Yo! Thanks for clicking, reader. I hope you enjoy the mess you're about to read. Any comments, suggestions...anything in general is always welcome!

Chapter 1: The Window Incident

"I'm not lying to you!" I yelled through the telephone with such anguish and sincerity that any normal person hearing this would instantly know I was serious. My cousin, Leah, scoffed at me once more in response, then began to chuckle. There was literally no convincing her at this point.

"Don't you think it's just a little strange, what you're telling me?" Leah managed to speak, her tone soft in comparison to her constant erupting chuckles. "Start from the beginning and tell me what happened."

I took in a gigantic sigh, making sure to emphasize how done I was with her teasing me. I was beginning to feel like a crazy person on the streets that shouted they saw Bigfoot or something in their front yard. "It was yesterday when I was boarding the plane home," I started, clearing my voice to attempt to be as mature about this as I possibly could. "Some little girl left a snow globe on a sink in one of the bathrooms at the airport in New York. I saw it, obviously, since I was the only one in the bathroom after that, and there was a tiny ass octopus in it! Like, who the hell puts live creatures in things like that? Do people know that'll kill them?!" I was about to rage quit the phone onto the floor like a football before I continued. "I was scared for the little guy; he looked like he was about to die, so I put him in my bag and snuck him on board. Luckily, I already passed security, or else they would have made me throw it away. Something about no liquid containers or some bullshit."

"Okay. Go on, tell me about what happened last night." Leah tried to chuckle again, but held herself back. I wanted to punch her face so hard right then, but because she wasn't physically there making fun of me, that was impossible.

"Okay, so by the time I get home I tried to find a way to get him out of the snow globe. There was literally nothing I could do to open it without breaking it, and I didn't want to risk crushing him, so I just sat there crying like a dumbass for five minutes before I prayed over him and went to sleep. Or at least tried. It wasn't until almost four in the morning when I heard the break-in."

There was silence on the other end of the line; genuine concern seemed to filter through the connection. "Okay…" was all that Leah managed to let out.

"So I got up, freaking the hell out that I was being robbed, and when I walked into the kitchen where I left the snow globe, my window was broken and the thing was gone! And that's when I saw three octopuses run through my backyard and jump the fence. One actually stopped and looked at me, dead in the eye, before it leapt after the others!"

"Kailey, maybe you dreamt this up," Leah responded, continually in her tone of amused disbelief. "I know all about you and all the kinds of crazy dreams you have. Maybe you should listen to your mom and go to a sleep clinic to get this figured out."

"I wasn't sleeping!" I yelled, "I was wide awake; I didn't dream this up!"

"Geez, calm down! I'm just… well, concerned for your wellbeing. Ever since you've been out of the house you haven't been doing well. Maybe you just miss home, and that's fine, nobody is expected to transition well into adult life. I mean, I had to live alone by the time I finished high school, so I wouldn't know, but…" She was doing it again, her and her rants about how she was successfully able to live alone and deal with it while I apparently had all the problems. I mean, I did have problems leaving home. I dreaded it because I loved my momma too much, but heck, Leah didn't have to go into this again.

"This has nothing to do with that," I answered. "I'm not lying to you."

"Well, don't worry. I'll be over to see you this evening, so don't go disappearing on me." Leah gave a nervous chuckle this time, apparently just now hearing my sincerity. "And make sure you call about that window. I don't want all the AC flying out of the house."

I sneered, "Fine." Unbelievable. She wasn't letting up one bit. Maybe I should have called my mom instead; she would have at least given me an ear without freaking out. At least out loud. I don't know, really. Maybe I was losing it. "I'll talk to you later."

I hung up the phone afterwards, setting it on the table, and then took my hair into a ball with both hands. After a few more deep breaths, I let go, letting my arms hang down my sides as I turned my head to look at the broken window. I hated making phone calls.

. . . . . . .

Some guy was supposed to stop by in a few hours to take a look at the window to get it replaced. So now I was playing the waiting game, unable to go out of the house, or to settle and do anything else. These kinds of repair dudes always gave you a weird time frame, in my case somewhere between 3 to 7 PM, when they may or may not show up. I hated bullshit like this. Like, seriously, why don't they just give you a direct time and come already? I understand you have a job, and other clients, but everyone else has lives too. I wanted to do some laundry, and maybe fix up the console connected to the TV so I could have some chores out of the way. By doing so, I'd feel better about leaving the house come Monday for my fourth interview since graduation. Although the one potential job in New York was pretty cool, I didn't like the idea of living too far from home. I didn't see any reason to go that far away.

