Hazy Darkness (chapters 3 & 4)

                             Surveillance

         I didn’t sleep at all last night. I spent the night tracing the shapes I had memorized the night before. This time there was an extra circle. Something different was outside my window. I was in a deep trance of concentration when my alarm clock went off. I turned off my alarm clock and said, “It’s finally Friday!” I was up and out of bed before I had the sentence finished. I got dressed and headed to the dinning room for breakfast.
         The only reason I knew what happened last night wasn’t a dream was due to the fact I had little bags under my eyes, which I only get when I don’t sleep for over twenty-four hours. I ate my breakfast I went over my conversation with Cloud, over and over again. Some of my questions got answered, but I needed more questions answered to be able to put the pieces together. The group has to be significant in some way.
         I finished my breakfast and finished getting ready for school. I had plenty of time before my brother and I usually left. To fill the gap I decided to check my email. There was one new message. It was from cte@ sna.tsm. Who’s this? I opened it and it read:
“Aurora,
         Ride the bus today. The first one, not the one your sister rides. Sit in the seat farthest back and wait.
                                                 cte”

         Who could this be? I went to my brother’s room and told him I was riding the bus today. He looked at me in shock. I hurried out of his room before he started to give me the twenty questions. I went out to the bus stop at the end of my lane and waited. The bus soon came and I got on and went straight to the last seat.
         There was no one else on the bus. I put in my headphones, as I had last night, and waited for cte to show up. Cte….who was cte? I’d been on the bus for two minutes when I heard the bus driver say something. I took out my headphones and said, “Pardon me, but what was that?”
         “I said you’re normally not on here. Normally no one rides this bus; they all ride the later bus. Occasionally, though, a boy about your age will get on,” the bus driver said casually. It has to be Cloud. His email is almost the same as Kishi’s. He’s the only one whose name starts with a “c” in the group. I wonder what the “t” and “e” stands for.
         Like I had just summoned him, Cloud came on the bus and quickly took the back seat across from me. He slouched down, closed his eyes, and leaned his head against the back of the seat. “At least you can do one thing right,” he said very unemotionally.
         “And what would that be?” I asked with a little bit of a cutting edge in my voice.
         “You can follow directions,” he said letting a slight smile tug the corners of his lips up. “We got about a half hour drive ahead of us and I don’t want to be talking to you with people around, not good for my rep. So, let’s start answering some questions.”
         “What do “t” and “e” stand for?” I asked with all the cutting edge out of my voice.
         “What do you mean? Like in my name?”
         “Well I assume. You signed the email cte.”
         “My complete name is Cloud Thor Elsu. What would yours be?”
         “Aurora Chanel Alpine. So what’s your rep?”
         “I don’t socialize with people.”
         “Oh. I’m usually like that, but someone always has to break the rules.” As I said this I folded my arms and shot a glance at him on the last word. His eyes were open and looking at me and a saw his teeth flash in a smile and then as quickly as it was there it was gone.
         “Am I breaking the rules or are you making me an exception?” His eyes blazed with curiosity.
         “Well, I….uhhh. It doesn’t matter. So, what’s your group have to do with me? What’s Kishi the leader of? No, better yet, who was in my room?”
         “What do you mean?”
         “The manila envelope. Who put it on my bed? Who was in my room? Nothing was moved and it looked as if it appeared by magic.”
         “Let’s put it this way, we all know where you live, but only one of us knows a lot about you.”
         “Are you implying someone went through my stuff? Who would that be?”
         “Try to figure it out sometime later. We have to get off the bus. Good thing we are the first people here. Once we exit the bus do not talk to me.”
         “Okay, geez. I understand you have a strict rep you want to keep up with.” We were almost off the bus. Cloud was going down the stairs and was almost off the bus.
         Once we were off the bus I stuck to the not-talking-to-Cloud rule. I went into the lobby and sat down on the bench. Since I was really early to school today I decided to do something productive. I took out a pencil and paper and worked on last night’s French homework. I knew it wouldn’t take long so I was going to do it after I ate my lunch, but now was as good a time as then. I was right, it only took about five minutes to complete the assignment. By now there were a few more students in the lobby so I started watching them.
         The different reactions on people’s faces were hilarious. I couldn’t help but smile when one guy asked a girl out and when he left she started practically screaming. She was jumping up and down and doing- what I guessed was- a happy dance. She was turning in circles and moving her arms in circles.
         My eyes slipped over to look at Cloud. He was looking at me! He was watching my reactions. He was smiling at my response to the girl. When he saw I caught him looking at me, he didn’t look away like a normal person would. He just kept watching me and I kept watching him. The bell rang and slipped me out of my reverie.
         I couldn’t concentrate on any of my classes. In Spanish, I got called on to say a phrase and I said it in French before correcting myself. When I got to lunch, I was dreading the thought of sitting with Beth, Sadie, and Rachel again. Just as I got out of line, Autumn grabbed my arm and practically drug me to her table. Everyone else was there. She sat down and I just stood there staring at her.
