"Selina! Since when do you sleep that long?"

Uh? I raised my head from under the blanket, to see my mum peer in from the crack of the door.

"I'm tired," I muttered, pulling the blanket over my head again.

"Do you know what time it is?"

With a sigh I again pulled the blanket back enough for my one eye to see the clock. It showed almost two. Reluctantly I then sat up. Mum closed the door to let me change.

When I went to the kitchen, I saw mum sitting behind the table. In front of her on the table was some kind of paper. "Yesterday was so tiring then?" she asked with her usual smile.

"No, I just... was tired. What is that?" I pointed at the paper.

"This?" she asked, picking it up. "An invitation to Blue Mist's hundred and tenth birthday."

I stared at her sheepishly. "It's today?"

"Did you forgot?" Her tone was a bit surprised, as well as amused.

I turned away to get cereal. Mum probably took my muteness as yes and pushed the paper across the table towards me. Forgetting this event if you live here, in Blue Mist, happens really rarely. Practically the whole town is covered with its posters and stuff, and everyone talked about it at school. How didn't I notice anything?

I put the box of cereal on the table, and after I had taken out the milk and a bowl, I took a seat, taking the paper between my fingers. The text was printed on a light blue strong paper, the edges were decorated with golden ornaments. In a bold print they said that they're inviting us to our town's park to celebrate Blue Mist's hundred and tenth birthday together. Of course they also gave a hint to take some money with, so we wouldn't have to bring food and drinks ourselves. But games are always free. And later at night some less known band would be there to entertain us with their music.

Text on the invitation was actually longer, but my eyes just flew over most of it. When I finally put it away, I poured the milk and cereal into the bowl.

"And we are going too?" I asked before having a mouthful.

"We go there every year. Why do you ask?"

I knew this question was pointless. I suppressed the fear I had felt since the night in that old school house. The others who had been with me were still missing. And they will never be found. Something I never could tell anyone.

"I hope you won't spend too much time on deciding what to wear if you really forgot it," mum said before taking a sip from her coffee.

"You know I'm not like that," I reminded her. I have never paid too much attention on how I look like. But that doesn't mean I totally didn't care. Neither of us said anything else after that. And I'm glad it was so. I didn't really feel like talking and I didn't want mum to notice that. Luckily she left the kitchen pretty soon after our conversation. I finished my cereal slowly, thinking about if or how many savannians would be there. But I couldn't remember if I have seen Jake there in the past years.

After the breakfast I returned to my room. Choosing the outfit didn't take me long at all. Then Nicole called, asking me when I would be there. She wanted to make sure that at least I would show up. She said that Rudy had something important come up and he hadn't been sure if he gets time to come later either.

Mum and I went there at six. This was a little after the event had started. Soon enough I found Nicole, and we spent the rest of the time together. Mum found her own friends and sat down to chat with them.

When I was little, this had been one of my favourite events every year. I played all different kinds of games I could at my age. But now I mostly waited for the band to show up. So long we stayed with some others at our age. Some Nicole's friends. She has so many, I don't even know half of them. And I was glad to see that Nicole didn't get addicted with smoking when... we were there. But they did get alcohol from somewhere. I tried a bit too, but refused to drink too much.

Though, all this time didn't pass by with us just standing there with Nicole's friends. At some point, someone managed somehow to get me into the tug of war game. Apparently the other team was stronger, though. I didn't go for the second time, as it hurt my hands enough already.

When it got darker, we noticed many falling stars. The weather was really nice - no wind and the air was warm.

At one point I lost Nicole from my sight. As I couldn't find her myself, I called her, hoping she would pick up. And she did. As she was a bit drunk, she had "accidentally" walked away while I didn't notice. She had been looking for me too. And she said she was somewhere near the pond, and walking by the edge of it, I should find her.

The pond was a bit further in the park, near the forest. Some trees separated it from the events too. I heard the music and saw the lights, but it all seemed like far away. I didn't see much people here either. Mostly some couples wanting their alone time. The pond itself wasn't some small decoration. When I was little, I always called it a lake, because it seemed too big to be a pond. And thanks to the darkness and trees that surrounded it from the back side, I couldn't find Nicole just by looking around. Which meant that the easiest way was to walk.

"Selina, can we talk?"

