Chapter 3

A Chapter by .:Lu:.

Alson family home, October 5, 4:42 p.m.

I set my backpack on the kitchen table. It was just me and the cat until 6:45, when my dad came home from the bookstore, where he worked. I ran up to my room to get on my computer. I wanted to get started on my homework so that I could watch T.V. after dinner.

When I entered my room, I noticed that my computer was on. It wasn’t on my screensaver, and it wasn’t my login page either. Someone had gotten onto it when I was out. Tammy was curled up on my bed. I sat down on my computer chair, but stood up again. It was warm. Whoever had been on my computer hadn’t been away from it for long. They still had to be in the house. I ran down the stairs.

I couldn’t see anybody, or even hear them. I poked my head out the back door, but nobody was there. I was confused. Who had gotten on my computer? Where were they? How had they gotten away so quickly? And why did they get on?

I closed the door. Thinking that I had left it logged on and bumped it when I came in, and was imagining the warmness; I went back up to my room. Tammy had woken up and was sitting on my pillow as if nothing had happened. I sat next to her and ran my hand down her back. She looked at me with big, sleepy eyes. I guessed that it was her way of saying that she liked it.

I went over to my computer and looked at what had been opened. It was a chat site, but it wasn’t logged in any room. I went off it and went to my e-mail site. Quickly, I entered my information.

Username: cheesemuffin42

Password: kivvi39

There weren’t any new messages, which didn’t surprise me. The only people who had my e-mail address were my parents and my teachers. And none of them ever sent me anything important.

Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinggggggggggg!

I grabbed my books at the sound of the bell. Lunch at last! I hadn’t eaten breakfast that day. I hadn’t told my parents about the computer, either. I didn’t want to scare them or Emily, and have to change rooms.

As quickly as I could, I entered my locker combination and threw my stuff inside. I slammed my locker shut and ran all the way to the cafeteria. All they had out so far were sandwiches and salads, but it didn’t matter. I grabbed a small bowl of the green stuff, an apple, a carton of milk, and a bag of chips. I paid for the food and sat in a table on the far side of the cafeteria. I had barely begun eating when I heard a voice come from across the table.

“Do you mind if I sit with you?”

I looked up and saw a girl who was strangely familiar. Her blond hair was streaked with orange dye. Both of her eyes were oddly brown, but the left one had a glaze over it. She had some sort of chicken sandwich and wings.

“Uhh, no? Do I know you?”

The girl laughed. “Yeah, I saw you the other day at the animal shelter. My foster parents work there, I was cleaning out the cages in the ward. You got Tammy Girl, remember?” She sat down a few seats away from me.

“Yeah, we named her Tammy though. Wait, you named her the same thing?”

“She seemed like a Tammy to me. At least, to my foster parents.”

I looked at her with confusion. “Foster parents?”

Her face was clouded for a moment. “My parents died in a car crash a few years ago. I was in the car, but I only took a small piece of glass in my eye. I’m still blind, but I’ve gone through half a dozen different homes since then. I’ve gotten used to it, but I don’t like it.”

Her gaze had fallen to her food. I felt sorry for her, but I didn’t know her name. I held out my hand. “I’m Trent.”

She looked at it as if it was a pile of chicken feathers. As if coming out of a trance, she shook her head, then my hand. “Calianta, but you can call me Cali.”

Coming home that night, I felt a lot better. Cali had slipped me a bit of cat info for Tammy, most of which I found interesting. Who knew that cats hated the smell of citrus fruits? I had come home a lot earlier than normal, since it was Teacher’s Day. Emily, Mom, and Dad wouldn’t be home until much later. I silently made my way up the stairs, remembering last night.

Halfway up, I heard a strange voice. It was soft and light, but I didn’t recognize it. I slowly shuffled the rest of the way up the stairs and to my door. I could hear typing and talking, fairly distinctly.

“Yasso, miz tavin guw mit.”

“Fip, milo vad sed,” another voice said. It was coming from something in my room, either the T.V. or computer. I threw the door open and looked inside.

In my computer chair, there was a girl with light brown hair. She whirled around faster than I had expected. Her lighter brown eyes were wide as dinner plates. She was wearing a deep brown, simple dress, with a even deeper brown belt and jacket tied around her waist.

“Busted,” I whispered.

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