It started one night when Erika was walking in the woods alone. She looked up at the sky and saw a flash of light, gasped, and decided to follow it. It had trailed all the way down to edge of the woods, the farthest from the human civilization.
Erika peeked from behind a tree, hearing a crash after she followed the flash of light. Even though, usually, she would have been convinced it was a shooting star, something felt different about this flash of light.
The smell of sizzling skin and burnt metal reached her nose. She looked for what that smell was, but found nothing. Where there was the smell, she only saw a rock.
Erika felt strange. She could feel the hair stand up on the back of her neck, but she saw nothing that would usually make her do it. She surveyed the scene again, and walked slowly and almost reluctantly back to her home.
She was sure something interesting would happen--for once! The town she lived in was a boring town; it wouldn't hurt for a little excitement, would it?
Erika ran into her friend Zoey on the way back to her house. "Hey, Rika," Zoey said, smiling, brushing the reddish hair away from her face.
"Hey, Zo," Erika replied, smiling back. She looked around. "Did you see that flash in the sky?"
Zoey nodded. "I was about to check that out, actually, but I ran into you."
"Don't bother." Erika shook her head. "I tried to check it out already. I smelt something, yeah, but nothing was there."
"What a shame," Zoey replied, shaking her head. "Well, since now I have nothing to do, would you like to come over? I'm in dire need of someone to gush to." Zoey smiled.
"I'd love to, but I have to watch my sister tonight." Erika smiled apologetically.
"A shame," Zoey murmured and grinned. "I'll see you tomorrow at school, then, I'm way passed my curfew." Zoey sauntered off.
Erika scurried back to her house. It was getting dark now--Erika had a slight fear of the dark. She was glad when she reached her house.
She opened the door, greeted by the aroma of gingerbread cookies and brownies. She put her backpack down at the table and wandered to the kitchen, where her mother was just done cooking for a potluck.
Erika reached to take a cookie off the sheet just as her mother said, "Nuh-uh. You'll get one when you do your homework and watch Lizzy." She nodded in the direction of the living room, where Erika's sister was watching Word Girl on PBS.
Erika made a face. She did like that show, yes, but it got boring after hearing the same episode twenty times. She walked into the living room. Yep, she was right. The one where Tobey loses his remote that controls all the robots, pretends he doesn't have a tracking device, and spends the whole day with Word Girl, not knowing that Word Girl was really a girl from school, Becky Botsford.
Erika stopped her mental rant. She sat down on the couch and took a book from the shelf. She was going to distract herself by reading her favorite series, Star Trek.
"Eri," Lizzy lifted her chin to look at her sister.
"Hm?"
"Mom said you're supposed to watch me. That's not watching. You're reading." Lizzy stood up and grabbed the book from her sister's grasp, and, much to Erika's dismay, dropped it in the lockbox that Lizzy had.
Erika frowned. "She doesn't mean watch you every second." She sighed and rolled her eyes. She checked the clock. Nine thirty. "Plus, it's pass your bedtime," she said, as she heard the front door close, confirming her mother was gone now.
It was Lizzy's turn to frown. She looked at the clock and sighed. "Fine." She walked to her room.
Erika shook her head, took out a paper and pencil, and started doing her homework.
