After school, Cocoa and I went straight to the park like we agreed to; grabbing another hot chocolate along the way for the one I spilled whilst hugging her. It was the least I could do. I hadn’t seen her in a few days and I got really worried, so the sudden hug wasn’t really unexpected.

 

“I always feel so peaceful here,” I tell Cocoa as I take in the smells and the sights. Even though I was here two days ago, it just feels different with Cocoa around.

 

As I sat down she continued to stand and stare down at me like I was a stranger. Eventually she came over and sat down. Even though she was acting different, I didn’t notice, too blinded by the fact she was back and we could go to places like this and be ourselves again.

 

“So what have you been up to the past few days? I went looking for you all over the place but couldn’t find a trace.”

 

“I’ve been…busy… Aurora’s been showing me a few things.”

 

Her voice was hushed, almost like she was hiding something. In the three years I’ve known her, she’s never been this distant with me. It felt like she was trying to hide a part of her life from me, which made me feel a little sad, like I wouldn't be interested in what she's been up to.

 

“Well, what have you two been doing?” I ask, curious about what the two of them have been doing. Anything with Aurora was bound to be eventful or exciting.

 

“She’s been…explaining the various business methods used today. She’s even in one right now which really helps me a lot.”

 

She perked up on the end of that, happy to have things going how she wants them.

 

“I didn’t know Aurora dealt with situations like that.”

 

Cocoa nodded. “She’s in my business class… Joined right around when I started getting busy.”

 

Well that was a slap to the wind of despair; I didn’t know Aurora was taking classes with her. Cocoa never mentioned it and I’ve heard no tell nor tale of her ever accepting more classes. Then again, I didn’t know what she did beyond the three of my classes. We weren’t exactly BFF’s like Cocoa and me.

 

“I’m sorry; I thought Aurora would tell you, being in three of your classes and all.”

 

Well you thought wrong, I wanted to say, but held my tongue. In her eyes, Aurora had become a close and dependable friend, someone she could talk to about what she was interested in. Meanwhile, I only had Cody to talk to recently, and we only really talked about metalworks. We also discussed family, the future and our plans after high school, but my mind wasn’t exactly there the past few days to focus on it all too much.

 

“Well, it’s been pretty hectic,” I say, trying to sound cheerier than what I really was starting to feel. “We even got a temporary sub to replace Mrs. Natsume.”

 

She then asked why we got a sub and I explained the whole thing to her. I also included why she left for two days then went on to tell her how she graded papers faster than burgers spinning on a turntable. She smiled at the comparison, which lightened the mood, if only slightly.

 

“So, are you going to avoid your #1 friend again?” I ask casually, but it seemed to hurt her a little.

 

“I’ll try…if I’m not too busy. The teachers want us to know a lot before next week, you know? “ she said, with a hint of something extra.

 

I tried to think and remember what next week was. Like if any special event was going on that I should be aware of but wasn’t because I was always focused on about 100 other things. Then it dawned on me; it’s the end of the quarter. The way our school is designed, we get a week break at the end of each quarter, usually following an event at our school. Unlike most schools, ours was open year round starting in January, but we get decent amounts of breaks to make up for it. The teachers usually always try to cram as much as they can on us before the week lets out.

 

“Right,” I finally speak up. “The school fair is next week.”

 

She nods. “Exactly, so I don’t know how often we’ll see each other during this week.”

 

Her saying that made me feeleven sadder. I’ve only just spoken with her again today and now I wouldn’t be seeing her all week. That’s when an idea hit me.

 

“Then let’s hang out at the fair,” I tell her. “Maybe even help man something? What do you say?”

 

She looked at me quizzically then at the ground. I could tell she was thinking because she always got that look on her face. Her eyes would get all sharp and she’d curl her lip to the side. Finally she turned to me and said, “Okay.”

 

As we sat there longer we found less and less to talk about. The most noise we heard mostly came from the rustling leaves in the wind. She wasn’t acting her normal, bubbly self, which I found a little depressing. She’d been spending so much time around Aurora I was starting to think she just might become her. It was a thought I didn’t want to process. Thankfully, I didn’t have to, as Cocoa had to return home to finish up some work. I had some work of my own, so I headed back as well.

 

When I got back I greeted Tipsy then headed toward my room. I decided on skipping dinner as I wasn’t that hungry and had a lot of work I wanted to get done. It was also later in the afternoon than I thought. Time passed pretty quickly from talking with Cocoa.

 

“It was nice to see her again after so long,” I mumble.

 

Once the sliding door closed behind me and I threw my backpack on the bed, I grabbed my soldering gun and continued working. My mind wandered and so did my hands, moving instinctively on their own. They sometimes did that, but I never really noticed unless I paid any attention. It gave me more time to think.

My mind jumped from one thing to another; the weather, Cocoa, Aurora, Cody, school, Mrs. Natsume. I couldn’t calm myself down and I felt overly anxious, like how someone feels when they’re about to meet their idol or get that new game, movie, gadget or whatever that they’ve always wanted.

I almost didn’t want to be working on this right now. I just wanted time to stop so I could focus. But my mind kept racing and my hands started to sweat. But if the sweat was from the soldering gun or not, I couldn’t tell.

