• I ran like an idiot, and my face frowned up at it because- Clearly a person with wheels is faster than one using only her legs.

    The car he was driving slowed to a stop a few feet behind me, and like a bolt of lighting he flew, running faster than I thought he ever could in skinny-jeans. He yelled and screamed after me, cursing that he would bring me back to the car as I began to stagger.

    'God, how long had I been running? I know I'm out of shape but, I'm friggin tired!' I regretted hurling myself out a moving vehicle since the pain had been sparking in my back. Looking behind me, I saw that Kal was gaining.

    "Koumeiseidai! I hate running, and when I get my hands on you-!" He stopped to save breath. I turned all the way around to look at him, and tripped over my own two feet. I screamed as I went down, and caught sight as Kal lurched forward and dove over me, trapping me in place.

    ***

    "Kal! LET ME GO! Let me go! I am not going back to the car with you!" I protested and pleaded as he held me over his shoulder and walked us back to his car. He opened the door and heaved me inside. As I tried opening the other door, he ran to his side and hit the child proof settings. The setting shot a thin wall over all locks, door handles, even the buttons that toggle the windows up and down.

    Pretending as if my nails could tear through the walls, I scratched at them and yelled, "You can't take me!"

    "I can! And I will! I did not go and give you that damned crystal for nothing!" He glared at me through the rearview mirror and started up the car again. The car lurched forward and I was thrown against the back seat.

    ***

    "Damnit Doll! How much more are you going to do before I can get you to my cousin?!" Kal spoke when I wormed my way into the front passenger seat.

    "Well, if theres no stopping you from taking me to Ethan, I might as well try to look nice." I pouted, opening his air vents, cooling the heat from all that running. Upon openning his mirror light, a flood consisting of women's pictures cascaded down into my lap.

    "What is all of this?" I held up a picture of a women with thin wings. "KAL?!" I picked up another, it held one of a different women in an alleyway. "Who are they?" A third held a Kimono dancer, a fourth held a redhead...

    He glanced at the pictures and violently dusted them all off the seat onto the floor as I delibrately tried to pick them back up. "Just girls, Blondie! Drop 'em! Put them down!" The car swirved. I blocked him with my shoulder and told him to focus on the road. I wondered why there was a picture of a girl who looked like Naomi.

    "So who are they?" I stacked the pictures into a deck and put them in the glove compartment, and proceeded to look in the mirror and examine my face.

    "Girls."

    "No s**t," I whispered. "I mean really, who are they? Past dates? People from those magazines you read when you have happy time? People you see when you've had too much beer?" My eyes narrowed at him.

    "Iie. They're past dates. And I have you know, I don't pay to give them any of this." He smirked and sped up the car.

    "Okay, too much information." I'd rather just ask Naomi about it later then get all the dirty specifics from Kal. Knowing him he was sure to go into detail...

    "So, here we are..." Kal pulled over to a park and got out. The door slammed as I unbuckled my seatbelt and did one last check.

    "Slightly frizzy hair that can't be fixed; check- Wrinkled black buttoned down shirt of Ethan's; check- Skinny jeans of Kal's sister that actually fit, zipper was zipped, button was buttoned; check- both shoe laces tied; check."

    "Would you hurry your a** out the car already?" I sighed and stumbled out the car, grumbling at Kal's words as I stomped on the grass following him across the field.

    "Whoa, now this isn't your everyday park..." I stared into the lake, then up at the sky. The body of water in the Shadowy World reflected our galaxy, and looking up in the sky I saw that, that galaxy was even closer. How the hell are we on an Earth that isn't in the right galaxy?!

    "HAHA! You wonder the same thing I did when I first got here." Kal looked into the sky. "Scientists and the residents here are still trying to see how thats possible, but surely it is an Earth, for we have liquid water, which is only available in the Goldiac zone." I looked at Kal like he lost his mind. I didn't speak a word.

    "The crystal, Blondie, makes you vunerable to other people who can read minds." He tapped his skull, which by the way I thought was hollow, and walked forward on the woven path. "Ethan should be around here somewhere. He usually comes around at this time of day."

    My ears perked up and I looked around eagerly, trying to ignore Kal's smirking at me from all the thoughts rushing by in my head. "Stay out of my mind, you idiot." I said and skipped ahead of him on the path, passing many other people who stared at the crystal around my neck.

    It was beautiful, all the little kids playing games I had never seen before- the only familiar one I saw was hop-scotch, but there was no chalk drawing. I jogged past them, sticking my nose in their business, trying to learn how the game was played. Frowning, I jogged faster for what they were saying made no sense to me. I was completely lost upon their-

    Ow. Well that hurt.

    I looked down on the ground, and saw a little boy who had fell promptly on his butt.

    "I'm sorry!" We both yelled at the same time. "I didn't mean to-"

    "Wait," I said. "I'll go first. I didn't see you there." Ethan could wait I guess. My eyes swept over the little kid. He was actually very beautiful for a kid. Slightly chubby, bright little eyes the color of the ocean, with dirt brown hair that seemed to curl, yet lay straight on his head at the same time. The only thing that caught me off guard, was his skin tone. It was simular to mine, tan, indian-like, just a smidge bit lighter.

    "If I didn't know better I'd say you were my own relative." I held his hand and helped him up.

    "Thanks lady. I wish I saw that comming. Its weird for things like this to happen." The kids eyes went smokey for a second, before turning back to their soft color.

    The kid adjusted the camper hat that fell off him, tugging the brim over his forhead. "So, where are your parents?" I looked around for a mother figure, all of them seemed to be preoccupied with their own, not looking as if there was one missing, or as if they needed any extra.

    "I only have one here." I wasn't sure if he ment 'here', by the Shadowy World, or 'here' as in park. It didn't bother me much, I just hopped she wasn't dead. "You don't have to help me find them. I'm playing with my friends anyways." He gave a smile that released breath the smell of warm apple juice, and maybe a twizzler or too.

    Mmm, I could really go for some twizzlers right now.

    I shook the stupid thought from my head. Could I even get hungry in this world? Naomi said she had popcorn, and dinner while she was here, but that was really all. The little exotic boy had skipped away, off to play that weird form of hop-scotch as I continued down the stone path. I had uttered a small 'Bye-bye' to him, and he smiled.

    I felt Kal levitating close by in my range, keeping up with that same pace, a few paces back however. There was a beat in the soft tapping of his shoes as the sound of kids playing distanced itself from us. The scraping of his shoes didn't fall out of rhythm for a second, they only sped with me when I saw the familiar posture and muddy brown hair color.