"There you go Mr Park," I handed him a cup of tea and sat on the sofa opposite, next to Emy.
We pulled a blanket around us, we'd both caught a chill but whether it was the events of the night, or how long we'd been stood outside in the cold, we didn't know. I was just hoping we didn't get sick, that would just be the icing on the cake that was our rubbish night.
"Thank you, Cassandra, I know it's late but this cannot wait."
He took a sip of tea and set it down on the coffee table, as though readying himself for what he was about to say. His green eyes seemed to get darker and more intense the longer he sat there.
"I suppose the first thing I should do is introduce myself to you, properly. My name is not Mr Park, it's Merkell. I know it sounds a little peculiar, but that's because I'm not from around here, in fact I'm from very, very far away. I'm sorry I lied to you but it was necessary in order to keep you safe."
Emy and I looked at each other, frowning in our shared confusion. A theme of weirdness seemed to be following us around. Mr Park, or whatever he wanted to be called, seemed to sense our feelings because he rushed to carry on.
"No, not safe from me. I mean you no harm, quite the contrary actually, I was sent here to protect you... Although I seem to have been slacking recently, as tonight prov-"
"Wait, wait, wait," I interrupted him. "What do you mean, you were sent here to protect us? By who and from what?!"
I pinched the bridge of my nose when a sudden thought occurred to me. "And why do I have a feeling you know a lot more about those guys who were outside the party?"
I was starting to grow agitated, I hated being lied to and being kept in the dark about things, especially important things.
"I know you have a lot of questions, both of you, and I will answer them but please let me explain a few things first."
He seemed to be asking, rather than telling us. I looked at Emy, she had grown quiet since we'd got in and it wasn't like her. She was usually the first to speak out when something wasn't quite right, she didn't usually hold back and it took her a few seconds to come around.
"I think you might need to pinch me, because this whole night feels like one messed up dream." Her gaze never left the coffee table.
I reached over to pinch her playfully and she jerked away.
"I didn't mean for you to actually do it."
She rolled her eyes but I could see a smile forming.
"Okay, go ahead Mr P- whatever you're calling yourself." Emy shrugged when he tried to correct her.
"Where should I begin?" He seemed to be speaking more to himself than us at first, "Dear me, well I should ask you the basic question. The one I need to know the answer to first before we proceed. Do either of you believe in other worlds, besides the one we occupy right now?" He looked serious and I didn't know what to make of it.
Emy laughed loudly, "Mr Park, Merkell or whatever, have you lost your marbles?" I stifled a laugh at her, she had no filter, saying whatever came to mind without thinking.
"No, Emily, I have not lost any marbles, I am being very serious and I told you this is important."
"Well of course there are other planets, we all know that, it's primary school stuff," Emy waved it off.
She seemed to think that was the end of this bizarre conversation. She was getting comfier and it looked like she was getting ready to sleep.
"I didn't say planets, Emily, I said worlds, as in other planes of existence separate but connected to this one."
Emy raised her head and we both stared at him, I was starting to wonder where and when he might have lost his marbles.
"You do understand what I mean, don't you?" He asked and he seemed to be the one getting frustrated now.
He picked up his cup but didn't drink anything from it, as though he just needed to hold something in his hands.
"Yes, we've watched enough TV to know about things like that, but it's not real Mr Park," Emy said through a yawn and closed her eyes. "Maybe you should go home and phone a doctor, they might be able to help you better than we can."
She smiled to herself and I couldn't help smiling too, despite everything that had happened, this was pretty ridiculous- plus I wanted my bed. I shifted my gaze back to Mr Park, he had started fidgeting like his clothes had been soaked in itching powder.
He was wearing a blue shirt and jeans with dark blue shoes, I hadn't been paying attention before but I realised what a strange outfit it was for that time of night. He never went anywhere and he didn't go to work as far as we knew; he didn't have friends either from what we'd seen.
He was almost out of his seat from fidgeting. "My name is Merkell and I do not need a doctor, I need you two to listen to me, right now!"
He raised his voice slightly on the last words and Emy and I both jumped.
"I'm sorry about shouting but like I said this is extremely important, it's your very lives at stake."
He'd caught both of our attentions, how could he not when he was almost wriggling out of his clothes.
"Are you alright?" I asked, not sure he even knew himself at this point.
"I'm fine, it's just-" he clicked his side in the most absurd way and relaxed again. "That's better, right, so you don't believe that there are other planes of existence?" We shook our heads but that seemed to spur him on, "From this moment on, you will want to start because they are quite real, there's at least one other that I know all too well."
"And how could you possibly know that for certain?" Emy asked, still looking sleepy but skeptical. She was determined to get some answers for his odd behaviour.
"Because it is the world that I come from," he replied in a straightforward tone.
"What do you mean, the world you come from? You're from here just like us, well not completely like us because you're a little unstable right now but still," Emy was getting aggravated, I could hear it in her voice.
"I think you should go home and sleep, Mr Park. I'm sure you'll feel better in the morning and if not, you must go see a doctor for some much needed help." I told him, covering my mouth to hide the yawn.
"I don't need sleep or a doctor, you both need to listen to me very carefully. My name is Merkell, I am not from this world and neither are the two of you. Your lives are now in danger, I need to tell you so much more but you don't trust anything I say so I will have to show you. As they say, actions speak louder than words."
