Carly sat alone at the table. The room buzzed with students. She watched Nicole, surrounded by the older girls, walk straight out of the cafeteria. Her friend did not look back as they headed toward the cemetery. Carly wanted to scream, to run to the first staff member she could find and turn Nicole in. Let her sit alone in the office, she thought.

He was a knight in shining armor rescuing her from an old maid existence. She never mentioned the fact her money allowed him to retire immediately after the wedding and spend each afternoon at the Cricket Club playing Dominoes and Bridge before coming home snookered just in time to pour their five o’clock cocktails after she had arrived home from work.

Humanity fractured and diverged across colonized space. Those who remained on Earth to weather a turbulent climate were wholly unique and different from those who settled upon the moon many generations ago. The ebb of evolution adapted to these new climates. Languages changed, and words that seemed so important on Earth disappeared on lunar soil, where they proved to be worthless.

This nightmare repeated each night before Mom and Dad left for New York City. The same set of headlights shined from the car as it roared down the alley. I hid in the same place in each dream, heard the same noises and felt the presence of the menacing figure who found me just as I woke up.