LONELY STAR ↭ FANDRAL

CHAPTER FOUR

It wasn't long before Mia and Fandral were on their way to the storage facility. Once again, Fandral was curious of the car, but less so, to Mia's relief. He wasn't messing with the window this time, but he kept trying out the buttons around the radio. At one point the air conditioning came on at full blast and it startled him. Mia couldn't help but laugh at that, shaking her head before finally speaking. "Maybe you should take a break, you curious cat."

Fandral furrowed his eyebrows at that nickname she just gave him. "Curious cat?" He questioned, a bit confused. He knew what a cat was, but that phrase. He wasn't so sure.

"Yes, curious cat. You know what a cat is, right?" He scoffs at that.

"Of course I do."

"Okay, then you know how curious cats can be. That's how you're acting right now." All the while, Mia kept her eyes focused on the road. Fandral raises an eyebrow as he thinks about it before letting out a chuckle when he finally understands. They both share a chuckle as she glances towards him with a smile.

Gosh, she still couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe that this was really happening. Mia kept wondering if she was dreaming. She had yet to figure out if this was a regular dream or a nightmare. I guess she'll find out soon. Hopefully. She didn't like not knowing. But, really, a man from outer space in her car! Of all places. Slowly, but surely, she was getting used to the idea. The keyword there was slowly.

Mia was cut off from her thoughts when she caught sight of the storage facility. She pulled into it and towards the section where her family's stuff was. She parked the car in front of her families unit.

She got out of the car with Fandral following as she went over to the door and unlocked it with a key that was connected with her car keys. Mia pulled up the door with a loud metallic slam, revealing all the stuff inside. "Now the search begins." She says softly, already slightly exasperated just at the thought of going through this mess. She glances towards Fandral who smiles slightly before entering.

Inside the unit, Fandral was no different. Everything was new to him. A curious cat, indeed. While Mia was seriously looking for the box with her grandfather's research, Fandral was off exploring all the new things. He found an open box of baseball cards and other sports memorabilia. He observed them, wondering what exactly they were as he read the facts on the cards.

He eventually moved on from that box and went to another next to it. Inside it was costumes, masks, and various different hats. This interested him greatly as he started pulling them out much to Mia's exasperation. There were costumes and masks on the floor as he looked through the box. A lot of them must have been Mia's from childhood. Some maybe her mother's.

He held onto a mask he particularly liked before moving. He kept moving through a few boxes, this was only his third. He was being very thorough. This next box had a lot of pictures. Fandral could only assume that this was her family. Pictures spanning her entire life until the pictures suddenly stopped. She was small in all the pictures. Some were baby pictures and toddler and then early adolescence, but none of her any older than that. Why did the pictures suddenly stop? He wondered. Until suddenly the picture he was holding was snatched away from him. His eyes went wide as he looked up. He saw Mia holding the picture. She looked furious. Or just upset? He wasn't very sure.

"Stop that!" Mia said loudly as she carefully put the pictures back into the box. Her breathing was heavy as she picked up the box and placed it outside of the unit. That confused Fandral. Was she going to take that home with her? He wasn't sure of that either.

Fandral felt the need to cheer her up, though. She looked so upset just by being her, and he had a feeling that him rummaging around in her family's personal stuff wasn't helping. So, he did what he first thought of. He put on the mask that was still in his hand. It was reminiscent of a cat. A weird cat, though. Definitely not a natural coloring for one. Yet, he turned to look at Mia with a goofy smile on his face as she came back in. She stopped in her tracks when she saw him. Her face went from upset to neutral. It slightly scared him.