         “Well, sit,” she commanded.
         “Are you sure it’s okay?” I asked hesitantly. The whole table was staring at me.
         “Of course, silly,” Nevada said cheerfully. I sat down slowly and once I was in place didn’t move and inch. I was looking around the table. Everyone was eating except me.
         “Staring is very rude. Are you going to stare at us the whole period or eat?” Nisha asked maliciously.
         “Why did you bring me to your table?” I asked Autumn.
         “Well, we-,” she started to reply but Levon and Nisha both coughed in a way that said, “WE?!”
         “Okay! Well, most of us,” Autumn shot a look at Levon and Nisha, “thought it would be a good habit to get you into. After all, we- sorry, Nevada and I- want to be your friend.”
         “Well, I guess two out of five isn’t….horrible,” I said.
         “It’s settled! You will eat with us everyday,” Autumn said happily.
         “I don’t want to intrude or impose….” I said trailing off.
         “Don’t be silly! You’re welcome here,” Nevada said.
         “Well, if I become too much of a burden, just tell me and I’ll leave.” At that Nevada and Autumn laughed at me.
         “How much trouble can one girl be?” Nevada asked and then looked at Autumn. “Hmm, you’re right. Some girls are a handful,” he said teasingly.
         “And some guys are just impossible,” Autumn commented back. I started to giggle. They made such a cute couple.
         I caught the eye of my former table. They were all glaring at me and whispering. They were probably wondering how I got accepted into the group before they did. After all, they had been here longer. I started to eat my lunch and finished just before the bell rang.
         As I was walking out of the cafeteria, someone grabbed my arm. They drug me around a corner and into a hallway where no one was.
         “Is this like Grab-Aurora’s-Arm-And-Drag-Her-Places-Day?” I asked sarcastically to the unknown person who brought me here.
         “Listen,” a deep voice said. I immediately recognized the voice as Cloud’s and snapped my head around to see his face. “Don’t tell anyone anything that happens at the table. If they asked how you got in tell them your family with Autumn. We don’t need people thinking we’re handing out invitations.”
         “I wasn’t going to tell anyone anything, firstly. Secondly, I knew your table is exceptionally exclusive. Why am I even there?” I asked hastily, I didn’t want to be late to class.
         “We’ll talk later. Now go,” he said and then vanished. The lonely hallway started filling with people.
         I walked to French class and was deeply anticipating History. In French, Psychology, and Gym, time barely moved. It crept like a snail in no hurry. By the time History decided to roll around, I was so on edge that I almost fell out of my seat when the bell rang. I didn’t know why I was so anxious to get there. Perhaps I would still be accepted and talked to. I hoped Autumn and Nevada still talked to me. They were really funny, entertaining people.
         I arrived at History and sat down in my seat. I had to restrain myself so I didn’t bounce up and down with nervousness. I was fidgety though. I had to calm myself down fast. I closed my eyes and thought of night. How everything was still. Nothing seemed to be in motion. I was still thinking of night when I heard someone sit down beside me. I looked to see Autumn looking at me.
         “Hello,” she said pleasantly.
         “Hey,” I said so relieved that lunch wasn’t a dream and that she actually accepted me. “What’s up?”
         “Not too much. I bet we’re going to get homework in here today,” she wrinkled her nose and then a huge smile appeared on her face. “Even though I don’t like homework, I always manage to get mine done quickly and accurately.”
         “That’s good. I don’t like homework, either. Teachers must think we don’t have important thing s to do.”
         “I know! So anyways want to do something tonight?”
         “Would it be just me and you?”
         “It would be you and me, and Nevada,” she said smiling, “and Cloud and Nisha and Levon,” she said in a barely audible whisper.
         “Nisha and Levon don’t like me very much. I’m not even sure if Cloud likes me,” I said keeping my voice down so they wouldn’t hear me.
         “It’ll be fun. C’mon, please?”
         “What would we be doing? Where would we be going? What time are we meeting?”
         “We would be going to the mall- even though the guys will object to it. We’ll pick you up at four. Is that enough time for you to do your homework?”
         “Yeah, that’s enough time. What time will we be getting back?”
         “Probably around eight-thirty.”
         “Are we shopping for anything in particular?”
         “Nope, we’re just going for fun,” she smiled at me and then class started.
         Autumn was right, we did get homework. I got home and did my homework with plenty of time to spare. I went to check my emails, and to my surprise, there was none. After that I wrote my parents a note saying where I was going, who I was going with, and what time I would be back- I knew my parents wouldn’t mind me not being home. They would actually probably enjoy my absence. I also told my brother and sister where I was going too. The both looked at me in shock when they found out I had made friends. I never had friends before. It felt good to have at least a couple friends.
