But there were no voices to be heard. Wait?

One voice. A soft voice to be sure. A muffled voice. It was Dad's voice. Sounded like he was on the phone.

There was a deep throbbing in Sara's hand as she arched her neck forward, straining to listen.

OOC: Sara Rolls Wits + Composure

OOC: 09:49, Today: Sara rolled 2 successes using 5d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((3,7,9,7,9)).

Sara strained to hear Dad's muffled voice through the thin walls of her room. It was definitely coming from down stairs, probably in the living room. If he was on the phone, he was probably using the harvest-gold colored rotary phone on the end table near the couch.

She could picture Dad now as she had usually seen him: Feet up on the coffee table, dirty socks probably making sweaty smudges on a worn surface. Intense look on his face as he placed next week's bets on races he had been looking into.

"Yes.." Dad's voice broke in.

"No, No. Not that one"

Silence. Then he spoke again.

"That horse, yeah."

"Oh, and one more thing. I have to bring my daughter."

"You do? Oh good. Sara will love to have a friend to play with."

Sara grimaced. Great. Putting a knife through her hand will come as a relief.

How did they get home, anyway? Did she pass out back then? Would Dad have sounded more worried if she did? As if...

Everything was the same. And yet it was different. Sara had no recollection of getting into bed. Or passing out. But she could feel the flannel pajamas she was wearing and that seemed to indicate that it was bed time. Or maybe that it was morning.

A car drove by outside, its headlights casting a rake of light through the shades on Sara's window that crossed across the rug floor and onto her bed before disappearing. In any normal circumstance, Sara might have chalked the whole thing up to a dream.

With some effort, Sara climbed out of her bed and went to check the windows.

Sara look out the window.

The sun was rising as a canopy of gold, bright amid the blue, bidding the stars to take their nightly rest. As the darkness of night surrendered, every color changed from tinges of charcoal to a vibrancy.

Autumn was coming. And summer fading away.

She peered at the street. Was there anyone outside?

Sara narrowed her eyes and caught the figure of a boy her age walking around in a zig-zag. He was wearing dark pants and a hoody that was too big for him. His face was pale and pasty like he hadn't been sleeping. By all accounts, it was too early for a kid to wander around the neighborhood. Especially with the news of so many kids missing lately.

Another weird kid. She got curious and opened the window. "Hey, you!" she called out, not too loudly.

The kid looked up. A tall kid by all accounts. He had baggy eyes like he hadn't slept in days. His glare was almost predatory as he stared back at Sarah, waiting for her say something else.

"What are you doing here?" It was suspicious, at least in the light of the last few days. What if he was also doing some homework? Or if that was over for good, some other errand for some other entity...

The kid glared at her. He appeared a lot bigger than he looked just a few moments ago. It was probably because Sarah could see his face.

"Screw off you dweeb! I live here!" he shouted back in an angry taunt that was clearly intended to intimidate Sarah with the menacing language.

OOC: Eric Rolls Presence + Intimidation vs.......

20:46, Today: Eric 'Trenk' Trenkenschue failed (no successes) using 5d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((3,6,4,6,3)).

Sarah Rolls Resolve + Composure

Sara snorted contemptuously. "So what? I live here too. I've never seen you before, though."

OOC: 05:26, Today: Sara rolled 3 successes using 4d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((10(+4),10(+7),2,8)).

Sara was not to be intimidated. Especially not by a boy that was yards a way with a menacing stare.

"Wh...it's just....what do you want!?" The boy finished, rather lamely.

"Are you up to something?" Sara frowned sternly.

"Yeah." the kid said back in an even tone. It wasn't aggressive. But nor was he backing down.

"I'm going to go smoke a cigarette." He said, as if daring Sarah to tell him that a young kid should not be smoking cigarettes.

He eyed Sarah's reaction, staring up at her where she was in the window to see whether or not she disapproved. Daring her to disapprove.

She yawned. Didn't even have to fake it. "Really?"

"Go screw yourself!" The boy shouted up at the window, clearly interpreting Sarah's response as some kind of judgement against him. He walked by underneath it, eyes still fixed on Sarah as if waiting for a response. Though he kept walking as if he still was trying to get to wherever he was trying to go.

Sara just watched him for a few more moments. She wasn't buying it and did not attempt to hide that she wasn't buying it.

Sara watched as the boy walked off, out of view. He moved with slow deliberateness, head forward, mouth fixed, lips pressed into a thin line. He didn't look up back at Sara. He didn't turn around to check the window that she was at.

He walked off down the road and out of view.

Bored again, Sara closed the window and decided to go downstairs.

Sara was bored.

And so she went downstairs into the kitchen to see what was what.

She descended without too much hurry, listening in again. Was Dad still talking?

Sara heard the tell-tale sign of the phone clicking as it Dad clearly hung up. She heard his foot falls go across to the living room, the sound of him sitting on the couch. The clear, crinkling of the newspaper as it unfolded.