Taken by the fog

Truth

The fog in my town sounds interesting, but readingabout it is boring. Honestly boring. We read for about two hours before I feltmyself drifting off into a deep slumber.

BANG! BANG!

I shot up as some loud noises rippled through the living room. Mike was still fast asleep next to me. His eyes flew wide open at the next bang.
"Au!" He groaned as his head collided with mine. Damn those after nap reflexes.
"You hear it too then." Mike jumped up at the next bang.
"Stay put." He ordered me as he walked to the window. From the opening in the curtains I saw a couple of snow splatters. Already suspecting the culprits, I made my way towards Mike.
"You know I'm not the best listener. Especially when it comes to orders." I said as Mike threw me a look. Mike shrugged and opened the curtains. In the yard were our friends, snowballs in hand.
"We're here for some action!" TJ yelled.
"Really?" Mike replied. He grabbed my elbow and captured my lips for a passionate kiss. Soon I forgot about our surroundings. I jumped as another snowball collided with the window.
"Enough action, let us in! It's freezing and you overslept." Connor yelled. Mike and I threw a glance at the clock to see we indeed overslept.
"I'll go change." I muttered before running off.

Mike joined me in the bedroom about ten minutes later.
"Need some help?" He chuckled as I tried to reach the zipper of my jumpsuit.
"No, I got this." I shot him a look and kept struggling. In the end my hand found the zipper and I turned around to Mike, my pride still intact. "See?"
"Great job, you manage to dress yourself." Mike added sarcastically. "Let's go, the cartoon is almost over."

We met up with the rest at our favourite restaurant.
"Hey, long time no see." I turned towards the voice and hugged my cousin, Josh. He has been a waiter here for a year now so we get free food every now and then. I have been trying to set him up with TJ ever since he told me that TJ was cute. However, TJ says he's as straight as Connor, Pascal and Mike.
"It's been a week." I laughed.
"Way to ruin the moment cous. Your usual table is ready." I quickly gave him another hug before we walked over to the table.
"There they are." Beau laughed as we approached. "Took a while."
"We have something to tell you guys." Mike started as we sat down.
"Seriously? TJ as well." Becca joined. I locked eyes with TJ and he quickly looked away. He does has something to say but he doesn't want to.
"If you don't want to TJ, then it's fine." I reassured him. All eyes went from TJ to me, no one knew each other like we do. Not even Mike.

"Scale of 1 to 10, how bad is yours?" TJ questioned. I took a minute for myself before replying.
"12." TJ nodded and took a breath.
"So, as you all know, I have a no track record when it comes to my dating life." He looked around and made eye contact with someone on the other side of the room. Connor wanted to say something but TJ held up his hand. "Yes, I'm in a relationship. Not with a girl, but with Josh." He stumbled the words out and looked at the table, not daring to look at anyone else. I reached out from across the table and gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. TJ looked at me and I gave him a wink.
"You finally figured it out. What took you so long?" I giggled. TJ let out a breath and laughed along.
"You really have been setting me up, did you?"
"Do you honestly think that we could run into him as much as we did by accident?"

The rest of the group asked some questions which TJ answered relaxed. They have been dating for three months and they both came out to their parents at the same time. It was the most adorable thing ever.
"So, now we got that out of the way. Jen, the floor is yours."
"This is big guys. We need the privacy." Between the are you pregnant? and the are you engaged? I noticed TJ waving over Josh.
"No guys, I'm not pregnant nor am I engaged. Josh, do you have a place where we can speak?" I asked. Josh nodded and guided us to a secluded part of the restaurant. TJ gave Josh a kiss on the cheek as a thank you. Josh stiffened and his eyes instantly locked with mine. I smiled and gave him a wink. Before Josh left, I wrapped my arms around him.
"Proud of you for being you." I whispered in his ear.

"So, what is it?" Beau asked carefully as we all sat down.
"Give her a minute." Mike answered. "You okay?" Mike placed his hand on my lower back and I looked to him gratefully.
"Connor, Mike and TJ already know." I started. "Remember the mayor talking about the chosen one. The one with the mark. Give it a name. It's me."
"Not the time to joke Jen." Angie and Tess retorted at the same time.
"She's not joking." Mike replied harshly. The fear of losing me was visible in his eyes. I rolled up my sleeve and removed the scrunchie from my wrist to show them the eagle.
"Don't ask me how but I've been seeing them and I think that I might be able to break the curse. I do need your help though." I explained calmly. Everyone looked everywhere but at me. Then at the same time, they all stood up and hugged me.
"What can we do?" Connor asked.
"We want to search the town history to find out as much as we can about the fog. How it works, how long it's been around and what we are up against. I already found a legend about a person who walked around with an eagle mark and who could see the fog people. This person was able to communicate with the regular world. I think Jen might be able to do that too. If we can figure out how it works then we can get her out." Mike explained. Everybody looked at each other and nodded.
"Let's do it." Angie replied on behalf of everyone.
"When is the next fog? Is it at the end of the month?" Tess reluctantly asked. I simply shook my head.
"It will arrive in three days."

***