 

I don’t know when, but eventually I had fallen asleep. Tipsy came in and found the soldering gun still on and turned it off. It wasn’t near anything that could be harmed in any way, thankfully. I moved a little a when she came in, but rolled over and continued to sleep, knocking over my backpack. Too bad I was assailed with a nightmare.

 

I was standing in the middle of the park, whiteness all around me. It took me a few seconds to realize it was snow. Large amounts sat atop the now barren tree branches and the sun shone brightly from all angles, no longer obscured from the leaves. The snow on the ground must have been a good foot deep, going up just above my ankles. It wasn’t strange seeing the trees like this, as I’ve been here over past winters. Or at least I thought it was winter, you know, snow and everything. Where the sun sat it looked like mid-afternoon.

 

I thought I’d be shivering, wearing what I fell asleep in, but I was completely fine. The snow didn’t even affect me at all. I'd pick it up and roll some into a ball, but felt no cold from it at all. I didn’t really feel anything to be honest. It must have been my dream doing it.

 

Dropping the snowball, I take a look around and notice Cocoa coming in from our usual entrance. She was wearing a pink overcoat and dark blue insulated jeans. She also wore a matching brown ski cap, scarf and snow boots. The outfit kind of reminded me of the portable clothes I made.

She came over and sat in the middle of the snow, like we usually do. I expected her to be waiting for me, but after 5 minutes pass by my least than favorite person comes in: Aurora, wearing a winter coat of light blue, aurora colors, dark blue insulated jeans and a navy blue scarf.

 

Cocoa waved toward her with a smile and gestured her to sit down next to her. She was holding two hot chocolates and a smile was bright across her face. It made me sick to my stomach like week old ink paper.

 

As she sat down they began talking. I couldn’t hear a thing though, so I just sat there and watched them exchange looks and gestures. It really made me jealous, watching Cocoa and Aurora together, like long, old friends. But Aurora just recently started attending the school, so they weren’t friends for that long. Yet they looked picture perfect. But what happened next nearly gave me a heart attack.

 

A silhouette of a wolf jumped out from behind the trees, the same one from my other nightmares. I found it odd it was still silhouetted, even though nothing could confine its appearance, which made me curious. It even looked like black steam was coming off of it, like mist on a roof top with snow. It made it look like its entire body was alive and any part of it could strike with deadly force.
But that didn’t bother Cocoa and Aurora, who both rose immediately upon seeing it but didn’t move. It approached them and began to circle them, eyeing them up. Cocoa looked more nervous than Aurora, who looked completely composed. Then I knew what she was going to do before she did it.

Glancing between the entrance, the wolf and Cocoa, she waited to make her move. The wolf began licking its lips, like it couldn’t wait to dig into some fresh meat. It continued to move in closer as it circled them, but Aurora knew what she was doing. She was leading it so she’d be between the entrance and Cocoa, using Cocoa as shield.

 

I tried shouting but couldn’t make a sound. I ran in front of Cocoa but she couldn’t see or hear me, her gaze fearful and kept on the wolf. I could see the fear stricken in her eyes. Aurora eyes showed deviousness, however. She was about ready to set her plan in motion. Cocoa whispered something to her and the wolf leapt out. Aurora pushed Cocoa to the side and made a run for the exit, the wolf now standing where she once was.

It turned its eyes toward Cocoa, and started moving toward her. Cocoa slowly backed away along the snow, but soon was up against a tree. With nowhere to run she screamed-or so I thought-and the wolf leapt straight toward her, claw hung high in the air, ready swipe straight across her chest.

 

I woke with a start and fell out of my bed. I guess it didn’t help I was sitting halfway off the bed. Luckily there was nothing sharp or hard to land on, despite my room being so messy. I gave Tipsy a start, because she nearly leapt 5 feet into the air.

 

“Tipsy, I-I’m sorry…I-it was…she c-c-couldn’t have…w-why would she…”

 

I was stuttering so badly I didn’t know what to do. Looking down my body I noticed my clothes were drenched and I was freezing, despite it being spring. I looked at the clock and noticed it was 2:52 am, way too early for me to be up yet. I felt like I was in shock and couldn’t move let alone form a complete or coherent sentence. It was like I was a zombie who had just been revived.

 

“Miss Dadalian? Are you all right?”

 

I tried to tell Tipsy I was fine but couldn’t speak it, just mouth it. I felt numb…and my hands felt sticky…

 

“Miss Dadalian!” Tipsy shouts, shocking me out of my zombie like state. “Your hands are dripping in blood!”

 

She was right. I looked down and noticed that the inside centers of each my hands were oozing red blood. The outer parts of them were ghost white and felt painful and numb to the touch.

Tipsy had raced out and returned soon with bandages, gauze, those metal clips and hydrogen peroxide. Sprouting two mechanical hands from her back, she began tending to each wound, stopping the blood best she could. I sat there helpless and wincing every time she put some hydrogen peroxide on my wounds. Tears slowly started to creep down my cheeks.

 

“It’ll be okay, Miss Dadalian. This is what I am programed to do,” she tells me, finishing cleaning out my hands. She then begins wrapping them in gauze before fastening the metal clips on the end to keep them wrapped.

 

“It’s not that Tipsy,” I tell her, wincing as she wraps my hands. “It’s Cocoa. I think she’s going to be in trouble.”