The vault was finished three and a half days after Tristan started it. It was in the basement, and Tristan gave me the combination once he finished. When I went up to tell Frankie it was done, he told me how much he'd be storing in there: $100, 000. And that he didn't want people touching, or even looking at it.

After all that, I decided to leave him be and just let him call if he needed something. I needed to tend to other things, like finding Misty Waters' lost cellphone and calling someone to fix the plumbing in the Modern Guest Room.

The call took no time at all, and I found Misty's cell after about twenty minutes of searching. She'd dropped it in the Hotel Lobby near the chairs and the brochure rack. In a sad mood, she cheered up as soon as she saw it in my hand. She thanked me and walked away.

That's when someone very interesting walked through the doors of the hotel. Someone I felt like I'd met before, but couldn't remember when or how I knew her.

"Hi," she said, "I'd like a room."

"Sure," I brought her over to the front desk, where I checked her in. "What's your name?"

"Ara Fusilli," she responded, and the feeling of recognition increased.

I penciled in her name. "Is the Deluxe Guest Room okay?"

"Yeah, that'd be perfect," replied Ara, "Thanks. If I'd stayed another day at my dad's place I might've gone insane. I'll probably be staying until Saturday."

"Who's your dad?" I asked, feeling like I knew the answer.

"Frankie Fusilli," said Ara.

Yep!

"Ah, I've met him then. He's staying in the penthouse," I said.

"Have fun," she said.

I laughed. "Oh, I am," I joked. "But anyways, call me if you need anything." I paused before adding, "Why do I get the feeling I know you from somewhere?"

"Maybe because we hung out as kids," replied Ara. "Like, between the ages of six and eight."

She was right, it suddenly clicked. "Yeah, that's right!" I remembered, "I'd forgotten about that. But then you had to move."

"Yeah, I remember that," said Ara. "I should probably head upstairs. See you around, Alessa."

"See you," I called back as she walked away. I also checked in Dusty Hogg, Kent Hackett and Tank Grunt.

And then Ara's father called me. Shock, surprise. I went up to his room to see what it was he wanted now. "So good of you to come and see me, Alessa," he said, "I was reading an article in Shrinking Planet magazine. Says here the Strangetown desert has one of the highest concentrations of valuable metals in the world. That's an opportunity I cannot ignore. Go scour the desert for me and see if you can find three bars of metal."

"How would I do that?" I asked.

"How? I don't know; use a metal detector or something, sheesh!"

"Alright, alright," I then left to go and get a metal detector. Cory told me the store sold one and that it, like the furnace, was charged via fuel rods. I bought it for $800, as well as a shovel for $100 and went out into the desert. Luckily for me, Tristan was there. "Hi, Tristan," I said, incredibly glad to see him. Searching for the metal with him alongside me would make it less of a tedious experience.

"Hey, Alessa, looking for metal?" asked Tristan, eying the detector.

"Yep, and can ya guess who it's for?" I asked sarcastically.

"Is it Mr. Frankie Fusilli?" guessed Tristan in an overly dramatic voice.

"Precisely," I said, "He wants three metal bars. Want to help?"

"Sure," Tristan agreed, "I can hold the shovel if you want."

"That'd be great, thanks," I said, handing it to him. While we walked around looking for the metal bars, we talked about my previous life before I got to Strangetown. I told him about my school, memories of my childhood, the time I spent with Ara before she left Belladonna Cove, and about my parents. Eventually, we found two copper bars and one silver one. I also found a lead rock and a spaceship part. By this time, it had started to rain.

"Hey, whose do you think this is? Not Xizzle's," I asked Tristan.

"I usually sell any parts I find to Johnny Smith. He's an alien-human hybrid, you know, so he's probably trying to build a spaceship or something to get home."

"Alright, I'll bring it to him along with the lead rock once I bring the bars to Frankie. Cool?"

"Yep," he said, "Oh, hey, tomorrow night a bunch of us were going to have a karaoke night in the Sax lounge. Would that be okay? And do you want to join?" asked Tristan.

"Yes to both," I replied happily, smiling at him. "I should go and get this to Frankie before he goes into a raging fit or something and carries out that stupid threat of his. I'll be there tomorrow, though, you can bet on that. See you, Tristan. Thanks for helping."

"No problem, see you," he replied, and I went to give the bars to Frankie, stopping by the store on the way to sell those other things. When I gave the bars to Frankie, he told me he had a chest he needed me to bury. This...was really suspicious. Especially since it kept moving around.

I really hoped something was done about him soon. I didn't know how much more I could stomach doing for him. I felt wrong doing all of this.

I took the chest to the desert that night anyway, but when I got there my prayers were finally answered, it seemed, for standing in the desert was a woman with short red hair who wore a professional-looking outfit.

"Halt right there," she said, and I gratefully set the box and shovel down in front of me. "Special agent Penelope Redd. What's in the box, Alessa?"

"Wait...you know my name?" I started to mentally panic, believing she thought I was a willing accomplice.

"Sure I know your name," the officer confirmed, "I've been tracking you for a few days now, nearly a week. Now tell me what's in the box."

"I promise you, I have no clue," I assured her, praying for her to believe me.

"Don't know? Perhaps it's better that way. It means you can't be charged with being an accomplice to whatever crime may have occurred here."

"Thank God," I breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

"Sorry, but I'll have to confiscate these," said Penelope, gesturing to the box and shovel, "We'll use these as evidence. Thanks for understanding, Alessa. We'll be in touch."

"No problem," I told her, and left the desert feeling a lot better now that she was around. It meant Frankie would be taken care of.

As soon as I got back to the hotel, I paid the bills that lay on the corner of Cory's desk and immediately went into the manager's suite to have a nice, long shower. I felt the water washing away any remnants of stress in my mind, now that I knew I wasn't guilty of anything and that Frankie would soon be gone, or at least, no longer a problem for us.

And then, there was Tristan. I admitted that I, like Mrs. Hogg, had a bit of a crush on him. And I could tell he felt the same. But I didn't want to rush things; I hadn't even been here in town that long.

And I was afraid of getting my heart broken again.

About a month ago, a guy I'd been dating for nearly a year cheated on me with another girl, even slept with her. I found out because she told me out of guilt. Because she did that, I was less angry with her than I was with the guy that did that to me. I'd actually loved him.Really loved him, I mean.

I didn't want Tristan to turn out to be like that guy. I was scared that he would do the same thing and that I would break down and cry myself to sleep for several nights afterwards.

I tried to get over that other guyas best as I could over the last month, and I picked myself back up and lived my life as normal as possible, but it still stung. And it made me afraid to trust relationships again.

Baby steps, Alessa.