(As Normal As It Gets Part II)

The world blacked out. Well, not in the way most people think of when they hear of that word. This was more of a specific black out, and it only lasted for a microsecond. But in that instant, that infinitesimally small period of time, part of reality just ceased to exist. That part however, although it could not be smelt, felt, touched, tasted or seen by any corporeal being, was perhaps the single most important component of what we call existence. Such was the power that had just been unleashed that it could wipe out a whole strand of reality, if only for a short time. And no resident of this planet could detect it, or know the coming doom that would soon set upon them. As it died, the invisible current gave one last faint pulse and faded, unnoticed by most.

Turning his head in shock, he stared into the darkness, trying to pinpoint the source of such an enormous power surge. It was in vain though as the phenomenon dissipated almost as quickly as it had appeared. A worried look began to take form on his face, a look of fear that had never before appeared in his lifetime. So this was it. For an eternity, maybe longer, he had waited for this moment when he would live, when he would die, when he would finally, finally, make a difference. Ironic though, that the end was going to take place on this dinky little blue green rock. It was funny, how long he had waited, prepared, planned for this place, for this time, and now he was sorry that it had come. He paused in his thoughts for a second, as he peered into the eternal dark, night sky. A chess game. In the end, that was all it was. You place your men where you want them, and hope you didn't miss something, it was as simple and complicated as that. Then his mind went silent, as he just stood there and stared, stared at the infinite blackness of the heavens. Suddenly the air around him shimmered. A ripple, a slight disturbance in the surrounding area, not enough to trigger the sensory synapses of any of the resident inhabitants, but something of note nonetheless. He turned to leave. It was time to set up the pieces...

"HE DID WHAT!?!?" Kev Chan's eyes widened to the size of the planet Mars, as he stared in total disbelief at the young girl standing in front of him.

Michelle Lam cowered slightly at the harsh, almost crazed look that her brother's friend was giving her at the moment. "Well th-that's what he told me! Y-you don't have to yell about it." The slim, fourteen year-old girl stammered as Kev threw his arms up in disgust.

"I can't believe he did that!" Then peering intently at Michelle he calmed his tone somewhat. "I'm sorry at shouting at you like that Meesh. So, where's that punk now?"

Seeming satisfied with the apology, Michelle thought for a moment. "I think the 'punk' is in the laundry room downstairs."

"Laundry room? What the hell's he doing down there?" Kev was obviously too enraged to think clearly, or even half-clearly. Heck, the guy was practically stoned on his own anger.

Michelle considered those words carefully and her left eyebrow raised slightly when she realized the stupidity of the statement. Still, it was a good place for a joke. "Doing laundry I hope." A tiny grin followed.

If she had been hoping that her little quip would dampen the raging inferno in front of her, she was sorely mistaken. Instead, Kev didn't even seem to see the girl as he went right past her, out the apartment door and began to barrel down the hall at an alarming rate.

Shrugging slightly, Michelle closed the door and went back to unpacking her things into her new room. Maybe it might all work out for the better. Kev would kill Jason and then she'd get his room. Hmmm… She began to mull it over. This had possibilities.

Interestingly enough, at that moment, the death of Jason was possibly the very last thing on Kev's mind. Torture, maim, beat half to death, those things were definitely in his thoughts, but kill? That would be too damn easy. Ding! The elevator's cute little bell noise was lost on Kev as he practically shoved the doors open and went careening down the halls like some ballistic missile that had lost it's guidance system. Finally he found his way to the beigish white room where the laundry for all the apartments was done.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!?" Kev's angry voice cut through the air like a well-sharpened knife getting the attention of Jason all too easily.

His head snapped quickly towards the sound of his roommate's voice. "What?" His voice held the genuine confusion, which was running around in his mind. What the heck could possibly piss Kev off so royally?

Jason's mental question was quickly answered seconds later when Kev took another step closer and looked him straight in the eyes. "When the freaking hell did you become Rachel's boyfriend?"

Almost instinctively, Jason slipped into a defensive mode, sounding hesitant and nervous about every word that spouted from his mouth. "Why can't I? I mean she likes me "

Kev's eyes narrowed quite a bit as he continued his fiery gaze that seemed to stare right into Jason's soul. "Likes? You know there's a big difference between liking a person and wanting to suck every penny out of them!!!" The last part of that sentence was almost shouted out at the top of his lungs.

Still on the defensive, Jason seemed slightly hurt from his friend's sharp, cutting barbs. "No, you're wrong. She's not like that, she's just never met the right guy. You don't know her!"

Kev cut him off right there. "Like you do?" His voice was dripping with disbelief and thinly veiled sarcasm. "HA! You don't know her either! Don't just fall for the first pretty face that walks through the door. She may say that she's different, that she’s changed, but we all know that that girl would say anything, absolutely anything to get whatever the hell she wants. Goddammit Jason, I can see that and Meesh can see it, why can't you?" He stared intently at his friend hoping to get a favourable response.

If Jason knew what exactly Kev wanted him to say, then he failed his friend miserably. "You don't understand do you? She loves me!"

At that Kev turned his back in disgust and threw his hands up in the air, almost letting out an expletive. "Damn it Jase! Rachel doesn't know the meaning of that word and I'm not sure if you do either. What she wants isn't love, it's all physical, remember what happened two months ago?"

It took only a split second for Jason's mind to think back to that day so long ago, unfortunately for Kev, the memory of that event had little to no effect on the guy. "I remember, so what?" He bent down to scoop a sock, which had fallen from the pile on top of one of the dryers.

Kev had to restrain himself from beating the guy over the head. "So what? So what? She completely tore into her old boyfriend, smashed his self-esteem and practically destroyed him!!! He had to miss a week of school because of extreme depression. The poor guy can barely approach another person now, much less a girl. Can't you see the mistake you're making here Jase?"

Suddenly a flash of anger sped quickly through Jason's eyes, changing his demeanor radically. "No!!! I don't think I'm making any mistake at all!!! You're just jealous because you don't have a girlfriend!" He was really responding to Kev's verbal assault.

His opponent didn't seem fazed at all by the sudden change in tactics. "I would rather not have a girlfriend at all than be with a girl who's just gonna suck all the money out of me!!! C'mon don't go nuts on me! Just reconsider." He lifted as level a gaze as he could manage towards the taller boy, hoping to diffuse the situation.

It didn't really work as Jason slammed down his laundry basket, scattering underwear and socks all over the place. "Leave me the hell alone!!! Why do you even give a damn!?!?" He stared accusingly towards his roommate.

"Why?" Kev took a step forward, there was no way in hell, he was gonna back down from this fight. "Because I'm your friend and you're heading for a total disaster! I know that when she dumps you, you're gonna be an emotional wreck and that's the last thing any of us, especially you, needs. Goddammit Jason! Can't you see that!?!? Her history with relationships has been completely self-serving. Do us all a favour and sever this before it's too late."

Jason actually paused for a second to consider that. "Fine. You know what? I'm gonna go out with her anyway, I like her and I know she likes me. However, you are my friend and I will take your feelings into consideration, but I'm not gonna let it affect my decision. Is that understood?"

Kev blinked twice, that was a rather intelligent thing to say, especially when they were in the middle of an argument. Fine, if the stupid idiot wants to do it like that, let him. He nodded slowly in agreement. "All right, fair enough, that's how we'll play it then. It's your funeral, don't come crying back to me when she leaves you as a husk of your former self." Calming himself somewhat, Kev sat himself down atop one of the large white washer/dryers, leaning back on the large control panel and stared into nothingness for a few minutes. "So you really are her boyfriend now." He paused, as if tossing that statement around in his head. "You know, I don't think the gravity of the situation has yet sunk into me. I mean, you have a girlfriend now. That's... that's different." He looked up at his friend, hoping that the other boy knew what the heck he was talking about.

Jason nodded slowly, wordlessly relaying to Kev that he understood, at least a little, of what was just uttered. "Yeah, I know what you mean. I think it's taking a little time to sink in for me too. Rachel's my girlfriend now. It's something that's been only a fantasy for a lot of people, and I think, I'm having a slight problem grasping reality. But we all gotta get used to it." Suddenly his voice trailed away, as a look of slight paranoia sunk into his eyes. "Talking about which, I don't want you letting anyone know that me and Rache are going out. I don't need any scenes."

Kev looked slightly surprised at that. "Complete secrecy eh? That's an unusual request. I can understand it though, what with Roger and Quentin always poised to bug the hell out of anyone who seems to be on the brink of getting more of a life than them? Okay, mind you I am going to tell a select few." He put up a finger signaling Jason not to begin yelling until after he was finished. "Only Ev, Ami and Adelaide. The girls aren't gonna bug you. Don't worry about it." Kev slipped on his "trust me" grin, which Jason had learned, from experience, meant just the opposite. Still, it was true, the girls would not bug him about it (although he wasn't too sure about Evangeline).

Jason nodded, "Okay, but don't tell anyone else okay?"

Kev got down from his spot on top of the washer/dryer. "All right. You sure this is what you want Jase?"

The taller boy didn't even hesitate. "Yup, Rachel is the girl for me, I know it. Have I ever made a complete error in judgement?"

Opening the door to leave, Kev turned to face his friend, "You don't really want me to answer that Jason. Trust me." And then the door slammed shut, leaving Jason alone with his thoughts.

Michelle looked up angrily at the half a foot taller boy standing in the doorway in front of her. "Exactly what do you eat here?"

Kev raised an eyebrow in slight confusion. "Huh? What're you talking 'bout Meesh?" Then, not waiting for an answer, he closed the door, threw off his shoes and proceeded to plop himself down on the black leather couch behind his roommate's sister.

Seeming slightly annoyed at Kev's apathy towards her, Michelle turned around to face the now-stretched out teenage boy. "I've looked through the entire place!!! You have absolutely nothing to eat!!! How do you people survive?!?!?"

Glancing upwards from his comfortable, relaxed position, Kev looked at her curiously. "What are you talking about? We've got plenty to eat, check the cupboards." He made a waving gesture with his hand, silently instructing her to do so.

The fourteen-year-old stood there stubbornly, refusing to budge. "I checked, all there is instant noodles!"

Kev picked up a magazine from the adjacent coffee table and began to flip through it, all the while considering what Michelle had just said. Hmm, her Chinese was pretty good, almost perfect actually, certainly much better than her brother's. Looking up, he smiled. "I know, that's generally what we eat, that and anything else we can find."

Inwardly, Michelle was slightly impressed. After about 6 years in Canada, Kev's Cantonese hadn't even degraded a bit, not like the crud that Jason spewed whenever he tried to speak the language. She smiled at that, then realizing the situation, she quickly slipped back into a stern persona. "That's it? That's all you eat? I'm surprised you people haven't died yet. I don't believe this! Well, I'm not gonna eat any of this crap." Quickly she looked down at her watch and then getting an idea, she focussed her gaze on Kev again. "Hey turnip head, when does Golden Harvest close?" she inquired, all the time getting more and more ideas in her head.

The Chinese teen didn't even bother to glance away from the magazine he was skimming. "I dunno, nine I think. Why?"

Michelle grinned devilishly, "No reason. Umm... I gotta go out, bye!" In a flash she grabbed a jacket, put on her shoes and was out of the apartment, no questions asked.

Kev swung a quick glance at the closing door. "Seeya" he muttered and continued to flip through the magazine he had in his hands for about ten minutes after.

Suddenly, the door opened revealing the lean, tall figure that was Jason. Stepping into the spacious apartment, he looked around, craning his neck to see around certain corners. "Umm... Kev? Where's my sis?"

Leaning his head back on one of the couch armrests, Kev stared at a small, irregular shaped spot on the ceiling. "Oh… She was complaining about the lack of real food in the house then… wait a sec… oh yeah… she went to Golden Harvest to get groceries I think." He nodded absent-mindedly, as he tried to recollect exactly what had transpired in the room, just five minutes before.

