Prom Dreams Side Story
Volume 4: Maggie Pham - “Deception”

by QZProductions

Loop Two, Day Three

Maggie frowned in annoyance as the phone continued to ring. Her grip tightened on the steering wheel - just who the hell does that loser think he is, making her wait like this?

“Tommy Pham Junior,” she grumbled under her breath, “if you don’t pick up the damn phone right this second, I’ll –”

She heard a clicking noise on the other end of the line; then, a familiar, apologetic voice.

“Sorry, sorry! I had it on silent!”

Maggie smirked. “Ha! Figures.” She turned on the speaker on her phone, snapped it into the holder on her dashboard, and continued to drive. “It’s okay, your sweet little sister forgives you. This time.”

Her brother laughed. “Gee, thanks,” he said. “…Anyway, how’s it going, Maggie? Doing well in school?”

“Oh, uh,” Maggie glanced to the side a bit, “you know, same old, same old.”

“And what’s that supposed to mean? Don’t tell me you’re still blowing off your – ”

“I-I’m not blowing off anything!” She rolled her eyes. “Come on, Tommy, you know I didn’t wind up with the smarts in the family - it’s not like everyone can be an honor roll kid like you!”

“I’m just saying, State’s not going to ignore your grades just because you’re good at basketball. If you want to keep that scholarship of yours, you’ve gotta focus!”

“Okay, Poindexter, okay! I get it! Geez!” Maggie scoffed. “You know, I didn’t exactly call so I could get the stereotypical Asian dad lecture from you…”

Tommy sighed. “I wasn’t trying to lecture you, Mags - I’m just looking out for you, you know?”

She scratched the back of her head. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Of course, she knew he meant well; he always did, even if it did always manage to embarrass her. She cleared her throat and began to change the subject. “Anyway, I, uh… I kinda need some advice. I mean, you may not be the best person to ask, but…”

She could practically hear his amusement from the end of the line. “You tell me not to ‘lecture’ you, and then you come asking for my help?”

“Will you stop being a smart-ass for two seconds and listen to me!?” Maggie felt her cheeks grow hot as she continued. “…Look, Tommy, I - there’s this guy, and he asked me to prom today.”

A sharp inhale could be heard, followed by a few seconds of awkward silence. “W-Wow, really? …Did you say yes?”

“Of course I said yes, you dolt! Otherwise I wouldn’t be calling you about it!”

“Er, well, that’s great, then!” He lowered his voice slightly. “…Have you told Dad yet?”

“Not until I know he won’t show up at the poor guy’s door with a Beretta M9.”

“Fair enough. So, then… what’s the problem, exactly?”

Maggie’s face fell slightly. “…I’m just not sure what I should do from here,” she said. “I’m so used to being 'one of the guys’ that I’m… not sure how to handle going out with one.”

She heard a thoughtful hum. “That’s right, this’ll be your first time, huh…”

“Don’t remind me.”

Tommy’s voice became warm and reassuring. "Heh… well, first tell me this - do you actually like this guy, Mags?“

She gulped. "Y…” Her lips curled into a small smile. “…Yeah. I’m not sure it happened, but… I do like him.”

“And you’re sure he likes you back?”

She had to think about his question for a moment. "Well, he’s a terrible liar, so… yeah, I would hope so.“

"In that case, he must have liked something about your rotten personality,” said Tommy with a hint of playfulness, “so I wouldn’t worry too much about it. Just take it slow, dress your best… and just be yourself, all right?”

“…Mm.” At that, Maggie began to gaze off into the road ahead of her, occupied by the twinge of guilt she could feel in her gut. “…But…”

“Huh? But what?”

“How can I really be myself around him… when I can’t even be completely honest with him?”

“Eh? …Wait, Maggie, what’s that supposed to mean? How are you not being – ”

Suddenly, her brother’s voice became choppy and distorted; then, after a moment, it dissolved completely into a mixture of static and buzzing. The sudden disruption caused Maggie to startle out of her reverie.

“Wha!?” She glanced at the phone attached to her dashboard. “Hello? Tommy? You still there…?” After a few more seconds of noise, Maggie grimaced and hung up. "Dammit,“ she muttered, "must’ve driven into a dead zone or something…”

Without warning, another noise caused Maggie to jump in her seat; this time, a loud thud on her windshield, along with a flash of black and a dark red splatter on the glass. She screamed, grabbing the steering wheel with both hands and forcing the car into a hard stop. She breathed heavily, her grip on the wheel still locked tight.

“Jesus Christ…!” she cried, staring at the crimson mess on her window. "The fuck was that!?“ She gently pulled the car into a nearby lot, set it to "park”, and fumbled to remove her seat belt. When she got out of the car, she was horrified to find black feathers lodged between the windshield and the hood.

“Shit…” Maggie circled around her car, looking around for any sign of the poor creature she’d hit, hoping that, at least, it would still be alive and able to be helped. Her hopes were dashed when she found the bird’s lifeless corpse just a few feet away - but her disappointment quickly turned into confusion when she inspected the grisly sight more closely.

She grabbed a nearby twig and turned the body over to confirm what she thought she saw: two awful, gaping, bloody wounds on either side of its torso.

“What… the…” she stammered, a feeling of dread suddenly manifesting in her chest. “where the hell are its wings…!?”