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                                Not is all it seems…

-1:45 PM, Oakdale apartments-

It didn't take me long to get home running in a full-out sprint, I almost gave the mailbox near the laundry area a miss, but I checked my mail anyway, inside was a bill, (Great, Verizon, good thing I have the cheapest available.) a letter from my friend, Aundrea, a notice from my landlord (crud) and of all things, a freaking birthday invitation.

I trudged back to my apartment and walked up the steps and walked into my house, immediately two noses invaded my personal space sniffing me, but I ignored it, I was too deep in thought to care, I turned on the TV and set my backpack down in its usual spot and sat down on the chair in front of the TV and flipped to the news.

As I thought, the news was abuzz with the creature that attacked, and as if to rub it in, they were showing footage of it fighting someone, particularly me, but it only got shot when I threw the stand that had the propane tank on it, and they didn't catch that good of a look at my face, it immediately cut when the explosion happened, and I was thankful for that, no one saw what happened right after, the news station (called Knoxx of all things,) was getting a lot of calls, most of them asking who the brave fighter was, and thankfully, they didn't know, but one phone call got my attention.

"Hello, Knoxx news station?"  The man sounded nervous, tinny, even.

"Yes?" answered Jim the news reporter with a smug voice that just made me want to dial up just so I could tell him off.

"What about the reports of this… 'Hunter' connected with the reports of the roaring near the Oak road windmill this morning?"

Jim had a surprised look, but quickly masked it and responded, but I didn't play attention, my mind was racing, a memory from this… "Hunter" had set my mind to action, a windmill, and it was convenient that the Oak road windmill was within sprinting distance of my apartment, I stood up and drew back the curtain and looked at it, as I did, the image ran through my head, it was the same windmill, sure a different color, maybe how it saw the windmill, but it was the same windmill.

I grabbed the remote and shut the TV off and walked to my room, thinking furiously, if the Hunter came from the windmill, I could maybe find out what was significant there, but I would need photographs, I got a bad memory, and it was just as well I had kept my jackets on when I came home, would make it harder to recognize me, I opened the closet and looked in, there were scattered items strewn about the shelves, mostly my various mementos, when it wasn't physical of course, and after a bit of searching, I found the little pouch containing my camera, it wasn't the best, but it came with software for photo editing, which was all I needed, I slung it on my shoulder and walked out to the balcony, Fred and George came up and whined about whatever it was and I muttered;

"It's okay, I just need to do something important, won't be long, keep watch, okay?" I shut the sliding door behind me and leapt off the balcony and ran in a full sprint, the less time I spent, the less likely someone would recognize me.

-Oak Road Windmill, 1:50PM-

I made good time in getting here, but now the real challenge was now; what was so important here that the Hunter had a memory of it in my head now? Taking in the surroundings, I started walking, trying to remain calm, to be honest, I thought someone was going to wander up and ask what I was doing here, but I was lucky, it was deserted, eventually I found the exact image in the Hunter's memory, not exactly picture perfect, but a match, all the same.

First of all, reference pictures, I snapped a few pictures of the surrounding landscape, now, what was important, I looked around, and nothing stood out, I shrugged and stared at the ground while trying to think, then I noticed something, a thin line running in the ground, I stared, then I crouched and looked closer, I didn't see anything of interest, but out of curiosity, I stuck my hand in and after a slight bit of resistance, I felt cold, solid metal, my heart started racing.

Was there a lab near my house? I was gunna find out.

Crouching lower, I managed to get a grip on both sides of this oversized door and after a deep breath, pulled with all my might, now I ain't weak mind you, I can kick a truck about four hundred yards, easy, but this dang thing was impossible to pull open, I relaxed for a quick breather, took another deep breath and gritted my teeth while pulling as hard as I dared, after a second, I suddenly lost my grip and fell onto the soft, dew covered grass.

I sighed while looking down, this wasn't gunna open, not by a long shot, I stood up and shot some more pictures, careful to include the line, and I looked up and decided it was enough for today, I needed to finish whatever else I may have to do, putting the camera away, I immediately started sprinting back to my apartment.

