Lightning Streaks the Sky

I woke up a little late. I did a speed-shower, changing into a dark green tank-top, some jeans, my favorite pair of grey sneakers, a jean-jacket, and a dark green headband. I quickly add some grey eyeshadow, with green glitter, and some clear lip-gloss.

I go running down the street toward the school, quickly running to my locker, twisting the combination clumsily. I sigh, frustrated, running a hand through my hair.

“Here,” Alison says, kicking the locker with her foot. “Frankie taught me.”

“Thanks,” I say, pulling out my doodle book.

“Oh, umm, hey, do you have some spare paper?”, Alison asks, pulling out a pen as I tear out a piece of paper. She tears it in half, writing down something on each quickly, before running away down the halls. I roll my eyes, walking toward homeroom. Knowing Alison, she’d probably make it just before the bell rang. And she’s probably doing something she thinks is important.

“Hey, Kendall,” Josh says, sitting down beside me.

“Hey,” I say absentmindedly.

“Umm, do you know what this says?”, Josh asks, handing me the piece of paper. It was written pretty clearly, in what I recognized as Alison’s handwriting. “It was taped to my locker door.”

“It says, ‘Tutor you during your English period. Bring a notebook.’”, I say, handing it back to him. “Alison’s tutoring you, Josh. And from what the back said, she wants you to tell Martin not to get his hopes up.”

“He nearly tore me in half when he saw Alison was gone last night.”, Josh grumbles. “I was close to running and grabbing her myself.”

“Yeah, well, Martin needs to get over his clingy ass self.”

“Exactly what I thought.”

“Hey,” Alison says, sitting down in front of me. “Oh, and thanks for the locker trick, Frankie. It really came in handy!”

“Anytime, Psychic,” Frankie says, rolling his eyes.

“Oh, and Josh. The note says —”

“I read it to him,” I say quickly, chuckling.

“Oh,” Alison says, turning around just as the teacher walks in with some boy. He had black hair, and fiery eyes. Alison tenses, and I had a sickening feeling in the pit of my stomach.

“Class, this is mister Boyd.”

♠ ♣ ♠

“Hey, Alison. I wasn’t sure if you were sitting with us.”, I say, sitting down with my tray of food.

“Like I said before. It’s complicated,” Alison says, looking up as the cafeteria doors open. “Damn,” she hisses. I look over at the door. There was a group of boys. They looked almost like brothers, all with their fiery eyes.

“What?”, I whisper, glancing between Alison and the boys.

“Umm … I’ll be right back,” and she stands up, walking over to where all the boys stood.

“Ever get the feeling that she knows something that we don’t?”, Duncan asks, staring after Alison oddly.

“You get used to it,” Kevin, Dylan, Jolie, Ash, Eric, Jeremy, Connor, Roxana, Brendan, Nina, and I say together, shrugging.

“Well, I don’t know about you all, but I’m quitting football.”, I say, leaning back in my chair.

“What?!”, Kurt asks, standing up.

“Soccer season is coming up. I was just playing to pass the time.”, I say, shrugging.

“Typical,” Dylan says, rolling his eyes. “I’m staying with football, though.”

“’Kay,” I say, watching as Alison comes walking back over to us. “Sooooo?”

“Hmm? I was just greeting the new students.”, Alison says, sitting back down. “Oh, and I’ll be home late.”

“Wait — does that mean you’re coming back?!!”, Kevin asks excitedly.

“Yeah.”

“Yipee!!”, Kevin yells, hugging her.

“Okay, let go! Before I bite off your hands!”, Alison says grouchily, trying to push Kevin away. He eventually lets her go, gaining control over himself. “And like I said, I’ll be home late.”

“Alright. Just be there by ten or I’m —”

“Dragging my sorry ass back home.”, Alison says, rolling her eyes. “I get it!”

“’Course you do. We say it every five seconds.”, I say, smirking. “It’s turned into some kind of secret code for us.”

“’Or I’ll let Kevin drag your sorry ass’?”, Alison laughs, as I soon join her.

“Ha ha, using me as a threat,” Kevin says sarcastically, rolling his eyes. “Very mature.”

“I don’t remember ever claiming to be mature, do you, Mel?”

“Nope. I don’t remember us ever claiming to be mature.”, I say, playing along. “Oh, and you’ll never guess what happened — oh, hey, Martin.”

“Umm, hey. Can I talk to you for a minute, Alison?”

“Umm, I’m psychic, remember? I already know. And I know about that, too.”, she says, rolling her eyes.

“Okay, whatever,” Martin says, shrugging and walking away.

“Poor Martin,” I say quietly, shaking my head. “So sad.”

“Oh, looks like I gotta get going. Duck!”, Alison yells, as we all run under the table, just in time to miss the football as it hit the middle of the table. “And that’s my cue to leave,” Alison says, rolling her eyes.

