Maria was cleaning of one of the tables in the Crashdown when she heard the door open. It was past closing time and she was all alone. She could have sworn that she had locked that door.
She turned around and saw it was Michael. She was happy. She walked towards him and held her arms out. "Michael, I missed you," she said. She wrapped her arms around him and moved in to kiss him. He was unresponsive. She pulled back to see what was wrong. She saw hatred in his eyes. He spat in her face.
She was shocked. She wiped his saliva off her cheek with the back of her hand and began to cry. "Michael, what did I do?"
He raised his arm and smacked her hard with the back of his hand. Her head snapped back and a rivulet of blood ran from her nose.
"You're nothing but a fucking human whore!" he yelled and landed a fist her in the stomach.
She fell to the ground, struggling to suck in a sufficient lungful of air. She looked up at him and then blacked out just before his hand closed in on her.
*****
Maria's head shot up and she yelled "MICHAEL PLEASE!"
She heard giggles and then looked around and saw that she was in her English class, one of two classes that she shared with Michael.
Her eyes flashed over to where Michael sat and she saw frantic concern in his eyes. *What's going on Maria?* he asked silently.
*I had this dream and it was...* she shuddered, too disturbed to continue.
Lisa Krendal, one of the popular girls, raised her voice to a high pitch moan and said "Oh Michael, please. I want you, Oh baby, yes!" Lisa's groupies giggled and threw mean looks at Maria. She couldn't handle it. She felt tears rise to her eyes and she got up and walked out of the classroom.
She got ten feet away when she heard Michael calling her name. She turned around and walked towards him. She threw herself in his arms and bawled her eyes out.
Maria, just ignore those bitches," he said, squeezing her tightly in his arms. "Now, tell me about your dream."
She shuddered again and shook her head. *I don't want to talk about it. I'd rather show you,* she sent. She looked up into his eyes and instantly a connection formed. She showed him the entire dream, and when the connection broke, she felt his revulsion.
He tightened his grip on her and said "Maria, I hope you know that I would NEVER do that. I could NEVER hurt you." His body shook with intensity.
She nodded fiercely and spoke with conviction. "I know Michael."
He dropped his mouth down to hers in a passionate kiss and then he squeezed her. "You feel better now?" She nodded and he said "I would rather go cuddle in eraser room but I think we should probably go back to class. What do you say?"
"Okay," she said meekly, swallowing thickly. He reached for her hand and led her back to the classroom. When they entered, they heard another nasty comment from Lisa, and her groupies snickered. Michael felt Maria tense and he squeezed her hand tightly. He shot Lisa the look of death and she instantly quieted, her body recoiling.
Maria remembered how intimidating Michael could be to those who didn't know him and it made her smile. She hoped that his menacing stare was tattooed into the back of that bitch's eyeballs!
*****
After school, Maria found Michael leaning against the jetta. He took her in his arms and asked her how the rest of her day had been?
She pulled back and gave him a withering glare. "Let's see, all day, the girls have been staring at me and whispering and giggling as though I was the town whore." She snorted. "And the guys...?"
"What about guys?" Michael jumped in, his temper sparking.
"Let's just say that I am the official filet mignon on the meat market of the sophomore class. And to top it all off, I get to endure these stares all night at work. Yes!" She flashed a fake smile and first batted and then rolled her eyes. She calmed down and said, "You know what the worst part of this is?"
"Hmm?" Michael asked, distracted. He was fighting to keep his temper in check. He didn't like the idea of other guys staring at his Maria. His 'wife'.
"I can't even remember what happened in the hallway today or if I even enjoyed it?!! Actually from what Liz said, we were both enjoying it a little too much, but I can't understand why we would lose control like that and not remember it?" Maria's frustration was evident. She sighed and then straightened her shoulders. "So, what are you doing this afternoon?"
He shrugged and grinned. "I don't know. I was actually craving a piece of Men in Blackberry Pie, served by the hottest waitress at the Crashdown Cafe."
"Wow, I work there! Do I know this waitress?" she joked.
