Suddenly, Monsters! Thousands of Them!

A Chapter by Toki

The third chapter of Bleedin' Deadly. There aren't really thousands of monsters, though. Cool your jets. :/

Apollo had finished his "arrangements", whatever the hell they were, and then it seemed perfectly fine to my parents that I move in with two random strangers in an alternate dimension. (I didn't tell them about that, only that I was moving in with Apollo, but you get the idea.) I took all of my stuff with me, too, so it seemed like it was going to be VERY long-term. Rika helped me unpack and get everything settles. It was a bit nerve-wracking because she was so obsessive-compulsive about organization, but at least I knew the exact location of every belonging I ever owned now. By the time we'd finished with my room, she took a look at her pigsty of a room and got jealous, therefore forcing me to help her clean her room.

Fun times.

Finally, she made a supper of spaghetti and chocolate ice-cream for Apollo and I (they were separate, of course, because who in their right mind would eat spaghetti and chocolate ice-cream together?) and we had a grand ol' time being silent at the table as we ate. A grand ol' time. Finally, when Apollo started on his ice-cream, he mentioned that he'd gotten a new assignment from Heaven's Postmaster.

"Oh, really?" I asked.

"Yeah, really." he answered.

"No way!" Rika added sarcastically.

"What assignment is this?" I noted.

"That's classified, foo'." Apollo dismissed.

"Oh, come off it! We're doing this mission just as much as you are." Rika pressed. They looked at each other for a long time before he finally cracked. What a flake.

"I've got information on the third addition to our little club." he said.

"Cool. Who is it?" My face brightened. Maybe it would be a hot guy! He handed me a manilla file folder and I opened it eagerly, then praised God and all that was holy. It was a hot guy! His name was Alexander Rappa. He wasn't much older than me, and he wasn't much younger than Rika. He was scheduled to die (the first time) on Wednesday of next week at a gun range where he would be shot accidentally when someone dropped their loaded pistol. Ouch. I handed the folder back to Apollo.

"Awesome." I commented.

"Are we gonna come with you this time?" Rika asked.

"Nope." Apollo answered immediately. Rika looked disappointed. I didn't rightly care.

"Rika, whaddya say we go shopping that d--"

"OKAY!" she interrupted me, seeming completely happy again. Oy vey. That was easy. I finished up my spaghetti, but didn't touch my ice-cream. I hate sweets. Instead, I gave it to Apollo, who finished it off contently. I went off to my room and collapsed onto my exceptionally-fluffy bed and sighed, staring up at the ceiling. It had only been a couple of days, and I missed my parents already. I wanted to see Matt and Devan and Jeremy and all my other friends. Well... I could see them tomorrow, since I had to go to school. Great. There was a knock on my door.

"It's open," I called back. I suddenly found Rika laying next to me, staring up at the ceiling, as well.

"Whatcha thinkin' about?" she asked, not looking at me.

"My parents. My friends." I answered truthfully.

"You miss 'em?"

"Hell yeah."

"It'll get better. You got a boyfriend?"

"Hell no!"

"Why not?"

"I can't find anyone who meets my standards." I muttered tautly. She glared at me. "What?" I exclaimed. She kept glaring. I glared back.

"You should get a boyfriend." she told me.

"Why?!"

"I have one, and I want to go on a double-date." Rika looked very proud of herself.

"Who is it, Apollo?" I teased. Her face turned almost as red as her hair.

"N-no!"

"You like him, though, don't you? Always looking at him with those longing eyes and talking with that sweet voice..."

"He saved my life! I can treat a person nicely for that, right?" she defended. I shrugged.

"I guess~"

She huffed, rolled her eyes, and left my room. He saved me, too, but I didn't treat him like she did. Oh, well. At least I'd gotten her off the topic of boyfriends. Something very surprising happened. My cell phone rang. Confused, I took it out of my pocket and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Tilly?" The voice was staticy and unclear, but I could barely make it out as Matt's voice.

"Sorry, bro. I have terrible reception here. I'll talk to you later." I said.

"What? Til, what is this, I don't even--" I shut off the phone to prevent frustration and awkwardness. I still can't believe I actually got reception there. This was a totally different dimension, from what I'd gathered, and yet my cell still barely picked up calls. I wanted to see Matt so badly. I didn't care about the other guys anymore. I just wanted to see Matt. I looked at my phone again, then let it fall to the bed. I stared up at the ceiling for a long time, not realizing I'd fallen asleep.

"TILLY! HEY, TILLY! TIL! YO!" A shrill voice smashed through my dreams and I woke with a start. Rika was in my room, bashing on me with a pillow, trying to wake me up. She was still in her pajamas. Go figure. I hopped out of bed, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, commenced telling her to shut up, and leaving my room to go take a shower. I came back, got dressed, ate breakfast, brushed my teeth, and was ready to go, but was still not awake. Rika was still dawdling in her PJs, so I slapped her in the head and told her to get ready or else.

God, I hate high school. I have to wake up so bloody early! Apollo teleported us to school (apparently, Rika had been going to the same school all this time, but I'd never noticed her, since we had all different classes.) and I went to hang out by the tree in North Campus with the guys. When I saw Matt, I finally woke up. I dropped everything and greeted him with a run-jump-hug.

"Jesus, Til! You treat it like it's been a million years since I last saw you." he laughed, hugging me back.

"Oh, it has! I missed youuu!" I cooed.

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