He gave a nod and listened closely oh, so his grandmother was right he didn't think she needed to know that though, because then she might ferret out that Ling An had been somewhere he should not be. "Really an Alien ?" he blinked, he had not thought about that maybe she was. His image was of the witch from the tale of Hansel and Gretel which had scared him when he was little.

He had not heard the gentle version, images of children's bones and fire hot enough to sear flesh danced in his memory.

"Of course I would help you." it was the right thing to do. "You said Corey ran off...why did he do that ?" he didn't sound judgmental just trying to put pieces in order."Also where did you see him last ?" he asked as he glanced around as though looking for a path to follow, or a clue to materialize out of thin air.

A quick question, does he know of any of these names from his classes ? or is he in a different homeroom ?"

An remembered the name 'Corey' a there was a Cory in An's Homeroom. If it was the same Corey, the name brought with it one thing to mind: complaining. Corey would complain about school to Ling An. Corey would complain about too much homework to the teacher. Corey would complain about anything to pretty much everyone. Every now and then An would catch the boy mumbling to himself with a frown on his face in class.




"Corey ran off because he like messing with me." Gary said in an angry tone. "He ran towards the house. Toward's the alien woman's house." And he pointed his flashlight up the road.

"Hey, where are you from?" Gary asked An, perhaps realizing he hadn't asked him before.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:17, Thu 11 Mar 2021.

Ling An chuckled. "Ah, I am in Corey's homeroom class, he doesn't much like school, homework or the teacher." he said with a small nod of his head. He glanced in the direction that the boy pointed his flashlight. OH..the witch Ling thought, his grandmother had said so.

He didn't think grandmother Ling would lie either.

"My grandmother says she's witch, we shouldn't go just two of us, safety in numbers." his hands tightening on his wooden sword.

"As in where am I from before here, Hunan, China." he inclined his chin. "How about you, are you from here originally or from somewhere else ?"

"Alright! Now that's teamwork!" Gary rejoiced at the idea that he an An were now a pair, looking for more than just the two of them before they would go to old witch's house. Or perhaps as Gary had suggested earlier, the Alien.

"China." Gary said. "We've got a Chinese restaurant that my family likes to go to." He offered, as if that was the only thing related to China or Hunan that he could make relatable to An.

"Me? I've always lived on Rodeo drive. But we've always been kind of separated from Main street where you live. It's like, I dunno. It's like living in two different worlds." He tried to explain to An.

"If you live on Rodeo drive, you kind of live on Rodeo drive. If you live on Main Street, you live like, I dunno, on Main Street. It's not like people from Rodeo drive don't like people on Main Street. It's just two different placed, you know?"

Gary tried to explain further.

"The kids on Rodeo drive really don't see the kids on Main Street so much. And this summer a bunch of bad kids moved onto Main Street. They were into breaking windows and vandalizing houses. So, it kind of made the whole Main Street-Rodeo Drive thing even more so than it was before. Also, now there's an Alien living on your street. And kids are going missing." Gary said the last part as if he was relieved not be living on Main Street where Aliens lived and where kids went missing.

He bobbed his head in agreement. "I like helping others, and team work is needed to do things I think." he was glad to have a friend and he gave a small laugh as he leaned his wooden sword against his shoulder. "Yes, I am Chinese." he said it didn't matter what he was with other kids his age and that made him even happier, since people were always asking him about his heritage, Gary just seemed to want a friend.

"I have only recently moved onto Main Street, my grandparents they live here." he motioned. <blue>"Dad's a scientist so I don't see him a whole lot, and momma is a stunt woman in Hollywood, but she's home far more often." he thought "Well, I am a main street kid, and I don't think any of that is fun or a good idea so I guess maybe I am the exception to the rule ?" he wasn't sure.

"So we will check in with Edith let her know Corey went wandering alone." he huffed "I have seen late night horror movies, you never go alone, that's how to blob or some other movie monsters get you." he motioned to Gary to lead, since he himself had no idea where they were going.

"Which Chinese restaurant do you go too, I can invite you over, so you can try stuff my grandmother makes, its very good." he offered.

"Oh, really?" Gary asked, apparently excited about the prospect of going over An's house to try food and even more excited in such a short time that the two were getting along so friendly. In fact, An noticed very much an uptick in Gary's mood as the two were walking, as if the gloom of Gary's search for Corey was fading into the background, the prospect of meeting someone new taking center attention.

"Oh yeah, my Dad owns some record stores downtown. He kind of manages them I guess. So, we were able to get the Thriller album from a few years ago. Also, he let's me look a new cassettes every once and I while. But I'm not allowed to go look at the Heavy Metal section, because Mom says that some of those bands are Devil worshipers."

Gary was quick to add "It's not your fault that you live where you live. I didn't choose to live where I live either. Even though we're on different streets, we can still be friends. That's what teamwork is all about!"

He nodded his head quickly. " Grandma knows how to make the Lo Mein noodles from scratch and she is always cooking." he stated "She even made Halloween Cupcakes, but its something new to her since in China we don't trick or treat, it was kinda overwhelming but exciting to be out."</blue> he confessed cheerfully.

Gary seemed like the type of friend he'd be glad to have around.

"I like Micheal Jackson, he has some really great dance movies, and Thriller is by far my favorite of his songs." he kept in step with Gary but kept  looking around, one for the older boy's and two for signs of where he friend Corey might have run off too."Devil worshippers you say ?" grey eyes went wide for a moment, he certainly didn't know that.  Still his smile returned and he laughed "Yeah we can't choose our parents or where we live, I heard someone say at school." though An wasn't sure about that.