He laughed and said "Oh, I'm sure you do. I think you know her pretty well." He held his hand up just over at her head. "She's about yea high, short golden hair, extremely sexy, and legs to die for. And wow, did I mention her mouth? When it isn't running at a mile per minute, it is extremely sensual. Makes me think naughty thoughts."
Maria smiled, a real smile, for the first time and closed her eyes as his mouth closed over hers.
*****
Michael took his time eating his pie. He was really more interested in watching Maria as she worked. She bounced from table to table, bringing and taking away food and drinks. Granted there were a lot of students from the high school that kept throwing amused smirks at both Maria and himself, but for the most part, they stayed quiet.
It was after 8:00 when Max and Isabel joined him at the table.
"Hey Michael," Isabel said as she scooted into the booth next to him.
"Hey Isabel. Max. So, what are you guys up to?" he asked, still watching Maria out of the corner of his eye.
Max began to speak, "We just finished dinner and we..." his voice trailed off and his gaze focused elsewhere. Michael knew that meant that Liz had just made an appearance. He turned around and voila! There she was. He moved his head back and saw that Max's eyes were now boring holes into the table.
He shook his head and opened his mouth to tell Max that he should just go to her, but the words never got out. Instead, he heard Maria's raised voice and his head shot her way. His temper flared again. One of Kyle's football buddies kept trying to grab at Maria's arm and she was fighting him. He reached for the skirt of her uniform and tugged hard, causing her to fall on his lap. She struggled to get up and she ran away crying.
Michael saw red waves pulsing over his eyes and he exploded. Without a second thought, he crawled up and over the table and stalked over to the guy. When he reached him, he landed a fist into the guy's nose and it began to spurt blood. "Son of a bitch!" Michael spat as he pulled the guy up out of his chair and threw him at least fifteen feet across the room. He approached the guy and threw several kicks into the his stomach. "You ever touch her again and I will fucking kill you!"
He didn't stop kicking at the guy until he heard Maria's distressed voice calling his name. "Michael, please stop!" He turned around and noticed that everyone was staring at him. He looked down to his hands and saw they were covered with blood. He felt sick.
He opened his mouth and then closed it again. He couldn't believe what just happened. He pulled a frightened Maria into his arms. "Oh my God. I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me."
The guy got up and crawled out of the door. The patrons began to talk amongst themselves and the four returned to the table. "Michael, that was just like my dream. You lost you temper just like that and it scared me."
*I have no clue what happened,* he telegraphed. *One minute I saw that ape put his hands on you and the next, I saw red. I felt an indescribable anger and I was up out of my seat and beating the living shit out of him. Things are getting too weird, Maria. We need to call Ashtar and ask if any of this makes sense to him.*
Maria listened to him, swirling her finger in the Tabasco smothered whipcream on the uneaten parts of his pie, and bringing it to her mouth, thoroughly enjoying the mix. It reminded her of the other night in the hotel and she smirked. She nodded when he suggested calling Ashtar, ignoring the confused glances of Max and Isabel and spoke aloud. "I agree. And soon."
Isabel shook her head and said, "Okay we have just reached the twilight zone. You guys are going to do sooooooo much explaining when this place closes tonight."
At closing time, after Alex had arrived, the others began to demand answers but Michael said "Not yet. Let's help them clean this place up first."
Isabel sighed and told Alex and Max to close the blinds. They did so and then she ran her hands over the tables and floor and all of the other dirty things. The place looked cleaner and shinier than it had since Liz's father opened it years ago. It was very impressive.
When she was done, she turned on Michael and said, "Talk, now!"
They heard Maria call from the employee's break room. She and Liz were changing out of their uniforms and into more comfortable clothes. "Don't you dare say anything until I get there Michael!"
Impatiently, Isabel rolled her eyes and called, "Hurry up then!"
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" she yelled back. To her self she thought *Don't lose your tiara!*
Michael caught this thought and his milk spewed out of his mouth. He couldn't help but laugh. Everyone looked at him questioningly, but he ignored them.
