this weird feeling that we're being watched,"

"You're the face of a multi-billion dollar corporation, of course you feel that way," he dismissed my suspicions.

Sure enough, there were actually a lot of people who were staring or taking photos, amazed by the sheer presence of Bulma Briefs sitting amongst the commoners like a normal person. Just another day in the spotlight.

"But that's not what I'm talking about. It feels like someone is...I don't know, watching us. It's difficult to explain." Though I tried anyway. "It's just a very foreboding feeling, like the kind you get if you were in a horror movie situation and it feels like at any moment someone is about to jump out and grab you,"

Vegeta gave a mildly confused, sort of upset look. "That's oddly specific for just a feeling, don't you think?"

I shrugged as I tried to slyly glance at the people in the general area. "Don't judge me. It was the only example I could think of at the moment,"

He sighed, sounding particularly hesitant about what would come out of his mouth next. "If it makes you feel any better, I don't sense any threats in this area," he offered.

I could hear his anger faltering under his attempt to give me peace of mind. "It does," I sweetly accepted. "Thank you, 'Geta," he looked away, now focused on something really interesting to his left. I smirked at his bashful action.

Half an hour later, we finished lunch and was now preparing to leave. I paid the bill, of course, and as we were walking out and about to enter my jet, my phone rings yet again. I grabbed it out of my bag and groaned again at the name I saw.

Very reluctantly, I slid my finger across the screen and answered the call. I sighed before pressing the device to my ear. "Hi Van," I said with forced cheerfulness.

"Bulma," an annoyingly stern voice harshly greeted on the other end. It was my older cousin, on my mother's side, and the Vice President of the company, Vanessa, better known as Van, Stone.

"What can do for you today, Van?" I reluctantly asked as I strapped my son into his safety seat.

"I need to see the designs for the new jets to give to the workers here,"

I completed the task and prepared to get in the driver's seat. "Today?"

"Please tell me that you've finished those designs for the five new models," Van practically growled.

"I finished them all yesterday," I insisted.

"Okay, now I'm confused. So what's the issue?"

"There's no issue. The prints are in my office, and I'm not there right now," I explained, leaning against the outside of the vehicle.

"Where are you?"

"I'm in Central City with Trunks and his father,"

"I'm sorry, is he is there for a doctor's appointment?" Van asks, obviously not giving a damn.

"No,"

"Is he there for any mandatory reason at all?"

I pinched the bridge of my nose with a sigh, not wanting to answer the spiteful question. "No,"

"Well then, I suggest you get yourself to the office and bring me back those prints before the end of the day," having said that, Van hung up without so much as a warning.

I allowed the hand that was holding the phone to drop down to my side in defeated frustration. I looked inside the vehicle before climbing in. I looked over at the man sitting in the passenger seat. "I have to go back to my office. Something just came up, and now I have to meet Van over at the office in East City,"

Vegeta almost looked disappointed by this, but it was hard to tell with him sometimes. "Do you want me to take the boy with me?"

"Would you? Who knows how long this might take, and I don't want him waiting with me," I told him.

"Alright," he agreed.

I started up the jet. "I'll be passing near West City. You two can get out then, okay?" He shrugged one shoulder as he settled into the seat. I turned my attention forward before taking off.

Another relaxing evening cut short.

I Walked along the crowded sidewalk of the bustling city street, now observing my surroundings with an odd mixture of confusion and wonder dancing in my eyes.

Over the course of my first several days here, I had seen some of the strangest and most fascinating things on this planet. The ways in which the cities were separated without the need for boarders or walls was very perplexing, to the point where one had to wonder what system this planet used to keep the citizens of its many sections apart the way it had. And the oddest part, at least for me, was that they were all free to come and go as they pleased, which was how I made my way into the sector known as Central City with little to no effort, aside from walking around after leaving the means of public transportation known as a train.

On a literal quest in search of a very specific someone in this particular city, amongst a population of millions, I was now becoming frustrated by my own lack of information on where to go. I crossed the street.

This was truly preposterous. I began staring around for sign that I was going in the right direction. How could anyone be expected to get anywhere when everything looked so similar? I stopped to study a rather tall and large building with an enormous logo hung above the front entrance. I hadn't seen a structure similar to that one yet. I looked at the other surrounding buildings. All were nearly identical to each other. 'Maybe the native inhabitants found this easier to build or replicate. A very infantile way of thinking for a supposedly advanced planet' I thought at the time.

