When at last the final glowing embers of the blazing sunset succumbed to the darkness of the horizon, Rae decided it was safe to leave the safety of her bedroom and creep downstairs. At first she had expected everyone to be gathered around the kitchen table with heads bent together as they all frantically talked in hushed voices. But when she peered around a corner to see if the coast was clear before entering, she was relieved but surprised to see that the kitchen was just as they had left it after dinner.
Rae's stomach grumbled. Dinner. It had looked delicious; moist and perfectly seasoned roast chicken, creamy mashed potatoes and steamed vegetables on the side, all masterfully prepared by Martha. Unfortunately, the others at the table were all laughing and talking in loud, excited voices that drowned out her polite request for someone to pass things to her. The scoop of steamed vegetables she had managed to reach weren't half bad, though.
The fact that no one paid special attention to her during the meal surprised her, and for a moment she experienced a sort of relief in wondering if maybe she had finally become old news. Sadly, she feared that would not always be the case.
That night, the others had been pleased that she had joined them downstairs for dinner, but there had still been one place at the table left unfilled. It was Daniel's. She knew it was her fault, and she could not seem to push the guilt down.
Underneath the mask of contention she put on that afternoon, there was an underlying sense of incompletion. She constantly felt out of place, and although she had spent months telling herself she hated the crappy apartment she had previously called home, she suddenly realized how much she longed to go back to it. She missed the familiarity, the way she had spent hours lying on her back memorizing every crack and imperfection on the ceiling.
And suddenly she had been whisked away from all she knew, set down in a world that was entirely different and strange to her.
She tiptoed forward into the kitchen and approached the refrigerator, remembering that she had been welcomed to help herself to whatever.
As her fingers curled around the side of the door and she pulled it open, an angelic orange glow flooded in around her. She blinked blindly at the open refrigerator, eyes adjusting to the new light, and scanned the rows of Kool-Aid, yogurt, and string cheese.
It wasn't those that caught her attention, though, because sitting on the counter just to her right was a package of chicken-flavored ramen noodles.
She knew the directions by heart, and she couldn't help but wallow in the giddy, child-like exuberance she experienced as the poured water into a shining silver pot.
"Water, cube of noodles and chicken flavor," she then sang quietly to herself as she added the noodles to the boiling water. "Cube of noodles, chicken flavor"
When the noodles were finally done cooking, she danced in front of the stove as she stirred in the contents of the flavor packet. "Cube of noodles and chicken fla-hay-vor!"
From the darkness, a voice commented, "Lovely singing."
She let out a high-pitched chirp of surprise and the steaming hot bowl of ramen slipped from her hands, which fell to the kitchen tile floor with a shattering crash.
"Oh my cornflakes, did you just witness all of that?" She asked the figure in the shadows.
There was a small click as a flashlight was turned on, and from the corner of the room Rae could see Daniel's face eerily lit up with the flashlight held under his jaw. He flashed her a boyish grin. "Yeah. I did."
"You could have said something!" She huffed, bending over to pick up the bowl, which surprisingly hadn't broken. Unfortunately, the ramen noodles had spilled all over the floor, and she bent down with a nearby dish towel to mop up the mess.
"Sorry," he chuckled softly. Something scraped as it slid across the wooden table in front of him. "Here, sit down. I made you a mug of tea."
She shot him a sly look as she rose to her feet and set the bowl by the sink. "You knew I'd come down here."
He shrugged nonchalantly. "If I were you, I'd come down here too."
Rae reluctantly slid into the barstool across from him, wrapping her cold fingers around the warm glass mug.
Daniel flicked the flashlight off so she could barely tell his face apart from the background, except for the help of the moonlight streaming in through a nearby window. The mood suddenly turned serious.
"First of all, I uh, I'd like to apologize for earlier today," he said solemnly, "We really got off to a rough start-"
"You think?" Rae cut him off with a hint of bitterness, absentmindedly rubbing the back of her head where she'd hit the tree trunk.
Daniel looked caught off guard by her comment, but he just kept stammering, "What I'm trying to say is... I'm sorry. I hope one day I can show you I'm not usually like that. I was just really overwhelmed and stressed, and..."
Rae wanted to answer him, but she wasn't quite sure she was ready to forgive him, so she just quietly muttered, "Yeah, okay."
"And I understand if you can't ever trust me. What I did was wrong."
"Yeah."
He almost smiled, then realized it was the wrong time for it and masked it by taking a sip of tea. When he at last set the mug down, he launched himself into a new topic. "I suppose you'll be wanting answers sooner or later, you know, about all this."
She shot him a look of confusion. "Hell yeah. It's all I've asked for this entire time."
"Well, I've arranged a way for you to get answers, but it's kind of complicated," he stated slowly.
"Yeah, so is everything else right now."
"You're right. So you'll go along with it?"
"Tell me what it is, then I'll make up my mind."
"It's a party. A big uppity fancy one. And I may be able to meet with allies of mine who can fill you in on a few things."
"Can't you just tell me yourself?"
"No," he restated with absolute certainty. "I've been sworn to secrecy. But no one ever said I couldn't... Help you make some new friends who just happen to know what I know."
"You're crazy."
"Maybe I am. But maybe that's not a bad thing."
She blew a stray strand out of her face. "When is this party?"
"Four days. Saturday. You'll need a dress."
She set her tea down and glanced at him to see if he was serious. "Let me remind you that I own two sets of clothes at the moment after being abducted inside my own apartment. Of course I have a perfect dress lined up for this."
"I'll buy you one," came his solution, and it was obvious he was unamused with her endless arguments and protests at every chance she got.
She decided, "I'd sooner wear a grocery bag than wear something you bought me. You'll put a tracking chip in the sleeves or something."
"Fine, I'll send you out with Evelyn then," he snapped, but somehow she could tell he wasn't really angry with her. "You two seem to have formed a mutual tolerance. Apparently I can't say that about the two of us."
She tilted her head to the side. "It's about time that someone told you that threatening a girl is a surefire way for her to fall head over heels for you."
"You're sarcastic. I like that."
"No, I'm completely serious. Chicks dig murderous glares and an apparent lack of manners."
"Who spat in your cereal this morning?" He asked incredulously, chuckling a bit. "I'm sorry, okay?"
"Good."
"Good."
There was a small pause before Rae stood up, announcing, "Well, this was fun. Thanks for the tea, but I think I'll go back to bed now."
She turned on her heel and hopped up the first three steps before Daniel called her back.
"Rae."
She glanced over her shoulder. "Yeah?"
His eyes shone in the small thread of silvery moonlight. "Good night."
She grinned.
"G'night."