Jason's eye grew two sizes. "WHAT? You let her go out by herself?"

Kev looked at the other boy curiously. "She's 14, it's barely eight o'clock, and the place is not even a block from us."

Heading for the door, Jason didn't even look at his roommate as he spoke. "She's an innocent girl, people will take advantage of her. I hope I'm not too late!" He swung open the door and dashed frantically down the carpeted halls.

Oh joy. Groaning audibly, Kev got up, grabbed his coat, locked the door and dragged his feet to the elevator around the corner. Crud, Jason was so overprotective sometimes. Odd, coming from a person who refused to spend anytime with his sister. Suddenly a soft ding filled the halls as the metallic doors facing him slid open. Kev gingerly stepped into the spacious elevator compartment, checking behind him once in the mirrored backside of the contraption. Smiling slightly at his acute paranoia, he pressed the correct button on the control panel and watched the doors slam shut. As the mechanical monster encasing him moved speedily downwards, Kev wondered if anyone would be getting on before he hit the ground floor. Adelaide, maybe? He grinned inwardly at that thought. Ha! What would be the chances that she of all people would…

"Hi Kev! Where're you off to?"

Adelaide grinned, Kev's smile was infectious. "Really? That's kinda… strange. Who's Jason?" She reached over and tapped the main floor button once. A redundant gesture of course, as Kev had already chosen that destination, but a natural one nonetheless.

Leaning comfortably upon the glass backing, Kev pondered the easiest way to describe the friend in question. "Jason? He's my roommate."

At that, a rather interesting look suddenly flew through Adelaide's eyes, causing Kev some confusion. "Roommate? You two aren't…" she trailed off, making it blatantly obvious what she left out.

Kev looked shocked, then slightly angry. "No. We're not. Our parents just happen to be friends and working in Hong Kong. Whatever gave you that other idea?"

Adelaide looked apologetic, as she realized how stupid her previous comment was. She managed a meek smile. "No reason."

Deciding to be somewhat more levelheaded than usual, Kev calmed himself down and dropped the subject. "Where are you off to?" He inquired, genuinely curious as to her destination. After all, she had just finished her grocery shopping, where else would she have to go?

"What?" Adelaide blinked twice, as if she had just been lost in thought. "Oh yeah…" She groaned softly, as her mind finally processed what Kev had just said. "I… I have to go to the pharmacy to pick up some stuff." Her hand fluttered to her mouth as she tried to stifle a yawn. "I'm sorry, I'm just really tired, it's been such a busy day for me and the pharmacy's a pretty long walk. I guess I'm just not looking forward to it." At that, the doors whooshed open to expose the opaque white walls of the lobby. She began to step out when she realized Kev's hand was on her shoulder, wordlessly telling her not to leave just yet. Surprised, Adelaide turned and looked curiously at the taller boy.

Kev smiled. "Hey, don't worry. I'll drive you there." He reached to the control panel and struck the small cylindrical disc with the letter "P" on it.

Adelaide stared up at him in disbelief. "You will?"

He nodded once. "Yup, where is it?"

"Clarkson and Logan." The edges of her lips curved upwards slightly, as Kev's eyes enlarged about ten sizes.

"Wow. That is far. It's something like…" his voice trailed off as the calculator in his mind did its job. "…almost 45 minutes walk from here! You were gonna walk 90 minutes in the night?" Kev was so thoroughly stunned that he almost didn't notice when the elevator doors opened revealing the dark cavernous grotto that was the underground parking lot.

Adelaide followed her friend's lead and stepped out of the elevator box. "I know it's far, but I have to pick up my brother's medicine. He broke his last bottle today, and… I had to clean it… and… argh…"

At that sudden break in conversation Kev turned around to see her standing there, her fists clenched tightly and a frustrated look pasted upon her face. Slowly he walked over and held her hands comfortingly in his. "Adelaide, you’ve had a hard day, I think you deserve to relax a little now. C’mon, the car’s over there." He began walking in the direction of the dark blue Honda CRV he had just pointed to. Pulling out his keys, the thin Chinese teen quickly unlocked the doors and made himself comfortable in the driver’s seat.

Adelaide opened the adjacent door, then suddenly just stopped and stood there, finding herself somewhat overwhelmed. Overwhelmed at the car, at how new it looked, at the little cute stuffed animals sitting next to the rear window and at the vanity plate, which read KYC 888. "Th-this is yours?" She stuttered, referring to the four by four in front of her.

Kev leaned over to her side of the car and grinned. "Yup. It’s nice eh? C’mon get in, we’ve got to stop by Golden Harvest first too."

Smiling she stepped up into the automobile and strapped herself in.

With practiced ease, Kev started it up and began to back the car out of its allotted parking space. Turning the wheel smoothly, he directed the chrome blue Honda around the underground lot and towards the entrance, stopping only to roll down his window and shove his ID card into an adjacent slot. The garage door in front opened as the computer recognized his identification. Clearing the large, metal doorframe, Kev increased pressure on the gas pedal and soon the souped-up CRV sped off into the darkness of the night.

Michelle groaned. This had to be one of the worst, if not the worst night of her life. Not that the previous fifteen or so minutes hadn’t been fun and nice and all, they were. It was just that, well, to put it bluntly, her brother was an idiot. She turned around from her place in the surprisingly long checkout line at Golden Harvest to observe the scene that was playing itself out just a few metres from her left. All she had done was go to this grocery store, pick up a few thousand food items and go to the checkout. Sure, while she was browsing through the many aisles of foodstuffs, she had met up with that funny (funny, as in witty, humourous, not funny looking) guy from school, Quentin. And yes they were together talking and laughing when Jason barged in looking for her, but that didn’t mean that…

"You were hitting on her!" Jason’s glare was so strong it could have cut all sorts of metals.

Quentin looked hurt, a useless measure, as both boys knew he was faking the expression. "Now why on earth would I do such a thing Jason?"

The taller of the two grunted slightly. "Because you’re a just a big hormone and she’s a pretty, innocent girl." His voice was a mix of anger and more anger. However, for the most part, the guy just seemed determined to get what he viewed as a sexual predator, away from his sister.

"Pretty. Incest Jason? That’s not a good thing."

The person in question swung around in surprise at the new voice. "Oh, it’s you." He muttered, as Kev walked calmly towards where the verbal battle was taking place. "What’re you doing here?"

Kev grinned. "Making sure you don’t do something stupid, like rip out poor Quentin’s lungs. That’s always a danger when you get angry."

Jason didn’t even bother to look offended. "Funny. I just don’t want this hormone anywhere near my sister." He looked slightly surprised when Quentin chuckled at his comment.

"Man, calm down. You should one to speak about dating hormones. After all you’re going out with one."

Suddenly a dangerous look appeared in Jason’s eyes as he swung a fiery gaze at Kev who was standing a foot away enjoying the show. The shorter boy however knew exactly what that meant, and what he was being accused of. "It wasn’t me!" Kev spread his arms apart, as if to show he had nothing to hide. "I didn’t even get a chance to tell anybody, much less hormone boy here!"

Now Quentin was beginning to get offended. "Why does everybody keep calling me that? Besides it was your own sis that told me!"

Immediately Jason shifted his gaze to the cash register where Michelle was checking out her groceries. Then realizing that she was being glared and deducing why this was, the teenage girl gave her brother a very sheepish looking grin.

Jason put one hand to rub his throbbing head. "I don’t believe she did that." He muttered, barely loud enough for anyone to hear.

"Shows you for blaming everything on me all the time." Kev grinned at the humour of it all. This was some funny stuff. "Besides, it’s not like it was gonna be private for very long anyways. Rachel’s not one to keep quiet about her ‘conquests’."

"Conquest!?" Jason’s brow furrowed. "Damn it Kev she didn’t conquer me!"

Quentin chuckled. "From what Meesh tells me, she did, and thoroughly." He smiled as both of the other boys involved in the conversation shouted at him in unison.

"Stop manipulating my si…Stop calling her Meesh!" The mixture of the two phrases was actually quite humorous.

And then as Quentin began to open his mouth in his own defense, a small, almost squeaky, voice suddenly interrupted.

"Hey, what’re you all shouting at Q-t-pie here for?" Michelle inquired sweetly as she walked unsteadily towards the crowd lugging a couple big bags of groceries with her.

Kev stood there, open-mouthed, in disbelief. "Cutiepie?" He looked curiously at the now thoroughly embarrassed Quentin. "That’s worse than turnip head."

Jason nodded in agreement. "Much worse." Then, realizing who had coined that delightful nickname, he turned furiously towards his sister. "Where do you get off giving strange guys cute little pet names?" His torrid voice almost echoed throughout the grocery store, drowning out, a rather important message over the PA system.

"Strange guys?" Michelle glared back, looking just as stubborn as her brother, (and that was pretty damn stubborn). In the background, about 20 metres away, a juice spill grew slightly larger on the floor, due to the fact that somebody had not heard the PA message to clean it up. "Last time I checked, I had half a brain, and I don’t just go with the first guy I see! Have you ever thought that maybe I’m allowed to have friends of my own?"

Jason didn’t back down an inch. "Sure you’re allowed to have friends, but I don’t want you going anywhere near crazy hormone-driven guys!" As if giving a perfect example, he made an offhanded gesture towards Quentin who promptly began screaming about why the hell everybody thought he was some sort of rapist. This just added to the already incredibly high decibel level and by now, the incident was beginning to attract all two of the civilians near by.

Adelaide was the first to get there, having heard the commotion from inside the car, she had entered the shopping facility to investigate. "Uh… Kev?" She stopped about a couple inches next to him, some of her hair brushing against his shoulder, "What’s going on?"

Turning his head slightly to the side, Kev was about to answer when another feminine voice burst out from nowhere, this time coming from a fairly tall Chinese girl who was fast approaching them. This was getting to be a pretty damn interesting night, he thought, especially now that Evangeline was here carrying that… what the hell was that? He stared at the star-shaped, roundish object she was clutching and suddenly it struck him, and then he realized that that didn’t make any sense. Why was she…?

"Hey Ev", Kev greeted cheerfully as she drew closer. "Why are you holding a star fruit?" He asked in his native, Cantonese, confusing Jason slightly.

Ev blinked twice, then looked down and realized what she was carrying. "I happen to like star fruit." She responded defensively.

Just as Kev was about to reply, another voice cut in. It was a high-pitched female one, which Ev didn’t recognize.

"Star fruit?" Adelaide exclaimed. "That stuff’s awesome, expensive though." She looked at the thing in Eva’s hands with some regret.

Evangeline was too shocked to respond. Actually shocked, wasn’t exactly the correct word to describe it. More like the feeling one would get upon realizing that something improbable had just happened. And Ev was experiencing plenty of this. Who the heck was this girl? And why was she practically glued to one side of Kev? Rage again poured through her. Damn it, why did he have to be so freaking nice to everybody (especially girls)? "Uh, hi! I’m Evangeline." She forced a smile, feigning delight at meeting this ‘wonderful’ new person.

The slightly taller (damn, she had to be taller and thinner too, didn’t she?) girl smiled, a genuine smile. "Hey, my name’s Adelaide (and she had a nicer name then Ev’s, jeez this sucked). So you also like star fruit?" Adelaide inquired a little too cheerfully.

Evangeline grumbled inwardly. She wished that she could feel half as happy inside as that other girl apparently did. "Uh yeah, it tastes really cool. Do you by any chance know what’s going on here?"

Adelaide leaned her head on Kev’s shoulder, and looked up, further annoying Eva. "That’s a good question. I just got here, what’s going on?"

