The Stars Said Hello [1]

C H A P T E R - 1

"You know Flitz, I'm loving this gig more and more" Meredith said while grinning at her best friend beside her. Flitz groaned and said, "You are one strange character Mer. Who likes a museum?"

"It's interesting. It is nice to see what these people think about the history of the world." Meredith said. Flitz emitted a groan again and then entered the Natural History Museum of Balboa Park with Meredith in tow.

Flitz grabbed a newspaper and Meredith grabbed another one. Those paper's had yesterday's date on them with the a back-and-white picture of the girl they were searching for, Sophie Foster. Both of them grabbed a place in the museum.

As both of them started reading, Flitz and Meredith looked up to see Sophie Foster looking at them or as going in Meredith's mind, Flitz. She saw her eyes light up in disappointment at seeing how Flitz turned to herself before taking the next course of action-smiling at the girl.

Sophie's eyes widened in surprise as both of them walked over to her and Flitz asked, while pointing to the paper, "Is that you?" Sophie nodded in answer to the question.

Meredith took a look from the paper and said, "I thought so but I didn't realise that your eyes were brown." Sophie stuttered out a reply, "Um...Yeah. Why?" Flitz and Meredith shrugged their shoulders and said in unison, "No reason."

Sophie asked both of them, "Are you guys in this class?" Flitz smiled again and replied, "No". Flitz then said, "Tell me something. Do you really think that's what they looked like? It's a little absurd, isn't it?" Sophie shrugged and said, "I don't think so."

Meredith then said, "Never mind. We'll let you go back to class. It was nice knowing you, Sophie." They turned to leave just as two classes of kindergartners barrelled into the fossil exhibit. The crushing wave of screaming voices was enough to knock all of them back a step. But their mental voices were a whole other realm of pain.

Kids' thoughts were stinging, high-pitched needles—and so many at once was like an angry porcupine attacking her brain. All of them closed their eyes as their hands darted to her head, rubbing their temples to ease the stabbings in their skull. Then they remembered they weren't alone.

Sophie glanced around to see if anyone noticed her reaction and locked eyes with the boy and the girl. Both them had their hands were at their forehead, and their face wore the same pained expression she imagined she'd had only a few seconds before.

All three of them looked at each other and then Meredith said, "Did..did you hear that?" Sophie looked surprised and she took a step back from them. Sophie whispered out a question, "Who...Who are you?"

Flitz and Meredith glanced at each other and then Flitz said, "You did—didn't you?" He moved closer, leaning in to whisper. "Are you a Telepath?"

Sophie flinched. But her reaction gave her away.

"You are! I can't believe it," he whispered. He looked at Meredith excitedly who was grinning.

Sophie backed toward the exit. She wasn't about to reveal her secret to a total strangers.

"It's okay," he said, holding out his hands as he moved closer, like she was some sort of wild animal he was trying to calm. "You don't have to be afraid. We are ones too."

Sophie froze.

"My name's Fitz," he added, stepping closer still. Meredith was still at a distance but close enough to Flitz and Sophie so they could hear if she said softly. She said, "And my name is Meredith." "I'm not joking," she said, like she knew exactly what she was thinking."

Sophie still looked surprised. Meredith couldn't blame her. She had been living a lie and that was hard to take in at once.

She grabbed her arms to steady her. "It's okay, Sophie. We are here to help you. We've been looking for you for twelve years."

Sophie looked at them once and started running. She picked up her pace as she raced through the courtyard at the base of the steps, past the wide fountain and over the grassy knolls to the sidewalk. No one got in her way—everyone was inside because of the poor air quality. But she could still hear his footsteps gaining on her.

"Wait," Fitz and Meredith called. "You don't have to be afraid."

She ignored them, pouring all her energy into her sprint and fighting the urge to glance over her shoulder to see how far back he was. She made it halfway through a crosswalk before the sound of screeching tires reminded her she hadn't looked both ways.

Sophie's head turned and she locked eyes with a terrified driver struggling to stop his car before it plowed right over her.

She was going to die.