"Oh, shit."

My eyes flitted from the boy to the ledge and then to the girl who was staring at us from the ground.

I elbowed Sara and whispered, "What do we do?"

She shrugged as Alistair looked down nervously.

"So...I think we might need to explain this to you two."

The boy with inky black hair took a step forward toward the edge.

"Don't do it Mark!" The girl screamed. Tears had started to stream down her cheeks as I watched.

Sara flew toward the male but in a split second, he jumped down as my eyes widened and he disappeared.

The girl dropped to her knees and screamed his name repeatedly.

"Mark! Mark! Mark"

Alistair flew down to the girl and sat down beside her. He wrapped his wings around her small, lean body and pulled her head into his shoulder.

I went over to the ledge and sat down on it as I watched Alistair do his best to comfort her. Soon enough, Sara came up with Mark in tow as the girl looked up in relief. She stood up and rushed toward Sara as Mark looked away from her.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt? Do you want to go home now? Would you like to talk? I'm ready to listen. We probably shouldn't tell anyone at school about this or should we tell mom and dad."

He closed his eyes and sighed as if he was fed up with her. I wondered why. She clearly cared for him.

"Please stop Lila."

"Why? I just want to make sure you're okay."

"Whatever. Anyway who are you guys and why the hell do you have wings?"

I studied them silently. They looked so odd. Why didn't they have wings like us?

I flew toward Sara's side and tugged her arm.

"We did not consider the fact that there might be aliens..."

"What the fuck did you just call me?"

"She was referring to the both of us," Lila said while staring at Mark in confusion.

I gritted my teeth in irritation.

Male. He/him.

He turned to face her. "You always act like an alien so you being called one didn't surprise me."

Damn...

She gasped. "You can't wait until we get home to insult me?"

He rolled his eyes. "No. No I couldn't. Anyway, what and who are you three?"

"Um...humans?" Sara answered.

"How? You look nothing like us. I am a human-"

"We," Lila said and cut him off.

I didn't know what was going on between them, but I knew it wasn't my place to butt in. There were more important things than their argument.

I stepped between the two "humans."

"When Mark jumped off the ledge he ended up in our dimension where our version of humans have wings. This dimension obviously doesn't. And yes, I said dimensions. Please don't tell anyone about this. Any questions?"

I looked at them with a

please-don't-have-questions-even-though-you-have-questions-and-I-asked-if-you-have-questions face. Sadly, Lila didn't get the hint.

"How do I know this is real and you guys aren't just cosplaying or something?" Lila raised a brow and eyed me skeptically.

I snorted in amusement. "Who would cosplay in an old, dusty, factory?"

"I don't know. Show me that this is real," she said shrugging.

"Mark is living proof. What else do you need?"

She sighed and said, "I guess you're right." She then turned to face Mark. "We should probably get back home. It's pretty late."

Mark rolled his eyes at her.

"You can go. I'll be back later. I'd rather stay here and talk with them for a bit."

She scrunched up her face in confusion. "Why would you want to stay and talk with them? They are strangers with wings."

"So? How does that make them any different from us?"

"They. Have. Wings. Who knows if they're secretly cannibals or something? I don't want to take that risk."

Mark turned back to face us and looked over his shoulder at Lila. "Then don't take the risk."

I smiled. I liked his attitude so far.

Lila huffed in frustration. She stood there and kept switching her gaze from Mark to the exit and back again. Her fists clenched by her sides as she stared at the ground. "Stay safe and remember to come home at a reasonable time. It's a school night."

And with that, she ran out without looking back. Alistair flapped his wings, probably feeling awkward.

"Can we do a proper intro?" Sara asked, finally speaking.

Mark shrugged looking unconcerned. "Sure. I'm Mark and the girl that just left is my older sister Lila."

"Sara."

"Alex."

"Alistair."

Mark turned toward the exit and sighed muttering under his breath, "I hate when she's right."

The sky had started to glow a bit indicating that morning was coming sooner than we expected.

"Right about what?" Alistair asked.

"It's late and I need to go home."

He ran his hand through his hair in annoyance.

I flapped my wings and hovered in the air. "Do you and your sister promise not to tell anyone about this?"

"I can't speak for my sister, but I'll tell her what you said. I promise to not speak a word about this to anyone."

I nodded my head. "Well, bye Mark. We'll talk more tomorrow."

"We will?"

"Yeah, we will," Sara answered.

I dove into the portal as Sara and Alistair did the same.

"Wow..."

"Wow what?" Sara asked turning to Alistair.

His eyes were wide, his lips were turned up in a huge smile, and he had a dreamy look on his face. He reminded me of a little kid who had been given cake or their favorite thing for their birthday.

"Who knew that there were beings in the universe other than us?" He turned to us, excitement shining in his eyes.

"Do you guys think that there are other variations of humans in different dimensions that we haven't found yet?"

Sara let out a shaky breath. "I hope not. Those 'humans' looked so weird."

"So? They are from another dimension."

"I know, but they still looked weird."

"I wonder what their world is like. Is it the same as ours or are the laws different?"

I shrugged. "Probably different."

"Are you two forgetting that they come from another world? They might secretly want to kill us," Sara said.

Alistair's eyebrows scrunched up together as he pursed his lips.

"You don't know that. As far as I'm concerned, they are people just like us with a heart and soul."

Sara was about to reply to him but I cut her off before she could speak.

"Instead of focusing on what we don't know, let's focus on what we do know. They come from another world, they don't have wings like us, and they probably live in a different society with different rules."

"But that's it! We don't know if their laws require them to kill strangers or something!" She threw her hands up in frustration.

Alistair yawned and stretched his wings as he took to the air. "'Night guys. You should probably go home as well."

"Let's talk more about this tomorrow, sleep well."

I tried to hug her before saying "good night," but she pushed me away and quickly flew off. I sighed. What was up with her?

Flapping my wings, I went home worried about Sara.

'Author's Note'

Who else is worried about Alex and Sara's relationship? Doesn't Alistair seem kind of wholesome? 

Who agrees that Sara was just a tad bit dramatic?

Let me know your thoughts about the chapter in general!

If you enjoyed the chapter, please vote!

I love you all, I want you to be loved, and I hope you are loved! 💕

-DiTrix