By now, Michelle had gotten right into the thick of the argument and was vehemently defending Quentin’s questionable morals and intentions. Kev chuckled slightly. "Jason’s just trying to protect his sister from who he perceives as a potential rapist or something." He grinned as Quentin yelled out again, disputing his tainted name.

Suddenly a serious look fell upon Evangeline’s face and she began to speak sternly in Jason’s general direction. "Your sister can date whoever the hell she feels like. I think you should just trust her judgement." This just pissed her off, Michelle should be allowed to do whatever she wanted. What he was doing was just as bad as the restrictions her parents constantly dumped upon her.

Jason however, didn’t really see it that way. "I’m not saying I don’t believe she doesn’t have good taste or anything. I just think that she’s slightly naïve and is being manipulated and seduced by this idiot!" He shot a fiery glance at Quentin, as if trying to light him on fire or something.

"I’m being manipulated and seduced?" Michelle looked quite put off. "You should be one to talk. That slut Rachel just conned you today into a relationship with her and you’re calling me naive?"

Kev groaned. They were all just riding a high of emotions, saying things they would regret later. The fallout from this would be hell. Better to try to diffuse it now. He began to shout. "Okay, everybody calm down! All of you, jeez." He waited impatiently while things began to settle a little. "Jason, I know you feel like you should protect your sister and that she’s making a mistake, but you have to learn to let her make mistakes, for that’s how people learn. You yourself are adamant in your belief that Rache is the right girl for you, nor will you heed any of our cautions. But this is your life, and you’re allowed to do whatever you want, and if you think it’s the right thing, then my blessings. Same for Meesh, like any parent or caretaker you have to learn to let go and understand that maybe she sees something, which your protective nature has blinded you to. I know that regardless of Quentin’s… um… enthusiasm towards females, he’s not a bad guy and will not willingly do anything detrimental to her health or well being. Besides, she’s not even going out with him. They were just shopping for groceries together? Unless I’m mistaken that is not part of the human mating ritual. Just have a little faith in people Jason." Kev drew a deep breath and hoped to hell this was gonna work. As if sensing her friend’s nervousness, Adelaide took his hand in hers, calming him somewhat. Despite, the hand holding, Evangeline couldn’t help be feel slightly impressed, that was pretty intelligent statement, a pity she couldn’t tape it and give to her parents.

Finally, Jason nodded slowly. "Damn it, I hate it when you’re right." He smiled. "All right, I’m sorry Michelle. Besides, it’s not like you are going out with him right?"

Michelle grinned. "Nope, as I said before, we’re just friends."

Kev let out a sigh of relief. Thank God. This took too long, he was just glad nothing else weird and unexpec…

"Hi sweetie, how’d I know you were gonna be here?"

Rachel. Kev groaned, jeez did everybody shop at this freaking place? And in the distance, some 20 odd metres away, a stupid dumb-ass kid who shouldn’t even have been out this late in the first place, slipped on a juice spill and broke his leg.

It was pink… and swirling… and more or less clear. She stared, and the more she stared the more complex and simple the cyclonic motion of the liquid became. It was like looking at a physical incarnation of life, so unpredictable, yet carrying with it a small semblance of order. She marveled at the miniature hurricane and began to take measures to speed up the rotations of the pink medium. Amazing how much insight something as stupid as stirring a glass of pink lemonade could give a person. But as hard as this peace and tranquility had been to reach, it was all destroyed in an instant. Ami Ho looked up as the sharp rapping at the door singled a potential customer. Crud, it was past 8 o’clock, who the hell could be coming here at this time? The place was freaking closed! Slightly worried at the thought of muggers and other such unsavory creatures waiting outside, she nevertheless ventured closer towards the pane glass door, lifted the curtain and took a peak. If she was disappointed at seeing a rather anguished looking Chinese girl outside instead of a 500-pound monster, she didn’t show it. But it certainly was an odd time for people to be wanting in. Especially since she was only sitting in the café because she didn’t feel like going to her apartment only a floor above. However, who was she to refuse a friend, or even half a friend? Unlocking the triple-locked door, Ami gently pulled it open, allowing her guest to enter, then quickly slammed it shut and locked it up. Crap, that was a big blast of cold air, and right after she had gotten the insides all nice and toasty. Ignoring her discomfort, and hiding her annoyance at the unexpected visit, Ami turned to her half-friend (more like acquaintance, she had only met her a couple of times, and that was only because of Kev.)

"Hello Evangeline (that was her name right?), what can I do you for?" She forced a friendly smile, only half-succeeding and ending up with a tired version.

Her guest looked nervous, understandable, since she wasn’t even supposed to be here. "Umm… am I bothering you? I know you’re closed and all, but I could really use someone to babble to, and Kev is, umm, indisposed at the moment. And, uh, this place was on the way home so…" She trailed off, leaving Ami to finish the sentence in her mind.

"Evangeline," she stated bluntly, "You live even more out of the way of this place than Kev, so don’t BS, why are you here, and is that a star-fruit you’re carrying?" Ami stared incredulously at the five pronged object cradled so delicately in the other girl’s hand.

Eva stared at the ground in embarrassment. "I’m sorry, it’s just that well, my parents let me out to grab some star-fruit and they don’t really expect me back until 9:30 and I’m really in no rush at all to go home. Anyways, it’s just that Kev talks to you all the time and, uh, I just thought well, do you know who that strange girl is that’s practically glued to him? Uh what’s her name… umm… Ada… something…"

Ami blinked twice as she realized where this was heading. Oh hell, her life was getting as bad as Kev’s. "Adelaide?" When the Eva nodded, she just groaned and took a sip of her pink lemonade. "Does everything revolve around that girl now? What does she have to do with Kev? From what I heard they just met and are barely friends." Hoping to calm her nerves, she took another 2 sips of the pink liquidy stuff.

Evangeline scoffed. "Barely friends? Barely? She could hardly keep her head from leaning on his shoulder all the time and they were holding hands!!! Jeez, first Rachel pulls a number on Jason and now Kev falls for some crazy girl he’s only known for a day."

"Crazy girl? You know, Ev, Adelaide has been my friend for years. I would prefer it if you didn’t bash her like that. Besides that’s kinda the way she is, just really, really nice, and so’s Kev, you of all people should know that. And they are just friends, I happen to know this stuff for fact. Why is everything to you so black and white? Nothings or girlfriends. Male/female relationships can just be friendships. Take me and Kev for instance, we’ve been friends for about 9 years and I’m happy the way things are." Yawning slightly, Ami got up and fetched a broom for a nearby closet. She was gonna crash early tonight, it had been a long day.

"Yeah, but haven’t you ever wanted to be something more than just friends with Kev? To be his girlfriend or something?" Eva asked confidently, as if she knew the answer was gonna be in her favour.

Ami stared at her. "No, he’s been a great friend to me. Why would I want something like that and risk our friendship and stuff?" Bending down to pick up a shard of glass from the floor, she considered it for a second, looking at the light reflected through the clear-green surface, then threw it into a nearby garbage can. "Besides, it’s not if you really care that much right? You don’t have a crush on him or anything."

Trying not to make any direct eye contact, Eva groaned. What was with everybody and asking her questions like these? "Uhh… no… of course not, just friends, not as good as you of course, but, friends." She put on the most convincing smile she could manage.

Okay, so the girl wasn’t about to tell anybody, fine. Ami nodded superficially accepting the denial. Of course, with what Kev had told her earlier during the day, she might have been telling the truth. All Kev had told her was that Ev had asked him if he would go out with her. It was a postulation, nothing more, just a question of curiosity, or so, Kev was content to leave it. Ami however, was infinitely more suspicious, but at the moment she wasn’t about to press. "Yes… friends." She mumbled absentmindedly while bending over to heft a rather big wooden chair upside down onto a table. Then taking a glance down at the silverish blue G-Shock watch that Kev had given her for her birthday, a thought came into her mind. "Why are you allowed out so late anyways? I don’t know much about you, in fact I won’t even pretend to know you at all, but aren’t your parents the restrictive types?"

"Ha, restrictive? That doesn’t even begin to cover it. I’m usually not even allowed out of the house after school. Ever! But today I managed to convince them that since I’ve gotten 100 on my math, chemistry, biology and accounting tests, I should be allowed to go out for a little while and buy a star fruit. Yes a star fruit, I happen to like star fruit. I’m even surprised they even allowed me to step outta the house much less go any place at all. They always think that if I go out too much, or even at all, I might get killed or something." She groaned, as if recalling all the hundreds upon hundreds of lectures she had ever heard throughout her years of living.

Ami was surprised at the severity of the other girl’s limitations. "They don’t let you out of your home at all?"

Evangeline shook her head sadly. "Nope. Nor will they ever let me date or anything like that. It seems that I’m a type of girl that will be manipulated into an abusive relationship or something like that. Well at least that’s what they say. It’s for my own good apparently, and so I’m not allowed to have a boyfriend until I’m 22 or something, cause that’s when my mom met my dad. Arghh…" As if to make her frustration more clear, she let her head slump into her hands.

"22? That’s… extreme, to say the least. Well, let me tell you one thing, you’re not really missing out on a whole lot. I mean, my parents haven’t set any restrictions on me and I’m still single, in a manner of speaking. I mean, it shouldn’t mean too much to you if you still haven’t met the right guy right? I have an unfortunate affliction that apparently causes me to attract all sorts of weirdoes, and trust me, I’d give anything to be able to use my parents as an excuse. And the fact that we own a café open to the public doesn’t help at all. They just come in and buy a drink and harass me. If Kev didn’t drop by everyday and scare ‘em all off, my life would be more freaky than it already is." Ami smiled, trying to lighten the, all of a sudden, stale mood. "Talking about Kev, if your parents are so protective, what do they think of him? I mean, he has come over once or twice to do a project hasn’t he?"

Evangeline grinned strangely. "My parents hate him. The funny part is that they each hate him for different reasons. My mom thinks he’s too FOBish. She thinks that he’s gonna corrupt me and keep from getting anywhere in Canada. My dad thinks differently. In his eyes, Kev’s too Canadian, forgets his roots or something like that. I don’t even understand it, they’ve only met him once, threw him outta my house too."

"Threw him out? Kev? They threw Kev out?" Ami was astonished both at the fact that Kev could have actually done something to infuriate somebody’s parents and that somebody’s parents were actually that volatile.

"Yup, and he didn’t do anything really. Just defended me when my parents said I was fat and ugly. All he said was that I wasn’t either and they really shouldn’t say such things to put down their daughter like that. ‘Course I loved him for that, but my parents thought he was defying authority or some crap like that, so I get grounded for a month and he gets banned from my house forever." Evangeline actually smiled a bit at that, now that the incident was long over she could laugh about it a little.

Ami’s eyes were as big as saucers. "Wow, that is not normal. I’m sure your parents are only a little overprotective and will get over it soon." There was a brief silence as she tried to stifle a yawn.

"Oh, I should probably get going then, it’s getting late and you probably wanna be alone eh? Besides mom will take a hyper fit if I’m not home in 20 minutes. Seeya later, and thanks for hearing me out." Eva gave a little wave and was soon out the door.

Well, that was that, Ami thought as she began the lengthy process of locking up the entrance again. At least Evangeline was nice enough to understand how tired she was. Yawning again, Ami trudged over to a spot behind the serving counter and flicked a switch covering the room in a blanket of pure darkness. Better get to bed, the sooner she slept the sooner this day would be over with and maybe for once, just once, she wouldn’t get dealt a crazy hand for tomorrow.