The second he finished speaking he began unbuttoning his shirt, I looked at Emy and she looked as astonished as I was. Luckily he had a white vest on underneath but we had no idea what he wanted us to see.
I was about to tell him how inappropriate this was when he turned to show us his right side. Hanging there from his vest by four sets of claws was a strange looking lizard.
"What the heck is that?" Emy asked in alarm, moving back in her seat to be further away from the creature.
She was usually pretty fearless but I think the lack of sleep was making her more sensitive. Emy didn't do well on little sleep and it was really late. I, however was more focused on the animal itself. It was a green-blue colour at first but when I moved my head it seemed to turn to more of a brown.
It looked as though it was asleep, motionless with its eyes closed, it was about the size of an iguana though it lacked a tail. Horns protruded from above its eyes and nose, tiny overlapping scales covered its entire body. Two front legs and two bigger back legs, with claws on each of the four digits keeping it in place on Mr Park's vest.
"This is a Trokarra, a messenger lizard," Mr Park explained as though it was the most natural thing to discuss.
He carefully detached it from his side and rested it on his lap. "We use them to send messages to people over long distances, there is no technology such as mobile phones and television on our world."
"No TV or mobiles? Now I know you're making it up." Emy remarked and if she hadn't looked so alarmed, I probably would have laughed.
Except I couldn't shake a bad feeling that was growing inside of me. I didn't like how Mr Park had said 'our world', and so kept my attention on the lizard creature. It just laid there, still breathing but otherwise motionless.
"What did you do to it?"
My curiosity was winning over my sleepiness and the ridiculousness of the night. I could see more of the lizard now, it had ridges down the length of its back and folds of skin on its back legs, the longer I looked the more details I noticed.
"I sent it to sleep, there is a bone in the spines that if you move it a fraction to the left, they fall asleep on the spot. It helps when you want to retrieve the message from the pouch on their legs and they just want to climb all over you." He laughed as though this was all perfectly normal.
Emy and I were more confused and shocked than we had been all night.
"Okay, say this isn't a really bizarre and stupid prank someone is pulling on us." Emy said slowly and I could tell by the look on her face that she was gaining momentum for a rant.
"Why wouldn't you just use pigeons to carry messages? And why are you telling us all of this now? You come up to us in the middle of an already strange night and tell us you're not human or whatever, and neither are we, that we're in danger and then show us that thing. Expecting us to just automatically believe everything you've said and THEN SIT AND LAUGH?!"
She was stood shouting by the end of her rant, her anger was only increasing, whereas I felt more curious and worried.
"Emy, please calm down, it's not helping us get to the bottom of this."
I grabbed her arm and pulled her to sit back down, she did but her breathing was fast and she was glaring.
Mr Park's face was serious again, "I am sorry for making light of this and sorry to the both of you for having to tell you like this. If it were up to me I'd wait until your birthday, Cassandra. Which is when you were supposed to find out in the first place...
"But things are happening, dangerous times are upon us and you have to be informed now, whether it's convenient or not. You're right, it is not a laughing matter and I apologise but it's just... I haven't been home in more than two years and this Trokarra is a wonderful sight."
"Wait a minute," something occurred to me, "Two years? That's just before we moved onto the street."
Emy was looking down at her hands, still trying to calm herself and I wasn't sure if she was listening or understanding what I was getting at.
Mr Park however was nodding, "Yes, that's not a coincidence, Cassandra. As I said before, I was sent here to protect you both after you moved out from under the guardianship of your parents' and their homes."
My mouth fell open slightly and Emy finally looked up to stare at him, her voice quiet when she spoke.
"What do you mean, 'the guardianship of our parents'?"
She seemed more subdued after her last outburst. Mr Park appeared to understand, a lot more than we did at that point, he gave a small smile before continuing.
"Well, there is another important question I need to ask you and I want you to bare in mind what I just showed you and what we've discussed so far."
He waited this time, I think it was for our permission to continue.
"Okay," we both spoke nervously in unison.
"Okay, here goes nothing. Do either of you believe in magic?"
He stared at us with an intensely straight face, most likely trying to figure out how we would react to this one. I thought about it a bit more carefully, this didn't seem like a joke to him. I don't know if I was humouring him or actually falling for it. It was something Emy and I had talked about before, I mean who hasn't considered the possibilities of real magic existing. But it was never a serious conversation, how could it be? There was no such possibility.
"I guess... there could be magic somewhere out there in the universe, we'd like to think so but it's not anywhere around here... Let me guess, you believe in it?" Emy said tentatively, I think she was definitely humouring Mr Park and it seemed to be working.
He appeared to be reassured by her response, "Yes because it does exist and I do believe in it, on our world it's a very powerful force. Only certain people can wield it and as you can guess, there are a lot of jealous people who want it." He stopped abruptly to take a swig of his tea that had to be cold by now. I jumped at the opportunity it presented.
"I'll make another, Em, hot chocolate?" I asked, wanting something to do, anything other than sit there and play make believe.
"Yes please, Cass," Emy replied with a grateful smile.
If this night got any stranger, I might have to break open the harder stuff. Though I planned to keep it well away from Mr Park.