Luna set the book down heavily, letting out a quiet sigh.<i>Another story without a happy ending,</i>she thought to herself. These days, it seemed like every tale she picked up ended in destruction and despair. Prince Charmings fell on their swords, star-crossed lovers were torn apart, kingdoms crumbled over pointless squabbles. Really, it defeated the point - what was the point of a book if it all amounted to nothing? She’d heard people say, “it’s about the journey,” but she’d always thought the destination helped give it all meaning.<br/><br/>Shaking her head, she tucked a strand of her brown hair behind an ear and sipped at the last bit of her vanilla milkshake. It had been warm for at least half an hour - more vanilla-flavoured milk than a milkshake, but she wasn’t complaining.<i>And now you have no excuse not to study.</i>She pursed her lips and idly poked at the bottom of the glass with her straw.<i>Come on, new excuse... come on, new excuse... “I’m sorry, professor, I got so distracted by a book I couldn’t study for psychology this week.”</i>She smiled; that wouldn’t work at all, even though it was true.<br/><br/>She laid her head on the table, her teal eyes watching people rush by just over the fence that separated the sidewalk from the diner’s outdoor awning. For a moment, despite all the people around her, she felt very alone.<br/><br/>Then the dog walked by.<br/><br/>At first, she didn’t really think anything of it. Stray dogs weren’t unheard of - maybe if she was lucky, it would be hungry enough to eat her psychology textbook. It was only a puppy - brown and wrinkly with huge brown eyes - but it seemed to be walking with just as much purpose as any of the people walking by.<i>That’s cute,</i>she thought, and smiled.<br/><br/>Wait - had she just...? She blinked, lifting her head from the table, and looked at the puppy again. For a second, she’d seen the most peculiar thing; it had looked like the dog had three heads, the other two barely visible, but there. At first, she just wanted to shrug and chalk it up to too many books, but a strange curiosity had awakened in her heart.<br/><br/>With wide eyes, she tucked the book into her pack and set uneasily after the dog.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>