Light Up My Heart *Super 8/Cary Love Story*

18:The Pyromaniac and The Shy Girl

As the four of us emerge from the hole, we see the destruction has finally stopped. But the strangeness isn't over yet, apparently. Metal objects of all kinds are lifting off the ground and flying toward the water tower.

"Why is the tower suddenly magnetic?" I ask Joe. He shrugs and him and Alice walk closer. Cary and I stay where we are and watch a car lift into the air.

"Hey Chloe," Cary whispers. I look over at him, but he's still watching everything fly toward the tower.

"Yeah?"

"I think I know what you have that belongs to the alien." He finally looks over at me and points down at my leg. I look down too and realize he's pointing at the metal.

Oh crap he's right.

As if on cue, a nearby truck's doors burst open and the little white cubes stream out into the air and toward the tower. I feel the same pain and tugging as I did a few days ago and fall to the ground. I tightly grip my leg and gasp in pain. Cary kneels down next to me, biting his lip and nervously looking at my leg.

"I'm sorry, Chloe," he says and moves my hands away.

"Cary, what are you doing?" I ask, starting to panic. He moves my pants leg up again and holds down my leg with my one hand.

"Cary! What the hell are you doing!?" I yell.

"I'm just sorry, okay? I'm doing this to help you," he reassures me, not looking me in the eye. He takes his other hand and touches the metal piece.

"No!" I beg. "Please don't! Cary, don't you dare-" I was cut off by Cary grabbing the metal piece and jerking it out. I cried out in pain and resisted my urge to hit Cary. He held up the piece of white metal, now red at the end, and let it go. It zoomed from his hand and toward the tower with the rest. He looks back at my leg and takes off his jacket. He rips a piece off and wraps it around my leg and then ties it with the string.

Finally, he looks up at me. The sorry and pain in his eyes screams at me. He didn't want to put me in pain, but he knew that the metal had to come out before the monster came over and ripped it out itself, killing me in the process. I take in a deep breath and touch his hand.

"Thank you," I say quietly. He nods and intertwines his fingers with mine. We hear a roar and see the monster climbing up the tower. The cubes swirl and form a rocket ship. Well, that's not something you see every day.

"Cary!" we both turn our heads and see his parents running over. He stands up as his Mom almost tackles him in a hug.

"Oh my baby! I heard that you were taken by the Air Force and I thought you were dead!" she bawls. She leans back and shakes his shoulders. "How could you be arrested by the Air Force? Don't you ever make me think you're dead ever again! It's horrible enough with you almost blowing yourself up everyday!" She begins to bawl again and hugs him tightly again.

Cary's Dad looks down at me and kneels down.

"Are you okay?" he asks. I nod and try not to cower away from his scary, deep voice.

"Can I ask you something?" I nod again.

"What are you and my son?" I bite my lip and glance over at Cary, who is busy being suffocated by his hysteric Mother.

"I don't know...but your son is honestly the most amazing person I've ever met," I confess. "Sir." He smiles at my addition of the word 'sir'.

"No need for that. You're always welcome at our house, Chloe. Both you and your Aunt." At the mention of my Aunt, I feel immense regret. How could I just leave her down there? She was so close to me....