Shattering Crystals

As we stand outside of this house, I realize that there is no impending doom here. That this is wholly different than being in an underground death trap.

"So... what now?" Sarah asks loudly. This is followed by a round of shhs. Sarah responds by tossing her hair.

"Quiet, Sarah," Lorraine says gently, obviously trying to keep her cool. "The people inside might hear us."

"So?" Sarah asks, her voice only a bit quieter than before. "We'll have to talk to them anyways."

"We need a plan first," Lorraine replies, as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. Which it kind of is. "Like, how are we going to get to them? What if the parents are home and they question us? Do we sneak in or knock? Things like that are very important."

"Whatever," Sarah says, rolling her eyes. "Why do you have to make the plan, anyways? Since when were you the leader?"

"I'm not," Lorraine says, crossing her fingers. It's what she always does to stay calm. "There is no leader. We're a team."

"Oh, please. We all know that Dana's the leader here."

"Not true," I say quickly. “We’re a team.”

Lorraine doesn't answer, and I know that this has offended her. I know her too well to look past the fact that she wants to be a leader. And she has the leadership skills necessary for the job. It does seem unfair that all the power is placed in me and not her - simply for the girl I used to be.

"So... what's the plan?" Wessley asks, breaking the silence. Normally, Lorraine would respond - even an 'I don't know' would suffice. But she still can't believe what we saw happen in Elise's room, and prefers not to speak to him. Even after all this time, Aaron never knew what she had done.

"Does it matter?" Dean pipes up. "Things probably won't go exactly to plan anyways. It could go either way."

"Yes, but we should have a basic one, at least," Lorraine says. "It would help."

"I say we just knock," Dean states, shrugging his shoulders. "It's the easiest."

"I agree," Ashlee says. "'Cause we wouldn't be doing anything wrong, would we? I mean, it's not illegal or anything, right?"

"It is in Canada," Cody points out.

"Oh..." Ashlee says, a pink tinge rising in her cheeks. "Never mind, then."

"Okay," Lorraine says, trying her best to keep a straight face. But the corners of her mouth start to curl upward. "Anyone else have any ideas?"

"I think we should sneak in," Else says, in one of her rare speaking moments. "Like, locate which room the person is in and then get in to just that room. So we don't cause the other people in the house to become suspicious."

"I agree," Lynda says. I wonder if she would still agree if she knew what had happened after the big fight with Wessley. She can be very biased.

"So what's it gonna be?" Lorraine says. "Should we take a vote?"

"I vote knock," Dean says to his own idea. "Least complicated."

"Same here," Ashlee says. "Who else?"

"Me," says Lorraine. "Seems easy enough. I don't see what could go wrong, anyways."

"I'm with Elise," Cody says. "I mean, when we open the door, who the hell are we supposed to ask for? We don't even know if it's a girl or a guy."

"We can talk our way out of it," Connor says. "Even if they think we're weird, it won't matter, 'cause we're never gonna see them again anyways."

"We don't have to do that if we just sneak in and get them," Wessley counters.

"Let's just pick something, okay?" Lorraine says, waving her arm and gesturing to the neighborhood. "Someone's going to notice we're just standing here. So raise your hand to vote. Who says knock?"

Lorraine immediately lifts her arm, as do Dean, Ashlee, and Connor. I contemplate raising my hand. It would be the easier method.

But Lorraine moves on before I come to a conclusion. "Sneaking in?" Cody, Elise, Lynda, and Wessley vote for this. "Sarah, Dana, you didn't vote. What's it gonna be?"

Sarah raises an eyebrow as if to say, do you really expect me to do this? "Just do whatever the fuck you want."

"So it's up to you, Dana."

I sigh, as I had been dreading this. It seems like it's always up to me. And I hate it. What if I do something wrong? Everyone would blame me and it would all be my fault.

They wait, fidgeting impatiently as I weigh the options in my head. Sneaking in would be the desirable option, if we succeed. But there's no guarantee of that.

"I say... knock."

Lorraine nods, still holding her business-like manner, then addresses the rest of the group. "So, who wants to knock?"

"I will," Dean offers, walking right up to the door. He rings the doorbell, but after a few tries is obvious that it's broken. "Didn't think I'd actually have to knock," he murmurs. He knocks on the door three times and backs away.

It's a good thing he does, because the door swings open. It would have hit him right in the face.

Standing at the door is a girl with jet black hair and gorgeous green eyes. However, her nose is too big for the rest of her face and it steals all the attention away from her eyes.

She gives Dean a confused look, then looks him up and down - obviously checking him out. Dean either doesn't notice, or doesn't realize it.

"Uh, hi?" she says finally. Dean looks back at us for a sign of what to do next. But Lorraine just shakes her head, indicating that this confused girl is not the one we're looking for. And she's right - the girl doesn't have the magical feeling about her, though she looks to be about our age.

"Hi," Dean replies, just a bit delayed.

"Who are you looking for?" she asks, now eyeing us with suspicion.

"Uhh... your sister," Dean says, making a guess of gender.

The girl backs away, as if ready to slam the door shut. "What do you mean? Olivia's only five."

"I meant brother," Dean says quickly.

"Ohh," the girl says, taking a step forward. "Ryan or Andrew?"

"Uhh..."

"Oh, what am I talking about? Of course you want to see Andrew. I mean, Ryan's only five too. It would be creepy if you wanted to see him. So you're here for Andrew. Okay, I'll go get him. But don't let him hear that you called him my sister. A girl, I mean. Okay, I'm going now." She tears her eyes away from Dean and runs out of sight.

"I was wondering when she would stop talking," Lorraine mutters.

"Must have been distracted by my sex-god good looks," Cody says.

A skinny boy with glasses appears at the door. He just stands there, looking at us.

"See?" Cody says. "Works on him too."

"Uhh..." Andrew says, shifting his weight uncomfortably, "do I know you?"

"Yes," Lorraine says, offering a welcoming smile, "you do."