TWO HOURS LATER

“...zzz…” Mellisa mumbled as she sat there waiting… and sleeping… A sound then erupts from a nearby intercom, waking Mellisa as it announces, “Attention everyone! Attention! The Hilltop Skylines is about to close. I repeat, the mall is about to close.” The intercom shuts off and the lights began to down down. Mellisa stretches and yawns, repeating the words, “...The mall is closing…” before closing her eyes.

CRACK! Mellisa’s eyes beak open when she shouts, “Whuh-buh-buh-buh-buh! The mall is closing?!” Mellisa looks to the bathroom, believing that Sonia still hadn’t come out yet! She dashes to the ladies’ room and kicks the door open, unknowingly slamming another woman into the wall. Mellisa ran inside and tried to investigate, only to find one of the shopping bags from Jacob’s filled with Sonia’s dirty clothes. In a panic, she grabs all of her shopping bags then dashes out of the bathroom hallway.

“Sonia? SOOONNIIIIAAAAA!!” Mellisa hollers, searching every closing store, bathroom, ceiling fan, pet store, phone store, restaurant, and everywhere else she could think of, but she just couldn’t find her missing redhead ginger friend. In a last ditch effort, Mellisa whips out her cellphone and attempts to call Sonia. The phone rang for minutes, but thankfully she got an answer.

“Hello?” Sonia asked.

“Sonia! Oh, I got so worried sick while I was waiting!” Mellisa sighed in relief, “Where are you by the way, friend?”

“Oh, I’m outside. I was in a call with my dad and- YEEEEOOUCH!!!” Sonia suddenly exclaimed.

“Oh my, Sonny, are you okay?”

“Yeah! Just a little… nick on the leg, if you know what I- KYAH!! -mean. Listen, uhh…. Wait at the front entrance of the mall, and I’ll see you there, okay?”

“Okay!” Mellisa agrees with a smile, “Bye, Sonia~!”

“Bye!” Sonia ends the call as she, and her pets, run for their lives. The scrowlers had multiplied to the dozens like an unstoppable army of cockroaches bursting out of your house walls! Now that’s a situation you don’t want…

“How we gonna stop these things?!?!?” Scruffles cried, clinging to Matthew’s back with her sharp claws. The trio then climb up a tall oak tree, clinging to one of the high branches. The scrowlers surround the oak tree, chirping their dangerous little chant. As our heroes hide within the tree, Matthew began to assess the situation. The yellow dog began to imply, “Physical attacks just seem to give them reason to multiply… But what could kill a beast that only multiplies?” Matthew observes the little creatures even further, finding that some of them were slowly melting from the tops of their heads. A light bulb pops up above Matthew’s head as he concludes, “That’s it!! The scrowlers love when their top’s mopped off, but hate extreme temperatures!”

“You mean…”

“We gotta melt ‘em!”

“But where’s a decent that always seems to emanate extreme temperatures…?” Matthew asks himself. Sonia and Scruffles then turn around to find a construction zone just a mile away with an open sewer pipe smack-dab in the center of the road.

“The sewers!” Scruffles shouts with joy.

“Eww… Do we have to…?” Sonia asked with disgust. Her pets however stare at her with a condescending attitude, making her groan. Sonia leans over and grabs Scruffles, placing the cat on her back, then is the first to jump down while Matthew follows suit. Sonia chucks her sword into the scrowler army to make a path for her and Matthew, and the trio immediately book it to the city. However, the scrowlers were on the prowl again, yelling, “Chik-chik! Chik! Chik! Chik!” as they charge towards Sonia and pals. The trio scream loudly as possible before flinging their legs around and speeding into a fast sprint.