         Four o’ clock came and I went outside to wait. To my surprise they were already here. They were driving a car. How are all of us going to fit that car? The car might have been small but it was beautiful. It was an Infiniti G35 Black Coupe. It didn’t have any dings, scratches, or dirt on it. I hopped into the passenger’s back seat and closed the door gently. There were only two other people in the car. Nevada was driving and Autumn was sitting in the passenger seat. I scooted to the middle of the back seat and clicked my seatbelt into place.
         “Nice car, is it yours Nevada?” I asked casually though on the inside I was worried about touching anything and breaking it.
         “Yes it is. I bought it last month when I turned sixteen and a half and got my license. This little squirt,” he put his hand on Autumn’s leg, “is turning sixteen and a half in twelve days. How old are you?”
         “I’m sixteen. I have my permit and will be able to get my license next month on this day.”
         “That’s awesome!” Autumn said excitedly. “I’m so excited to have a group night out! Better yet, I’m excited that I’m not the youngest one in the group anymore,” she smiled so big I thought her smile would eat her face.
We arrived at the mall and parked next to a black Hyundai Tiburon. It was a nice car, too. “Whose is that?” I asked in awe.
         “That would be Cloud’s Tiburon,” Nevada answered me. “Nice car, huh?”
         “Like yours isn’t?” Autumn asked him laughing a little. We out of the car and Cloud, Nisha, and Levon got out of Cloud’s.
         “What store shall we hit first?” Autumn asked practically bouncing up and down with excitement. “Let’s start at one end and go the whole way through to the other.” She suggested. All the guys in the group groaned.
         “Why did we decide to come?” Levon asked.
         “We are going to Lerchery’s. They are going to the mall. We will meet back here seven to go to Benson’s for dinner,” Cloud said with a tone of authority. Lerchery’s was a store with sporting goods. I wouldn’t have minded going there, but I decided to keep my mouth shut. Benson’s was a little diner with lots of great food.
         “Okay it’s settled. Let’s go,” Autumn said.
         We started at end farthest away so it wouldn’t be such a long walk back to the car with our shopping bags. We hit almost every store and Autumn bought at least one thing from every store we went into. Nisha only got three shirts, one pair of jeans, and two dresses- for the upcoming dance. I got one shirt, one pair of jeans, and one dress. By the time we got back to Nevada’s car, the guys were just pulling in to meet us. Autumn and I put our bags in Nevada’s car-they barely fit because of everything Autumn bought- and Nisha put her bags in Cloud’s car. When the guys saw Autumn’s bag all their mouths dropped with shock.
         “Can’t you show some restraint?” Nevada asked teasingly. “I mean look at Aurora’s two bags compared to your twelve!”
         “Hey, a girl’s got to shop.” Autumn replied.
         “Did you spend all your paycheck already?” Nevada asked with wide eyes.
         “I got some money in the bank,” Autumn said looking at her feet. We all started laughing at that.
         We all got into the cars we arrived in and started on our way to Benson’s. We got there at roughly seven-thirty and didn’t have to wait long to be seated. We sat down and ordered our food. I sat next between Autumn and the wall with Nevada on her other side. Cloud was across from me with Levon and then Nisha in the booth with him.
         Autumn whipped out her cell phone and started texting like crazy. I stared at her in astonishment. She saw my face and giggled, but then continued to text. When she got done I heard a phone go off and then Nevada picked up his cell phone. He read quickly and texted back almost as fast as she had.
         “Is that necessary?” Levon asked. “I mean your sitting next to each other.”
         “He-he! I’m sure you don’t want to know what we’re texting,” Autumn replied and then grabbed Nevada’s head and started kissing him passionately.
         “Ewww! Not at the table,” Nisha said pretending to throw up. I laughed silently to myself and I felt someone kick me. I looked at Autumn and she was staring right at me.
         “You can talk you know,” she said.
         “I know,” I said shyly looking at the table. Everyone was looking at me and I didn’t like the attention.
         “Did you get your homework done? What did I tell you, I knew we were going to get History homework,” Autumn said nudging my elbow. I felt like I’d been pulled and poked too much today.
         “Yeah, I got it all finished and you did call it. What’s our homework status for Monday?” I asked.
         “We will be going over our homework tomorrow. We will have a pop quiz on chapter one, section one and two, and then we will be doing notes on all of chapter one,” she said confidently.
         “Are you psychic?” I asked astonished.
         “No, but I do know the schedule as fast as he makes it,” she laughed a little to herself.
         “How?” I had to ask.
         “Let’s put it this way. I know where he keeps his schedule and when he’s not in the room,” she said. My mouth dropped and my eyes got big.
         “Isn’t that against the rules?”
         “Only if you get caught.” She was smiling. The waitress came with our food and drinks. We ate our food with conversation jumping from one topic to another. We finished and the bills came. We all ordered separately so we all got separate bills. Before anyone could grab them Cloud grabbed them all.