A few seconds later, Maria and Liz appeared from the back. Liz had changed into a pair of shorts and a white t-shirt, and Maria was now wearing a pair of black jeans and a blue tank-top. Liz went and stood next to Alex, but Maria walked over to the counter. She grabbed a plate and cut a huge slice of chocolate cake. She also grabbed two forks and a bottle of Tabasco sauce.
She brought the stuff over to the table that Michael was sitting at and squeezed into the booth next to him. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her on the cheek. "Hey, beautiful," he whispered into her ear. She smiled and leaned in for a kiss.
"Oh my God...hello people! We're waiting!" Isabel screamed impatiently.
"What do you want to know?" Michael asked. Maria picked up the bottle of Tabasco sauce and began to pour it over the chocolate cake. It came out at too slow a drip for her, so she bit off the plastic tip of the bottle with her teeth, and then let the sauce run freely over the cake until a small pool of it formed in the bottom of the dish. She handed Michael one of the forks and then they both dug in.
Maria heard someone suck in a breath and she looked up. Everyone was staring at her in horrified fascination.
"Maria?" Liz gasped, a grimace on her face.
Maria opened her mouth to offer some sort of an explanation but Isabel beat her too it. She pointed frantically to Maria's dish and yelled, "That's what I want to know! I want to know why Maria is eating chocolate cake with more Tabasco sauce than even I could handle?! I want to know why all day you two have been laughing, or nodding, or speaking out of nowhere as if you're having a conversation?!! I want to know where you guys went this weekend and why you come back and we find you two practically diddling each other in the hallway in front of God and everyone and then you didn't even remember it! I want to know how Michael ripped your sweater off with one glance?! And why Michael tried to beat the living shit out of Rory Razak just two hours ago? You could have killed that guy! Most of all I want to know WHAT THE HELL YOU MEANT WHEN YOU SAID YOU HAD THE ANSWERS WE'VE BEEN SEARCHING FOR!!!!!!"
"Me too," Max added.
"Me three," Alex said.
"Ditto," Liz nodded, her eyes still looking at the plate in front of Maria.
"Is that all Iz?" Michael said, narrowing his eyes at the ranting girl.
She cried out in frustration and then moved in after him. "Michael, I'm going to kill you!" she screamed.
Maria stood and held her arms out. "QUIT IT!" she yelled. Isabel gave her a dirty look and Maria told her to back off. She sat back down and looked at Michael. "You better tell them everything. Try not to leave anything out."
Michael sighed and said, "You guys better sit down, this is going to take a while." Everyone found a seat except Isabel who glared. Michael looked at her and more forcefully hissed, "Sit!" She rolled her eyes and lowered herself on a chair.
"It all started on Thursday night when I was looking through Hank's truck for a flashlight. The lamp had burned out in my room and I needed it to find the extra bulbs I had stashed in the top of my closet. So anyways, I'm going through the glove box when I hear a voice coming over the C.B. It's someone talking to Sheriff Valenti and saying that there was a similar sighting to the one we had here, in Sedona, Arizona. I knew that I had to check it out."
He looked wearily at Max and Isabel and said, "I knew I couldn't go to you guys because you would just talk me out of it, so I went to Maria." He smirked at her and said "It took a little persuasion but she decided to come with me. We left at 2:45, early Friday morning and drove straight to Flagstaff, a city just north of Sedona."
"By that time, we were exhausted, so we got a hotel room and went to sleep. After we woke up, some things happened and we..." He didn't get to finish, Maria interrupted him.
"We had sex," she said and then to Michael said, "Let's just leave it at that."
He smiled down into her eyes and said, "Sure. So anyways, after the first time, or actually second time, Maria got ready to leave."
"Second time? You mean you did it twice?" Isabel cried and then she put her hands up in front of her. "Never mind, I don't want to know."
Maria sent *Well, actually it was three times, but who is counting?* and Michael laughed.
Everyone looked between the two, confused and Isabel said, "Okay, you two are really starting to creep me out. Just move on. Please."