-Oak Dale Apartments, 1:54PM-

Instead of going through the door, and risking George and Fred sticking their noses where they don't belong, I jumped up to the balcony and walked through the glass door, both dogs and my other cat, Stinker, just looked at me as I walked by, but I ignored it as I quickly walked into my room and started up my laptop, yeah, I got one, hey computers aren't dead here you know. After a quick boot up and hooking up my camera to it, I got a jump drive and copied the pictures into it, then made another copy on my computer, I decided to check my mail (Not email) while I was doing it, so I got up and took off both my jackets and hung them up on a coat rack near the door leading outside, and started sifting through my mail.

First, the letter from Aundrea, to sum it up, she wanted to see me soon and gave me an address, I sat back with a thoughtful look, Aundrea had went to Daleview high school, but was moved, but I know she was somewhat proficient with magic, had been so long since I last saw her though… next was the bill from Verizon, only $12 bucks for it, but I didn't have much and it was due tomorrow, great. The notice from my landlord was concerning my last month's payment, and it was due in one week or I was kicked out, the birthday invitation was from someone called Timmy, and after a quick bit of thinking, I suddenly remembered, I helped out this Timmy a few times and was a good friend, so I needed to get the kid a present, triple crud.

I was about to put the letters away when I heard a car door shut and nearly leapt out of my chair, I walked on over to the window near my door and reached in the nearby golf bag to grab the baseball bat I kept there, hey, if you had a bat, someone was less likely to push their way in, of course, if they had super abilities (somewhat like me) then it may be a different situation all together. I peered out the window and saw a yellow Saturn, and as I started to look, I heard the soft plap-plap-plap of soft boots, I smiled as I put the bat away, I knew who this was.

I used the small amount of time I had to try and make myself a little more presentable before the door rang with a knocking sound, Fred stood up and stared at it, I gave it a second, then trudged to the door and put a adequate (or I hope it was adequate), smile on my face and opened the door, and outside stood Jessie, dressed in the same clothes I saw earlier today.

"Hey Drew,"  Jessie cheerfully spoke, I responded with a nod, but I turned my head to platter-platter of padded feet on carpet and managed to raise my leg in time to intercept Fred from barging out, she was strong for a dog, I almost lost my balance as I managed to get out;

"Fred, stop it, go lay down." Fred looked at me, then walked back enough so I could finally relax, I turned back to Jessie and said; "What do you want?" while trying to act cheery.

Jessie made an exaggerated move of reaching into her pants pocket (I'm not even kidding.) and pulled out a couple of tickets and I looked at them, not carnival tickets like I was expecting, but movie tickets for the drive-in theater a few miles away from here. I smiled and said;

"So that's what you wanted earlier today? Going to a movie theater?"

Jessie smiled a big smile while nodding in agreement, I reached for my jackets when Jessie put her hand on mine and added;

"With someone who isn't afraid to hide." Which meant no jackets. I smiled, and nodded, but I needed to do something first.

"Hey, mind waiting for a second, I need to turn off my computer." I said.

Jessie made an exaggerated roller her eyes motion while keeping that duck blind of a smile, and started going to the car, I hurried inside and turned off the radio I left on this morning, and shut off my laptop and grabbed the jump drive and put it in a lockbox and locked it, as I walked outside, Jessie surprised me (Well, not really.) with another hug that just turned into a kiss for a while, I really need to see if this isn't just an excuse to play kissy with Jessie, well okay, I HOPE it does, but whatever.

I walked down with Jessie and she got into the yellow Saturn and she revved it up as I reached and turned the knob for a different radio station, before Jessie could object, "Ride of the Valkyries" started playing and I smiled as I relaxed and muttered;

"Yehaw, if we're riding, we might as well have a little style to go with it."

Jessie laughed approvingly as she drove the car out, after she left the apartment complex, she whipped the Saturn into gear and rode off in the direction of the movie drive in, I smiled as I looked up, so far, looks like my day has just improved.