         “Nishi’s got us,” he said.
“Okay, but that means he’s coming with us next time and we’re paying for his,” Nevada said. I loved the fact that there was going to be a next time. Hopefully I was invited.
         “Are you sure?” I asked.
         “Yeah, he offered and we don’t refuse when he offers. It gets into a pretty ugly argument,” Cloud said and everyone, but me laughed. Cloud pulled out a credit card and gave it to the waitress. She was back in a minute and we all walked out of the restaurant. It was eight o’ clock and by the time I got home it would be eight thirty. Autumn knew how to place timing really well.
         When we walked out to the parking lot I noticed there were three black cars all by each other. The new car was a black Jaguar. Nisha and Levon took the things they bought out of Cloud’s car and put it into the Jaguar. Nevada opened the trunk of his car and pulled out my bags. He handed them to me and I looked at him confused.
         “You’re walking home,” he said so seriously that I believed him.
         “Umm, okay. Not a problem,” I tried to play it off as cool, but my voice gave away that I was freaked out. They all laughed at me.
         “Naw, I wouldn’t do that to you,” Nevada said, but didn’t take the clothes back. “Cloud is taking you home because he lives closer to you than the rest of us.”
Cloud took my bags and threw them in the back of his trunk and shut it. Autumn looked at me and smiled. She grabbed my hand and drug me out of earshot of everyone else. She made sure our backs were to the rest of the group. “It’ll be okay,” she said. Apparently I looked scared. She handed me a bar of special dark chocolate. “If he gets grumpy give him this.” She laughed, handed me a piece of paper and walked away. I laughed a little too and put the chocolate and paper into my pocket. If he didn’t eat it I sure would.
         I turned around and started heading for the car. Nisha and Levon pulled out and stopped in front of me blocking my view. Levon was driving and rolled down his window. “Here,” he said handing me a piece of paper, “just in case.” I put it with the paper Autumn gave me. They pulled away and I started for the car again.
Cloud had his arms crossed and was leaning against the passenger door staring off into the woods behind the restaurant. I got two feet away from him and then stopped. He unfolded his arms and started to walk away, pulling the door open as he walked. Well that was nice in a way, I guess.
         I got in the car, buckled my seatbelt, and waited for him to get in. He got in and started the car, but didn’t pull out. He was looking out the driver’s side window. Autumn and Nevada were there and it looked like they were talking to him, with him reading their lips. I got a text message and pulled out my cell phone. It was my sister asking me where I was. I told her I was at Benson’s Diner. We were starting to back up as I finished sending the text.
         “Do you have to be home at eight-thirty?” Cloud asked.
         “No. As long as I’m home by ten o’ clock I’m okay,” I replied.
         “Can we take a little detour?”
         “It depends, where would we be going?”
         “To my house. I have to pick something up while my parent’s aren’t home.”
         “Yeah that’s fine, but what do you have to pick up?”
         “I have to get a letter from Kishi off my kitchen table.” We drove in silence for a little while. I didn’t want to be the one to break it. I usually don’t mind silence, but there was tension in the air. It made me feel like someone needed to talk.
         “So what did you buy?” Cloud asked, almost making me jump.
         “I bought a shirt, a pair of jeans, and a dress for the upcoming dance.”
         “You’re going to the Sophomore Hop?”
         “Yeah, are you?”
         “Humph. Probably not.”
         “Oh. Why not? If you don’t mind me asking.”
         “I don’t dance.”
         “Besides that if you went you’d have girls all over you.”
         “What?”
         “Don’t act like you haven’t noticed. You seem to have every girl under some kind of spell to like you.”
         “Do I have you under my spell?” He was looking at me instead of the road.
         “Watch the road. I don’t have a death wish,” I responded calmly.
         “I’ll look at the road if you answer me.”
         I looked straight into his eyes and said, “Do you think you have me under your spell?”
         He laughed and started watching the road. “I’m not going to get an answer am I?”
         I smiled, bit my bottom lip, and said, “Maybe later.”
         We slowed down and came to a stop in front of a house. There were no other houses around it. It had yard space on all sides of the house and had woods behind it. It looked to be two stories tall and made of logs.
         “We’re here,” Cloud said and started getting out. I didn’t know whether or not to get out so I hesitated a little. Cloud came over opened my door and said, “Do you want to come in?”
         “Yeah, sure,” I said my heart pounding fiercely in my chest. I was going to get to be in his house. I was really excited. Drat, this meant I was under his spell. I sighed and he must have heard it because he looked at me confused.
         We reached his porch and he unlocked the door from the key on his key chain. He opened the door walked in and held the door open for me to follow. His house was beautiful, but I’d only seen the breezeway. He walked through another door and motioned for me to follow.
