Life is unpredictable. Something so impossible can happen in a second and turn your life for the better or for the worse. For example, some dude might have just won the lottery right this second (what a lucky son of a bitch) or perhaps someone in the world just died and in that same moment, someone else might have been born. With so many factors, no one can predict the future except for Professor Trelawny, of course.

Nice Harry Potter reference, November. I can be so clever sometimes.

I suppose what I'm trying to say through all this rambling is that we don't know what might happen in the next second or day or year. But then again, I really wasn't thinking any of this when I burned my left eyebrow off. I was thinking something along the lines of, 'Hey, why isn't this propane grill turning on?' when a fiery blast from the depths of hell erupted in my face and singed my eyebrow clean off.

And I mean like, completely off. Right down to my sad little eyebrow roots. When I got over the initial shock of having Satan's fart blast my face, I raised a hand and touched the area where my sad little eyebrow should have been and my sad little eyebrow was not where it was.

"Oh, no. My eyebrow." I frowned.

Then what had just happened finally assembled itself in a way that I could understand the full consequence of what just happened and I freaked. Turning the grill off, I ran inside the house with my fingers clamped over my sad little missing eyebrow and went to the bathroom mirror.

Okay, let's think this through in a rational way, November. Your left eyebrow is gone and you look like something from a horror movie. No problem. It's totally fine.

"Oh my God, Fern!" I shrieked my sister's name and ran out of the bathroom, nearly tripping over the threshold. Seventeen years in this house and I still wasn't used to the thresholds, dammit. I searched for my older sister in a panic and found her propped up on the couch surrounded by pillows, a box of Golden Puffs cereal on the table in all of her almost nine month pregnant glory. I was supposed to be cooking dinner because Fern was a hormonal mess.

"November, what?" Fern grumbled. "It was just getting to the good part." She was watching Adventure Time on the television. "Why are you holding your face?"

I removed my hand. "My eyebrow is gone."

She took one look at me and burst into squeals of laughter. I stood in the living room doorway, still depressed over losing my eyebrow. I didn't even have good eyebrows to begin with, but at least they were there. Fern's swelled stomach moved in rhythm with her shaking shoulders. I waited until she stopped laughing.

"Fern, this isn't funny."

"You look ridiculous, November." She grabbed her phone. "Hold on, I have to take a picture." Fern began laughing again.

"What am I supposed to do?" I cried. "Do you have makeup or something? I can't just go out like this. I have school tomorrow, Fern. How long does it even take an eyebrow to grow back? Probably months! Jesus Christ, stop laughing. This is a serious situation." I rubbed the skin where my eyebrow should have been.

When Fern stopped laughing, she managed to answer, "On my dresser, there's some of that eyebrow filling. It's a bit darker than your other eyebrow- oh God, you look so stupid-" She held back her laughter when I glared at her "-but it'll be fine until your eyebrow grows back. I can't believe- November, how did this even happen?"

"Your stupid grill is missing the switch to-"

"You know what else is missing?" Fern interrupted with a chuckle.

"My eyebrow, I know." I rolled my eyes.

"Your eyebrow!" Fern answered, laughing again.

"Ugh." I sighed, still not over the fact that I just lost an entire eyebrow in less than five seconds. I walked back upstairs and into Fern's room to get the makeup. Angrily drawing my eyebrow back in, I stared at myself in the mirror.

Wow, it did not look natural whatsoever. One half of my face looked like I was attacked with a black Crayola and the other half of my face was still normal-looking, I suppose.

"Fern." I went back downstairs. It was almost midnight and we still hadn't eaten dinner. Her husband came home in an hour. I grabbed a jacket and some shoes along the way. She was still sitting in the exact spot I last saw her in. "I'm going to get us something to eat. After what happened, I will never step into a kitchen again- why are you laughing? Stop it, Fern!"

She was laughing so hard she had trouble speaking. "I-I'm sorry! You just look so stupid, November. Did you use a Sharpie? I thought I told you to use the makeup in my room-"

"No, I did not use Sharpie!" I defended myself hotly. "Like I said, I'll be back in ten minutes. I'll just drive through that one Chinese place you like."

"November, it's midnight. I don't think they're open." Fern replied, already over making fun of me. Now that she was done laughing, she turned back to the television screen where a commercial for Activia was playing. Wow, Jamie Lee Curtis must have some serious bowel issues.

I was halfway out the door. "I'll just find something place else then. Ten minutes, Fern. Please don't burn the house down or anything."

