She ran. Mahira ran away from something or someone. She wasn't sure. But her footsteps never stopped as she kept running under the crystal-like moon which shone in the sky like it does every full moon night. The only sound other than her footsteps was her heavy breathing and her fast heartbeat. She looked back to the direction of her chasers to find nothing but the still, long and dense trees. She kept on running, glancing back at times, untill she tripped over something and rolled on the ground. Her body felt colder, maybe due to the sweat or maybe due to the fear. She rose up, with a hope that no one was there but met two masked figured in front of herself. They were both wearing blue-green hoodies, with a weird arrow symbol at their right arms. Their faces were covered with simple black masks.

One of them stood still while the other approached me, "should we take her back?" The feminine voice rang into Mahira's ears. While the figure kneeled beside her, the first one just stared at them, "or should we let them catch her?"

The other person looked at Mahira, "let's take her," she said, her head raising into the direction Mahira had come from, "and let's find out why they were chasing her." She had stepped into Mahira's direction, making her back away from the two. She wanted to tell them she wasn't anyone important, she wanted to get up and run again but something didn't let her.

She backed away slowly, "please, let me go!" she tried to yell but her voice didn't come out as anything but a small whisper. The first figure now was closer to her and she could see that the woman was observing every part of her, "please," she probably had tears in her eyes while she pleaded.

 The lady just kept staring, not making any move, "Irah?" she heard a small voice, "are you okay?" she looked around as she recognised the voice belonged to Mayur. She looked into the direction she was running away from and saw him emerging from there. She turned around and the two figures had now vanished, "Irah?" she felt the world moving, probably like an earthquake, "get up!" The voice demanded as the trees disappeared, "Mahira!" The moon wasn't there anymore, and the shaking was still the same, "Mahira?" There were no stars anymore, there was no sky and all that was left was darkness, "Mahira!"

She woke up with a jerk, Mayur sitting in front of her. She looked around, she was in her room, and everything was normal. Her breathing had sped up and her body temperature had dropped. She heard a small crack from her bed, sat up and looked down to see ice, now disappearing without leaving any wet spots on the bed. She looked up at Mayur, "I uh I d-did it?" she questioned, hesitantly, stuttering at the thought. Her fears were revived when he nodded, signalling, it was indeed her who'd done that. He kept his eyes lower, on the ground. She knew some part of him still felt guilty about it, he blamed himself for all of it, but they were just kids.

They sat in silence for a few moments before she heard him gasp and saw his eyes widened with his gaze towards her. She followed his gaze towards her right hand and saw the red fluid dripping on the ground. And that's when she started to feel the stickiness of the blood along her palm. She wasn't sure how it happened, but she blamed the ice for it. Maybe it had cut her hand before it totally disappeared, it had happened before too so obviously it could happen again, but the fact that it hadn't been anything like this since last five years scared her more than she already was. They had never hurt her since the blip.

She hadn't realised when Mayur had gotten up from the cold bed and got the first aid box from her bedside drawer untill he kneeled down before the bed and took her hand in his. He carefully cleaned the wound and bandaged it, like he has been doing since last eight years. After that they had both sat on the bed and played a game of Ludo, something they had always done when others were snapped. The morning arrived sooner than they'd expected it to, the game really was a good distraction. He went back to his room while she stayed on my bed for another fifteen minutes before taking a shower and heading downstairs.

She walked down the stairs, wearing a black tank top, a red-black shirt over it with basic jeans and saw everyone, including Mayur, who looked like a zombie, sitting on the dining table. The smell of pancakes and toast was stronger than usual. As she joined everyone on the table and had some herself, she realised it wasn't just the smell which was better but also the taste. They chit-chatted for sometime, it appeared as if the blip hadn't affected anything at all, except deep down they all knew it had. After they were done with breakfast, Mahira and Mayur left for their part-time job at the cafe while their father left to the hotel he used to work in before. They had told him there was no fun going there but he wanted to try his luck. Their mother, on the other hand, had stayed home and told them she would be searching for jobs all day. She was a painter, a great one, and used to work as an arts professor in a not-so-famous college nearby. Now, unlike Shivam, she had realised that she won't be needed there anymore so she'll have to look for another job while the not-so-old man believed that the hotel would never find a manager as good as him.

The day had passed faster than many others and in no time their shift was over, so they sat on one of the white tables at the corner with their coffees. This was one of the perks of working in a cafe, at the end of your shift you didn't have to go somewhere else for the coffee. The cafe was small and cosy, with glass walls and warm atmosphere. The colour scheme was all white with bits of black at the legs of the chairs and the main counter's top.

Mahira sipped her hot coffee, it was boiling for sure, but it didn't affect her at all. A plus point of those stupid powers. "I know you're all powerful and mighty but don't do it while people are around us!" Pointed out the green-eyed blonde who'd just joined them. Zachary Oliver Brown. They met him during the blip, and he was a really likeable person. When they got thrown from foster homes to orphanages, he always gave them the support they needed, along with a house to sneak out at during the nights.

She looked at the boy, her gaze following him as he sat down, and scrunched her nose at him, "whatever you say, sir!" she rolled her eyes and heard a snort like sound which came from Mayur, whose eyes never left Zach's face. Idiot. "So did you get your letter from Oxford yet?" Mahira asked, and he shook his head. 

The three of them had completed their school and now awaited college for them. They'd filled approximately every application, except for the ones in UK, that they were allowed to, in hopes to get selected at least anywhere but now with everyone returned, they weren't really sure anymore. Mayur and Mahira still had to tell everyone at home about the applications, for a fact she was sure that they'll not let them go very far but she also knew the farther they were from her, the safer they were. 

"But we'll be getting them soon," Zach's voice snapped her out of her thoughts and she nodded at him, "I wish we get selected by the same University, so we won't have to get separated," he sighed, looking down at his coffee and taking a sip out of, instantly making a face of regret while a smile spread across Mahira's face at his childishness. She doesn't want to get separated from any of them either... but if she does, then it would be so much safer for them.