         I walked into the kitchen and walked over to the table where he was. There was a wall halfway between one wall of the house to the other. The rest was open and revealed a large living room with stairs leading up to bedrooms. There was a hallway coming from the living to more bedrooms.
         “Your house is very big and beautiful,” I said still absorbing everything.
         “Thanks,” he said sounding distracted. I looked at him and he was reading a letter. He finished and looked at me with no emotion in his eyes. “We need to go.”
         “Okay, but is there a specific reason?”
         “I need to get you home. It’s eight and I don’t want your parents to get upset.”
         “I’m fine until ten, but okay let’s go.” I was sad that we had to leave I had so much fun today.
         As if he were reading my thoughts, Cloud asked, “Did you have fun?”
         “Yes I did. I never had friends before, but I had loads of fun today.”
         “That’s good.” We were at his car, but he didn’t open the door for me this time. As soon as I got in he was moving. I hurried and buckled my seatbelt.
         “You know where I live, correct?” I asked.
         He smiled at me sweetly and said, “Yes I do.”
         “How do you find out-,” I started to ask, but he cut me off.
         “Kishi. How else would I have been able to put the envelope on you bed?” He smiled innocently after asking the question. “I also know you couldn’t sleep last night. Autumn told me.”
         “You were in my room! Autumn was the extra circle on my window?” I asked almost furiously.
         “What?” He asked confused.
         “I memorized the shadows on my window and there was an extra circle last night. So why did she spend the night watching me?”
         “Kishi had you under surveillance last night.”
         “Why?”
         “He wanted to make sure I didn’t scare you too much.” Cloud chuckled a little and then stopped. “Apparently I didn’t so your not going to be under surveillance anytime soon.” We came to a stop. “How do your parents feel about a guy driving you home?”
         “Uhhh, I don’t know. It’s never happened before.” He clicked something on the dash board.
         “Okay now they won’t know,” he said and I started to open the door, but he grabbed my hand to stop me. “Check your emails.” He released my hand and I opened the door. The dome light didn’t turn on. So that’s what he turned off. I got out and saw the trunk pop open out of the corner of my eye.
         “Thanks for the ride,” I said.
         “Take this.” He handed me a piece of paper.
         “What are these? I’ve gotten them from almost everyone.”
         “Read it,” he stated.
         “Okay, bye,” I responded and shut the door. I went and got my things out of the trunk and shut it. I walked to my door and turned to see he was already gone. I opened the door and stepped in.

                             Shady

         My parents were sitting in the living room. They didn’t say much, the only asked if I had fun and asked what I bought. Having parents who weren’t in tune with your life wasn’t always a bad thing. I went to my bedroom and put my new clothes away. Then, I decided to read all the papers I had gotten. Between all of the papers, I had everyone’s cell phone numbers and email addresses. I also pulled the candy bar out of my pocket and set it down on my dresser. I then did as Cloud said and checked my emails. I had one new message, shocker.
“Dear Aurora,
         Tonight, at midnight, go into the woods and sit on the stump you sat on the last time I had you go into the woods. Wait there until Cloud comes. Go with him, he knows where to take you. Wear all black- try to cover as much as your skin as possible- with your hair pulled back into a ponytail.
                                                 nhq”

         I had awhile until it was time to meet Cloud. I picked out a black long sleeved shirt and black sweatpants. I went over to the bathroom and got showered and brushed my hair. Then, I put on my clothes and pulled my hair back into a ponytail. Kishi requested weird things today. Why was he still signing nhq instead of his real name?
         It was nine o’ clock and I decided I better try to get sleep now since I didn’t get any last night and I didn’t know how late I was going to be out. I set my cell phone alarm on vibrate and put it in my pillow case by my head so I could feel when it went off. I set the alarm for eleven forty-five. I laid my head down and surprisingly went right to sleep. Finally, I felt like the world was where it should be. I banished the thought quickly because every time I thought that something bad happened.
         My phone went off and I pulled it out of my pillow case, shut it off, and put it in my pant’s pocket. I got out of bed, put on black socks and black shoes and decided to jump out my window and not risk getting caught by my parents. My window was at least ten feet off the ground, but I could jump on the swimming pool deck and walk down those stairs.
         I thought it would be a lot harder than it was to get onto the pool deck. I stretched from the pool deck to my window and pulled it closed, but- of course- didn’t lock it. I walked down my pool steps and started out my driveway. I got to the stump and sat down. I still had six minutes until midnight. I sat there thinking about where I was going to go when Cloud arrived.
         He didn’t arrive as he had last time. He simple walked out of the woods into the clearing. “Come on,” he said. He started to walk into the woods and I jumped up so I could follow him.
         Following him wasn’t difficult, but it wasn’t easy either. He was wearing all black too. Every now and then I thought he looked back to make sure I was there, but I couldn’t be sure because the movement was so quick it was barely visible. We finally came out to a dirt road.