Thankfully, it was dark out. It always was where we lived. Our town of Ivey saw more rain than sunshine. It was one of the reasons why I was desperate to leave Ivey. I wanted the big city experience instead of the "OMG, we've known each other so long that I'm pretty sure I've pooped in your bathroom before" kinda thing.

I got into my car and started the engine. After a minute of driving in silence, I reached over and switched the radio on. A female announcer's voice filled the interior as I drove on the empty dark roads. There was no moon out tonight. Making my way downtown, I half-listened to the radio and half-thought about my left eyebrow, which I was beginning to miss. It was true when people say you don't know the value of something until it's gone.

My sad little left eyebrow. Oh, how I miss you.

"-Crow affiliation and activities are on the rise. Police and local authorities were notified about suspicious activities in Sector 13 of the East End. Three bodies were found in the fourth floor at 8 a.m. this evening, found dead on scene. Suspects have not been apprehended yet."

I frowned. Sector 13 wasn't that far off from Ivey, about a two hour drive away from our house.

The Crows were a criminal organization, most famous for successfully smuggling ten tons of fresh cocaine into the United States, disguised as barrels of sugar, five years ago without ever being caught or found. They were based off somewhere in Chicago but had been making their way into Canada, last I heard. The Crows were one of the most mysterious and wanted gangs in all of the US, with crimes that even media couldn't believe had happened if it wasn't for the proof that was sometimes leaked online.

They were a big deal last year when some Crow members killed a North Korean politician they had beef with. Owed them money or something and didn't deliver, was all the public was told. The second most important thing that I went through last year was when we ran out of strawberry Poptarts and Wal-Mart was closed for a week. Oh, the horror.

"Selma Kushak, Victor Kraun, and Angelo Martin were discovered dead with several bullet wounds in each. Kushak, Kraun, and Martin have had ties with the Crows with a few connections made by the Central Intelligence Agency three years ago. The Crows' leader, 23 year old Cage Vickers, is still nowhere to be found after ten years of searching. Police and FBI are working together to put an end to the Crow's reign of terror in Ivey."

Ivey? What were they doing in Ivey? The most exciting thing that had ever happened in this town, other than the Crows, was the talent show the town council tried to put on last year until a fire dancer set the school stage on fire during her performance.

"Ivey police officer Angelo Martin, working undercover with Chicago Police Department, was one of the three bodies found. A heroin trade with the Crows and Indigos, based in Los Angeles, were suspected to be the ones in Sector 13. Reports and details are still coming in. For more information, tune in tomorrow morning at 9. And now, American Oxygen by Rihanna."

Fern was right. There were barely any fast food chains open. After circling around like an idiot for a while, I parked in the back lot of a Chinese restaurant and bought some soup with sandwiches. By the time I got the food, it was past ten minutes. Hurrying back to the car, I opened the back door to put the food in, nearly peeing my Avengers pajamas when a police car whipped by.

I stood frozen watching the car hurtle down the road, the lights throwing all of the buildings around it in a strange hue of blue and red. Maybe if I stood still, he wouldn't see me. Hey, wait a minute. Why should I care if the policeman saw me? It's not like anyone was looking for me. I was just a little human with one eyebrow missing trying to get home before my pregnant sister started crying. Duh, November.

I set the food down onto the car floor. My butt was sticking up into the air as I did this. Self conscious, I straightened up even though there was absolutely no one around. Well, there were those four big guys running down the street, heading straight for where I stood. But other than that, no one.

As they neared, I began to panic. Why were they running? Who were they? What would it feel like to sit in a bathtub full of Skittles? As the dark figures neared, I could make something else running behind the four guys. It was a large German Shepard with an Ivey police dog collar around its neck streaking through the night. Completely bewildered, it did not settle in my head that I should probably get out of the way and get back home to Fern until they were about ten feet away from where I stood.

One of the men, someone very tall in a black jacket, pulled something out of his back pocket and then, right in front of my animal-loving eyes, shot the dog.

My mouth dropped open as the dog stumbled off the road, its howls of pain ringing through the dark night. Okay, let's not panic. Let's think this through in a rational, sensible way. A man just killed a police dog, which I was willing to bet was completely, totally, and utterly illegal. And they were heading straight for me.

Don't panic, November. I'm sure there was a completely reasonable explanation for all of this.

I panicked.

Jumping into the backseat of my car, I waited patiently for the men to pass by. My heart was beating loud enough that I could hear it over the heavy footfalls. Why did he shoot a dog? Okay, maybe it was chasing them. But killing it? Damn, this was turning out to be a terrible night. Even worse, Fern would be mad at me for taking so long.

The men did not pass.

In fact, they did the completely opposite thing.

They opened the doors to my car and slid in.