"Do you think Edith will be able to find Corey ?" he asked as he clicked on his flashlight to make sure it was working. His candy bag being tied to he belt.

".....!" It looked like Gary was about to respond with genuine happiness when all of the sudden An clicked his flashlight to make sure that it was working.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 00:44, Sun 14 Mar 2021.

"Turn those flashlights off!" a voice yelled in a harsh whisper, and An could see there was a kid right in front of them, less than five feet away.

"Corey. I thought you ran off. You did ran off. Why did you do that? " Gary said, moving from surprised to somewhat annoyed.

"Shhhh!" Corey admonished, bringing a finger up to his lips.

He tested his flashlight before he turned it off again it cast to the ground and he looked at the other boy from his homeroom. "Testing equipment is very important." he states firmly. He glances to Gary who looks annoyed and give him a friendly nudge. "At least we don't have to go looking if he's right here." he whispered softly to the other boy, but gave a curious look to Corey. "Did you go the witches house ?" he asked.

"Urghghhhgh^hhaahhrghhhh" Corey whined, complaining in a loud voice that seemed at odds with his desire to make everyone else quiet.

"We're supposed to be quiet." He advised
This message was last edited by the player at 15:45, Tue 16 Mar 2021.

"At least we don't have to go looking " Gary agreed with An. He tested his own flashlight. Was he doing it just to show that he could do the opposite of what Corey was asking?

"Turn off that light!" Corey whispered, though it sounded like a harsh, yelling whisper. "You remember what Edith said?" Corey spoke the last words in a foreboding tone, as if, if 'Edith' found out about what Gary was doing, she would be mad and that wouldn't be a good thing.

If this was the same Edith that Ling An knew of at school, than Corey was refferring to a short girl with an unusually large head. Ling An had never spoken to the girl, but she often looked serious, the kind of person that either was always in a bad mood, or who couldn't be bothered with the annoying travails of other kids.

Upon hearing the name 'Edith' Gary turned off the flashlight. "This is my new friend Ling An." Gary said, introducing Ling An to Corey. "So, did you go to the alien's house?" Gary repeated Ling An's question, adding his own interpretation.

"No, not yet." Corey whispered. "I was just about to go there when I saw two kids running around making noise and shining their flashlights." Corey said sarcastically

He tilted his head a little and gave a quick shale of his head. "That would be because of the egging." she said with a sigh. "I feel more American already." he kept his voice down low, but was more amused then upset.

"The house with the red lantern in front of it is my grandmothers." he told the other boy. "She says that the lady is a wupo." he stated then shook his head "Witch." he added in English.

"Oh no!" Corey said in a loud voice of total discontent, completely forgetting that he had just chided Ling An and Gary fro being to loud.

"A wupo." he lamented, his previous sarcasm turning into genuine dismay. He brought his hands up to the sides of his head like he was suddenly taken by a headache.

"A wupo." he repeated, like it was the worst thing that could possibly happen and somehow it was a personal attack against him. He groaned slightly.

"See that Gary? We don't even know what a wupo is." He complained.

Ling An could see Gary's eyebrows move upward in concern.

"I told you. I told you Gary. I told you this was a bad idea. Edith has us running around this house. You know we shouldn't be doing this....A wupo." he interrupted himself.

"Now we have to deal with a wupo. Some kind of witch. Edith has us going over to the wrong street to scout out a witch. And on Halloween! This is a terrible idea Gary. It's just a terrible idea. You know that. I told  you that. And yet here we are. This is some plan Gary, some plan. You and Edith and you're bright ideas..."

"</Blue> It' wasn't my idea to scout out the alien-witch"</Blue> Gary said, defending himself. Then he sighed with disappointment, perhaps at Corey's complaining, or perhaps because he had allowed himself to be baited into engaging with Corey and was now defending himself.

"But that's not important. What's important is that we have An here as a new member of the team and we just need to stick together and have teamwork on this Corey."

He glanced between the boys and he wasn't sure if Gary was making fun of him , or just trying to put it all together. An, absolutely believed his grandmother, when she said the lady was a witch. She was old she knew lots of things. He considered and hummed "Maybe we should not do this at night, and on Halloween..." he offered quietly. "Has anyone figured out where her schedule is ?" he asked quietly "Most adults seem to have them." he theorized as he glanced down the street towards grandmother's home and back to his friends.

"If you want to chat somewhere, grandmother's house is there." he pointed . "We can go to the backyard, at least we won't get egged again." he wrinkled his nose lightly.

Corey seemed relieved not to have to go through with going to the witches house.

"Oh man, I'm really relieved to hear you say that. I don't think Halloween is a good night to do this. Boy am I relieved." Corey said. Then he shook his head.

"A wupo." he said again.

"Actually, now that you say it An, it does make more sense to get out of here before we get egged again."

Gary seemed to weigh things out, consider the options. "But what are we going to tell Edith?"

He nodded to his house "Let's go, there are lanterns in the back yard and once we check the candy we can share it." he stated holding up the sack that was kindly filled by the older lady who he talked with. "Granmother also made cupcakes." he said proudly she was learning. "Hmm. If Edith wants to know so bad she should come along as well, and you can tell her, that you suspect her to be a witch, and witches are always more powerful on Halloween, not safe." he hoped that would work. "Or you can tell her you had to save me from further egging's." he volenteered.

Corey reacted with disappointment and ungratefulness at the mention of cupcakes.

"Cupcakes hurt my stomach." He complained.

"The last thing I need is another stomach ache." he complained again.