It seemed that the technology was up to par with previously held expectations, or, more specifically, all forms of technology that was branded with the letter c. The outer designs were simplistic enough, while the inner workings could almost be considered magnificent. 'The designer of such marvels was worthy of meeting with before departing the planet' I mused. Little did I know.

I crossed another street and turned a corner into a shopping district. There were groves of various shops, all aligned on that singular street. Walking farther down, I came across an eatery. By absolute chance, I stared out at the dining patrons sitting outside. One face in particular stood out above the rest.

There, seated between an adult male and female, was a small child with a face that caused flashes of memories to come crashing through my mind like thunder.

'That could not be possible!' I thought in a panic, trying to get a better look. He had the same face! But then I got a closer look at the boy's light and delicate features. His hair and eyes didn't match up.

It had to be a coincidence that he looked so similar, though, right? That animal is probably dead and gone by now' I attempted deduce, walking at an angle to see the adults beside the child. The female suddenly looked to the side, further obscuring her face. The two adults appeared to be engaged in conversation, although it was difficult to tell without seeing their faces. The female suddenly stood up and walked away from the table. Abandoning trying to see her, I turned to the male. Reversing the angle in which I was going, I could now finally see a full profile.

"It's King Vegeta!" My breathing becoming erratic as I stared into the face that had haunted my dreams for decades. But this should not be! He should be dead, along with the rest of that horrid race! As my mind raced to make sense of what I was seeing, a thought occurred. What if this was Vegeta II?

Now glaring, his profile became clearer. Even without the goatee, the man was still the spitting image of his father. Looking back to the child, I pieced the scene together. That must be his son and that female must be the boy's mother.

White hot fury flowed through my veins. He has a family! After the countless families that were destroyed at the hands of those beasts, he has the audacity to have one of his own?! What female in her right mind would allow something like this to happen?

As if on que, the female returned to the table. She began talking with the savage once again. An uncertain amount of time passed as I was now madly and obsessively glaring at the small family. The female suddenly leaned back in her seat. A few moments later and she was now frantically looking around. When she finally turned her head in my direction, her entire face could now be seen.

The glare I was holding had melted away, almost immediately. I was now gazing at a porcelain complexion accented perfectly by mesmerizing blue eyes and light hair.

I knew that she would not be able to spot me from where I stood across the street, so I just continued to study her features as if she were a well-preserved art piece. My focus was suddenly broken by someone bumping into my left side, causing the person to drop the items that they were carrying.

"I am so sorry!" the person, a young male, said as he hurriedly picked up his fallen items.

"No apologies necessary," I said as I crouched down to help the person. "Here, allow me to help,"

"No, you shouldn't have to do this because I wasn't paying attention," the male said.

"It is partially my fault as well. I was idly standing in the middle of the public walkways." I finished gathering the items off of the ground. I handed him the remainder of his things.

"Thanks," he said.

"You are welcome. Just try to pay more attention when out and about like this. You could get hurt,"

He nodded in understanding but then leaned forward a bit. "Hey, you know, you have some really amazing eyes,"

"I believe I did know that, but thank you for reminding me," it says, not sure why the male said it.

"They're really cool. Are they contacts?"

I was bewildered by the question. "Contacts?" I echoed. "What is that?"

"Uhh. Don't worry about it," he dismissed and turned in the direction of the eatery. "So, what were you staring at over there?"

I turned back to as well and pointed. "Who is that? The female sitting with the male and small child,"

"Oh, wow! You don't know who that is?" I shook my head. "That is the most famous woman on the planet! That's Bulma Briefs. She's a brilliant engineer and scientist and she's the new president of Capsule Corp," he said, dreamily.

"So that's Bulma Briefs," I said, thoughtfully. "What is this... Capsule Corp?"

"Everything with this..." he lifted his hand and the device on his wrist had the same branding on it as the building from earlier. "logo on it is made by Capsule Corp.," he patiently explained. He gestured his head back toward the couple. "And the scary looking dude sitting with her is...Virgil or something like that,"

"Vegeta," I practically snarled.