“Where exactly do you think you’re going?”, Kevin growls, grabbing her arm as she begins crawling out from under the table.

“Kevin, relax! Gosh, you act like she’s gonna go get knocked-up.”, I say sarcastically, rolling my eyes. “She said that she’s coming home. Isn’t that good enough?”

“It is for me,” Max says, shrugging as he crawls out from under the table, helping Alison up. I quickly jump out, just in time to see Alison walking over to the new-boys, before finally walking out the doors. Something’s going on, I think suspiciously.

♠ ♣ ♠

“Where is she?!”, Kevin growls impatiently, pacing around the cloud. He’s been doing that since we got here. So, for about an hour.

“She said she was going to be home late …”, one of the new girls says quietly, barely above a whisper. I didn’t know her name. She never told me. She hasn’t talked until now, and I gaped at her. She had black hair, that she streaks blonde, and pale blue eyes.

“You … talk?!!!”, Duncan yells. She nods shyly, backing up in hopes of hiding.

“What’s your name?”, I ask, smiling at her. She glances up at me for the fraction of a second, before darting her eyes back down to the ground. I sigh, shaking my head. “New girl’s right. Alison said she’d be back late.”

“She’s coming, though … I can — OHMYFINGGOD!!!!!!”, Ash yells, falling to his knees.

“What’s wrong?”, Nina asks, kneeling beside him.

“I don’t know … I was just hearing Alison’s thoughts. When all of a sudden, there was this loud screeching.”, Ash says, standing up.

“Damn it!!!!”, Kevin growls, just about to jump off the cloud, but Alison came flying up with the new boys, laughing. There wings looked leathery, and were the darkest black I’d ever seen, with these vivid bloody-red streaks on them.

“They can —,” Barbie says, gaping.

“They’re rebel demons,” Alison says, smiling. “Or the angelic demons, to explain better.”

“Nice demons,” Duncan scoffs, rolling his black eyes.

“Don’t question Alison’s judgement, Duncan. She knows things.”, I say, frowning at her. “Are they —”

“Nope,” Alison sighs sadly. “Oh, and thanks for the ride, David!”, Alison says, smiling at the youngest of the demons.

“Anytime,” he says in a really heavy southern accent, grinning back at her. “Nice to meet someone who believes in us.”

“Anything’s possible.”

“Yeah, well, I guess. See yah at school tomorrow!”

“’Bye!”

“Wait! Why don’t you all stay awhile.”, I say quickly, smiling reassuringly.

“Umm, sure? I guess that’s okay …”, David says uncomfortably. “We were just helping Alison get up to the cloud. Oh, and sorry ‘bout that earlier, Ash. Alison told me that was risky, but she took it pretty well.”

“Wait — that screech was you?!”, Kevin growls, pulling Alison behind him protectively. “I frickin’ thought she got ran-over!!!!”

“Naw. She started talking about it as we were on our way here. Then she said she wanted to see what it felt like. I didn’t pull it on full force, though. I was scared that I’d hurt her too much.”

“Yeah! It was so cool!!! David can make people hear this intense screeching in their ears, and it’s usually really painful! But I didn’t feel a thing!”, Alison says excitedly, bouncing happily. “Oh, and hey Josh!”, Alison says from behind us, waving.

“Umm, hey,” Josh says uncomfortably. “Who’re the new guys.”

“This is David. Then there’s Steve, Ron, Vince, Rick, Koby, and John!”, Alison says, pointing to all of them. “They’re all rebel demons!”

“So, what? They’re like extra bad?”, Josh asks, raising an eyebrow skeptically.

“No! They’re really nice!”

“That’s not possible.”

“Actually it is. I’m David, incase you got confused.”, David says, smiling. “Alison was telling us all about y’all Riddles, and we thought it’d be nice to meet yah. Since you’re housing a human, y’all must not be that bad.”

“Alison is a witch,” Max says, rolling his eyes.

“Witches are no different from humans. They’re just a little magical, that’s all.”, David says, shrugging. “And she’s pretty darn nice. She helped us out a little bit. As long as we made sure all demons were to stay away from her sister, that is.”

“And I threatened your afterlife, otherwise. Don’t forget about that.”

“Yeah, and that.”

“So, how much do you know about us?”, Josh asks, glaring at David.

“Well, you’re Josh. Leader of the Thunders. And he’s Kevin, leader of the Lightnings. She’s Melody, and you kidnapped her and sent her to the Bermuda Triangle. Which was a stupid move of yours. Demons pretty much go there as a portal to hell.”, David says, grimacing. “You could’ve accidently sent her to hell.”

“That’s exactly what I thought!”, Alison says, popping up from behind Kevin. “Oh, and Melody! Guess what! They can curse Tacey and Miranda to hell.”

