Wednesday 04 August 1999 22:23, Lawndale USA, Daria Morgendorffer's POV
Several beams from a bush lit up and then shut back off.
"Did we just see a UFO?" my friend, Jane Lane, asked me.
"You're getting paranoid," I replied, pushing my glasses back up to my face, "It's probably just an informal get-together of local stalkers. You know, hang out, swap stories, try out each other's skeleton keys."
"But only an idiot would go stalking with a flashlight."
"Come on. This is Lawndale."
"Oh yeah."
We each took another step as the beams of light from the bush returned and started moving.
"Oh God," I said, taking a step back with Jane.
The bush started strobing, so we started running further down the sidewalk.
"Dammit, what's going on here?"
I tripped on my boot and fell, but Jane couldn't get back to me in time. I noticed a flash of light before I was sent somewhere else.
"DARIA!!"
That was it.
Same time and date, Morgendorffer Residence, Helen Morgendorffer's POV
"No coffee? At a time like this!? Our daughter's an ATOMIC COMMUNIST!!!!!"
"For the love of God, Jake! Can we move on from the coffee already? And Daria isn't a communist."
A bright flash of light shone for a moment, then everything went back to normal.
"What was that?"
"Daria's got nukes from Russia, Helen!"
"Oh God," I said, rolling my eyes.