"Yeah, I think that's his name. He's the father of her little boy,"

I had already figured that much. I had to keep from regurgitating at the confirmation I did not want. I could feel my fingertips crackling with power. "Thank you for your time," I said as politely as I could with a quiet storm brewing on the inside.

"No problem," the male sheepishly nodded before continuing on his way.

I never took my eyes off of the brood at the eatery. "Bulma Briefs of Capsule Corp., huh? Well, this certainly changes things."

I watched as the small group left the eatery and piled into a flying craft. I calmly made my way in the same direction, accidentally bumping into a parked vehicle, causing the alarm of every other vehicle on the street to go off.

I paid the commotion no mind as I followed the flying craft.

Trying desperately not to drag my feet as I made my way into the elevator, I was now in possession of the prints my cousin requested and was on my way up to the top floor of the East City building with five tubes under my arm. I was watching the numbers rise on the small monitor, silently hoping that the ascension would slow down, not in too much of a rush to get out of the metal box.

Though it was disappointing to not be able to go home with my son, I understood that the workplace is not somewhere a child should be.

The last time I tried to have Trunks wait for me at the office, the boy disappeared, only to later be found inside of a Capsule House while it was in the process of being capsulized. It would have been a real scare for me had I not been aware of how the process worked. He wasn't harmed, but that was when I decided that maybe it was time to teach him to have some discipline in order to prevent future incidents. That was a year prior, and he had yet to be anywhere in any of my offices, at home or otherwise for more than a few minutes until he became a teenager. He may have alien DNA on account of his father, but that had never stopped me from worrying about him on all of the time.

On the thought of Trunks, I also made it my business to keep him as far away from the East City branch as I possibly could in particular. Along with not wanting him to have wait on me, and inevitability do something with such reckless abandon that I might have had a small panic attack, I just didn't enjoy bringing him around the bitter person who is in charge of managing the place.

I know that's sad, but that was just how I felt about her back then.

Anyway, as the elevator came to stop, I forced myself to straighten with a groan. The doors slid open, revealing a busy floor full of people moving all around. I navigated my way through the sea of paperwork and employees until I reached the door opposite to the elevator.

I walked straight inside and was greeted with the sight of a woman berating one of the employees. As per usual.

"You have got be joking!" she yelled, throwing some papers at the person's face. "A child could've come up with something better than this! Are you trying to ruin this company's reputation with your lack of creativity?"

The employee, recognized as one of the male architects, stammered. "N-no ma'am, of course not!"

"Then take this pathetic excuse for an infrastructure you've managed to pull out of your ass and make it so that we won't be made a mockery of when the building doesn't pass inspection on account of your laziness on the finishing day. Do you understand me?" she scolded, making a six foot one man appear five foot two.

"Yes ma'am,"

Poor guy. He should have known better than to pitch something with to that ball-buster. I inwardly shook my head. Even though I never really had a superior in my life, I knew what it was like to be on the receiving end of the woman's fury, and I wished it on no one.

"Then get the hell out of my office, and don't come back until you can prove to me that you're at least more creative than a three year old!"

The man gave an unenthusiastic nod before turning on his heels and walking towards the door.

I gave him a nod. "Hi Charles,"

He forced a smile and returned the nod. "Hello, Madam President," he said, slipping past me and shutting the door behind himself.

As expected, Van turned her glare on me. Her fiery blue eyes stood out against her tan skin. Her honey-brown locks were pulled back into a tight bun with not a hair out of place, giving herself an urbane business look that went perfectly with her gray suit and black, short sleeved blouse, with the matching gray jacket that was hung on the hook by the door. She had a slender build and was the exact same height as me, but you would think she was much taller by the way she talked down at everyone. "It's about time you got here," she spat, taking a seat behind her desk. "Well? Stop standing around and show me what you have,"

I sighed quietly through my nose. "Nice to see you, too, Van," I groaned as I walked up and placed the prints on the desk before rolling each of them out. "How was your day, Bulma? Oh, it was fine, up until an hour ago, thanks for asking though,"

"Save your cordial greetings for someone who wants them," she bit at my mockery. She stood back up and leaned over the desk to get a better look at the prints. "And we've been over how I feel about that sarcastic mouth of yours, so just leave it at home next time,"

"I'll try to keep that in mind," I murmured, waiting for her to finish looking over the designs.

