Chapter 2

The bright sunlight shone through Stella's room. Beside her, the clock said 7.15 with bright numbers. Hiding from reality, she glanced away, but couldn't hold it for long and forced herself to get up.

She set off to her usual route to school. Her shoes made rhythmical dull tapping sounds on the concrete. Staring at the grey of the concrete, she couldn't help but let her mind wander to the lit classroom and black board sounds, where she had once found a beautiful small flower that was blown to her small desk. A yellow centre surrounded by five white petals. Her old school was surrounded by them.

"Hey, Stella!" She turned to see Chloe running to catch up with her. Stella held the door open for her. "The Chemistry homework yesterday was a lot frustrating. Do you think you can explain it to me today after school?"

"Sure."

"Thank you very much!"

Chloe was her close friend at school. "So you're the new guy! Hello."

Sitting by the window was a boy dressed neatly in a light jacket and blue jeans. He slowly turned to face them. The windows were open, his hair swayed a little, reflecting the sunlight. It almost felt unrealistic that she was standing here, facing the person that she had liked, but never had the courage to confess.

The boy sat back to his seat.

There was an explosion. As their eyes met, just for a brief second, she saw recognition in his eyes. So it was really him.

She went slowly to her place.

Next to the boy sat someone with a grey jacket. He glanced sideways as he saw her approaching. It seemed to interest him how they faced as they saw each other.

"Hi, my name's Dani." He said and reached out to shake the boy's hand.

"I'm Ian." He replied quietly. There was a pause. "Ian Vincent. There's a nice film going on today, I think it's 10 o'clock tonight. Quite the convenient time."

Stella walked past him and went quietly to her seat. Chloe glanced at her cautiously. There wasn't much to say, but she asked her for a meet up.

"There are loads of films out there to watch and right now there's a saying going on that another world is altering."

"That's not the reason I asked, but it sure sounds strange."

"I heard about it too, about a world changing and coming closer to ours," another person jumped in.

After school, Stella walked quietly on the pavement. Lots of jewelry and antique styled wares hung by the window. It was a hot mid day, the grass wet from shower last night. There wasn't much people on a hot day like this. She pushed open the front door and stepped onto the carpet. A gush of rose fragrance poured out. A petal landed into the vase filled with water, where the liquid sank to the bottom, where it fizzled and glared.

In front of her stood a middle-aged woman with dark grey coat. She was holding a small flower pot and was observing the new leaves.

She looked up as she heard someone say, "I'm back."

She picked up the glass of water beside her and poured it carefully onto the plant pot. The water sank without a sound.

"Looks like I'll be needing some more soon."

Will be, she thought. "There's something I need to do."

"What is it?"

"Nothing, I. Forgot my appointment." Stepping back onto the pavement, she hastily moved towars a great building block a few paces away. It took a few hours before she left the place and headed back to the house. The woman sat behind a desk, observing the plant as before.

"Sorry, I took some time."

"There's something I have to tell you."

"What is it?"

"I'm moving out soon, so I'm cleaning the place right now."

"I can help you with that," Stella replied. She took the books off the shelf and put them onto the desk in her room.

"Let's go for a walk afterwards." Her roommate said.