         “Get in,” he said and motioned toward his car.
         I got in quickly because he seemed to be in a rush. I clicked on my seatbelt. He got in and clicked on his. He didn’t start the car though. I looked at him curiously. “I’m sorry,” he whispered without looking at me. He started the car, but I barely noticed. I was too preoccupied trying to figure out what he was sorry for.
         “What are you sorry for? Are we going to go or just sit here?” I asked.
         He looked at me, but looked away and started to rub his temples. “Yeah, we’re going to go.” He started driving without answering my other question. We came to the end of the dirt road and he turned onto the main road. We drove on this road in silence for quite sometime. “If you had a choice, would you choose to live with a different family?” He asked suddenly.
         “To tell you the truth, yes I would. I probably wouldn’t even think twice about it. Why do you ask?” I asked him.
         “We’re here,” he said and the car came to a stop. He turned the car off, but left his hands on the steering wheel. His hands were clenched tightly around it.
         “Are you okay?” I asked gesturing towards his hands.
         “Yeah,” he said and let go of the steering wheel. It looked like it took a lot of effort. “Okay, let’s go.” I hadn’t realized where we stopped so I looked around. We were at Cloud’s house.
         “Why are we at your house?” I asked confused.
         “You’ll see,” was all he said.
         He got out and I did the same. When he shut his car door he leaned against it and put his head in his hands. Then, he dropped his hands, shook his head, and started walking toward the house. He stopped when he realized I wasn’t following.
         “Are you coming?” He asked as he looked back at me.
         “Yeah,” was all I said and then I started walking toward the house. Cloud stood where he was until I was beside him and started keeping pace with me. We reached the door and he opened it without his key.
         “Are you’re parents home?” I asked.
         He stopped twisting the door knob and looked at me. He quickly looked away and opened the door. He stepped inside and I followed him. Why was Cloud acting so weird? He stopped in the breezeway to take off his shoes and I followed his example. He opened the door to the main portion of the house and motioned for me to go in.
         It was dark inside, with no lights on. I heard the door click behind me, but still no lights came on. I was starting to get nervous and scared. I felt around for a light switch, but Cloud captured my hand in his. He put it down to my side and then let go of it. Next thing I know his hands grabbed my arms and he lifted me off the ground. He walked me to a carpeted area and then set me down.
         “Cloud, where are you? I’m starting to get freaked out,” I said to him in just barely above a whisper. A blinding flash ripped through the room. I jumped and realized it was just a light. Cloud was in front of me sitting on a bed. A bed that had my bed sheets on it.
         “What are those doing here?” I asked pointing a shaky finger to the bed sheets.
         “Welcome home,” Cloud said. He looked up at me to see my reaction. “You’re not going to go into shock, are you?” My expression must have looked pretty bad.
         “Wh-what do y-you mean welcome ho-home?” My breathing was rapid and very audible.
         “This is your new room. Listen, just trust me, okay? Autumn, Nevada, Levon, and Nisha are all here too. Please just try to go to sleep without putting up a fight. If you do we’re going to have to restrain you and give you sleeping meds and I don’t want to do that. If you need anything I’ll be in the bedroom across the hall,” he said and then gave me a shy smile. My breathing was still abnormally loud and fast.
         Cloud stood up and approached me with his hands up to show he had nothing to hide. “Everything will be alright, I promise,” he said still approaching me. He got within inches of me and then side stepped out of my room. He stood near the doorway to make sure I wouldn’t pass out or anything.
         I regained control of my breathing and settled it down. I went over to my dresser- the one that had been in my room an hour before- and opened it to find my pajamas in the same drawer they were in at my house. I decided quickly that I can get away from this mad house tomorrow, but I better play it safe and act like I accept it here. I don’t want them to get suspicious of my intentions for tomorrow.
         I pulled my pajamas out and asked, “Is there a bathroom somewhere?”
         Cloud smiled when he realized I was going to accept the place. “Yeah it’s right here,” he said pointing to the room beside me.
         I went passed Cloud and into the bathroom. I shut the door and changed into my pajamas. I found my tooth brush in the tooth brush holder. The only reason I knew it was mine was because someone put my name on it. I brushed my teeth, picked my clothes up off the floor, and went back to “my room.”
Cloud appeared in the doorway again. “Are you going to be okay for the night?” He asked truly worried.
         “Yeah, I think I’ll manage,” I replied and then threw my clothes into the hamper at the foot of my bed and went to lie down. I got under my sheet and curled up in a ball. “Will you please turn out the light for me?” I asked Cloud.
         “Yeah sure,” He said and then it was dark.
         I fell asleep quickly that night and awoke early that morning, around five thirty. I sat up and stretched and then almost had a panic attack. I thought what happened last night was a dream. So when I woke up I expected to be in my room. It made me sad that it wasn’t a dream. That meant I really had been kidnapped and my parents would report it. Then I’d probably become one of their clients.