Sonia and the others ran, ran, ran as fast as they could, but the scrowlers were very fast and very frequent, easily trailing behind Matthew and Scruffles. One of the lead gremlins even began jabbing poor Matthew on his backside. Scruffles sees his canine friend in deep pain and decides to take care of the situation. Running past a fruit shack, The black cat stretches her arm to grab some fruit from the local fruit stand and yelled, “Juiced in time, freaks!” then pelted the invasive leaders with dozens of fruit, slowing them down immensely. The heroes might have gained a proper lead, but Scruffles was running low on fruit ammo. Thankfully, they were almost to the sewers.

“Okay guys! I have a plan!” Sonia informed her pets.

“What’s the plan?!”

“First! We’re gonna-!!” CLANG!!! Sonia slams onto a “Construction Zone” sign. Matthew and Scruffles sprawl their legs, trying to screech to a halt, but end up flinging themselves over the manhole and into the sign post as well, knocking it and Sonia to the gravel floor. Scruffles and Matthew slowly get up, only to find the scrowlers charging closer to them. Matthew and Scruffles holler in fear as they were about to meet their doom. The scrowler army charged their way closer and closer, claws sharpened and ready to strike.

“CHIK! CHIK! CHIK! CHIKCHIKCHIKCHIKCHIKCHIKCHIKCHIKCHIK- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!” The scrowlers exclaim, plummeting down the manhole and into the humid sewers below. Once every last annoying scrowler fell into the boiling sewage, Matthew throws the manhole cover onto the hole, seals it in place, and assures that it will never open up. Scruffles wipes her brow in relief as Sonia picks herself up. Matthew presses his ear onto the manhole cover, listening to the evil little gremlins scream in total, boiling agony.

“My friends. I assume that we will not have to deal with such pesky pests ever again,” Matthew concludes. Scruffles and Sonia stand on the manhole cover and began to take ease that not only was the problem eradicated in record time, but the town didn’t get destroyed again. The celebration might have been too soon however, because the manhole cover began to shake violently as the trio stood atop it.

“Uh Oh…” Scruffles utters.

Back at the mall, Mellisa waits at the front entrance outside with all of her bags, diligently waiting for Sonia to come back. During her wait, she was in a phone call with Julianna, whom for a while has been enjoying the cruise she’s on so far. Unbeknownst to Mellisa, an explosion occurred from across town, flinging Sonia, her pets, and a manhole cover high into the air. Suddenly, KA-CRASH! The trio are drilled into one of the parking lot’s many grass fixtures. In surprise, Mellisa ends the call with Julianna then dashes to aid Sonia.

“There you are, Sonia!” Mellisa exclaimed as she pulled Sonia and her pets from out of the grass, “I waited patiently for you like you wanted.” A staggered Sonia stands up and started to brush the dirt off of herself. She obligatorily thanked the cheery latina for helping her and waiting for her too. However, Mellisa went silent. A blank look painted on Mellisa’s face as she stared at Sonia. A little creeped out, Sonia tried calling to Mellisa, asking if she’s okay. Mellisa then suddenly blurts out, “Saaaaaay… that’s my casual clothes I bought!” A drip of sweat falls from Sonia’s face like a caught delinquent. Sonia gets into a stuttery position as she tries to give a proper explanation to why she’s wearing Mellisa’s clothes. Mellisa, however, just began to giggle, stopping Sonia mid-sentence. The cheerful latina even compliments on how beautiful the outfit looks on Sonia, going so far that it even fits her dyed hair. Sonia rubs her arm, feeling embarrassed, covering her face with her long hair while she looks down at her sneakers, but her hiding isn’t making things better especially with her hair still smelling like fruit punch.

Sonia felt like a wreck and just wanted to go home and cry, but suddenly, two arms wrap around the confused redhead ginger. Mellisa was giving Sonia a loving hug, comforting the poor girl. Even with Sonia looking down, Mellisa proceeded to apologize for everything that happened today, from Cindy’s teasing to Sonia’s accident. The apologetic goofball of a girl even explained that she was just trying to keep Sonia from getting hurt and just wanted Sonia to spend the day. To Mellisa, things were different was her bestie, Julianna, wasn’t around, and because she and Mellisa never truly hung out together before, she wanted to make a good impression, but is unsure if things were working out. Mellisa looks down at herself, then slowly looks up at her again and asks her for forgiveness. In her heart, Sonia was still in ways a bit angry at Mellisa for today, but feeling the sincerity out of Mellisa’s apology slightly made up for it. The redhead ginger fixes her hair up, gently smiles and replies, “Ya’ know what? Water under the bridge.”

