Safe Landing dinner & garage. Marilyn & Alice came a few hours before either of their classes started. Kamkin strolled in with a mood as bright as her convertible. Higurashi couldn’t wait for her tea to kick in.

Unfortunately, the sight of her car bill woke her up.

“This is the full price?” Alice asked.

“No, that’s the monthly payment,” Mercedes pointed out. “See?”

Marilyn looked at the bill with wide eyes, “Mercedes, I thought you said you’d give us a discount?”

“That is discounted. Hell, it’d be easier to list what wasn’t wrong with that thing. You’re lucky we already had all the parts. Damn thing was the ship of Theseus.”

Alice always knew her car had more issues than it was worth. She just didn’t know the price was on par with her rent.

“Funny reference aside, I didn’t ask for the most expensive tires you sold. Or the new stereo system.” Alice adjusted her glasses, “What the hell is ‘social media integration’?!”

Marilyn double-checked if she heard that correctly. She did. And it cost more than it should’ve.

“Mercedes! What the actual hell?!”

Mercedes buckled, “I’m sorry! You know my dad’s a carny! It was all his idea!”

Alice didn’t care, “That you went along with!”

“Not much of a choice when your boss and landlord are the same person.”

Still apathetic, “Sounds like a ‘you problem’. I’m not a dumb ‘mark’. I didn’t agree to a touch screen, GPS radio with ‘time-wasting integration’. You didn’t ask me if I wanted it before you put it in. So I’m not paying for it.”

Mercedes turned the page. Her pen landed right on Alice’s signature.

Apologetically, “Legally, you signed the contract stating ‘we don’t have to tell you’. Either you pay, surrender the car to us, or my dad’s gonna take you to court.”

Marilyn snatched the paper. She scanned it over and over. The words didn’t change. Just her view of her friend.

Rather, a former friend.

“And you just went along with it?” Marilyn echoed.

Maybe Mercedes’ slumped posture and lack of response were a part of the scam. Maybe she was genuinely sorry.

It didn’t matter if she were. Alice couldn’t afford a lawyer. Or to keep escalating.

As Mercedes’ eyes started to water, the staff stopped their work. At the same time. Including the ones too far away to hear Marilyn. Like the cooks past the dinner window.

The few patrons kept eating. But they only stopped to see why the waiters had stopped.

Alice had no plans of fighting a whole hivemind family. On their property. Over a contract she didn’t remember signing but couldn’t prove it was forged.

Alice threw her hand up, “Keep the piece of crap.”

“Alice, are you sure?”

Alice pulled Marilyn’s arm, “It’s more than it’s worth. Let’s go, girlfriend.”

Mercedes dropped her ‘hurt puppy’ facade, “I thought Jiji was-”

Alice cut her off, “I thought we’d be on speaking terms after this.”

-Orion Cafe-

Classes were over. Rain was pouring. Marilyn & Alice were enjoying some hot cocoa before heading home.

Alice’s laptop was old with stickers covering scratches. Marilyn’s tablet with a keyboard was two years younger but looked brand new.

On Kamin’s tablet: a list of car dealerships in the area. A tab on motorcycles. The cheer team’s group chat. Minus Lana. And most importantly, a job search site.

The two roommates were discussing what was on Higurashi’s laptop.

“You’re saying one of my best friends for 2 years is, like, an alien?”

Alice set her 3rd cup of cocoa down, “Not ‘like an alien’. She is an alien. I’ve been researching it all day. It's how she was able to forge my signature. Do all that work by herself. Have a family that looks like they were all cloned in a lab.”

“You realize how crazy you sound?” Marilyn genuinely asked.

Alice had just heard the most unbelievable thing that day. That included the alien conspiracy theories she ignored due to them trying to link flat earth into it.

“You had sex with a genie, but aliens are ‘crazy’?”

“…touché.” Marilyn watched Alice triumphantly sip her tea before killing her ego. “I’m still not buying the Turners aren’t human.”

“Ok, explain her beehive family?” Alice asked.

So she did, “I looked exactly like my dad before I started H.R.T. Plus, we humans tend to have a gut feeling when something is wrong. Especially with family.”

“My gut is telling me she’s an alien.”

“Like the guitar guy Jiji was checking out or the pale dude in your class?”

Alice narrowed her gaze. Sneering at Marilyn’s smug smirk.

“You’re making fun of me. Aren’t you?”

“I think you shouldn’t be obsessing about this, Mustang.”

Alice threw up an eyebrow.

“Explain, ‘Barbie’.”

Marilyn listed, “You locked yourself in your room when we found out Nick was a werewolf. You were glued to your phone when you suspected Jiji was a genie.”

“I’m 2 for 2,” Alice bragged.

“I don’t even wanna know how you reacted when Jiji told you Ford was…whatever he is.”

“A fairy,” Alice deduced.

“Don’t call him that,” Marilyn interjected.

“No, I mean an actual French fairy. Like ‘Morgan Le Faye’.”

Alice had given a movie buff a literature reference. It wasn’t well received.

“From the ‘King Arthur’ books,” Alice tried.

Marilyn shrugged, “I watched ‘Camelot’. Great performances, but 3 hours was a bit much.

Moving on, “…anyway.”

“Anyway, I notice you, like, spiral when you get way too into something. Maybe Mercedes is an alien. Maybe her uncle is a, I don’t know, forgery expert. Or something. It’s not worth getting constipated over.”

“Constipated?” Alice repeated.

Alice’s stomach gave her an order. Go to the bathroom. Or else.

Did Marilyn have the power of prophecy? Was she an alien? Or did she just look at the table and see 3 empty cups of large cocoa?

Running off, “I’ll be back.”

“I’ll be in the car when you’re done.”

Marilyn grabbed both their computers. Right as she was closing Alice’s, the black screen reflected something. In the corner, was someone standing under a lamppost.

A silhouetted woman. Completely dark. As if the light did not influence her. The only feature Marilyn could see was the blood-red eyes. Glaring directly at her.

Marilyn spun around. Out the window was the flickering lamppost. A soaked bench. And the undisturbed bushes behind them.

No one was there.

“You ok, ma’am?”

A worker wearing a scarf had come from the back. No footsteps. The saloon door hadn’t even moved. It was no different than Jiji teleporting.

“Uh, yeah,” Marilyn lied. “How much of my talk did you hear?”

He shrugged, “Wasn’t listening. Something about aliens being constipated.”

The worker cared so much that he started cleaning the counters without another word.

Marilyn stared off into the rain. She finally understood Alice’s obsession.

END