         I got out of bed and went through my dresser for the clothing I wanted to wear today. One thing I hadn’t thought out was the fact that all my stuff was here. How was I supposed to get it home? I wanted to kick myself for not paying attention to how to get here. I picked out jeans and a blue tee-shirt to wear today.
I went to my doorway to see if Cloud’s door was open. It wasn’t so I figured he was still asleep. I tip-toed my way down the hall and to the living room. I figured I was in the clear at that point. I went out to the kitchen and grabbed a hold of the doorknob to the breezeway. I looked out the window on the door and saw all the group members sitting at the table eating breakfast. I threw my head back in disappointment and turned the door knob to go out the door. I had to play it cool until the perfect opportunity came.
         When I came out no one looked at me. They all just kept on eating and talking. I saw an empty chair with a plate of untouched eggs and toast. I looked to see if anyone was looking at me. Autumn was so I pointed to myself then to the empty spot and mouthed the word “Me?” She nodded her head yes and smiled. I sat down, but and started to eat.
         “Good morning sleepy head!” Autumn practically yelled. “I thought you were never going to get up. I hope you like eggs.”
         “Yes I do. Who made them and what time did everyone else get up?” I asked.
         “Well, Nevada made the eggs and we all got up around five,” she replied happily.
         “Thank you, Nevada,” I said politely.
         “No problem, but it’s your turn to cook tomorrow. We have pancakes on Sundays. I’ll show you where everything in the kitchen is later,” Nevada talked just as politely as I had.
         “Okay,” I said and smiled at him. I’m not going to be here tomorrow, though. I finished my eggs and sat there waiting for someone to say something.
“Well we better get started on today,” Levon said as he pushed away from the table and started to clear everyone’s plates. “Are you going to handle,” he asked Cloud nodding his head towards me after he spoke the last word.
         “I’ll take care of it,” Cloud responded. Everyone started to file into the kitchen and Nisha, being the last one in, shut the door behind her.
“I bet you have a lot of questions. I’m going to tell you what’s going on, but you got to stay calm and not interrupt. Also, try to accept what I tell you because it’s the whole hearted truth. Deal?” Cloud asked me. I nodded my head yes. He took a very deep breathe and let it out slowly. “Aurora, you were adopted. Kishi had to put you with a family and they were adopting. So he put you in their family. We have erased everyone’s memory of you. Anyone who knew your name or heard of you. We only erased their memory of you; they remember everything you’ve ever done with them except you weren’t there. We changed your room so it is now a laundry room. All your stuff is here. You will be living with us for now on. Please try to accept it and make life easy. If you don’t believe me ask anyone else. We all went through this. I can’t tell you why we did this just yet. Just know you are destine for great things. If you think I’m lying I will take you to your house and you will see that no one remembers you. We didn’t erase any students memory of you, but the adults think your mother and father died when you were very young, which is true. Your adoptive parent is Kishi Tonic. They will contact Kishi every time they need to contact your parent/guardian. We have adoption papers filled out and everything so it looks like this is what really happened when your parents died.” He finished and was staring at me.
         “You mean to say that I can’t go home, ever?” I asked.
         “This is your home now,” he said softly. I crossed my arms on the table and put my forehead on them.
         “Can I at least go home to see if they remember me?” I asked with little hope that they did.
         “Yes, but your going to have to act like a girl scout selling cookies,” he said.
         “Can we go now? My parents should be awake. They go into work at six thirty on Saturdays,” I said.
         “Go get in my car. I’ll take you,” he said.
         I got up put on a pair of sandals and walked out the door to go to his car. He followed soon after. I got in the car and put on my seatbelt. I was in his car a lot. He got in and did the same. He turned on the ignition and started zooming away. All I could think about the whole ride was what he told me. Could it really be true? We arrived at my house and he handed me a box of girl scout cookies.
         “Please do this and try to be convincing,” was the last thing Cloud said to me before I got out and shut the door. I walked up the too familiar steps and knocked on the door. My parents both came to the door.
         “May we help you, young lady?” My father said.
         “Don’t you remember me?” I asked frantically.
         “No, we don’t usually get girl scouts here,” my mother said.
         “Would you like to buy a box of these cookies?” I asked holding up the cookies. I was disappointed that they didn’t remember me.
         “Yes how much are they?” My old father asked.
         “Two dollars,” I said glumly.
         “Here you go,” my old mother said and handed me the money.
         “Thank you for supporting girl scouts around the world,” I said and walked away to my new life.
         I got in Cloud’s car and put the money on the dashboard. “Are you okay?” He asked with all the concern in the world in his voice.
“I’ll live,” I said and turned my head to watch my old house and life disappear behind me.
