"Another day, another week's load of work," I sighed as I face planted into my bed.

I slowly lift my body and reach for my phone. I quickly type a text to my friend, hoping for a smile.

"Hi pal!" And send. Did I sound too perky? Oh well, too late. I silently sit in my bed, awaiting a response.

As if from instinct, I glance at the mirror and pull my dirty blonde hair from my face. As always, I see the bland look of myself. But, as usual, I get sucked into the color of my eyes. The grey shade of blue they hold, for some reason, always enchants me. Unlike dystopian stories, I could look in the mirror whenever I wanted. Not that I liked to, though.

After a few minutes, I realized she won't respond for at least 20 minutes. I promptly open YouTube and lay back down.

The home page was flooded with similar videos.

All said and done before, nothing new. I sigh as I scroll, when I realize something out of the corner of my eye.

I sit up to be greeted with a bight glow coming from my window. Lightning? I walk to the window hastily, widening the view between my curtains.

It was broad mid-afternoon, sunny skies and barely any clouds. It couldn't have been weather.

I look back at my phone. Am I imagining things? I text my group chat to verify.

"Did you guys see some sort of glow from outside?" Send.

I got responses almost instantly.

"Like a flickering light?" David asked.

"What," Jonathan responded, followed by

"Death is coming," from Pierre.

"No, similar to lightning but...not. Can we meet at capital coffee?" I asked hopefully.

Everyone agreed.

"Cool, I'm gonna ask Azalea, Fey, and Sara if they can come along."

I switched chats and invited the others. Immediately after agreement, I jumped up to the door with my bag and shoes.

"Bye Mom I'm meeting friends at Capitol!" I waved as I entered the garage.

"Be back by 8:00," I heard her call as I closed the door behind me.

~•~

"Hey guys," I waved as I opened the door and sat down.

Azalea and Fey were on their phones showing each other photos, while Jonathan and David were playing smash on the Nintendo switch. Pierre was yet to arrive.

"Hey Lilac. We already ordered some stuff so go ahead if you're getting something," Sara smiled, taking a sip from her milkshake.

"Okay," I got up and ordered a butterbeer, then went back to the table. I slide beside Azalea when Pierre enters.

"Hey sorry I'm late. I was at the library," Pierre moved swiftly up to the counter and ordered some ice cream before coming to our table.

"So why are we here?" Fey asked, looking up from her phone.

"Did you guys really not see a light from outside?"

"Not that I know of," Jonathan shook his head.

"I might have been high on sugar, but I think I saw lightning," Azalea chimed in.

"But it wasn't raining, and there were barely any clouds. I doubt it was lightning," David added.

"Azalea was definitely high then," said Sara.

We all nodded in agreement.

"Jokes on you, I got to drink a crap ton of chocolate milk," Azalea proclaimed.

I shook my head. "Can't you die? You know, being diabetic and all?"

"Yes."

"Alright then. Well, does anyone know of any type of blinding light that appears out of thin air? It disappeared in a blink of an eye." I looked around the table. Everyone shrugged, opening google.

"It says here that sometimes lightning can be so bright that it takes over your vision and can fill a window with nothing but the blades of light waves," Fey pointed out.

"We've established it's not lightning," Pierre sighed as the waitress brought over my butterbeer and Pierre's ice cream.

"I can't find anything but lightning, car headlights, and what not," Jonathan added.

"Me either," Sara replied.

"See Lilac, it must have just been a car going down the road or something," Azalea said, looking through Pinterest.

Out of nowhere, Pierre pulls out a large, dusty book from his bag and drops it on the table. Jonathan and David cough from the dust, Fey and Sara sneezing. Pierre begins flipping through the book.

"Uh, Pierre?" Cara asked.

"Huh?" He looks up from the pages and meets her eyes with an intense glare. "What?"

"Where did you get that book?"

"From the library. It's all about the paranormal, undiscovered, and unexplained phenomena of the universe," he immediately went back to reading and searching.

"What makes you think you'll find something in there when there's nothing on google?" Jonathan grumbled.

"Well according to the disclaimer at the beginning of the book, it carries information that is not widely spread and very cleverly hidden from the public in order to contain panic. It also says-"

"So it's a big book of conspiracy theories," Fey interrupted.

"No, it's all proven facts. The proof is provided," Pierre dragged his finger down a page before flipping to the middle of the book.

We all looked at each other with confusion and concern. I sighed.

"Pierre, it's hopeless. I must have imagined it. There's not gonna be anything in this book."

"On the contrary, Lilac." He slammed his finger down at the top of a page.

"Strange lights and beams," I read aloud. "Huh. Maybe it is helpful." I sat back down in my seat.