This voice came from startlingly close; I had thought no one was near me. But I didn't turn my head to see who it was. I recognized the voice. Panic flowed through me and my legs started to carry me away by themselves. Though I barely could make one step, when someone grabbed my wrist. As it happened so suddenly, I lost my balance and fell to the ground just in front of Jake's legs.

"Let me go or I'll scream," I warned him.

Instead of answering, he came to sit down beside me. His grip around my wrist loosened a bit, but was still firm. Looking around us, I was startled to see we were completely alone. So my attempts to escape would probably fail. I made no movements; just waited fearfully to whatever he was going to do next.

"I won't hurt you, okay? I just want to talk," he said silently, in attempt to calm me. I didn't say anything. "Look, I was astonished by what you did yesterday..."

"And I'm already regretting it," I interrupted him, glumly.

"And I guess soon you would regret it even more."

I couldn't help myself, but look at him questioningly.

"Those hyenas probably live their whole life together in a pack. Already from the young age they are taught to be killers. You didn't think they will leave it that way when a human girl happens to outsmart them?"

My mouth fell open a bit when I tried to answer something. I really hadn't thought about that. "Why are you telling me this?" I then demanded.

"I know it's not my business, but if I already came here, I thought I'd mention."

"Then why did you came?" I asked, glaring at him.

"I came, because..." He trailed off and sighed, letting my wrist go to bring his hands to support his head while he stared down. It seemed like there's something bothering him. "I don't feel quite well," he then said, his voice sounding tired.

For a few seconds we sat in silence. I weighed my chances of getting away, but decided to leave it. He was too close to me.

He raised his head, his eyes stuck somewhere on the other side of the pond. "I've been blind all my life. I knew something was wrong, but I always ignored that feeling. I didn't actually want to become like this."

I again didn't say anything.

"I've ruined my relationship with mum. I haven't really paid attention to her; I didn't know how much it really effected her." His voice grew more quiet with each word.

"If you need to talk about your problems, find a consultant," I said glumly.

He snorted and I saw a slight grin on his face, while he still stared at the horizon. But this grin was gone as fast as it had appeared. "You talked to my mum. How much did she say about me?"

At first I remained silent. I fell in my own thoughts when I stared at his features that were lightened by the moon. I wasn't that scared anymore, I discovered. He really didn't seem to be any threat. But I still stayed on alert.

"Um, she told me about your childhood. Briefly. How she noticed changes in you after you got those friends. And how you once growled at her. And that she knew she couldn't do anything to make you yourself again. She blamed herself." After I had said this, the look on Jake's face didn't change. His eyes seemed empty, still stuck somewhere across the pond. I couldn't read out anything from him, except for the aloofness and a bit of sadness. While he remained that way, I continued. "She mentioned the first time you had killed someone. She cried almost the whole time." Now Jake closed his eyes. "But she also mentioned that you're otherwise very helpful, and she doesn't think you're faking it."

Jake sighed and turned to look at me. "Was that all?"

"More or less."

I heard steps coming closer. I turned my head to see who it was. Jake just stared in front of himself, like he already knew, who.

"Selina? What...?" Nicole called out, a bit astonished when she saw me with Jake. She had that really unpleasant I-need-an-explanation-and-now-look. Next to her was Rudy, also looking at us surprisedly. Or rather he looked at Jake with distrustfulness.

"What were you talking about here?" he asked in calm voice, but his eyes still on Jake.

"Nothing important," I said, then turned to look at Jake. "Can I go now?"

He only nodded, finally looking at us while I stood up and joined my friends. My pace was fast, to get away from him as soon as possible.

"Now what was that? You said you were coming to look for me!" I could hear the jealousy in Nicole's voice.

"It was nothing," I tried to calm her. "He had some... I don't know. A moment of sadness or something, and wanted to talk to someone. He probably was high."

"I hope you aren't trying to get him to yourself," she said monotonously.

"Of course not. I'd rather keep at least five kilometre distance from him."

Nicole didn't reply to that, but still sulked.

"But Rudy, where were you so long?" I asked, wanting to change the subject.

"Some things with family," he said simply. "You wouldn't be interested. Oh, look! The fireworks have started. Shall we go?"

I looked up in the sky where the first fireworks blew into different colors. Luckily Nicole also decided to forget what had happened with me and Jake, and we could spend the rest of the night as best friends like we are.