"Thank you." Adelaide smiled politely as the pharmacist handed her the small vial of purplish-brown liquid that was her brother’s medicine. Turning around, she walked tiredly out of the drugstore almost knocking down an entire display of condoms on her way. The glass door, which guarded the exit, seemed to weigh an extra 50 pounds, as her fatigued body struggled to shove it open. Suddenly, as if in answer to a silent prayer, the door was pulled open by another individual. Looking up, Adelaide was pleased, although not completely surprised, to see that it was Kev. The guy had been a complete lifesaver today, helping her through almost everything her screwball life had thrown at her. Ohh, jeez she was tired. Groaning, the sixteen-year-old dragged her suddenly very heavy feet to the blue CRV waiting outside on the curb. Getting in, she plopped her exhausted body into the seat and threw her head back onto the headrest. Adelaide’s mind reeled from all the pent-up frustration, anger and hopelessness she had been feeling the entire day, so many responsibilities, so much pressure, so much… her thoughts trailed off as everything finally crashed down upon her fragile psyche pushing her deeper into the unconscious, uncaring abyss of sleep. She was barely aware of Kev getting into the seat next to her, barely aware of the car starting, and not even awake to see the headlights flash on.

Somewhere far, far away from wherever it was that her mind went, Kev sat in the driver’s seat, observing the quiet beauty of Adelaide’s peaceful slumber. But he couldn’t take more than a few seconds to look, for the light had already begun to change from the fiery red to a more docile and sullen green. Switching gears, Kev accelerated quickly until he reached a speed only 10 km/h or so above the max. He had better get her home soon, he thought taking another quick glance at his friend. She looked pretty tired and could probably do with a good solid 10 plus hours of sleep. Actually, Kev himself needed sleep badly as well, as was shown from the rather long yawn he let out. Unfortunately they were still a good ten or so minutes away from their homes, so a warm, comfy bed was a fantasy at best. And as he thought of the fanciful notion of a good night’s sleep, Kev realized that he had not even had half as tough a day as Adelaide and yet was just as tired. God, she had to take care of a physically fragile brother, buy her family’s groceries, do all the chores and still she had to worry about her marks.

His mind was dumbfounded at the amount of responsibilities that the sixteen-year-old girl had. Having the life he did, Kev never really had much more responsibilities than getting top-notch marks (he did that pretty well, his average was currently 93.7%), keeping himself moderately healthy, and making sure he didn’t die. Adelaide’s life, in comparison, had been considerably harder than his own. Her father died early like Kev’s mom, and like his mother, he had died too early for Adelaide to actually know him, but late enough for her to remember. Kev didn’t really know what her mom’s profession was, but he knew it was hard, demanding work and that she had to answer to many people, something that oftentimes kept her working late and away from her family (she was on a business trip in Colorado at the moment). So Adelaide took over all the domestic responsibilities that her career-minded mother could not accomplish. Cooking, cleaning, shopping, laundry, all sorts of stuff that people normally would not expect a teenage girl to handle by herself. And then there was her brother. 7 year old Eamon Tse was really the last thing a girl already so loaded down with duties like Adelaide needed. Eamon was not necessarily what you’d call a difficult child, nor was he overly obnoxious or exuberant, which would actually have been a good thing in his case, as it would have meant that he had enough energy to do something. He was cursed with an immunity deficiency from birth, which resulted in his contracting all sorts of diseases on a somewhat regular basis. Luckily, it wasn’t quite as bad as AIDS or anything, and it was quite possible that he would get better as time went on, but for the moment (and the moment is the only thing that ever counts), he was getting sick quite often. This obviously meant that any piece of spare time that Adelaide could scavenge out of her already, insanely hectic schedule, was spent looking out for him, making sure he didn’t cut himself or taste anything he wasn’t supposed to. Kev shook his head in amazement as he spun the steering wheel to make a turn, she was an amazing girl, being able to handle everything that she had to and still being able to keep such a happy and cheerful appearan… wait a second… he was here.

Crap, Kev almost smashed his head into the steering wheel at his stupidity, how could he have almost driven by his own home? Jeez, he was getting old. Slowly, carefully, the teenage boy eased the navy blue sport utility through the entrance to the underground parking. After driving a few minutes around the place (man, he was getting tired) Kev finally found his personal parking space and expertly stationed the vehicle in the tight-fitting, yellow-bordered slot. He unlocked his door, got out, and walked all the way around, to the other side. Pressing a small button on his key chain, which caused the passenger side to unlock, Kev quickly opened the door and freed the still sleeping Adelaide of her seatbelt. He took a deep breath, this was gonna be fun. Putting one arm under the top half of her back and the other beneath her knees, he hoisted her out of the car, slammed the door shut with his left leg, and began trudging to the elevator door. She really wasn’t that heavy really, at least not for a human being, but her 110 odd pounds was still quite a load on Kev’s injury riddled back (all from hockey). The scary part was that he didn’t really know what to do when he actually got to her apartment. It wasn’t like he could just waltz right in and plop her onto her bed, nor could he simply drop her off at his house (that would defeat the purpose of her getting medicine for her brother in the first place). In the end, he ended up standing in front of her front door, on the 21^st floor of their building, without the slightest bit of a plan. Well, her brother did need medicine, and she also needed her sleep, there was only one thing to do. So Kev took a deep breath, hoped he wasn’t violating any rules or laws, and wriggling a bit of his right hand out from under the girl he was cradling, fished a tiny set of keys from her right pocket. He stared at the small silverish ring that held about a baker’s dozen keys. Crap, which one opened the door? Unfortunately his head was slightly too far from the keys to actually make out any discernable letters or numbers and he finally relegated himself to trying each and every one of them. Lucky for him, Murphy’s law wasn’t completely in effect today and he got it on the fourth try (out of thirteen, it was pretty good).

Slowly he opened the door, and crept in, only to almost trip over a badly positioned shoe rack, causing most of the contents of the rack to wobble a bit, but thankfully, none tipped over. She had quite a lot of shoes though, Kev observed, a wide selection actually, well maybe not that much but still quite a few. Maybe five or so, ranging from sneakers to high heels, to those big FOB platform running shoes. Kicking off his own shoes, he cleared the entranceway, then hit a bit of a snag. Where the heck was her room? He had two choices, really, left or right? Hmm, right it was. A few minutes later, he headed back the other way to the left side. Damn, his luck was not working properly today. After peeking into a couple rooms, he finally deduced which one was hers. With great care, he snuck in and placed her on her bed, atop the Pikachu sheets. Turning around, he was about to leave when he was suddenly aware of a small boy of around 7 years standing in the doorway. He looked scared and curious, a combination you almost expect from all little boys. "Umm… what are you doing with my sister?"

Kev blinked twice and realized that he was not necessarily in the best of positions. "You’re Eamon right? My name is Kev, I’m your sister’s friend. I went with her to get your medicine, but she was tired because she had a long day and I had to bring her home. Now, I have to give you some of this medicine. Is that all right?" The teenager smiled, hoping the hell that he wasn’t sounding the least bit patronizing, something which he had hated as a child.

Eamon stared blankly at him for a while, as if deciding to trust this odd individual. After a spell, his mind apparently came to a verdict as he opened his mouth to speak. "Yeah, thank you." He grinned showing some appreciation, a gesture not lost on Kev.

"Okay, umm… how much are you supposed to have? Oh wait." Kev sounded slightly embarrassed as he realized that the label on the bottle stated the correct dosage. Hmm, 5 teaspoons. How much was a teaspoon? He looked down at little kid by his feet. "Hey, you’re supposed to have 5 teaspoons of this stuff. You got a measuring thingie or something?"

Eamon nodded and quickly scampered off to the kitchen, followed by a considerably less energetic Kev. Taking the measuring spoon from his ‘patient’, Kev carefully poured out 5 teaspoons and gave it to Adelaide’s little brother who promptly swallowed the entire thing. Good, this was turning out quite well. Chucking the spoon into the sink, Eamon escorted his guest back towards the front door.

Kev turned as he was leaving. "Hey buddy, lock the door after me okay? And when your sis wakes, give her this." He handed the small boy a note he had hastily written. "This will explain things so she doesn’t freak, I don’t think that girl needs any more stress than necessary." Then he opened the wooden door and took a step to leave.

"Kev?" Eamon’s voice was so tiny that it almost sounded like it came from a Tickle-Me-Fozzo or something. "Thank you."

The person in question smiled. "It’s not a problem, really."

"Thank you anyways, for helping me and for helping my sister."

Kev chuckled at the kid’s politeness and turned to exit again.

"Are you her boyfriend?"

Stopping in his tracks, he spun around and stared oddly at Eamon. "What type of question is that? Aren’t you a little young for these things?"

"No, I’m quite smart at these things. Adelaide keeps saying that, she says I’m very mah... mah-chur or something for my age."

"Mature. And yes, you do seem quite mature for your relative youth." Kev was beginning to feel like some old geezer talking to his next of kin.

"So are you her boyfriend?"

"No. No Eam, I’m not, just a friend. Good night." And for the third or so time in so many seconds, Kevin Chan tried yet again to escape the apartment. Unfortunately, as most people know, it is quite impossible to escape a curious child’s inquiries.

"That’s too bad. You’d make a good boyfriend." He smiled innocently, the trademark of a child not yet versed in the complexities of society.

"Maybe I would, maybe not, I don’t wanna do anything stupid to harm your sister."

Eamon thought about that, giving Kev enough time to leave the doorway. He was almost out in the hall when one more comment flew from Eamon’s mouth. "Kev?"

"Yes?"

"You don’t have anything to worry about."

"Come again?"

"About hurting her… You’re too nice to do anything like that, I can tell these things. So you don’t have to worry about hurting her."

Kev grinned at the obvious compliment. "Thanks." Then he left, leaving Eamon to close the door behind him.

Michelle smiled proudly as she took a whiff of her just recently constructed culinary creation. The chicken and vegetable stir-fry smelt wonderful. Well at least it did to her. And in her opinion, it had damn well better taste good too, especially seeing how much effort she had put into it. But it was done, and that was all that counted. Carefully she held the sides of the plate with both hands and lifted it slowly to the dining area a little bit away from the kitchen. She gently placed it down on the brown, hardwood table, then went to grab some plates and utensils. Hmm, she only needed one set. This was weird. Normally, as if drawn by some unseen force, Jason, like all guys, would know the instant food had been prepared and in seconds would have been sitting down at one of the chairs. However tonight, he was too busy on the phone conversing with his new ‘girlfriend’ (sure she was) and Kev, of course, was not there as he was at the moment, lying in a heap on his bed, sound asleep. Michelle almost spilt the milk she was pouring thinking about that. It was pretty strange actually. She was in the process of marinating the chicken, when suddenly the door flew open Kev trudged in, mumbled something about not wanting to be awake for the remaining 4 hours, went to his room, changed and went to sleep. For a teenager, that was odd. No teen ever went to bed before 12 much less 4 hours before the regular bedtime, and especially not Kev. Michelle chuckled. Maybe he was getting old.

She sat down, said grace, but didn’t dig in. Having some quiet time to herself, was actually quite refreshing and calming. Ever since she returned to her native Vancouver all she had put up with was all forms of pressure and abnormal circumstances. Whether it was the slightly racist teachers who couldn’t tell one Chinese girl from another, or Jason’s incessant worry for her safety, it was nonetheless, very frustrating. Sure, life in Hong Kong wasn’t the greatest, her school sucked, the boys there sucked, and she had very few friends, but at least she was used to it and she didn’t have her brother looking over her shoulder all the time. Of course, Kev and Quentin weren’t there either. Those two were maybe the only bright spots of her homecoming so far.

