6

~Alaya

I was jostled awake by someone pulling at my feet.

Pulling my legs up to my chest, I groan in protest at Sky's use of her key way of waking me up back when we were kids. She grabs the edge of my duvet before I could pull it straight over my head. My head aches too much for sunlight today.

"Wake up, would you?" Sky prompts, yanking the sheets right to the edge of the bed so I was exposed.

I raised my head to glower at her before I shoved it back into the pillow.

"We need to talk about last night," Sky insists. This actually sinks in, causing me to finally raise myself up enough to give her my full attention. Last night was the party, full of dancing and clear liquid and...I can't really remember. I don't even remember how I got home, which means I must have gotten blackout drunk.

Which most definitely isn't like me.

"Last night," I test my voice. It sounds hoarse, as if I slept with my mouth open. Last night really left me in a strange state. "How did I get home?"

Sky rolls her eyes at me, pushing herself off the bed. She makes her way toward the dresser, opening it to pull out a pair of sweatpants. At the sight of them, I realise I'm only in my bra and underwear, which means Sky must have undressed me. Usually I would do that for her when she would come home drunk when we were teenagers. It feels odd to be in her position.

"They drove us home? Don't you remember?" she asks, frowning slightly as she turns to toss the pants over at me.

"No," I say, pushing my hair back in confusion. "I don't remember anything. All I remember is us dancing then everything kind of went...blank."

I remember clearly the dancing we did. We felt like children, prancing around the floor with all those rich people, not a care in the world on our side. Then Sky abandoned me, and I walked over to the bar. The moment I sat down there, everything went blank, and for the life of me, I can't begin to think of what happened past that point till now.

"You must have drunk more than I thought," Sky says breezily, dismissing my confusion.

"You know I do remember you ditching me out there," I remind her, narrowing my eyes as I hop out of bed. I'm planning to shower since I still smell like the party.

Sky sighed, looking guilty. "I had things to do."

"Things to do? What could be so important that you had to leave your sister on her own to get drunk and do who knows what?" I question, the irritation in my voice hopefully getting through to her. I may have wandered off and done something I would regret if I was sober, and now I will never know, since my sister decided I could handle myself.

It was Sky's confused expression that cut through my thoughts. "I think someone told me I had to dance."

"Told you?"

"Yeah. I just remember dancing all night long, and then you came to me and told me we had to leave, which I agreed with. My feet are still killing me."

Strange. That's all I could think about that.

"We witnessed the party, and that's all anyone has to hear about. Anyways, don't you have an audition to practice for?" Sky says before walking out the door. That kicks me into action. If I don't get these lines down then I'll spending the rest of this year as poor as I have been this year.

I'm just going to have to forget the party ever happened.

•••

A year later.

"It's been a year, Carter," I say irritably. "It's time for me to move on."

My best friend walked backwards in front of me, not caring for the people he got in the way of who probably need to be somewhere important. He held his coffee in his hand. The usual for him, of course.

"You made it on TV!" he reminds me, while I shake my head at him.

"That was once like a year ago, and plus, my boss is a douche."

Carter is trying to convince me to keep my job in a commercial actor based industry I had auditioned for a year ago, and managed to make it in. After doing one commercial, I was moved to main street where I bought my first proper apartment and started really working. Turns out, keeping an acting job is as hard as getting one in the Desire Pack, and I was soon transferred to doing paperwork.

I hated it, but it paid the bills. Now, I'm planning on finding another job in theatre, which was what I planned originally, but my lack of confidence completely blew it for me.

This time will be different.

"You know I care about you-"

I had seen it coming, however, I was too amused to warn Cater before it happened. He bumped straight into a darkly dressed man who held a stack of flyers in his arms. The moment him and Carter collided, the flyers went everywhere, landing across the sidewalk at my feet, and some even managed to reach the road.

An ensemble of apologies came out of Carter's mouth as he stooped down to collect the flyers for the suited man. As I joined in, I realised they were flyers for Alpha Asher's party, which is tomorrow.

A year ago today I was getting ready to audition for my current job.

The flyers are exactly the same, with the same mantra printed on this time, a forest green paper. It smells like it too. They like to change it up every year, with the rose coloured paper last year that smelt like blueberries. I'm glad that part of my life is over. I spent the next three months trying to remember what happened that night.

The suited man takes the paper from me as I stand back up again. Then he pauses as we meet gazes. I can practically see myself in the shallow depths of his dark eyes.Tearing away from my gaze, he takes a flyer from the middle and hands it to me. The smile he painted on his face made me a little wary.

"Hope you applied for a invitation!" he said warmly, before turning and walking away.

My fingers dug into the paper as I watched him walk away. I don't even think I am eligible to go again. Not that Alpha Asher would pick me again.

I'm not sure what compelled me to turn the flyer over, but I did.

In the bottom left corner, in hand-written italic print, which was shockingly familiar, was a little note.

Forget something?

~A

My heart stopped at the sight of it. So many excuses for how it got there came to. Some unbelievably unrealistic ones were in there too, which I dismiss. This has to have something to do with the fact that I can't remember what happened at the part. But it's been a year, and the likelihood of me getting a random flyer with a note like that on it is low. Impossibly low.

Looking up, I'm ready to chase after the suited man. Instead, I see he's gone.

"Everything okay?" Carter asks, concerned.

I scrunch up the flyer in my hand instantly. If he found out, he would drag me to the police and try file a case for a stalker. He hasn't had the best year, and I'm not about to add to it with all the strange things in my own life.

"You know," he drawls. "You still haven't told me about the party last year. I never saw you."

"Hey, I have to get home before dark. Is that okay? I promise I will see you tomorrow," I assure him, backing up a few steps. He gives me the look that spells out the fact that he knows I am lying, and that I'm evading the question, as usual, although, he lets me go.

My walk home is short. I live on main street now, which is close to my work. No one bothers me on my walk, as I concentrate on what is plaguing my mind. I've come to the conclusion that this is someone messing with me, so I'm going to ignore it. Soon they will get bored and leave me alone if I just continue on with my life.

It was just so uncanny. The way that man chose the exact poster.

There letter on my doorstep when I made it back home. Whoever delivered it could have put it in my mailbox. As I pick it up, I see there is nothing addressed to me to me on the front, but I know if someone went to the trouble of leaving it on my doorstep, it couldn't have been an accident.

There isn't even a return address, although I already know who sent me this. The forest green colour of the envelope spells it out enough.

I step inside before I open it. I don't want my neighbours to see anything that might start a round of gossip. The moment the door closed behind me, I pull it open, sliding the satiny soft letter out from inside out. My heart races at the idea of what might be inside, while at the same time, I'm apprehensive.

Formal Invitation

Dear Alaya Thorne,

You have been selected to attend Alpha Asher's party on the 14th.

This invitation gives you access to all floors.

Please reveal the invitation to the Guards at the main door, and no one else.

We hope to see you,

Alpha Asher and his Team.

As soon as my eyes grazed across the last line, I flipped the paper over.

See you tonight.

Maybe this time, you'll see me too.

~A