It was raining the next day with pouring rains and loud rumbles of thunder that seemingly shook the house. I looked out the living room window to see if Wendy would appear from the path. I felt a cold sweat surge and the events of the night before played through my mind again, but this time, I thought I saw Wendy’s face looking sad as I was with Colleen. For a split second, I had the drive to get my shoes on and run to her house, to talk to her about Colleen…and to maybe ask about my dad and Anna.

A burst of lightning came down and struck a tree on the other side of the street, causing a bright flash, the explosion of thunder, and sending wooden shrapnel flying. As brave as I would like to think I was I decided to wait until the rain had stopped and the skies had cleared. Since I couldn’t leave the house, and I wasn’t allowed to turn on the TV during a thunderstorm—as I had once nearly fried my grandfather’s television while watching Nickelodeon. An arc of electricity flashed between a standing brass lamp and said three-hundred-pound television set. So, the choices were to either read a book or break out a few Transformers, Legos, and a few GI Joes for an epic war for the control of the Earth.

“Epic war it is,” I said as I walked to the stairs to go to my room when there was a loud knock on the door, followed by another peal of thunder.

“Please don’t be a cloaked skeleton with glowing eyes,” I thought to myself as I turned the lock and opened the door. Wendy stood on the front porch.

“Heya, Jeff!” She said with a grin which made me smile too. I welcomed her in. My parents had always warned me about not letting people in when they were not at home but in light of what had happened the previous evening, I thought it be would be okay.

I took note that her hair looked dry and there was no sign of mud on her shoes.

“What’s your plan for today, Jeff?”

“Going to the park in out of the question.”

Wendy looked at the general direction of the park, if we were outside. “I don’t know, it could be alright.”

A thunderbolt cracked and Wendy’s face went into a scowl.

“We should wait,” I replied.

Wendy nodded as I walked back into the living room and sat down.

“Can I ask you about what happened last night?”

“About what?”

“Your sister. Did our families meet before?”

Wendy nodded.

“When? I don’t remember.”

“You weren’t born yet.” Wendy replied.

“But, we’re the same age, I think.”

“We’re not,” she answered with a sigh.

“Really? Are you joking me?”

“No, I’m not.”

I sat back against the couch with a slack-jaw as I continued to think she was trying to fool me, telling me a story so incredibly impossible that it had to be fake. It was something I would think of around a campfire ghost story contest.

“How do they know each other?”

“They were friends.”

“Friends, but-”

There was another roar of thunder that continued to roll for a few seconds. It shook the house and caused Wendy to jump up and run to the door.
She opened it and a shadow fell over her. I ran over to see Anna standing on the porch. Her hair was wet, and her white sweater looked like she would have to throw it out.

“Papa and Mama need you home, now,” Anna said without any emotion. Well, actually it was an emotion, it was the same one my mom used when she wanted to throttle me.

“See you, Jeff,” Wendy said as she walked out the door and followed Anna.

I watched them walk into the rain and could see the rain pelt onto Wendy’s shirt and water splatter up from her shoes. She looked back to me for a moment before walking into the woods with Anna.

I closed the door and sat back on the couch, trying to go over everything in my head once again. I tried to think about what was really going on. Wendy, her family, and her house, everything was unique around them. I didn’t think there was some dark form of magic or the plot of movies I promised my parents I would not watch but did anyway. If anything, I thought it al to be like my own version of ‘Mary Poppins,’ except that in my version, Mary’s sister was able flip someone larger than Mr. Banks over her shoulder.

The rain had stopped sometime during my intense thoughts, or maybe I had fallen asleep, I wasn’t sure. There was another knock at the door and I walked over and opened it to see the MACS, all four of them, standing on my porch. I wondered if Colleen had sold me out. Had she succumbed to Megan’s torture or had really been on her on side and told her all about I felt about her and how those feelings could be manipulated.

“Hey, Jeff,” Megan stated as she looked everywhere except at my face.

“Hello, Megan,” and then it was my turn to not look at her and to avoid looking at Colleen.

“Look, I’ve come to apologize. We’re about to be in seventh grade and we need to handle this like adults would.”

“Okay,” I responded with a puzzled look on my face. I didn’t want to think about paying bills and I sure didn’t want to handle things the way Mr. Pratt or Megan’s mom did.

“What I mean is, we, all of us, but really me, need to stop with this control. I want us to go to school without our past coming up, you know?”

I tried to hold in the feeling of shock in my head. If there a sign of sorcery or dark magic in the world, Megan being nice to me would be it.

“She means it, Jeff, we had a long talk and decided it was time to forgive and forget,” Colleen said as she looked at Megan to confirm.

“I do. I’ve done so many wrong things to you and I want to say we’re sorry and would like to invite you to spend time with us.”

“Time with you?” I asked with the look of sheer confusion all over my face.

“We wanted to do a picnic in the park but it’s a bit wet, so we’re going to set up a table at Colleen’s garage so we can be outside, kind of.”

Colleen nodded again to Megan’s words.

I wanted to tell them I couldn’t go anywhere. I also thought about the subtle screaming in my head saying this was not a good idea, but the thought that the four of them wanted to be on friendly—and on speaking terms—with me overruled any warnings my parents or inner voice was yelling. I hurriedly slipped my shoes, locked the front door and walked out with the girls.

I walked with Colleen at my side, but decided not to try and hold her hand or say anything about the night before. She was with her friends who she just got back together with, so I wasn’t about to say or do anything that would embarrass her.
We walked up to Colleen’s house. Hank’s car was nowhere to be seen, which was a relief for me. Colleen clicked on the garage door opener and the door creaked and groaned as it opened. I saw a set of tires and a glimpse of license plate that I feared the most. There were shoes moving about and Hank appeared on one side of the car along with two other guys who I always saw in the car with him on my way to school.

The trunk door was open and Hank and his friends wasted no time in grabbing me and throwing me into said trunk.