The former was definitely one of the nicest people she knew. He was much kinder to her than her poor excuse for a brother ever had been and was infinitely more caring to her needs. Kev seemed to treat her like his own sister sometimes, taking her to movies and buying her really thoughtful birthday and Christmas presents. She remembered way back when she was in grade 3, he used to come over during Easter and paint eggs with her and then hide them for her to find. Although it sounded pretty lame to her now, she recalled that it had been quite fun back then. Of course, Jason never did anything like that. During most holiday periods, he would just spend his time studying, reading and preparing for school. Michelle never really let it show, but her sibling’s constant neglecting pained her quite a bit. On her 10^th birthday, just before she left for Hong Kong, she remembered walking into the apartment only to be greeted by all her friends and family. Kev had organized a huge surprise/going away party for her. It was one of the nicest things anyone had ever done for her, and Jason wasn’t there to see it. The bum had decided that it was slightly more important to stay after school to talk to his teacher. Yes, it was true that it was a pretty significant meeting, and very instrumental to Jason’s perfect average that year, but still, she couldn’t help but feel a little slighted.

Michelle toyed around with her fork, poking at the chicken pieces sitting on plate. Finally she decided to tempt fate and taste her own cooking. Slowly, she lifted a chunk of the quite dead poultry to her mouth and tossed it in. Hmm, she chewed it a bit, not to sound egotistical, but it was quite good. Not too chewy, nor too hard, and it tasted amazing. She would have to save a bit for Kev to try, and also some for Quentin. Ah yes, Quentin. Michelle had only known the guy for a day and already she liked him. He was charming, witty and intelligent. Maybe a little too intelligent, she thought. Sometimes he rambled on about really odd things, like quantum physics and the meaning of life. She kinda enjoyed that actually, it was cute, in a bizarre kinda way. It wasn’t really like she was in love with him or anything, just maybe with his personality. Despite his appearance as maybe a bit of a cool computer nerd, Quentin was more of a gigantic teddy bear at heart. He was great to confide your worries and fears into. And although he was not a very religious man (in fact, he was more atheist than anything,) he did believe that the universe would end up sorting everything out, and that thought kinda comforted Michelle. In fact, she kinda needed that comfort.

Her life was kinda, well, stressful at times. All sorts of problems tended to arise at the worst possible moment. Take today, for example. It had been her first real day in Canada since a very long time ago. And it hadn’t really gone well either. Not just the incident in the morning with that kid Douglas getting the crap beaten out of him (and he deserved it as well, the guy was always picking on her when they were little), but also later in the caf with that bastard, Kevin Colbert. He really was a bastard too. All throughout the day, in every single one of her classes, Michelle had been noticing that the guy was always staring (or was that ogling?) her. Not just that, but he was also constantly muttering with his punkish friends, and every time he turned to say something, he would point to her and they would grin oddly, as if they supported whatever the hell he planned to do. And apparently what he planned to do was to get her in his slimy, disgusting clutches. It was kinda scary actually. The guy was a freak. Albeit, she hadn’t really had sufficient time to get to know him, but Michelle was usually a pretty good judge of character and honestly, he really was not that hard to read. Colbert was one of those people who really wanted to belong to the highest social order, the upper echelon for lack of a better term. Unfortunately for him, at a young age (grade 3), he had had the misfortune of doing well on a couple of tests and been deemed gifted. As was obvious to most, being stuck in one class with the same people, for your whole academic life was not necessarily a good thing and could lead to total social alienation. And this guy really wanted to belong, to be ‘cool’, so when the news came in that Meadowland’s gifted program had been overfilled, Colbert quickly offered to sacrifice his place and go to normal school. This, as it turned out, would really help him achieve his goal, as he quickly became one of the punkier and therefore ‘cooler’ guys. Sure, he wasn’t a big guy, nor was he a strong guy, but one thing he had, was intelligent and quick-wits. In no time flat, his mind was working a mile a minute developing new and better devious plans to use on people and quickly the other ‘punks’ realized his worth, or maybe lack of such (she didn’t pretend to know what went on in those people’s minds). Anyways, to get to the point, she really didn’t appreciate his move on her in the caf earlier. In fact, if it hadn’t been for Quentin, she would have probably been dragged off to some back alley or something (hopefully this was just paranoia, but she was really scared), and then who knew would happen? But luckily Quentin had stepped in and intervened, and she would always love him for that.

She stared down at the sea of sauce left over on her plate, and absentmindedly began to draw pictures in it. It looked pretty cool actually, well kind of. Then again, it was also sort of disgusting, better stop and put the stuff in the dishwasher before she was institutionalized. As she piled the white discs on top of one another to be taken to the kitchen, her thoughts strayed back to her life. Now that she thought about it, it was sort of understandable about Colbert’s behavior. Michelle knew that she was one of the more attractive girls in her grade. This wasn’t ego or anything talking, but merely a fact which had been observed by quite a few people. Of course, she wasn’t one of those people who tried to pretty themselves up by dressing in revealing costumes or anything. Nor did she wear a lot of makeup. In fact, she had never even coloured her nails or anything. The only thing that could have been considered the least bit superficial was her hair, which she had dyed a deep burgundy, and that was only because she thought it was cool. Quentin really loved it though. She smiled slightly at that. This kind of mutual admiration between the two of them was really cute. Well, in her opinion anyways.

Clunk. The dishes made a strange, resounding noise as Michelle carefully placed them in the specially tailored slots. Closing the door, she stared at the multitude of black knobs on the control panel. Hmm, it had been a while since she actually used this thing (in Hong Kong, she usually washed the dishes herself). Uh… click, click, and click. Yeah, that should work. With one hand, she reached out and pulled on one of the knobs. Suddenly the machine began to vibrate slowly, letting her know that her dishes were being sanitized. Good, she thought. Now she could get some sleep. A yawn escaped from her mouth. Man, she must really be tired, not that this was at all surprising, it had been a long day. And just minutes before, she had been mocking Kev about going to bed early? Oh jeez, her body had had it. It was time to crash.

Slowly, Michelle made her way to the bathroom, grabbed her toothbrush, shot a big glob of toothpaste on it, and began to brush her teeth. This was actually quite tedious, as in her fatigued state, the girl had missed brushing an entire side of her jaw and instead, managed to get a rather sizable chunk of toothpaste on her cheek. Oh well, the faster she got this done, the faster she could get to bed. Turning on the tap rather generously (Kev slept like a stone, so she wasn’t afraid of waking him up or anything, the kid could sleep through a nuclear war), she washed her face and then took a towel and dried it. Good, almost done. Michelle walked over to the parallel room and closed the door. Her new room wasn’t really that bad actually. When her family had given up the apartment and moved to Hong Kong, Jason had taken over her parents’ room, Kev had her room (and he had done a really nice job renovating it too), and her brother’s former living quarters had been changed into a guest bedroom, which was now her room. Not too bad, she thought, as she pulled off her top and began to unhook her bra. Of course, she had to add a couple of posters here and there and all her stuffed animals still weren’t unpacked, but all in all, not a bad room. Her pants soon came off, followed by her panties. Pulling on a pair of shorts, the fourteen year old reached over to a pile of clothes lying in the corner (she had yet to put them into a drawer of some kind), and pulled out a T-shirt about a couple sizes too large and slipped it on. Another yawn shot out from her mouth, it was most definitely time to sleep. She walked to door, opened it slightly (Michelle was kind of claustrophobic), and then turned off the lights. As she got into bed and began kicking the sheets into place, her thoughts turned to tomorrow and the possibilities it held. Maybe she would have a good day for once. She thought about that. In her life? Maybe not.

Rachel lay, stretched out on her mattress, one arm draped down the side of her bed. She looked so relaxed and comfortable that it would never have occurred to anyone that she was even talking on the phone. Her head was resting on a hello kitty pillow and nowhere near anything that resembled a telephone handset. Of course she obviously was not talking to thin air, in fact, there was a handset near her head, just a very small one. Actually, it just consisted of just an earpiece and a little microphone-like object in close proximity to her mouth. A very useful thing, especially when she didn’t want to crane her neck holding a phone in place (it would ruin her beautiful figure). Anyways, at the moment she was really glad to have the thing as she had been talking for about 2 hours or so and the conversation was not showing any indication of getting boring. Well, not really anyways. Although not a very talkative person normally, her new boyfriend nonetheless was doing quite well in holding up a rather lengthy dialogue.

Strange, she had never really thought of Jason as a very interesting person. At least not in the sense that he could captivate somebody for such a long time (and yes, although it may not seem it, 2 hours on the phone is a long time). Still, he was a pretty funny person, and actually could do pretty good imitations of television characters. She smiled, at the moment he was emulating the voice of a character from the hit cartoon series, The Sampsons.

"Uuhh… I sleep in a racing car, where do you sleep?" Jason’s normally clear voice suddenly became slightly raspy and incoherent as he fell into the role of Bill Van Hooten, one of the lesser known characters of the long running animated show.

Rachel was impressed, well as impressed as she could get about such things. "Wow. That’s… good. Really it is. How much television do you usually watch?" Not that she actually cared about knowing, but it was a curiosity question, and it was another thing to talk about.

"Me? Uhh... not a lot actually. Maybe… oh… less than 1 a day? I really don’t have too much time."

"Yeah…" she nodded absentmindedly, obviously forgetting that this was a phone conversation and her actions were not visible to him. "I guess with school and stuff you’ve got quite a load."

Jason grinned, or at least Rachel thought that this might be a situation where he would grin. "Yup, between homework and piano, I seriously don’t have much time for anything else. Well, except for you."

Surprisingly enough, she actually blushed at that. It was a sweet thing to say, especially to her. Most boys just tried to use her (of course, she usually won out in that battle), Jason, however, was different. He truly did want to be with her. And that was perhaps the one thing that really drew the sixteen-year-old to him. Well, that and the fact that he was pretty good looking guy. But mostly it was because of his personality. Unlike most of the other boys she had ever known, Jason seemed to have a profound respect for the opposite sex. Granted, he was sort of inexperienced and sometimes did awkward things around them, but all in all he had been nothing short of a gentleman to her.

She thought about that for a little bit, all the time managing to continue the phone conversation (Rachel was pretty good at this mental multitasking). Maybe… maybe she had just been hanging around the wrong sorts of people. Even Kev, despite whatever problems they might have had in the past, was a pretty good person. He was friendly, helpful and treated females like, well, like anyone else. They might even be friends right now if it hadn’t been for a slight unfortunate incident way back when.

But to get back to the matter at hand. "Yup, I play an instrument too." She answered somewhat bitterly (stupid parents forced her to do all these stupid things). "The violin." That last word was twisted somewhat as she voiced her distaste for it. Really, she didn’t hate it that much, in fact she rather enjoyed creating music and such with it. No, it was the competitions and sh-t that her folks kept making her enter. And all she really wanted to do was play for fun.

"Really? The violin? That’s a pretty neat instrument. You any good?"

"Good? That depends on your definition. Good as in good enough for myself, or good enough for competitions?"

"Yourself."

"Well, in my opinion, quite good, I can play most stuff. However, for competitions is a different matter altogether." She took a deep breath as a loose memory of her last contest came to mind. "I’ve actually never placed higher than fifth."

Jason sounded encouraging. "You’re not that bad, seriously, if it wasn’t for poor judging you should have been in the top 3 easily last time."

"How would you know?"

"Kev was there, I forgot why, but he said that you played really well. Well enough that you should have gotten first, or at the very least second." He stated matter-of-factly.

Rachel was, well, flattered. She had always thought that Kev hated everything she ever did or attempted to do. "Seriously?"

The answer came so quickly that any thought of it being made up was blasted from her mind (Jason had never struck her as a comfortable liar). "Yup. He said that he had heard some of the judges conversing with friends and stuff, and he said that some of their comments seemed slightly racist. That probably explains it."

"Really?" She was stunned. This was news to her. Racism at the contest? Wow. Of course the obvious question popped into mind. Why didn’t Kev complain to the people in charge, or even tell her this? Mind you, she wasn’t about to express these concerns to Jason. Some wounds were meant to be left alone.

