The Alley

12

"It's a comic in Shadow times. Fae and I used to pretend to be Wess and Jess, the twin heros all the time," Evaline said smiling at the memory.

Avin grabbed the newspaper from under his bed, "look!" He pointed at two people, a boy and a girl dressed in black fighting off shadows and saving people.

Evaline snatched the newspaper, "We need to get back on topic!"

"I haven't read it yet!" Avin tried to grab the newspaper back, but Evaline had it out of his reach, "I was today's."

Evaline brought the paper back down to eye level, and judging the way her eyes were moving, she was reading it. Fast. "ooooooooh!"

"What is it!?! What is it!?!" Avin was jumping around like a two year old, "Did Jess destroy Mega-shadow?"

"Shhh! Shut up!" Evaline brought her finger to her lips, "I'm reading."

"I want to read!" Avin screeched. He crossed his arms, "hmff."

"Here ya go, "Evaline tossed the paper at him, letting it go the other way and float slowly towards the floor until Avin caught it.

"Oh my gosh!" Avin squealed like the girls at school, "YAY!"

"Let's get back on track," I interrupted once again, "You guys can talk about this later."

"Fine," they both grumbled at the same time, I sort of smiled because they're both so similar.

"What?" They both said in sync at the same time again, and this time I laughed.

"Nothing," I replied. They both gave me an annoyed look.

Avin put his hands on his hips, "I like my idea! The serious part of this meeting is DONE!"

"Okay," Evaline agreed.

"Let's have fun!" Avin started dancing around and waving his hands in the air. Evaline and I just stared at him. He stopped and stared back. "What?"

"Nothing." Evaline walked over and plopped on the couch grabbing one of the scattered bags of chips that were on the floor on the way. "Come on, join me."

I sat down on the couch next to her, shoving my hand into the bag of chips. The way Evaline said "join me" reminded me so much of Fae. I glanced at the object that resembled a TV in front of us.

"What do you want to watch?" She tilted her head towards the 'TV' and picked up the remote.

I shrugged, I don't know any of the shadow catcher TV shows, "I don't know, you choose."

"I hate when people say that," She sunk into the couches plush surface, "But I'm going to choose since you don't know any of the shows."

I watched as she flipped through the channels. Evaline settled on going to something that was like Netflix or Disney+ and handed the remote to me.

"Just browse," She said, "We'll watch whatever catches your eye."

I scrolled down and saw many interesting shows and clicked on one about a giant shadow taking over the world. I zoned out when I would watch movies like this one month ago, but now I have the Fae problem to deal with. It is bringing my thoughts away from watching tv. (My one hobby/pastime besides eating and chillaxing.)

Evaline's attention drifted away from the TV to me, "What are you thinking about? Um, a penny for your thoughts, well, not that shadow catchers use pennies." she blushed.

"Um," I said, thinking about whether or not to share my thoughts, "Well, I'm thinking about Fae, I don't know a lot about her."

Evaline took a deep breath and whispered slowly, "She was kind and a fun person to be with. She had many friends before she left." Evaline looked lost in her thoughts but she quickly snapped back to reality. "She loved to go to the beach, even though she lived 4 hours from it. I'm the opposite, I don't like sunny beaches, I like to go to indoor stuff." She didn't specify what.

"Whenever I see the beach or something she liked, I wish she were here to enjoy them and be with me," she continued.

I realized that I was staring and quickly looked away. "I-I'm sorry."

She gave me a confused look. "About Fae," I said.

"Oh," She looked at her lap. I shared a look with Avin.