Where I Belong

You're Never Not On My Mind

The next morning, we were walking around the temple, stretching after a long and uncomfortable night.

“Ah, man.” I said, stretching my back until it cracked, “How I miss my bed.”

“Hey, who are those girls?” Maria asked.

I looked ahead and saw three girls outside a window. An Indian girl wearing yellow, a Korean girl wearing pink, and a Jewish girl wearing green.

“They're Mei's friends.” We walked up to them, “Uh, hi.”

The three girls looked at us confused, “Hey.” The Indian girl, Priya, said, “Can we help you?”

“We, uh…”

“We're here to see Mei, too.” Mirabel said.

“You know, Mei?” The girl in green, Miriam asked. 

I shrugged, “Sort of.”

“What do you know about her?” Abby, the girl in pink, asked us. Wasn't expecting an interrogation, but I guess it's fair.

“We heard about what happened yesterday.” Manolo said, “We just want to see if she's alright.”

“How do you-”

“We'll explain later.” I said.

Miriam knocked on the window, “Mei, it's us. And some… other people. Open up.”

“Are you okay?” Priya asked, “Tap if you can hear us.”

“One for yes, two for no!” Abby shouted.

“We were so worried.” Miriam said, “We thought you died of embarrassment.”

“It's ok, you're not the only one with an embarrassing parent.” I added.

“You need more pads?” Priya asked, “I brought extra.”

“Forget that.” Abby pulled out a flyer from her bag, “4-Town's coming to Toronto!”

“What?” Mei, in her panda form, stuck out of the window. At the sight of her like this, the three girls screamed, Mei pulling them inside. The rest of us climbed through the window.

Mei was holding her friends to her chest, muffling their screams, “Whoa! Mei, you're suffocating them!” I said.

Mei eventually managed to get her friends to stop screaming and to be chill. When they nodded, she slowly put them down.

“Mei?” Miriam asked calmly.

“Are you a werewolf?” Priya asked. 

“No! What?” Mei said

“She is a red panda!” Abby said. Priya and Abby were excited about Mei being a red panda, Priya stroking her tail and Abby hugging her fur.

“Priya, Abby, quit it.” Miriam said.

Mei finally noticed the rest of us, “Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Who are you guys?”

“Please don't panic.” I said, calmly, “We won't tell anyone–”

“Wait, I remember you. You guys visited the temple.”

“Thank you for remembering us.” Paimon said. 

“Ah! Fairy!” Abby freaked out. 

I chuckled a little nervously, standing in front of Paimon, “I'm Fabi and these are my friends. Manolo, Maria, Mirabel, and Paimon.” Everyone waved at the four girls.

“We know about everything, Mei.” Maria said.

“Everything?” Miriam asked, “Mei, what the heck happened?”