*Knock* *Knock*

The door to my bedroom opened as my mother stepped inside, she quickly and efficiently scanned around the room to see what my Dad and I were up to.

Apparently satisfied with what she saw, she said, “Your friend was waiting outside when I got home. She mentioned something about you two working on a project together ”

“Oh, she’s here already?” I asked, slightly surprised. After calling Mira up on the number she gave me, she eventually agreed to meet so we could work on our English project together. The discussion took a lot longer than I would’ve liked though, given that she was adamant about not meeting or doing anything at her house, and her significant reluctance about coming alone to mine as well. Eventually, though, she gave in and, since she was here, seemed to have followed through with it.

“She is. It seems she was waiting outside our front door for a while. She said she wasn't sure if she should knock on the door, call out to you, or just go back home.” My mother said with a confused and slightly annoyed look on her face. “Who is this girl exactly?”

“She’s my partner for the English project we’re working on together.” I said truthfully. “She, uh, can come across as a bit shy, I guess.”

“Just a bit.” My mother commented snidely. “In any case, she is waiting downstairs in the foyer for you, or I can just tell her to come upstairs to meet you if you like?”

“Um, yeah, that would be fine. Tell her to come upstairs then.” I replied.

“I guess I’ll take my leave for now as well. If your plan is to get going on some of your schoolwork.” My dad said while standing up from my bed and going over to collect his acoustic guitar off the floor across from us. “We can practice more later, or… We could all go down to the mall in Redding, after you’ve made some headway on your project with your friend.”

“You want to take Mira and me out shopping at the mall?” I asked, slightly caught off guard.

“Sure, I haven’t been able to spend much time with you lately, and this’ll also be a good chance to meet your new friend as well.” He said with a smile.

“Uh, that's sweet of you Dad, but Mira honestly is pretty shy. I’m not sure how down she will be with the idea of going on a shopping trip together with us.” I responded skeptically.

“Ah, come on now. Whatever you two like will be on me, anything you guys want.” He said with an eager, almost desperate smile on his face.

“Within reasonable limits.” My mother pointedly added.

“Within reasonable limits, of course.” Dad quickly agreed.

“Hmm, anything? Even clothes?” I said cryptically.

“Sure, whatever you are interested in picking up.” He responded happily.

“Are you really prepared to go on an extended shopping spree for clothes with two teenage girls, Dad?” I asked him with a sly smirk on my face.

“Uh, when you put it like that…” He responded, a bit more hesitantly this time.

“I'm sure you can tough it out, dear.” My Mom added, happily throwing her husband into the deep end.

“Ah, fine. Yes, of course, even clothes.” He said in a low, defeated tone.

“Great!” I said happily. This all worked out perfectly. After ditching my clothes yesterday, and losing another set after the calamitous party last week, I was currently down two cute outfits. Something this important needed immediate correction.

“Uh right.” Dad said, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. “What did I just sign myself up for exactly?”

“Fun!” I told him in a faux cheery tone. He wasn’t the only one who could mercilessly tease their family members.

“Work.” My mother replied honestly.

“Great, well, in the meantime, I’ll take my leave and let your friend know it's okay for her to come upstairs then.” Dad said, looking less eager and a bit more fearful of the fate he had created for himself.

After he made a swift exit from my room, my mother turned to me and said, “Do try and go a bit easy on him dear. He’s not as young and spry as he used to be. I imagine that he could really only hold at most half a dozen bags in each arm before he collapses entirely.”

Smiling at her own joke, my mother turned around then and left my room as well, leaving me alone in peaceful silence once more.

Flopping back on my bed, I let out a weary sigh as I smiled at the thought of messing around with my Dad more. It was nice getting to spend time with him like this again. I’ve missed it.

A few minutes later, a light knocking sound emanated from my currently closed door.

“Come in, it's open.” I said to the figure on the other side.

Slowly opening the door just a crack and doing a thorough inspection of my room’s interior from just the small opening she'd made before she dared take a single step inside, was Mira’s concerned and slightly unkempt face.

“It’s okay. It’s perfectly safe in her Mira, promise.” I said with a slightly amused expression.

“Yes, well, that’s exactly what you would say, regardless of if it was safe or not.” Mira said dispassionately as she continued her visual analysis of my room from the apparent safety of the adjacent hallway.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

A few moments longer, apparently satisfied with her assessment, she continued opening the door slightly farther before stepping inside quickly, and immediately closing the door right behind herself.

“It’s uh, nice to see you again.” I said to the strange skittish girl who was now in my bedroom with me.

“Is it? Well, in that case, you as well.” She said while letting her eyes drift around my room once more.

“You, um, can take a seat wherever. The chair at my desk over there spins around so you can use that while I stay here on the bed.” I offered.

Walking over to the seat I indicated, Mira poked it gently, just enough for the seat to spin around a bit on its axis.

“Huh.” Was all she had said in response to her little experiment.

Placing her bag down beside herself, she took a slow, cautious seat on my desk chair before tentatively turning around enough to face my direction.

“Nice chair.” She concluded.

“Um, thanks. So, have you been?” I asked politely, trying to ease her into the eventual line of questioning I intended for her.

“Hmm, alright, I guess. Not much school work to do, or at least not much that takes me any real significant amount of time to get done.” She said with a small shrug.