Van looked up at me and then back down at the prints. "I'll send this down to Engineering. Hopefully they'll be able to get started on these without needing your help this time," she rolled the papers back up and headed toward the door.

"You know I don't mind helping them," I said, following her out in to the corridor.

Van began to walk forward. "You shouldn't have to help them. We all have had ample enough training in this field, some of us less than others," she said that last part pointedly, causing me to roll my eyes as I fell in step beside her. "They have no room for excuses, even if it is one of your...showy creations,"

"Well, you know how I tend to over-compensate when it comes to details. My fault," I said, somewhat sheepishly.

"They should know how to make even the most intricate of designs, no matter how complex. We do not cut corners for anyone,"

I tilted my head to the side in agreement. "I don't even know how to cut corners,"

"And the finished results show it. One of very few good qualities you got from this family,"

I laughed through my nose. This woman never really use to admit to liking anything I did, even though I never had doubts about my handiwork, so that was as good a confirmation as I would ever get from her, as underhanded as it may have been.

We had always had a bit of a volatile relationship as far as being family members, with Van usually playing the role of verbal bully since we were children. She had never really been too fond of me and that only became something akin to hatred after my father announced his retirement. Van had been expecting to take his place, seeing as she had already been acting as Vice President for a few years at that point, so imagine her disappointment when the position was handed over to me.

That was over a year prior to that day and Van still hadn't fully let it go.

"So," I sighed as we walked through the same sea of people, who had made an opening and parted like that of the Red Sea so that we, their bosses, could have passage. "How have things been going around here?"

"They've been going," she answered, glancing at me from the corner of her eye. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I'm asking because I haven't really been by here in a while,"

"Because I don't need you checking up on me. I am running this place just fine without requiring your presence,"

"I didn't say that you needed me here. I was referring to the fact that all of these employees seem kind of frantic," I explained, looking around at all of the people.

"This is what it looks like when you expect excellence..." she stopped and turned to face me. "...and when your branch does most of the paperwork for the company. But I suppose you know more than I do after being in charge for barely a year, as apposed to my five years as V.P. here, right?"

"Van, I didn't mean anything by it..."

"You never do," she interrupted . "Now, if you have no further business here, you may go," Van swiftly dismissed me and walked away, but not before muttering the title she knew I disliked the most. "Golden Child,"

I watched her gracefully storm off. I told myself to just let it go. The title had been the bane of my existence since I was actually a child, and Van never missed an opportunity to remind me of it.

I ran a hand over my hair and sighed through my nose before making a beeline for the elevator. Not much reason for me to stick around where I wasn't needed...or wanted.

An hour of flying later, I could now see the lights of downtown West City. I checked the digital clock on the dashboard. It was still early enough for me to get home in time to spend a little more time with Trunks before his bedtime.

As I steered my jet toward home, something caught my eye. It was a faint glow emitting in the distance in the direction in which I was heading. As I got nearer, the glow became brighter.

I veered to the side in order to look down at it through the window. But as I soared almost directly over it, the glow became blindingly bright. I shielded my eyes with my arm while the other remained steering. Suddenly, my jet shook as if it had been struck and a moment later the sound of the door being forced open caused me to try and open my eyes, but I was still very unable to see on account of the bright light now being inside of the jet with me.

"What is this?!" I yelled, both hands now off of the controls, looking at something that was slowly coming into view through the light. A slim figure was the first thing I could see, then a long, flowing mane of hair that was whipping around wildly from the heavy wind coming from the wide open door.

The figure slowly moved closer with an outstretched hand.

With my eyes as wide as saucers, I watched as the hand inched closer. "Who are you?!" The figure did not answer, instead, it shot its hand forward and wrapped long fingers around my bicep. "Don't come any closer!" I frantically warned, struggling to pull my arm free. I screamed as a sudden shock was sent through the point of contact on my arm and burned like a branding iron to the skin, even through the sleeve of my blazer. "Stop this! What're you doing?" the pain was causing my speech to slowdown and my vision to blur.

"Waking you up," the voice was completely indistinguishable and almost entirely lost amongst the void as I gave in to the pain.

I could do nothing but watch as the jet plummeted from the sky as my world faded to absolute darkness.