“Water under what bridge?” Mellisa questioned dumbfoundedly.

“No, ya’ goof! It means that I forgive you!” Sonia snickered, gently nudging Mellisa on the arm.

“Ohhhhh!” Mellisa replied with a laugh, “Your American analogies still go over my head.” The girls then began to have a laugh together, budding what could be a young, but heartfelt friendship between each other. During this sincere, fun laugh together, Mellisa says, “Hehehe, you know? We’ve been out here for so long that we missed the bus to go home! Hahahahhahaha!”

“Hahahahhahaha- eh!” Sonia stopped mid-laughter, “WHAT?! WE MISSED THE BUS!??!? OH MAN!!” Sonia hopped up and down in a panic, “My dad’s gonna kill me if he finds out I’m home late!” Mellisa grabbed the hopping redhead ginger and hops with her, stating, “So-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-nia-a-a-a-a-a-a-a! I’m! Sure! We! Can! Find! Our! Way! Home! If! We! Walk!” Mellisa explained with every hop. Sonia argues that they wouldn’t make it in time by just walking. It wouldn’t be fast enough.

Just then, a car horn was honked from the distance, alerting the two girls. Coming nearby was a sleek, white, modern convertible with dual headlights, a cutting-edge design, and tires that would make the Michelin Man jealous. The car parks in front of Sonia and Mellisa, then the windows roll down.

“Hey girls! What leaves two pretty young things like yourselves just sitting around out here?” The driver asks smoothly. Inside the car were a group of riders that consisted of three guys and two girls, all in their mid-teens. Mellisa walks up to the driver and happily introduces herself.

“Hello there! My name is Mellisa! And over there is my friend Sonia! We missed the bus and need to get home.” Mellisa happily obliges and explains.

“Friend?” the guy in the passenger seat next to the driver asks, taking a peek and whistling at Sonia’s good looks, “You mean that pretty little redhead over there?” Mellisa nods goofily as Sonia tries to look away and ignore their stares. The two guys look at each other then back to Mellisa, asking her, “Are you sure you girls wanna go home? We were just headed out to Tuesday’s to grab some grub and we were hoping that you’d like to join us.”

“Hmm… I am both parched and hungry,” Mellisa thought to herself. She then turns to Sonia, asking if she’s hungry. Sonia lies and says she isn’t, but her stomach makes a sudden, and quite loud, growl. The redhead ginger blushes some as she hides herself behind Mellisa. The guys ask the girls once more, giving them the puppy-dog stare to try and seal the deal. Mellisa giggles at their silly faces and accepts their offer while Sonia caves in and follows right behind her. The two friends hop into the convertible, get comfy in their seats and start driving off to Tuesday’s for a good meal.

“Hey! You forgot about us!!” Scruffles shouted, waving her fist at the distanced convertible, “Come back ‘ere, ya skinflint, signpost rammin’ dunderhead! COME BAAAAAAAACK!!” Finding that the car was far out of earshot for anyone to hear her, Scruffles groans, dropping her paw back down on the floor while she hunches over. Matthew chuckles as he pulls two collars from his back pocket and asks in a friendly manner, “Well. Better get our walk on, eh, ol’ chap?” as he hands Scruffles her collar. The peeved black cat droops her ears and tail in annoyance as she stares at the car drive away and puts her collar on. As the pets find Sonia and Mellisa out of distance, they turn around and start to walk home together. A manhole cover then crashes down into the middle of the parking lot, scaring the cat and dog and chasing them out of the mall area and on their way home.