"Thank you," Michael said. "So anyways, we were hungry, and so Maria went to go get us food. I couldn't go with her because my pants were wet."
"And why was that?" Isabel asked.
Maria fought a losing battle with the smile struggling to appear on her face. "We...shower...nevermind."
Once again, Isabel stood up. "You guys...? Eew!"
"ANYWAYS," Michael yelled, making sure he had everyone's attention. "Maria went to the store to get some..." he bit down on a smile, "things and she got a pizza at a parlor next door. She got jalapenos and pineapples on it, because she knew I liked it, even though she couldn't stand peppers. So anyway, I took a bite of the pizza and it was super spicy. Even a little too spicy for me. But this one," he pointed to Maria, "she devoured the entire slice in no time. And then she ate four more pieces. I was a little curious about it but not really alarmed."
"It wasn't until later that the alarm came. We..." Maria pinched his leg hard and he chuckled before continuing, "...ate sundaes. Maria said hers was missing something. So she got up and..."he was interrupted by Max this time.
"She put Tabasco sauce on it, right?" Max said, knowing the answer.
Michael nodded. "Yes. She put a whole lot of Tabasco sauce on it. So much, that it burned my skin." He heard Maria gasp and then realized what he said.
Isabel's eyes showed white all around and she pounced. "YOUR SKIN? Oh my God! You guys...? You guys are sick! Eeeew! Did you really have to share that?"
Liz on the other hand looked impressed. She giggled and said "Maria, you and I are having a serious talk later, girl!"
Max smirked. "Wow."
"Didn't know you had it in ya, Kid," Alex commented, and punched Maria in the arm.
Maria's humiliation was evident, and she buried her crimson face in her hands. Everyone got a good laugh out of it except for Isabel who was rolling her eyes looking disgusted. "Can we continue?" she cried.
Michael nodded. "That same night, I did some other weird stuff. Like with the tv. She was flipping through channels and she stopped it on a porn channel."
"Do we have to hear this," Isabel groaned.
Michael ignored her. "So she tried to change it and with my mind, I kept putting it back there. I knew I was doing it, but I didn't know how. And then later, when we were...playing, I was thinking how I wanted to take her clothes off and her shirt just flew off. I had her walk across the room, and I tried it again and I was able to take all of her clothes off with just the push of my mind."
Max quickly said, "You'll have to show me how you did that." And then flushed when he saw Liz look at him. "I mean, show me how to push with your mind."
Michael nodded. "The next morning we woke up and found out that we could read each other's thoughts."
"That explains that," Isabel muttered.
"You mean you two are telepathically linked?" Max leaned in closer and narrowed his eyes. "Because of sex?"
Michael was silent for a moment and then he said, "Sorta. Be patient and I'll explain it all." So he continued with the story. He told them about going to Sedona and asking questions, and for the most part coming up with nothing. "The we met this one crazy lady at a crystal shop and she told us about the UFO museum. We weren't going to go but as we were leaving, I got a vision."
Maria nodded, "We both got it. I saw it as well. It was of a older man with white hair and a robe and a symbol like the ones in the cave. He was standing in front of a building called the UFO Emporium."
"Max, it was like there was some stronger force at work. We knew we had to go there. So we went. We looked around and found nothing special, so then we went to the information desk and we saw him. And he knew who I was. He took one look at me and he said I was one of them. I couldn't believe it."
"He told me that he needed to talk to me in private, and I told him no. That Maria knew. He looked at her like she was an insect and it made me mad. Her and I talked back and forth silently and he caught us. He could tell that we were linked, so he closed up the shop and took us back to a house where there were seven other older people there. Total there was four men and four women and they were the elders of their settlement."
"Oh my God, Michael," Isabel said, leaning in forward in excitement. "They were like us?" He grinned and nodded.
"What did they say?" Max asked, his sharp eyes focused on Michael.
He glanced at Maria and then back at Max. "They told me who we were, where we came from," he paused, "and he told me that Maria was going to die."
Everyone flew into a frenzy and cried out.
"WHAT????"