Jason wouldn’t let her get away with it though. "You’re wondering why Kev never told you."

What? How did he know what she was thinking? Rachel may have had many flaws, but one thing she prided herself with was her ability to keep her emotions and thoughts hidden. And the guy didn’t even know her that well. Jeez, freaky. "I never said that." Well, it was true. She hadn’t yet voiced anything to that tune.

"You didn’t have to, it’s a pretty normal thing to be thinking. I don’t really know why he hadn’t said anything to you. I actually just assumed he had. Maybe he forgot."

Rachel groaned. It was deeper than that. She didn’t really know whether it was better or not that people didn’t know about it. All sorts of weird things had happened back then in the summer before grade 10, why couldn’t this just have been buried along with them? Well, at least Jason was completely unaware. Blessing in disguise maybe. It hadn’t really been either of their faults either. Actually that was a lie. It had been her fault, at least for starting it. She sighed; she hated recollecting that summer. The school year had just ended leaving them with their first summer after a high school term. Funny thing though, she had never even had boyfriend at that time. Plenty of offers, but she was a different person back then. Mind you, the ego problem was there, and she certainly dressed provocatively, but boys, for some reason or another, were not yet in her mind. That was probably because of the fact that she had never been in a relationship or anything yet. Then Kev walked into her life. Rachel had never really known him until around exam time that year. Kind of a group study thing where all the FOBs got together to, well, copy notes off one another and stuff. Evangeline was also there, but she hadn’t yet become important in anyone’s life. And that’s when it all started, all that crap. Arghhh, she really didn’t want to think about it at the moment, especially not when she was having such a great time with her current boyfriend.

Shoving it all into a small, secluded corner of her mind, Rachel turned her thoughts back onto the conversation at hand. "You’re watching what?" As amazing as she was at mental multitasking, sometimes she missed a couple words here and there.

"Canucks game." Jason muttered, sounding sort of sheepish over the phone.

Rachel was intrigued. "Really? Who’re we playing?"

"Leafs."

Crap, that was a good team. Even this early in the season, it was easy to tell. Curious how the addition of goaltender Joe Curtis and left winger Thomas Stevens could do so much for that team. "Are we winning?" She sounded optimistic, hoping against all hope.

"Losing. Five nil."

"Damn."

"You follow hockey?"

"Surprised?"

"Only a little, but you don’t really seem the hockey type."

"I’ll take that as a compliment. I play, you know."

Now this was something. Jason almost peered into the phone in shock. "You play?"

"Yeah, you didn’t know that?" Rachel sounded a little offended. Did she seem that decadent to everyone? "First line centre for my team. I like led everybody in scoring last year."

"You did?" His voice was even more disbelieving than before, if such a thing were possible.

Jeez, what was this? "Yes! 43 goals and 78 assists! My team went undefeated in the playoffs and won easily! Where were you?"

"Apparently not anywhere near the rink. Wow, one hundred and twenty one points. That’s awesome. I seriously didn’t know you played."

Rachel smiled coyly "There’s a lot you don’t know about me."

"Well, what I know at the moment, I like." Jason’s voice continued to drone in that damn monotone of his, but for a second, just a split second, it softened somewhat, betraying his emotions.

Now, this was the reason she liked him, he always managed to say really cute and nice things that made her feel like someone special, which of course to him, she was. "How would you like to know more then? Tomorrow’s a Friday, we could go out, catch a movie or something, then head over some place for coffee. Know of a good café or something?" This was actually new to her. Most boys she went out with usually wanted to just go over to their place after the movie and well… stuff. However, from what she knew about Jason, he’d probably prefer this.

"I don’t have anything to do that day, so I’ll go. Lemme think of a place to eat. Hmm…" The voice on the other end went quiet for a little while, a sure sign of pondering. "Yeah, I know a good place, friendly service and all. When is this?"

"Well, we’ll catch the movie at 4 or something, so we’re go there around 6. Does that café have food?"

Rachel almost felt the teenage guy nodding on the receiving end. "Yup, even though its name has café in it, it’s really more of a restaurant type place. Really good food too, I’ve eaten there a couple of times. So, we’re going?"

"Yup, sounds like a date. You gonna have a car that day?"

Jason thought about that for a second. "I think I can get a hold of Kev’s, it should be no problem. We’re going right after school?"

Rachel rolled around on her bed. The giddiness in her stomach felt like it was gonna grow until she exploded. She was so happy, it wasn’t funny, well, happy and afraid. It had been her experience that in life, the best-laid plans had a nasty habit of derailing on you at the last possible minute, but still she couldn’t believe it. "Yup, take the car to school that day eh?"

"Of course."

Suddenly the phone went staticky, freaking Rachel out. Quickly reaching over to a normal handset, she rapidly throttled the channel change button until the static disappeared. Thank God, she thought, almost aloud, her conversation had nearly been lost to someone else’s probably much less interesting dialogue. She sighed happily and collapsed upon her sheets, cuddling a nearby stuffed animal. And as she continued to speak to her boyfriend, all Rachel could think about was tomorrow and what wonders it would bring.

The stars were beautiful and bright and radiant and a million other adjectives that could be used to describe them. In fact it would be a wondrous sight to behold, that is, if anyone even halfway near gave a damn. And at that very moment, neither of them really cared, even a bit. Sure it was a gorgeous night and all but the magnificence of it could not even compare to what they saw in each other. It was an astoundingly poetic and melodious scene, almost as if some force of nature had decided that a picture actually was worth a thousand words and felt compelled to create a lyrical masterpiece. Their eyes glistened from the reflected light from far and distant porch lamps. The breeze was calm and cooling, whistling through the trees, playing them like some large wooden harmonica. Crickets chirped and sang their happy songs as birds swooped onto tree branches preparing for sleep. It was just one of those nights. One of those nights where everything seemed to be so perfect, it was too perfect. The gentle caressing touch of a breeze, the giant luminous chaperone that was the moon, everything seemed to have its place in this magical paradise. Far in the distance, a train rolled steadily by, its wheels thumping on the metallic rails. That was the extent of the human race’s impact on this scene, relegated to nothing more than a distant cry of metal on metal. It was night, and the giant beast had crawled inside it’s cave and went to sleep, and the true citizens of Earth rejoiced. If only for a few hours, the planet would once again belong to those who deserved it. The plants, the animals, the meek would inherit the Earth, even if it was for only eight hours. And so, Ryan and Cyndi weren’t misplaced in the scene at all. Their quiet beauty, the way they were together, the feelings they shared at the moment, were as pure and as innocent as the squirrel which had just run underneath the park bench. And they stared, deep into each other’s eyes, into their souls, and saw what they felt for each other burning like the hottest flame. It didn’t really matter whether it was true love or only overactive hormones. It didn’t matter what anyone thought, or even if anyone saw them, for this was not just about two people sharing there love for one another, but also of two people finding an eternal bliss and joy. A void, of sorts, a place devoid of hunger, of greed, of violence, and just for a second, such a place existed for them. Whether this was some magical happening or just wishful thinking taken slightly too far, it was really of no consequence. They were happy, and for once in their lives peace had found their souls and carried them to a far off heaven, closer to home than they had expected.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t going to last long, as all good things never do. Ryan knew this, and frowned, disturbing the mental portrait Cyndi was painting of him.

"What’s up?" Her voice was quiet, almost as if she genuinely did belong out here, as if she could even belong with the wind, quiet but strong.

Ryan sighed. This was perhaps the toughest part, saying the stuff you don’t want. It was amazing actually, life was always an uphill climb. A city could take years to build, but it took only one second to have it all torn down. Just the same, a shared paradise could drain almost a whole lifetime away, but in the passing of a few almost insignificant moments, paradise lost. The Earth from biblical text took much time and effort to create. Animals, humans, plants, dirt, all had to be crafted skillfully, carefully with no margin for error. And finally, when it was all done to perfection, all it took was a snake and an apple to send paradise toppling to the ground. He sighed once more, why did it have to end? Then he thought about what would happen if it didn’t end, if time stood on its head and fell asleep. If the moment never ended, other moments would never exist. Each needed to be built upon a previous one, and with each level, it would get stronger, harder to tear down. Sacrificing the present for the future, it always worked like that, and usually it produced favourable results. Ryan grimaced, it was time to eat the apple. "I think we should go Cyndi."

Her eyes widened a bit, absorbing a generous amount of moonlight, making them look like two glowing chestnuts staring at him. "Go? Now?" A glance down at the watch, "It’s not that late."

That was one way to put it. "It’s kinda late, and we’ve got school tomorrow eh? Besides, your mom wanted you home at 10, remember? She just called ten minutes ago on your cell." He sounded worried, and he was. Cyndi’s marks, although infinitely better than his, were still not up to her usual par. This was probably due to what happened between her and her former boyfriend. Ryan simply did not want her to do poorly in school, just because of him, frankly, he wasn’t that important. Also, she wasn’t exactly on her mother’s good side at the moment. And after all the nights in recent history, in which she had arrived home quite late, the sixteen-year-old would probably get super-hyper-spazzed at if she repeated such a performance.

"Static fuzzed up the last part of our conversation, I can just tell my mom that I didn’t hear her. It could very well have been true." Her meek grin showed more that she was trying to harder to convince herself than anyone else.

Okay, this was gonna be difficult. It was sort of flattering actually, that a girl wanted to spend so much time with him, but unfortunately, she really did have to go home. "C’mon," he sighed, "Let’s go." With those words, Ryan felt like her had just stabbed himself in the heart. He really, really, didn’t want her to leave just yet. However, it was a pretty damn late hour for them to be out on a school night, and both would probably get yelled at when they got home. Of course, he could take the verbal assault from his parents, but he didn’t really want to have Cyndi go through that if she didn’t have to. And so, even though it broke his heart into twenty-three different pieces, he got up off the bench and began to walk towards her house, hoping she would follow.

Thank God she did too. Ryan didn’t really know what he would have done if she refused. Walking was one thing thought and didn’t necessarily mean conversation. And in this case any form of verbal conversation was completely stricken from their minds. Ryan didn’t even truly comprehend why. True, she hadn’t necessarily been talking quite a lot the whole night, but even a few words every 5 minutes or so was better than this. He turned his head to look at her. "You okay?"

She didn’t really return or anything, just kept walking forward, slowly closing the distance to her home to about 6 minutes. "I don’t wanna go to school tomorrow, I don’t even want to go home now." Her voice was a mixture of anxiety and anger.

Ryan blinked a couple of times. This was news. "Why not?" He inquired in a level tone so as not to set off any short fuses or anything.

"I don’t really know why actually. It’s a mixture of things. My parents, my life, everything…"

Stumbling for a second, as his feet touched down on a jagged sidewalk edge, Ryan recovered quickly and regained his balance. "Your life isn’t that bad." He smiled comfortingly, hoping to ease whatever suffering she was feeling and also hoping she wouldn’t realize that he had just sidestepped the entire parent issue. The problem, of course, was that Ryan couldn’t really relate to that bad parent thing. Both of his parents were, and he didn’t mean to be egotistical or anything, really great, parentwise that was. They allowed him quite a lot of freedom and everything, and supplied him with quite a lot of encouragement when he needed it. Rarely had they ever shouted at him for getting one bad mark, instead they just gave him any necessary help he required and told him to do better next time. And amazingly enough, it worked, he rarely felt depressed about school and definitely never felt unenthused. Unfortunately, Cyndi’s parents weren’t exactly that friendly. Sure, they loved her and everything, and of course they wanted the best for her, but their definition of the best was slightly skewed. They looked down on a lot of the things she did, and hated just about everyone of her boyfriends (except of course for the one who had just dumped her so violently, life tended to work that way). Marks, that was what they wanted, and that really wasn’t such a horrible thing to expect, except for them, it was more of an obsession. In fact, at one point, they actually expected her to graduate in 3 years. Three years! That was quite an unrealistic goal to set for anyone, much less your own daughter. And it began to get worse, and slowly her marks slipped below the coveted 90 percent mark. So the screaming increased and this just caused her academic performance to decrease at a steady rate. Her parents never seemed to be able to grasp the concept that maybe they were the problem. Friends, television, Internet. Everything took the blame except for themselves. She was too lazy, tried to be too pretty, it was all her fault, ALL HER FAULT. Ryan shook his head sadly, he couldn’t even begin to imagine what being told that over and over and over again could feel like. And things didn’t even seem to be getting any better on the horizon. He glanced sideways at his girlfriend, hoping that her life would get better soon.

