It had been a week since my incredible adventure, and I already wanted to
go back! Compared to what I went through, my perfect suburban life was damn
dull! Since it was the summer, I had absolutely nothing to occupy my time
besides my short part-time job at Shaw's. I sat at my register in the
checkout isle, drumming my fingers on the counter and wishing that something
would happened. I was bored bored BORED!

I glanced over at the lobster tank and squinted my eyes, trying to make the
lethargic crustaceans look like Mon Calamari, anything to try and bring just
a bit of the excitement from the last week back into my present life. I
thought back to last night, when I went to see Moulin Rouge with my friend,
and I kept insisting that Obi Wan was much more annoying than he was acting
like in this movie. All my friends were convinced that I was nuts, and
frankly I was starting to believe them. If it wasn't for the fact that my
room at home was still filled with many strange objects, and that whenever I
tried to access the Force, my skin turned black and red, I might have
thought that everything had been only a dream.

A new herd of customers approached my register, so I forced myself to snap
out of my now trance-like state enough to scan all their items and tell them
how much they cost. Lucky for me almost everyone in my small way-too-rich
town had credit cards, seeing as counting change in my state wasn't an
option. Sighing to myself, I rubbed my temples as I checked my watch. I
still had 45 minutes left before I could head home. 45 very boring minutes,
most likely, seeing as very few people decided to go grocery shopping at
10:15 at night. I leaned forward onto the counter, pillowing my tired head
on my arms.

"Are you alright, Amy?" I looked over at the next register, where my friend
Heidi was working. I smiled as best I could and nodded.

"I'm fine. Just a little tired I guess."

"I don't just mean today. All week you've seemed distracted or something.
There's something different about you. I can't put my finger on it, but
there's definitely something. I notice these kind of things, ya know."

I grinned, knowing that there were indeed a lot of things different about
me. Of course, if I tried to explain everything that happened to Heidi,
she'd probably just think my Star Wars obsession had caused me to finally go
over the edge and recommend I got some serious help. "Maybe I've just been
working too much. This is the first time I've had a real job, 'sides being a
camp counselor, so maybe the monotony is just getting to me."

"Well, you have tomorrow off, right? Maybe you should go see a movie or
something."

"Hmm. Good idea. Final Fantasy opens tomorrow and I've been waiting a long
time to see it."

Heidi made a face, reminding me of exactly what she thought about my
addiction to sci-fi/fantasy movies. She was usually watching Dawson's Creek
while I was glued to Buffy or Invader Zim. I laughed despite my weariness.
"Not my fault I've got the mental maturity of a 10 year old boy." Heidi
laughed this time as an elderly lady approached her checkout isle. After
finishing with that customer, we talked about movies for the rest of our
shift until I was finally released to head home.

As I walked back to the staff area, I felt a familiar yet alien presence
pass by me. Without thinking, I snapped my head up and reached out with the
Force. Just as I brushed against the consciousness of my suspect, I heard
someone gasp. I broke my connection with the Force and turned to see my
worried manager.

"Amy, you don't look so good... do you have a fever or something? You
looked awfully flushed."

I smiled weakly. "I'm fine, but I am glad I don't have to work tomorrow."

"You sure? For a moment there, you looked about as horrible as that guy on
your lunch bag."

I gulped silently. I had a Darth Maul lunch bag. "Actually, I think I do
have a bit of a fever. I better get home now. Bye!" I practically ran
upstairs to grab my purse then back out to my car.

* * * * *

The next day grabbed three of my friends (Shiru-Chan, Mitoki-Kun, and
Chloe-Chan) and packed them into my Ostegomobile to go see Final Fantasy,
the Spirits Within. When we got there, we also saw our friends Lebowitz,
Itchy, and Flishie (yes, all my friends have quirky nicknames). So we all
grabbed some assorted candies and/or sodas at unreasonably high prices and
ran off to our theater like a herd of turtles. After a brief candy fight,
the trailers started. We all squealed in geeky orgasmic delight at the Lord
of the Rings preview, then drooled over the Spiderman preview (even though
it didn't look that good, but hey, I certainly didn't expect much), and just
kind of gawked at the trailers for Osmoses Jones and Monsters Inc. Then,
with much loud cheering from our small group and even more shushing from the
rest of the theater, the movie started.

Though I tried to focus on the movie, making the occasional sarcastic remark
to one of my friends about the dialogue, I kept looking over my shoulder. I
felt like someone was watching me... 'That's ridiculous,' I told myself.
'It's just my imagination.' Chills ran up the back of my neck and I rubbed
my arms, trying to rid myself of the sudden case of goosebumps that had
arisen there. I considered using the Force, but I was surrounded by people
and the chance of me being seen was too risky. How would I explain to my
friends about the full-body tattoo that they'd see on me, should they catch
me in the act? So I bit my lip and stared at the screen, trying my hardest
to ignore whatever weirdo was looking at me. Unfortunately, as a certain
small green gnome would say, there is no try. In other words, I finally
snapped and stretched out with my Force senses. Well, perhaps stretching
isn't the right word. It was more like a Force flail. I quickly expanded my
consciousness to cover the entire room, looking for whoever was watching me.
I finished just as Shiru turned to offer me some sno-caps (of which I had a
large handful).

No doubt about it, there was someone there. Someone somewhat familiar. The
same someone I noticed the other day at Shaw's. And most importantly...
someone not from this planet. Noting that the movie was reaching it's
climax, and that most of my curiosity had been satisfied, I managed to
successfully push the presence to the back of my mind and even tear up at
the ending of the movie. As the rest of the audience filed out of the
theater, my friends and I began to give the credits a loud MST3K job.
("Colors by Graphic Design (tm)... and a box of crayons!" "Elliot East. He
came from the East... to do battle with the Amazing RANDO!" "In the event
that the first Assistant Producer cannot fulfill his duties..." you get the
idea.)

Once we finally decided to leave, I noted the same chill feeling. Looking
down at the exit, I caught a glimpse of a strange woman. She nodded to me
and left before I could get a good look at her, but I knew in an instant
that she had been the one who had been watching me. I also knew that I would
see her again... soon.

I returned to the Ostegomobile and instantly turned on my radio, blasting my
favorite tape of Anime music to take my mind off the incident. By the time
we got on the highway, my friends and I were singing the Sakura first season
theme song (Japanese only, of course) so loudly that the entire incident was
forgotten. Once again I was thankful for the healing power of loud
80's-esque J-Pop.

TBC