Yikes, I really didn't like that idea. I could at least drive home to see my mom if I wanted to, and of course I had my cousin housing with me at this point, so I had company. But going that far, without anyone I knew? Alone? I didn't want that. My dream was to buy my mom a big, beautiful house and unite the family, not to leave it. The interview I had in a few days would perhaps be the better job opening, if I was invited back for a second interview. Here in Houston, I could get around. It was crowded as heck, and with every passing year was becoming more and more like New York, but it still wasn't there yet. It was still home.

"Being a grownup sucks," I whispered to myself as I stretched, putting my legs up on the sofa and began staring up at the ceiling. I heard the wind blow outside, the open window in the kitchen making a whistle as the air slipped through the shards of glass that still remained. Sometimes in those moments of silence I kept anticipating my cat jumping on my stomach, or my mom to call me from the other room, but I was met with silence. The only reason I moved out of the house was because of my dad pushing me do so, but I often thought, in moments like this, if it was even worth it. Yeah, I had Leah, but seriously, she's gone all day long, always out for days visiting her side of the family, and when she does come home all we do is stare at the TV with the occasional side fangirling over whatever show we were currently into. There's no deep conversation. Just kinda bleh stuff. I don't even really know how to describe it. It just wasn't home for me.

A sound broke my train of thought. A car door shutting clanged in the driveway, causing me to sit up. I had anticipated it to be Leah at first, though I then realized that it was still way too early for that. Could it be that the window guy was already here? The thought of that was a little too good to be true. I often recalled these situations lasting hours, sometimes days to get someone's ass to the house to fix something. In the time it took for my dog back at my real home to run to the door and unleash a series of painfully loud barks, there was a knock at the door. This guy must be on a roll today for him to get here so quickly and to run to my door so fast.

I sat up, puffed my hair up to make myself look more suitable, and walked to the door. Upon opening it I was greeted by a relatively tall, sort of weird looking dude with curly red hair, glasses, and a white labcoat. This confused me to such an extent that my thoughts filtered into my expression as I raised a brow.

"Yo, what's with the labcoat?" I started, letting loose a smile to try and hide my awkward feelings of the situation. "I called a repair guy, not someone to come run tests on me."

"I have to tell you, dear, that the 'repair guy' isn't going to be here," the stranger said, rather too seriously and with too strong of a smirk for my taste. "You're coming with me."

"What?" I gasped. I was about to start asking questions, thinking I was under some quarantine arrest from an illness I may have caught on the flight from yesterday, but before I could mutter out a single syllable, two small octopuses appeared from behind the guy, giving me a serious glare as if they were about to strangle me. I stepped back into the house instantly, almost falling over, and slammed the door shut, locking it as fast as I could. "Y-you step back right now!" I said through the door, though the guy continued to keep the same expression as before glued to his face, with the two little octopuses staring along with him. "I have done nothing wrong! I demand a lawyer!" I don't even know why I said that but that's all that managed to come out of my mouth at that point.

I turned around and ran to the living room, picking up my phone to dial 911. Through my panic I realized the lines were cut.

"Holy shit…" I muttered with wide eyes. My heart was beginning to race and my head was starting to grow light. I then dashed for my purse hanging on the closet door, and reached inside to grab my cell phone. Luckily, whoever this freak was, he couldn't disconnect that.

I started dialing when I heard the crunch of the window at the kitchen. My eyes shot up to see the two little octopuses crawl in, and to the left, the back door revealing the man from the front door. I have no idea how he got there so fast.

"Oh god oh god oh god oh god…" I started panting, trying to dial faster. I managed to strike in the emergency number and place the phone to my ear, though I saw that the octopuses by that time had opened the door for the guy to walk in. He seemed to actually glide in, which was something so bizarre that for a second I thought I'd faint. It wasn't even a second after noticing him slink in, however, that my arm was grabbed tightly, causing me to drop my cell onto the floor and the other arm to be instantly grabbed afterward. His two intruding pets had gotten a hold of me, surprisingly also able to hold my arms down for the stranger to finally approach me.

"It's easier not to struggle, believe me. I've kidnapped thousands of penguins before; I'm sure one human girl isn't as difficult." He reached down, his arm actually stretching to grab my phone. Once he got a hold of it he cancelled the call I had placed in to start dialing another. After a few rings a gurgle sound answered, allowing the super geek in front of me to begin speaking. "Tom, cruise the helicopter this way," the stranger said into my cell, causing my fear, for a moment, to dissipate due to the pun. After his order the guy looked down at me, resuming his strong smirk. "Now that I have you where I want you, I want to tell you there is no need to fear. I simply cannot allow you to go around telling everyone about the break in last night."

"I won't tell anyone else!" I pleaded, hoping by admitting defeat that I could get out of this mess. "I promise my lips are sealed. I didn't see any octopuses, or snow globes, cross my heart!"

"I'm afraid that's not enough, dear. You have to come with me." He nodded at the octopuses at my sides, and a large sack was instantly dropped over my head. That would be the last I'd see of my house for a very long time.