Cyndi looked like she was about to collapse from the weight of whatever burden was at the moment, on her shoulders. "I don’t know. Anything! Everything! I thought I had it all with Robert you know? And for a while I did. Well, at least I thought I did. My parents definitely liked him. He was intelligent, handsome, and charmed them with his elegant speech. Who was I to argue? They wanted me to be with him, I did. I actually think I even liked him for a time. After a while though… I dunno… I wouldn’t say he abused me or anything, ‘cause he didn’t. He just sort of… forgot about who I was supposed to be to him. That bastard joked about me with his friends in front of me, and expected me to do just about everything for him. And I guess I put up with it, because he did make me happy often, and he was awfully nice sometimes, helping me with my work and all. And then, suddenly, he up and dumps me, and I don’t even f-cking know why! My parents, of course, blame the whole damn f-cking thing on me. To them, it’s always all my f-cking damn fault!!!" She gazed bitterly into the eternal dark and quickened her pace towards home. Not because she was in any real hurry to get to her destination, which, of course, she was not. No, this was just an anger thing, it was like all her problems were down under her feet and trodding on the ground would utterly destroy them.

Ryan’s heart nearly fell apart, ventricle by ventricle. He really didn’t know what to do. Seriously, all his life he had been helping all sorts through all sorts of situations and now, for no particular reason at all, the person he really cared about suddenly winds up in something he couldn’t solve. From what he had heard from Tyler, it wasn’t something that anyone could actually handle. Apparently, the resident shrink at hand, Kev Chan (oh yeah, him), had even tried his hand at it with mixed results. And as they approached her house, Ryan wished more and more that something, anything would happen to help her. And in his heart, and his mind he cried out to whatever gods were out there. He wasn’t the least bit surprised when total silence answered him…

It was immense and beautiful, almost like an angel encased in a shimmering shell of armor forged in heaven itself. Gideon Shimabukuro (49) gazed in awe at the breathtaking sight, admiring all aspects of the metallic masterpiece. Its outer shell, or ‘skin’, was so smooth and polished that it reflected any and all light in the room, giving it a glowing sort of appearance. He placed his aging hands on the steel railing that bordered the scaffolding he was currently standing on. This was a gamble of sorts, it would either work or it wouldn’t. The Japanese engineer turned bureaucrat slowly brought one hand up and stroked his short, graying beard. It was comforting, in a way, sort of like a portable security blanket. Chuckling slightly at the immaturity of gleaning such a feeling from nothing more than a natural organic occurrence, Shimabukuro reluctantly removed his eyes from the remarkable creation that was at the moment, still under construction. Slowly he strolled across the metal catwalk underneath his feet, the clomping and clanging of his black, leather boots on the grating echoed around the large, spacious area. Nodding his head curtly to show his respect to some of the technicians currently working on the project, he grasped the rectangular doorknob in front of him, and gave it a strong, quarter-circle turn.

"Ah, and this is Mr. Shimabukuro, the lead developer in this venture."

Gideon peered through the semi-darkened room, trying to pinpoint the source of the voice. He knew whom it was of course, however the person standing just behind him seemed to be a mystery. The middle-aged Japanese man walked over to an empty chair and sat down, trying not to make his curiosity too evident. Whoever the shadow shrouded figure was, he was certainly tall, through the darkness, he seemed around 7 and a half feet or so. However, Shimabukuro could almost swear that the guy was sitting down, but that would be ridiculous, as the person would then have to be over 8 feet.

"He doesn’t look like much, are you sure he can get it done?" Gideon barely managed to muffle a chuckle. Mysterious strangers always seemed to be in charge.

"Mr. Shimabukuro is one of my most trusted associates as well as a brilliant engineer. He’ll get it completed on schedule, if not before."

"I’m not interested in your ‘assurances’." The statement almost sounded like an insult had it not been delivered in such a dead serious tone. "I would like to question this person myself. I seriously doubt that anyone but he could understand anything about the project. Mr. Shimabukuro, how much do you have left to complete?"

If lying to the man had ever been on Gideon’s mind, there was no longer any trace of it on his psyche. In fact, to be completely honest, he was scared sh-tless. It was never fun to be dealing with someone you couldn’t see. "5 percent." He stated, hoping not to have to say anymore, it had been hard enough getting those three syllables out of his mouth.

"Impressive, I would not have thought that such complexity could be achieved within mere months. When do you believe that testing should begin?"

"As soon as we have reached completion, you can do whatever you want." Shimabukuro’s voice was slightly calmer now, probably due to the fact that he had impressed the shadow man.

"Hmm… more than satisfactory. Now that we are nearing the end of this construction period, has a list of candidates been drawn up yet?"

Gideon swung his head to get a better view of the person that had just been addressed, the person sitting at the head of the table right next to the shadow man.

The important person picked up a clipboard with a variety of papers on it, handing it to the mysterious figure. "We’ve done better than that. In fact, we know exactly who should be offered the new positions when they become available."

"Have you? And who might these people be?" His hand fell lightly upon the clipboard, tapping it to facilitate his response. "Names have very little meaning to me."

"All in due time. For the moment, a little investigation into their backgrounds is being conducted. If everything is in order, then we will proceed. Is there anything else that needs to be discussed in this meeting?" Silence reigned for about one minute. "All right then, proceed with your tasks, we shall reconvene after the project is completed." At that, the men and women in the room picked themselves off of their chairs and quickly filed out.

Now out in the considerably brighter engineering bay, Shimabukuro looked quite visibly relieved. That had been definitely one of the more stressful meetings he had attended in recent history. Glancing down at his watch, he swore under is breath. Ten o’clock and he had promised his family that he wouldn’t come home late again today. Crud, hopefully they didn’t really need him anymore tonight. He walked down the metal stairs onto the construction area, all the while observing his subordinates at work, welding and melding plates of various elements together. Halfway into the restricted zone, Gideon suddenly realized that he should have probably put on a helmet or something, as getting your head bashed open by a falling object was definitely a threat here. Slowly, he approached the foreman in charge of the whole physical operation. "Darren." No answer, it was too loud here. He raised his voice. "Darren!"

The short, thin Caucasian turned in response to his name being called. "Hey boss, what can I do you for?" Gideon wrinkled his nose, the guy smelled of smoke and alcohol.

"Yeah, well, I was hoping to go home before eleven today, but if you people still have stuff you need to ask me… well, I just wanna know."

Darren grinned, "Your daughter gonna scream at ya or something?"

"Yeah, something like that." Despite himself, Shimabukuro had to smile somewhat. His obnoxious body odour notwithstanding, Darren Hoskins was a fairly decent guy, and oftentimes, the two of them could be found joking around with one another.

"I better not keep you here then, it might get dangerous. Don’t worry about it, we’ve got it all under control." He looked up in paranoia as if expecting someone to suddenly fall and kill him. Luckily this was life, and not a television show, and irony did not rule the day.

"Thanks a lot Darren, I’ll see you tomorrow then."

"Yup, say ‘hey’ to the little empress for me when see her eh?"

Gideon grinned, "Will do." and then he was off, quickly trotting through the remainder of the danger zone. Going straight to the big double doors which led to the parking lot, he consciously bypassed the checkpoint, which normally he probably should go through and declare his intentions to exit the facility. However, he doubted it really mattered, just a formality. Even his superiors sometimes mocked him for even going through with the redundant chore. Everyone knew each other here, and they knew when people usually left and whether they did any work or not. Naturally, such checkpoints were necessary to give the perception to others that this was a highly organized and well-run bureau, which it was. It was just that, well, after working 24-7 on the same project for months on end, people, regardless of race, gender or anything else, began to form a sort of family. These sorts of things of course were bound to happen when everybody had something in common and had similar problems to relate to.

The click of his key as it unlocked his beaten up ’91 Honda Civic echoed unnoticed through the almost empty, open parking lot. Starting it up carefully (his car had this unfortunate tendency to do bad things if not handled with care), he backed warily out of his spot and headed towards the security checkpoint which separated the paved area from the streets. Crap, he thought, as one hand reached into his back pocket, scavenging for his wallet which contained his special ID. Thinking quickly, his hand evacuated the cloth holding and flew straight into an inside pocket in his jacket. There it was, and not a moment too soon. In a flash, his fingers opened it up and showed it for the security guard to see. A curt nod and the lifting of the yellow and black barrier and the dull red car was soon on the streets.

Keeping his eyes on the barely illuminated road, Gideon couldn’t help but think about how good it would be to be inside his house and bathed in light. It was silly really, but darkness frightened him. It always had, and probably always would. Perhaps that was why the shadow man scared him so much. Maybe it wasn’t just the fact that he was unbelievably tall and held a commanding presence, but also because his facial features were not visible. It was not at all dissimilar to man’s need to put a name to everything. Although seeing the face of the shadow man ideally should not make a difference in Gideon’s judgement of the fellow, it did. He was human after all, and like all humans, no matter how much they were instructed to do otherwise, no matter how much they were told to judge the character of people, the superficial nature dominated totally.

Still, something worried him about that man. And not just him, the project’s goal in general was becoming increasingly more obscure. Regardless of it’s beauty, whatever it was that he was working on really didn’t have much of an obvious practical use. Something that massive definitely wasn’t going to be used to beat butter or anything even remotely similar to that. The answer to that conundrum however, was very simple for him to obtain. In fact, he had picked up a memo of sorts off of his desk earlier today, detailing the specifics of the assignment. He just couldn’t bring himself to look at it. Something just told him that no matter how paranoid he was, whatever was written on that sheet of paper would be infinitesimally more horrifying than anything in imagination. And as he looked out of his car window at the passing scenery he was more than a little spooked by the army of shadows which danced and mocked him, offering worship to the shadow man.

Ryoko Shimabukuro (16) ran down the staircase of her family’s compact, townhouse, towards the slowly opening door. Upon reaching the final step, she stopped and sat down eyeing the entranceway anxiously. She wasn’t disappointed as the wooden door swung open revealing her rather weary looking father. "Hey! You were supposed to come home early today!" Ryoko grinned, betraying the stern image she was trying to project. Actually, she didn’t really care when he came home, as long as he did. Besides, it was a definite improvement over his recent times of arrival.

Gideon Shimabukuro smiled, "I’m sorry, empress," he chided, jokingly, "next time, I’ll consult with you before I try to make more money with which to buy you CDs and stuff." He poked the teenage girl slightly, as he put his briefcase on the floor and closed the door. "How was your day?"

"Blah would be the best to describe it. Nothing much happened. Dad, why do I have to go to an all girls school?"

Her father groaned. They had been through this about a million times before. "It’s your mother’s decision, not mine, you know that. She believes that it’s what’s best for you, that it’d keep you away from drugs and boys." He took off his tan fedora and placed it on the hat rack near the door.

"But do you think it’s what’s best for me?"

The graying, middle-aged man stopped in his tracks. "I… I don’t really know actually. But you haven’t done any of those things yet… have you?" He eyed her worriedly.

She shook her head, smiling. "No."