“Wow,” I say, rolling my eyes, chuckling. “You have some messed-up mind.”, I ruffle her hair, making her whack at my hands.

“Yes, I do. And I’m proud of it.”, Alison grumbles, crossing her arms over her chest. “Oh, and can they stay here? Pretty please?”, Alison begs, giving me the sad puppy-dog-eyes.

“Naw, Alison. It’s alright. We just met ‘em. And it’s rude to overstay our welcome.”, David says, frowning.

“Pretty, pretty, pretty please? With diamond sprinkles on top?”

“That’s not up to me, Alison. Ask Kevin. He’s in charge.”, I say, holding my hands up defensively.

“Please, please, please, please?”, Alison begs, getting down on her knees. “I’ll be good!”

“Does that include doing everything I say? And I’ll be an authority?”, Kevin asks, raising an eyebrow at her. She nods, smiling hopefully. “Alright, they can stay,” Kevin sighs, stiffening as Alison hugs him.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!!”, Alison says, letting him go, bouncing slightly.

“How much sugar has she eaten?”, I ask, raising an eyebrow, staring at her oddly.

“Umm, yeah … we shouldn’t have bought her all that candy back at that candy store.”, one of them — I think, Rick? — grumbles.

“Oh, Rick! Try your talent on me!!”, Alison says excitedly.

“I’d rather not. Kevin might try to kill me.”, Rick says, grimacing.

“Plleeeaaaassssseeeeee?”

“No.”

“Pretty, pretty please?”

“Nope.”

“Drat,” Alison mutters, crossing her arms over her chest in a pout.

“What exactly can you do?”, Max asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Paralyze someone completely.”

“Oh.”

“I like you, Rick. You aren’t an idiot.”, Kevin says, smiling.

“What time is it?”, Alison yawns.

“Ten o’clock. Why?”, I ask, smiling at her.

“’Cause I’m going to bed. See y’all in the morning.”, Alison yawns, waving as she walks away toward my cottage.

“I live with her,” I say, shrugging as I walk behind her. Alison was already sprawled out on the couch, out like a rock. I roll my eyes, chuckling as I walk into my bathroom. But I stopped as I got closer to Alison.

“No,” Alison mutters, looking stressed even in her sleep. I knew that face. It was a face she made whenever she was having one of her “psychic moments” and didn’t want to share. Not that poker-face she did at lunch. It was that tortured face. A face that would make everyone crowd around her and ask her what was up.

I quickly run out the door, grabbing Ash and Nina, dragging them back toward my house. I ‘shhh’ them as they try asking what’s up, pointing to Alison. They nod in unison, and I could see them focusing on the task at hand.

“NO!!!!”, Alison yells, jerking awake. She looks around, frightened, her eyes slowly focusing on us. “Umm,” she says uncomfortably, quickly standing up and running out the door, as I run after her. I knew where she was going. She was going to Max. She seemed to tell him everything “psychic” related.

“What’s going on?!!”, Kevin yells, grabbing me by the waist as I try tackling Alison. I instinctively bite his hands, hearing him shout furiously, letting me go.

“What was your dream about?!!!”, I yell, chasing after her.

“NO!!!!!!”

“TELL ME!!!!!”

“NO!!!!!!!”, Alison yells. “I don’t know!!!!”, and she ducks under me.

“TELL ME!!!!!”

“NO!!!!!!”, Alison yells.

“Oh, here you go,” Max says, handing her a small stack of papers.

“Thanks, Max,” Alison says, sitting down, ducking as I try tackling her once again. “Damn it to hell,” Alison breathes, standing up. “DAMN IT ALL!!!!!”

“WHAT?!!!!”, I yell, trying to tackle her again, even as she ducks.

“Crap crap crap crap crap …”

“What?”, Max asks, joining our splendid chase.

“Not good, not good. DAMN IT ALL, MELODY!!!!”, Alison growls, tackling me, sitting on my back. “STOP IT!!!!!!!”

“Ooh, someone’s angry,” Tacey snickers.

“Someone’s going to hell,” Alison growls. “Damn it,” and she punches Tacey.

“BITCH!!!!!!”, Tacey shrieks.

“Yeah, I am,” Alison growls. “Now shut up before you say something you’ll regret.”

I wasn’t sure about anyone else … but I was personally scared. Alison had never been this angry before! It was frightening. She glared down at the paper, a stream of cusses running out of her mouth like a river. I’ve never heard Alison cuss this much! I think, frowning. I slowly get to my feet, just standing there uncomfortably.

“Alison, what’s wrong?”, I ask quietly, taking a step toward her.

“Crap,” Alison breathes, staring up at the sky. “Looks like I’m burning in hell.”