A Few Hours Ago (1)

The first thing I notice is the cars parked outside the house. There are a lot of them. I knew Cassandra was popular, but I never knew how much until now.

The second thing I notice is the noise. It's a mixture of music and the sound of people talking loudly. Thankfully, it's not as loud as I expected.

The third thing I notice is the people. There are a lot of them, both inside and outside the house. It's not too surprising, considering the number of cars.

Normally, I would have hesitated before moving into the house, but now I am with Jason, so I just follow him straight inside, trying to look as casual as possible.

The first thing I notice as I enter the house is the temperature, which is noticeably higher than outside. That's not too surprising, considering the sheer number of people crammed into the house.

The house has been decorated, with a 'Happy Birthday Cassandra' banner hung noticeably in the living room.

The house is crowded, but a lot of people are gathered around a particular area of the living room. That's probably where Cassandra is.

"Hold on," Jason says, before suddenly leaving me and disappearing into the crowd.

I stand still and soon begin to feel awkward. Everyone around me seems to have something to do while I am just standing here. Where on earth is Jason?

He finally returns, just when I am beginning to consider the possibility that Jason has somehow forgotten about me. He is holding two drinks in his hands. He hands one over to me, and I collect it thankfully.

He spots someone in the crowd. "Mia is over there. I gotta go." He slaps my back and walks away before I can say anything.

Mia is his girlfriend. He has had a crush on her since middle school and finally got the courage to ask her out last year. Turns out, she liked him too. I envy his luck. The girl he likes also likes him. I hope I can be as lucky as him.

Once again, I am left alone, but this time, instead of feeling awkward, I am trying to gather up the courage to go to Cassandra. Even if all I can say is Happy Birthday, it is better than nothing. I wonder if Emily has given her my gift yet.

After a few more moments of courage gathering, I begin to move toward where I think she is. I will tell her happy birthday, and after that, well, I do not know. I will just go with the flow.

I push through the crowd of people surrounding her and finally burst out into their midst. Only, Cassandra is not there. No one is. I smile wryly. I had made a wrong guess. But if she isn't here, then where is she?

I try to look around the room, but I do not see her anywhere. In the end, I just give up and start moving around aimlessly.

It does not take too long for me to begin feeling out of place. Everyone is having fun in groups, the only one alone is me. And that weird guy dancing on a table, obviously looking for attention.

Soon, I begin to wish I stayed at home. I am not really having fun, and even the person I came to see is nowhere to be found. The room soon becomes too stuffy for my liking, and I decide to get some fresh air.

I move towards a side of the room where I am sure I spotted a window before. As I get close to the window, I spot something out of the corner of my eye.

My heart leaps as I recognize Cassandra. She is sitting on a couch, talking to someone I cannot see. For a moment I hesitate, unsure of what to do when I suddenly remember my earlier plan. I will just walk up to her, all cool and calm, and I will say happy birthday. If anything comes up that I can use to start a conversation, I will just go with the flow. Else, who knows, maybe she will start a conversation with me.

I plaster a smile on my face and begin moving toward her. All of a sudden, she bursts out laughing, just as the person she is talking to comes into view. It is Brian.

He is grinning widely as he casually drapes his arm around Cassandra's shoulders. That simple action causes my courage to wilt faster than a plant in the desert.

All of a sudden, I do not want Cassandra to see me. Who am I to deceive? I have absolutely no chance with her. She is better off with Brian than with me.

I turn around quickly, and mistakenly bump into a guy, causing the drink in my hand to spill on my shirt. My face heats up, and I pray to heaven that Cassandra will not notice me as I move quickly away from there, ignoring the guy's apologies.

The room's temperature seems to rise, and, wanting to cool off a bit, I look around for a window. It doesn't take long for me to spot one, and I begin moving toward it.

A few steps away from the window, I stop and stare at the window in surprise. I look around me and note that no one else at the party notices the thing on the window sill.

I turn back to the window, wondering if I am hallucinating. Right there, standing on the sill is a strange creature. It is extremely short, with a large head, equally large stomach, and long spindly limbs. It is grey all over, with a small loincloth covering its waist, and it has large elf-like ears. It is waving its arms in the air, its body swaying as it dances to the song playing in the background.

If this is a hallucination, it is a cute and funny one. It opens its eyes and freezes as it sees me. Then a wide smile appears on its face.

"It can see me," it says in a deep voice, which is in contrast to its small stature. "Amazing! Hello, human."

My lips quirk up with a smile. "Hello," I say. I may be going crazy, but this is really funny.

Its eyes widen with surprise. "It really can see me! Well, I've got news for you, human. 'Taur's coming."

And then, it disappears with a pop. I stare at the window, wondering what on earth just happened. One moment it's here, and the next it's not. And what did it mean by saying Thor is coming? What would Thor be looking for at a birthday party?

Then I hear the sound of a door being slammed open, total silence, and then screaming.

I turn around sharply, my breathing suddenly turning rapid as I see it. It has the head of a bull, with a muscular humanoid body. Its long brown hair goes down below its shoulders, and its cold unfeeling eyes are trained on me. It has an oppressive aura that weighs me down, rendering me immobile.

I stand there frozen, watching the thing as it raises one of its arms towards me. For a moment, I can see the silhouette of a man within it, pointing a gun at me, and then it becomes solid again. Its palm begins to glow and then...

An unknown force pulls at me, and I fly backward. I expect to hit the wall, but strangely, all I feel is something almost - but not quite - liquid, and then I find myself staring at the night sky. I hit the ground just as the window explodes in a shower of glass.

"Get up! Quickly!" a girl shouts, her voice standing out from the screaming all around me.

I rush to my feet and see her. If not for the fact that I was in danger I would have been stunned. She is beautiful. She is dressed in black clothes which fit her but not too tightly. Her face is strangely calm as she looks at the broken window, then her eyes widen as if she has seen something surprising.

She grabs me and begins to run; she is faster than I ever thought humanly possible. In about two seconds, we move from the window to the front of the house.

My brain tries to make sense of what is happening but is unable to do so. In the end, it just goes blank. The fear and other feelings are still there, it just does not pay attention to anything.

The girl suddenly turns around and throws me towards one of the cars parked on the street, displaying inhuman strength.

I want to scream, ask her what I have done to her for her to do that, but the wind steals my words from my mouth. The car is getting closer faster than I expected. I close my eyes and brace myself for the inevitable hit.

Instead of a big crash like I expected, I get the feeling that I am moving through some kind of jelly, and then I am on the other side of the car.

The girl appears behind me and catches me before setting me on my feet. She is looking at the thing that had burst out of the house and is now heading towards us.

"What on earth did you do to piss him off?" she asks me, incredulous.

Shouldn't we be running away, I want to ask when I hear the sound of bikes. Three bikes appear, with two bikes holding two people each and an empty bike. The people on the bike are all dressed similarly to the girl. On the bikes are three guys and one girl.

The girl holding me gets on the empty bike and pulls me on behind her. She starts the bike and drives away.

"Hold on," one of the guys shouts as he follows behind the girl, "Why is he here?"

"It's after him. I can't just leave him to die, can I?" the girl shouts.

"Well, it's following us now. So I guess that's a good thing." The voice that says this sounds familiar.

I turn my head to catch a glimpse of the person and am surprised by what I see. "Drew?" the name slips out of my mouth.

He is sitting behind a guy on one of the bikes.

"Ian. How are you?" he asks.