"Well there you go. Something good must be coming out of it."

Ryoko continued to sit on the bottom step of the stairway, gazing into nothingness. "Maybe the good’s coming out of you and mom." Absentmindedly, she picked up a piece of carpet fuzz and tossed it in the air, admiring how graceful it looked as it floated back downwards. "I doubt that school has had anything of a profound influence on me, ever. I barely even gain any knowledge, much less learn any moral values from those corrupt teachers. Besides, I hate the restrictiveness of that system." She leaned back, ignoring the hazards on placing her spine upon a couple of wooden steps.

Joining his daughter at the bottom of the stairs, Gideon turned to look at her. "Is it really that restrictive? At least you’ve got a lot of girls to make friends with."

"Ha! Most all the girls I know are stupid valley-girls, who don’t do anything more than shop and moon about boys. And yes, for your information, it is very restrictive, although in some respects, it’s waaay to lax, people are smoking and stuff all the time."

Her father’s face suddenly dropped so quickly, she thought that a loud clunk might actually be heard clear across the neighborhood. "Stuff? What sorts of ‘stuff’ are we talking about here?" His voice quivered, betraying the fear inside him, fears that he hoped would be allayed with the next statement.

He was wrong. "You know… stuff." She stressed the word, trying to get the implication through. When she drew a blank stare, a groan escaped from her vocal cords. "Jeez… Sex. Some of them sneak they’re boyfriends in and screw with ‘em between classes and stuff. Restrictiveness only breeds rebellion."

Gideon nearly punched a wall, but refrained himself. This was ridiculous. He knew that there were certain problems with private schools, but this? "Well, I understand now why you don’t have many friends, but it can’t be all that bad, what about that girl you go places with? You’re friends with her right?"

"Jumi? Dad, she’s 3, almost 4 years younger than me! I would think that I should have at least one friend my age."

"She’s a good girl, nonetheless. Do you really hate your school that much?"

"Hate’s not a good term. I just think that I would be better off maybe in a public school or something, it’s not like I’m learning a hell of a lot where I am." Her head drifted back and rested gingerly on a higher step.

Her father nodded thoughtfully. "All right, I’ll talk to your mother about it, you might just get your wish. Just don’t be doing anything bad if you do." He smiled at that, got up, and walked around to the kitchen.

Ryoko sighed. Hopefully something would be done. She trudged slowly up to her room. It was only 10:45 but she was already dead tired, sleep was probably a wise thing to do. Suddenly the phone rang jolting her temporarily out of her fatigued induced daze. Quickly she dashed to her room and scooped up the portable phone charging under her bed. "Hello?" Ryoko prided herself on being able to answer the phone in one ring no matter where she was in the house.

"Ree?" The soft, feminine voice on the other end asked curiously, hoping that the right person had answered the phone."

She grinned. There was only one person in the whole world who ever called her that. "Hey Jumi, whassup?"

"Not much, Edgar dumped me."

Ryoko chuckled. Edgar was Jumi’s 11-year-old neighbor who had the biggest crush on her for about as long as she could remember. "You must be relieved."

"Hell yeah, I remember when he couldn’t leave me alone one second."

"Yup, I remember that too. So who’d he dump you for?"

"His new puppy."

"Ouch, dumped for another dumb animal."

"What do you mean another?"

"My mistake, the puppy’s smarter."

Jumi Tam (12) smiled, a gesture that somehow managed to be carried over into her voice. "Stop will ya? I love ya and all, but that doesn’t mean I won’t kill ya if you keep up."

The older Japanese girl grinned. "Stuff happens right?" Laying herself flat on the floor, Ryoko let out a soft sigh. "I told dad I wanted to switch schools today."

"You did? And what’d he say? He didn’t go ranting and raving about the non-existent qualities of our stupid-ass school did he?"

"Jumi, my dad’s not like that. He said he’ll talk about it with mom and I believe him."

"You’re lucky you have such accepting parents, mine would just yell at me for suggesting something like that and probably whack me."

"They won’t whack you."

"You’re right, they’ll just kill me."

"Stop."

Jumi chuckled. It was a light, warm noise which carried over the ear piece with it’s own distinctiveness. "Okie dokie." Ryoko swore she could almost hear her friend wink. "You’re lucky that you have a chance to get out of this hell hole ya know that?"

"I guess. I just don’t like the strictness and crustiness of all the teachers is all. And these damn uniforms, too gray."

"Yup, the uniforms stink all right." Then, to Ryoko’s surprise, whatever seriousness that had been in Jumi’s voice vanished suddenly. "Since you’re going public on us, maybe you’ll get yourself a boyfriend! And then I can tag along on your dates and be a general nuisance." Her giggle was infectious as the other girl soon found herself trying not to laugh.

"Jumi, you’re a nuisance even without a boyfriend. I wouldn’t want to make another person suffer as well as me. Besides, I don’t think I want a boyfriend." Ryoko picked up a feather that, for no apparent reason, was lying on her floor, and tossed it in the air.

"C’mon Ree, what’s there not to want? He’ll be big, muscular, tall…"

"and as stupid as an ox, with the breath to match. What’s there to want? You’ve been watching too much television, a guy’s not the solution to everything."

The feather floated in a swaying pattern, diving to the right, then left again, more order than in her life. "I know that. Some guy’s can be downright stupid, a lot actually, but don’t you think it’d be romantic?"

"No, I think he’ll just sit there and play video games and drink coke." She stared into space. The grace of the plume drifting across the air was really calming, actually.

"Ree…" The usually happy voice changed instantly into a sort of whiny tone. "You’re sucking all the fun out of it."

"I’m sorry, would you like me to stop stating fact?"

"C’mon, I’m 12, let me dream a little before facing harsh realities."

"I have nothing against you dreaming, as long as those dreams don’t involve me."

"But you’re older, I’m supposed ta be living through you. Besides, long moonlight strolls, sitting on the porch staring at the stars…" Her voice trailed off, leaving the rest of that scene to the imagination.

"I hate stars, and I don’t have a porch." There was a tiny, microscopic thud as the feather landed squarely in the middle of Ryoko’s face.

"You don’t hate stars."

"I hate porches."

"You don’t have a porch!"

"Yeah, and if I had one I’d hate it."

More giggling came oozing out of the phone lines, almost like a physical substance. "You’d just stand there and hate it?"

"Yup."

"Why?"

"To spite him."

"Him?"

"My boyfriend."

"You don’t have a boyfriend."

"I don’t have a porch either."

"Stop Ree. Seriously, I mean, you have to meet the right guy sometime."

She formed her lips into a sort of circle and blew hard, causing the feather to be carried up into the air once again. "Yeah, sometime, like in a couple of centuries."

"No. Why are you always so harsh on yourself?"

"I’m not harsh, but if the right guy for me is like me, then I doubt he’d be very excited to get a girlfriend either."

"I can

’t argue with that logic, but I’m sure he’d fall in love with ya the second you two met."

"Are you planning something I’m not aware of?"

"I don’t know any guys at all remember!"

The feather circled in the air, as if trying to find a good place to set down. "Good, he won’t anyways." She didn’t know even know what she found so interesting about floating stuff in the first place.

"Won’t what?"

"Fall in love with me in a second."

"And why would that be? You’re very pretty."

"Really and how would you know?"

Jumi sounded hurt. "Hey, I’m the little girl who worships you remember?"

"Sorry to disappoint then, but I wouldn’t count on me attracting tons of guys when and if I enter public school."

"Look in the mirror."

"Jumi, I’m not playing this game."

"Just look."

"Jumi."

"I can bug you forever, so you can either give in or this will keep up for a while."

Ryoko grunted. She was right of course, that girl could bother the spikes off a cactus. "I can hang up the phone. And if you keep calling, I can choose not to pick up."

"You can’t avoid me during school, I’ll pop up wherever you go and…"

She couldn’t stand it anymore. "All right! All right! I’m going to a mirror!"

"Good. What do you see?"

"Me."

"Look closer, now what do you see?"

"My pimples, black hats, pores."

"C’mon, don’t be like that, you’ve gotta have a higher self-esteem."

"Higher self-esteem? Jumi, I don’t have a self-esteem. I don’t really care too much about looking pretty either, just as long as I don’t come off as something from the street." With her right pinky finger, Ryoko pulled a renegade strand of hair back into place.

Jumi, however, was insistent. "Be that as it may, but you’re still quite an attractive individual. Thin, moderately tall, the works."

"Yeah, the works. I don’t even know why you care so much."

"I told’ja, so I can tag along on yer dates and all. It’ll be fun! Think of it, you and your handsome boyfriend sitting in a theatre, he leans over to kiss you and my face gets in the way as I’m reaching in for some popcorn." She gave a small laugh, the idea obviously appealed to her.

Ryoko grinned a bit at the thought of her friend tagging along on a date. She remembered previous times she and Jumi had gone to the theatre, it would be pretty hilarious to have those things happen on a date. "Reaching in? I had no idea you even ever got your head out of the bucket. Remember The Truman Show? I don’t think you even saw half of that."

"I did too."

"Yeah, the parts after you finished inhaling all the snacks."

"That’s still half."

"True. But I’d think you would have enjoyed the movie more if you weren’t feeling so sick the entire time. And you had to ruin it for everybody else too."

Embarrassment mixed with amusement crept into Jumi’s voice as she figured out what her best friend was talking about. "Sowwie. Did you ever get those cheese stains out of your shirt?"

"Kind of, it was white shirt right? Well, it’s not quite so white anymore, nor is it really just one solid colour, there are patches of yellow everywhere."

"Ouch. Sowwie."

"S’all right, I’m wearing it at the moment, I use it to sleep in now."

"Oh, you’re going to sleep?"

"School is tomorrow."

"Oh crap, sorry, I must have kept ya up."

"Nah, don’t worry ‘bout it, I was probably gonna sleep late anyways."

"But I kept you up, I better sleep now too. Bye byes!" And at that the phone made a strange clicking noise and went silent.

Ryoko grinned. It was actually quite pleasant talking to her this late. Sure Jumi was an odd girl and all, but she was still really nice. Of course, it’d be even better if either of them could find some other friends, however, their school really stunk, and everyone else there seemed to have lost their minds. She looked into the mirror, gazing into the reflection of the starry night sky displayed by her window. Maybe someday…

It’s never over. That was the kind of thing that was floating around in the executive’s head as he leaned back upon his chair. This had better work, he had spent considerable money, influence and time to provide for the shadow man’s whims. Money and influence, he had learned over the years, was expendable, no matter how precious a mineral or valuable a contact, it could be replaced eventually. But time, now that was the one thing he actually cared about losing. Time could be used in a variety of useful ways. And he couldn’t afford to be wasting such an important resource. If this failed and he lived to worry about it, he would probably be killing himself wondering what other options he could have pursued instead of taking the shadow man up on his offer. Of course, if what he believed was correct (and it rarely wasn’t), then everyone’s only hope lied in that man and his mysterious cohorts. Yes, he finally convinced himself, this was the best way, the only way to do what he had always wanted to do: play hero. Save the world and the galaxy and the universe. There was no princess to rescue but that was all right, it was good enough for him. At his age, most people should be lucky enough to have a job, much less worry about life and existence. Oh well, he thought, he was going to win, as he was always so used to doing. He had practically been assured the backing of heaven itself! Grinning at that thought he looked up and stared into the emotionless face of the shadow man and suddenly felt more fear than he had ever before, and suddenly he realized something he had never considered before. Although it’s never over, not in the physical sense at least, things did come to an end, and at that moment he realized that something was going to end. Something more important than anyone would ever think yet always being ignored. He sighed, unfortunately he really had no choice in the matter, it had to be done. With one hand he took the sheet of paper from the shadow man’s hands and expertly crafted in his signature. And so it began…