Flames and Starlight

“We can escape now before they see us,” Laura whispered to Ruben through clenched teeth as they walked arm-in-arm to her parents’ house. “Let’s go before it’s too late.”

Ruben sighed. She’d been trying to convince him to turn around the whole bus ride. She could tell she was trying his patience. “Just one hour. We can try one hour, and if shit hits the fan, we can leave.”

“I don’t think I can survive an hour.”

Ruben stopped and looked down at her. “Look, I know that I helped push you to leave, and I’m not a big fan of them, but at one point, you were close to them.”

“Why are you so concerned with me reaching out to them? Was it your accident?”

He rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. “I don’t know, honestly. I’ve just been missing my parents lately. I love Mark, and I don’t know where I’d be without him, but there’ve been times when I wish they were here. With everything going on, I think it’s important that you try to fix things with them because you never know when someone can be gone.”

Laura looked away, knowing he was right. At one point, she and her family had been close. She’d been close to her parents. She’d been close to Alison. Even though things had gotten ugly between them lately, it didn’t mean she should give up on them.

“Okay,” she said and they linked arms again. “Let’s go.”

They finished the walk to her parent’s house. She looked up at her childhood home with mixed emotions. It had only been a month since she’d moved out but it felt like a lifetime. In a way, she missed living here but when she thought of the toxicity that’d taken place over the past few years she knew she made the right call moving to Ruben’s.

They walked up the porch steps and Laura knocked on the door. It swung open a second later to reveal Derek grinning at them.

“Glad you could make it!” he said with exaggerated enthusiasm and opened the door to let them in. “Come in, come in. Don’t be a stranger.”

Laura rolled her eyes at him as she and Ruben walked in and followed Derek down the hall to the dining room. Laura tensed, wondering what she’d be walking into. She hadn’t talked to her parents or Alison since she moved out. Were they going to be happy to see her? Were they going to be mad she hadn’t reached out to them?

Derek stopped her right before they walked in and whispered to her, “I made Ali promise to behave. I made it clear to her that she’ll be nice to you or she’ll wake up to a bucket of cold water for the rest of the month.”

She laughed at the mental image. She couldn’t lie and say the thought of her sister being dosed in ice water wasn’t satisfying. “Thanks, Derek.”

“And I meant it when I said she misses you.”

He walked into the dining room before she could respond. Ruben took her hand and whispered, “Ready?”

She exhaled softly. “Yeah.”

“I hope for Ali’s sake she does behave herself but it’d be funny if he dosed her with water every morning.”

They tried to stifle laughter when they walked into the dining room and their amusement immediately washed away.

Everyone was already sitting down with their food in front of them. It was nearly dead silent. She tensed and wanted to bolt out of there. She could tell Ali and her parents had been arguing before and she braced herself for another uncomfortable dinner.

She smiled at everyone awkwardly. “Hey, everyone.”

Her father smiled warmly at her. “It’s nice to you two. Have a seat.”

“We missed you,” her mother said.

“Thanks,” Laura said as she and Ruben sat down. “It’s nice to see you too.”

Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad, based on how warmly her parents greeted her. She was starting to relax when Ali said in her typical snarky tone, “Can’t believe you bothered to come since you - Ow!” She glared at Derek and reached down to rub her foot where he kicked her.

He leaned in close to her and growled, “I told you to be nice.”

“I’m just speaking the truth. She doesn’t speak to us and then - Ow! Stop kicking me!”

“Kids!” their father barked and Derek and Ali straightened in their seats.

Laura tried to not let Ali’s comment sting, her anxiety growing again. She was tempted to leave right then. She didn’t think she could take a fight between them.

Ruben leaned in and whispered, “Are you okay?”

She only nodded.

Laura’s mom scowled at Ali and Derek before smiling at Laura and Ruben. “How’re you holding up after the attack, Ruben?”

“I’ve been doing okay. Laura helped me.”

“And what about you, Laura?”

“I’ve been good. I only have one more semester left and then I’ll be a full-time nurse.”

Her parent’s faces lit up.

“That’s fantastic!” her father gushed as her mother said, “That’s great, honey!”

“Yeah, that’s great,” Ali chimed in. “I’m proud of you.”

Laura stared at her sister in shock. She didn’t recall her sister ever telling her she was proud of her before and it made her tear up. She hadn’t realized how much it would mean for her sister to say those words to her.

“T-thank you,” Laura stuttered, choked up with emotion.

Ali gave her a genuine smile.

“And you, Ruben?” her mother asked him. “How’s school been?”

“Good. I still have a while to go but I’ll be graduating soon.”

“That’s great,” Derek said. “We’re all proud of both of you.”

“How about you, dude?” asked Ruben. “We haven’t talked in forever.”

“I’ve been doing good. My job’s doing good and I almost have enough to get my own place.”

The rest of the dinner went by peacefully. Everyone got along, everyone laughed, it felt like how it used to be. It was like how it used to be, where they were one loving family. There were no fights and no toxicity. Everything felt right.

By the time dinner was over, Laura felt at peace. She had new hope that everything was going to be okay between her and her family from now on. She knew that this one dinner hadn’t fixed things completely but it was a start.

Before Laura and Ruben were about to leave, Ali stopped her.

“Can I talk to you for a second?”

“I’ll be back in a minute,” she said to Ruben and he nodded and watched her follow Alison to her room.

Laura was curious and a little terrified about what Ali had to talk about. They walked into Ali’s bedroom. Laura watched as she shut the door behind them and sat cross-legged on her bed.

“Laura, I wanted to say I’m sorry about how bad things have gotten between us.”

“Ali -”

“Let me finish. I know I’ve been a terrible sister lately and I want to fix things. I want to try to get close to you again. I have missed you since you’ve been gone.”

“So why the passive-aggressive comment when I came in?”

Ali shrugged and looked away. “I was hurt and angry you didn’t talk to me. And that you moved out without giving me notice.”

“The phone works both ways, Ali. You could’ve called me.”

“Derek told me how upset you were with me so I didn’t know if you wanted to talk to me or not.”

Laura crossed her arms and looked away. “I didn’t know if you wanted to talk to me.”

“I did.”

Laura sighed. “Look, Ali, I didn’t know what you wanted from me. We haven’t been close for a long time and I don’t feel like I know you anymore.”

“I know. I just want to move past this. Start over.”

Laura was surprised and moved. This had been something she wanted for a while. A way to make things right with her sister.

“I think that’d be best.”

“Do you want to hang out this weekend? Have a girls’ weekend? We haven’t

hung out in a long time.”

Laura smiled. “I’d love that.”

Ali got up and embraced Laura. “I do love you. Please don’t ever forget that.”

“I love you too, Ali.”

They pulled away and Ali ruffled her hair. “I’ll see around. Get going, your boyfriend’s waiting for you.”

Laura and Ali left her bedroom. Laura said goodbye to everyone but before she and Ruben could leave, everyone suddenly got notifications on their phones about everywhere being under lockdown due to attacks happening in various locations at Raven City.

“Guys,” Derek said. “The sky’s red again.”

They all peered out and saw the sky was crimson red again. But that wasn’t it.

Crows were falling from the sky and covering the road and sidewalks. It was happening again.

The dark entity watched from the shadows as the pandemonium took place in the small, quiet neighborhood. He watched the house that the two shapeshifters were in. He saw them peering out the window along with the female shapeshifter’s family in horror. They’d thought things were over. They were wrong.

He heard the voice in his mind whisper, Everything is coming together. It’s only a matter of time.

“Yes,” he whispered back. “Soon.”

Everything we want will be ours, she whispered. Soon. Just Trust me.