“Yeah, the teachers have been a bit light with the amount of work they’ve been giving us since, well since the stuff that happened at the party.” I said in a quiet tone.

“The monster attack.” Mira clarified.

“Yeah, uh, that.” I agreed. “So, did you have any ideas of what you’d like to do for our project or…”

“I did do some research on the school’s computers in the library, and I found a few candidates for us to look at.” She said while reaching around to pull some papers out of her back. “Each of them is pretty unknown, but their works are also not entirely without merit. I thought some of them were pretty good anyways.”

She handed me a few loose pieces of paper, before she sat back down and watched me read over what she had printed out from the school’s library.

“Hmm, these do look pretty interesting. You said you read about them online somewhere? Is it a credible website we can use as a source for our report?” I asked while continuing to scan through the papers.

“Hmm, one or two of them, maybe. Most of the leads I made use of were just from random people’s blogs, so nothing we can really use as a citation, I guess.” She said with a bored shrug. “Also, are you going to reimburse me for your half of the cost for those printouts, or is that something I should bring up with your parents before I leave?”

“What?” I asked, now looking back up at the strange girl sitting across from me. She had her hands curled up into little fists in her lap as she patiently just sat there looking directly toward me. “What cost? For these print outs?”

“Yes, the school library charges 10 cents per piece of paper used in printing, and as you can see there, I’ve printed out 20 different pieces of paper for our project. Given that we are, presumably, equal partners for this project, it only makes sense that we each cover half the expenses we accrue throughout our work, yes?” She practically blurted out. “I should also add that they charge 50 cents for printing out paper with colors that aren’t just black and white. Two of the papers there had to be printed out in color for the context of what was being talked about there to make any sense.

“Umm, yeah, sure.” I said, taken a bit off balance again by her urgent request. Was she really that desperate for money? Thinking back to the dream I had about her, I did recall images and scenes of her having to constantly struggle to get by.

I guess I didn’t realize though, that just a couple of dollars could make that much of a difference to her, or maybe it’s just how she’s used to living her life. Constantly scrounging and saving wherever she could.

Reaching into a nearby drawer on my nightstand, I pulled out a couple of dollar bills and handed them over to Mira.

“Here.” I said with a polite smile carefully placed across my face. I didn’t want her to feel extra weird about needing this money or whatever the situation really was.

Taking it from me, she only said in a quiet voice. “Thank you.”

Tucking the two bills into her bag, she sat back down on the chair and went back to looking at me quietly.

“So.” I said awkwardly in the now noticeably quiet room we were in.

“Yes?” She asked with a curious upturned eyebrow on her face.

“Um…” I muttered while trying to reorient myself back onto the line of discussion I had been intending on going down.

This English project aside, I really needed to find a way to talk to Mira about what I saw in my dream, particularly about those alchemical ingredients she was using.

Before I could even manage that though, there was another polite knock on my bedroom door.

*Knock* *Knock*

“Uh, come in.” I loudly instructed the most recent guest at my door trying to visit me.

Opening the door swiftly my mother stepped inside, caring a large tray in her hands with an assortment of snacks spread out on top of it.

There were bowls of chips and pretzels, cookies, little individually wrapped chocolates, and other candies, even some pieces of fresh fruit she must have picked up today during her errands earlier.

Placing the overly laden tray onto my desk, my mother turned to the both of us and said. “Just some snacks for the two of you to munch on while working on your project. It’s important to keep your mind as well as your body fueled up with the energy that you'll need for whatever you might be working on.”

“Uh, thanks, Mom.” I said a bit brusquely, quite used to the frequent lectures that she liked to dispense at the a drop of a hat.

Mira had quietly turned around in her chair and was silently perusing the almost excessive assortment of snacks my Mom had brought in for us to have. While it was a nice gesture, I couldn’t help feeling a bit embarrassed at the unnecessarily large quantity of snacks on the tray.

“Feel free to try whatever you like there.” My mother told Mira with a congenial smile on her face.

“Hmm…” Mira mused out loud while roaming her eyes over each of the items on the tray, one at a time. “How much is it for one of the cookies.”

Mira had picked up a single cookie in her hand and was now presenting it to us for inspection.

“I’m sorry. What do you mean exactly?” My mother asked while looking at Mira's blank almost serene face as she daintily held a single cookie in her raised hand.

“How much do you want for this cookie?” Mira again asked in her usual calm almost monotone voice.

“Um…” My mother was left a bit stupified at the unexpected question.

“It’s fine Mom. Thanks for the snacks, but we need to get back to work.” I told her, even going so far as to stand and walk her out the door before closing it hastily.

Letting out a tired sigh, I turned back around to face the still curious expression of Mira who continued holding the cookie in her hand.

“All the snacks are free, Mira. Help yourself, no charge.” I carefully explained.

“Oh, nice.” She said before quickly stuffing the whole cookie into her mouth. “Phfreeph Fphoofd.”

Mira quickly turned back around in her chair and started snatching up more snacks at a rapid, almost blistering pace. Each one was then eagerly stuffed into the seemingly endless void where her mouth should have been.

"Slow down Mira, sheesh." I said to the backside of the food vacuum formerly known as Mira.