The jump I made at that moment was too undignified to discuss with you. Let's just put it this way- I leaped back 3 feet from Reed, slamming my back into a meticulously- stacked tower of cat toys. Just as soon as I hit it, the tower crumbled into a wave of squeaking stuffed mice on top of me, burying my squeal of surprise.

The noise of high pitched, obnoxious yips from the toys filled my eardrums, causing me momentary shock. What was I doing here? Oh, right.

My heart was pounding into a million, shattered pieces, my breaths coming in short gasps. That voice; there was no mistaking it. My guess was crazy, but I couldn't get rid of the sneaking suspicion in the back of my mind. It had to be either Reed or Needle, or, of course, just me going insane.

Muffled voices from outside of my prison of rodents were barely audible over the squeaks, and I honestly tried to remain as still as possible. I couldn't go out there and face Reed- No, no, I couldn't. Not possible. Tears stung my eyes, and I clenched my fists so tightly that my fingernails dug into my palms. To be completely honest with you, I was terrified of the voice. I was scared. My pining for Obsidian increased its voltage by 50%, and I almost began to keen with sobs. WHY ME?!

I felt a rustling by the side of my arm, and a shaft of sunlight appeared. I squirmed away from it, just imagining myself hissing, "AHHH, IT BURNS!"

"Mel, come on. We're helping you out, give me your hand. Are you hurt?" Dad's murmer barely reached my ears, but I stayed silent.

"Oh geez, Mr. Riller. Here, I'll help." Reed's voice, and I felt a whoosh of air on my face as a gap opened up there too.

No no no. I pushed away, burying myself deeper inside. I wasn't ready to face the world yet... I had just fallen into a pile of rats, for goodness sakes. There was a voice in my head, too. We can't forget about that.

A warm, broad hand reached down to grab my arm, brushing against my hair. I tried to wiggle away, but the grip was firm. I finally relented, realizing there was no escape, and allowed myself to be pulled out of my safe cocoon.

Stumbling a bit, I fell right into the arms of Reed, who held me up with a steady push. I gave him a steady push of my own, ending up flailing my arms as I stumbled and fell again into the plush pile on my butt. Idiot. You idiot. I was doubly alarmed to feel my cheeks burning, and kind of felt stupid for pushing away from Reed. I mean, I didn't mind him helping me up- NO. YOU HEARD THE VOICE. YOU BARELY KNOW THIS KID.

Chuckling, my own father stood over me, his arms crossed. "You okay there, Melly Smelly?" I gave him the meanest glare I could muster, and stood up again, shakily. Mr. Frizby was standing near the cash register again, watching me with amusement in his eyes. Boys.

Reed tried to reach out and help me again, but I backed away from him quickly. "And I intend to show you just how different we are." I shuddered, not meeting his eyes at the thought of the voice's words.

Needle barked, and I flinched, watching him with wary distance. He cocked his head to one side, a long ear flopping over his white muzzle, but this time, I wasn't fooled by his adorableness. I'm on to you, dog.

I swayed again, everything flashing black and white. Dad caught me, and I leaned my head against his chest, exhausted. Geez, what was wrong with me?

"Whoa, you okay, pumpkin? Look, thanks Mr. Frizby. But I think we should be getting home. I'll just purchase the things I have in the cart, and we'll be on the way out." Mr. Frizby nodded, and with Reed's help, began scanning our items along with customer coupons that we get all the time.

I groaned, my head starting to pound. Second headache in a row today? Great. Christmas was turning out just fine and dandy. Cheerful my butt.

Scooping up Needle's leash from where he had dropped it, Dad put one arm around my waist and lifted me up to his tall, 6 foot 3 height, plopping me on his shoulder easily. I lay there like a fish, unable to keep my dignity any longer.

Reed delivered the bags to us, avoiding my gaze as well. Good, I didn't want to look at his freckly face anyway. Or those brown curls. Or maple eyes. Whatever, what a jerk.

As we began to walk out the door, Needle running in circles around us, Reed quickly shoved his way after us, waving around a slip of paper.

"YOUR RECEIPT!" He hollered, skidding to a stop beside me. "Here, Melody, you take it. Mr. Frizby also wrote a pin code on the back for some dog food." He finally pointedly gave me a look that said, I'm trying to tell you something important, come on, Mel!

I took the thin paper, narrowing my eyes at him. "Don't forget the back." He gave me a salute like I gave him yesterday, and the blush crept up my neck. Then a shock of pain hit my brain again like a brick, and I was quickly reminded of my headache.

"Alright, see you around?" Reed inquired, and without an answer, loped back inside. I frowned deeply, clutching the receipt as Dad lugged me to the car.

After being sat down in the seat, I tried my best to pretend that Needle wasn't in the backseat panting hot breath into my ear. Glancing at the shop window, Reed was watching us, his tall profile sticking out in the late morning sun.

Rolling my eyes, I realized I was taking all of this pretty well. Go me. I flipped the paper onto its back, not surprised to see the pin code written there. Underneath it in tiny, chicken scratch handwriting was a simple sentence dotted with pen ink. My breath quickened as I took it in, my eyes skimming the awful calligraphy. Geez, was it hard to read.

                                                       *29845                                                                                                                                      Need to explain some stuff, so I'll see you tonight, don't worry about it. ~RL

DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT?! I gaped at the message, about to have a heart attack. WHAT TIME? WHAT DID HE HAVE TO EXPLAIN? From the feeling of the pit in my stomach, I could tell that this wasn't going to be good. Seems like I was going to have quite an interesting Christmas after all.