         I paid attention to the roads Cloud took to my new home. I knew how to get there by the time we pulled in the driveway. Cloud shut off his car, but neither of us moved or attempted to get out. “I’m so sorry we had to take you away,” he said.
         “No, don’t be sorry. I’m sorry. I told you I wouldn’t even think twice about it,” I said finally giving in and looking at him. I smiled a feeble smile. “I guess I got a new family now.”
         I had to pull myself together before he saw I was almost in tears. I hurried up and got out of the car shutting the door and wiping the tears from my eyes. I heard his car door shut and before I knew it he had me in an embrace. I threw my arms around his neck and squeezed him as tight as I could. I felt warm, like I was where I should be. It made me feel like I could get through this. I had friends who wanted me to succeed and even if I didn’t know why I was here, they wanted me here.
         We let go of each other at the same time. “I thought you talking to me would ruin my rep. Geez, if anyone saw this it would be destroyed,” Cloud said jokingly and I couldn’t help, but laugh. “Come on; let’s go see what the hooligans are up too.” I laughed again and so did he. We laughed all the way to the door and then went inside.
         “Do you want to see the rest of the house?” Cloud asked once we were in the living room. The others weren’t around.
         “Yeah,” I said and he started to lead me back toward my room.
         He went into the room on the right, his room, and said, “My room.” It was a simple room like mine was. It had a bed and dresser and closet. Both our rooms had two windows with window blinds and curtains. He started to walk out the door and stopped by the bathroom. “The Bathroom,” he said pointing to the room next to mine, “and the basement.” He pointed to the room next to his. The door was shut, but he opened it and started walking down the stairs.
         The basement was beautiful. It had a bathroom to the left of the bottom of the stairs. The bathroom had a shower, toilet, sink, washer, and dyer. To the right of the stairs were a freezer and little sitting area, complete with a computer, television, and VCR/DVD player. There were two couches and a love seat and the area went from tiling to carpet.
         There was a door opposite the freezer. We went through that door and walked through three different storage areas. They were separated by walls and doors. The last one was under the garage, the one we walked into first was under the living room and bedrooms, and the middle one was under the kitchen and breezeway. There was a door in the first one and it lead to the outside.
         Outside, the whole perimeter was surrounded by chain-link fencing. I looked to the left to see four wheelers under the porch and stairs leading up to the swimming pool. The swimming pool was enclosed with a picket fence looking perimeter. We walked around it, on the outside, and when we were directly behind the house, I saw more four wheelers under a sun room. All the four wheelers were black and fast looking. We kept walking around and came to a gate.
We went through the gate and we were by the house entrance to the swimming pool. We walked up the steps and went in the back sliding glass door. Once we went through it we were back in the breezeway. “Okay,” Cloud said, “time to look at the other bedrooms.”
         We walked passed the kitchen into the living room. I now knew why the wall in the kitchen only went halfway. It supported an upstairs portion that was closed off with a wall. The hallway, bedrooms, and couch area were all underneath it. The floor space and TV were all under the roof of the house, which was very high up. We went up the stairs and came to the door to the other bedrooms.
         We walked through it and there was a hallway. To the right the hallway wrapped around a corner and to the left it went straight to a wall. We went right first. There was a doorway in the straight section of the hall and two around the corner. We went to the door in the straight section and turned right, but didn’t move. There was a door in front of us and two doors to the left. We went into the one directly in front of us first. It was a bathroom. It was small and only had a sink and toilet. We then went to the door closest to the bathroom door.
         “This is Autumn’s room,” Cloud said and opened the door. It had a bed and huge closet on the right. She didn’t need a dresser with a closet that big. It also had a window. We then went to the room next to Autumn’s. “This is Nevada’s room.” Nevada’s room had a dresser and a bed, no closet. It had two windows one on each wall, because his was a corner of the house. His room was above mine and Autumn’s was above Cloud’s.
         We then went back around the corner so we were on the straight stretch. We went to the middle of the stretch and came to a door. Cloud opened it and said, “Nisha’s room.” Nisha’s room had a glass door that opened up, French door style, to a little porch with a table and two chairs. Underneath this was the porch and on the porch pick nick table. We then went to the last room. “Of course, this is Levon’s room.” Levon’s room had a closet to the right. It was a wall to wall closet. He had two windows, one on each wall. The window to the left led out onto the roof of the breezeway. He had a bed in the middle of the room.
         “Well, that completes the tour. Any questions?” Cloud asked.
         “How did rooms get assigned?” I asked.
         “We all just kind of threw our stuff in a room. You’re the lucky one who didn’t have any choice,” Cloud said and smiled.
         “That’s okay, I like my room,” I said and smiled back. “One more question, where are the other?”
         “Probably outside doing something,” Cloud said. “You want to do something fun?” He asked suddenly.
         “Sure. What?” I asked.
         “We’re going to ride Shady,” he said with the biggest smile I’d ever seen on his face.