He Comes in Peace

Skye stayed in the attic until nighttime. When the minute hand of her clock ticked to the twelve, and the hour hand rested on the eleven, she heaved herself off of her bed and into the hallway bathroom. The bedroom that her mom occupied was right next door.

Skye sighed and wondered whether she should go take a shower right now, or wait until later so her mother would not be able to ambush her after her bath.

Shrugging, she took a step out of her room, and nearly flipped over the banister when Cosmo started barking madly.

Skye looked over the railing and peered at her dog.

"What is it, Cos?" she whisper-shouted. Cosmo did not even glance her way. He ran frantically about the front door.

Maybe Mom forgot to let him out, Skye wondered.

Sighing and descending the stairs, she reached out to pet Cosmo when he leapt back and growled deeply at her.

Skye looked at her Golden Retriever in surprise. Cosmo had never growled at her before.

"What is it, Boy?" she said softly, taking her hand back. Cosmo gave a sharp bark and ran through the house until he reached the kitchen.

The Cedona's kitchen was attached to the dining room, like almost every other house. One wall of the kitchen was all glass, and a door slid open to the path at the back, the one Skye had tried to use when she got back from the 'corner store'.

Cosmo was leaping at the curtains covering the glass, nearly tearing it down with his nails. His head thwacked against the window panes as he exerted a shocking kind of craze that Skye had never seen before.

Skye pulled on the chords at the side of the doors, and the curtains opened. Meanwhile, her heart was pounding heavily like a snare drum; what if a terrifying murderer with a bloody knife was just outside, smiling eerily at her?

The thought scared her to bits, but the curtains swung lightly when she finished drawing them open, and nothing was there. She peered through the glass, trying to spot what was driving her dog insane.

Nothing was out of the ordinary. The lake was as still as ever, and not a branch in the forest stirred.

Looking down at Cosmo, she followed his bugging eyes to a spot high up, almost in the sky. There were not any trees in the direction that Cosmo was looking. Her heart leapt to her mouth as she contemplated the thought of the strange boy.

She looked harder.

Still nothing. She had perfect eyesight, not a single thing wrong with her eyes.

"Oh, Cosmo. You probably just saw an eagle or something," she muttered, walking away from the kitchen.

As she was walking away, Cosmo flew past her. Skye immediately ran after her dog. Anything broken during this period of time would be Skye's fault.

"Cosmo!" she shouted.

She arrived at the bottom of the staircase just in time to see the dog shoot into her open bedroom.

When she had ran quickly up the steps and into her room, she gasped in shock.

Cosmo was lying on his side in the center of the littered glass pieces; Skye had not bothered to clean it up in the first place.

Standing at the window sill was the boy.