Chapter One:
Part IV:
"...Reese? Reese." Alethea's voice crawled its way under Reese's sleep-induced coma and began to kick her back into reality. "Reese. Love, wake up."
"Mmm." Reese rolled over on her bed. She had just dropped there to plan where all of her posters would be meticulously placed.... Her neck ached deeply. "How... long have I been..." A yawn interrupted her sentence.
"I'm not sure. Perhaps an hour? Possibly less."
She stretched and rolled around to her stomach. Alethea was standing in the doorway. It was strange, waking up in a new room. The windows still let in daylight, so that was positive as far as Reese was concerned. With effort, she sat up. The Sandman still inhabited the corners of her eyes, and left a haze sitting still over her brain.
"Love, you alright?"
It took effort for her to focus her eyes on the Brit. "Uh, yeah. Just... some crazy dream."
"Dream?" Casey's voice echoed from the hallway, coming closer. "You were sleeping!?" His words dripped with sarcasm. Suddenly his head popped in dramatically between Alethea's hip and the white doorframe. "I'm ashamed." His head vanished.
Alethea shook hers. "Ignore him. He's in one of his... moods."
"I heard that!" Casey's voice echoed again in the hall, this time in the opposite direction.
Reese finally was absorbing everything. What was that she was thinking about? A dream? What... some kind of... Reese frowned. She couldn't remember. "Go figure.." she mumbled to herself.
"What was that?" Alethea was still standing there. Worry crossed her brows.
"Ahh. Nothin'. Just, mumbling to myself." Reese blushed. She suddenly realized that Alethea's overalls were covered in deep grime. Alethea caught the look and blushed herself.
"Yeah. It is... fairly dirty out there. We started to clean the cellar. It has not been used in years it seems. Probably because everyone's afraid of it..." She wiped her hand on the denim and frowned when the grime merely spread itself around. She shrugged. "It's nice, however. We could really make it into something. Personally," again, she tried to wipe the grime on different section of her clothing. To no avail. "I'd like to make it a Sitting Room--"
"Drawing Room!" Nikole announced as she walked swiftly past.
"--But, everyone seems to have their own ideas. What about you?"
Reese finally stood and stretched. "I dunno. Practice studio?" Alethea made a face. "I haven't seen it yet."
"Your room is coming along nicely."
"Oh, come on in. Geez. You and your manners." Reese mocked.
Alethea stepped inside and admired the organization of everything. "How long will this last?"
Reese threw a pillow at the unsuspecting back of her best friend. "Forever!" she cried triumphantly. Alethea merely picked up the pillow, fluffed it, and returned it to its rightful home.
"You music majors. So dramatic."
"Come ON!!" Nikole's whine could be heard all the way from the front of the house.
Alethea smiled to herself. "Sorry. I forgot. Dinner." Reese was abruptly aware of the scent of warm, fresh, pizza. "We ordered your favorite..."
The two young women made their way between a labyrinth of boxes. More than once, they had to backtrack out of dead ends filled with Styrofoam, bed parts, and boxes too tall and too heavy. All of their belongings had been shipped in advance because they couldn't move furniture on the monorail. Arlington was a metropolis, but the concept of an individual motor vehicle was almost a joke. Public transportation reigned. Only the wealthiest, or the stupidest, had cars. It made life a lot easier for the largest city on the continent.
Downstairs, the pizza boxes were already open. Casey had his mouth open and a piece of pizza, complete with dripping cheese, dangled over his head for the first bite. He froze when they came down. "I'm hungry."
Ethan laughed. "You're always hungry."
Casey shrugged and lowered the pizza into his mouth. "Mmm." was all that escaped his chewing lips.
"I christen thee!" Reese grabbed a piece of pineapple and cheese pizza and raised it in the air. "Kitchen and all around dining area!" Everyone else joined her, raising slices of pepperoni, veggy and plain cheese likewise. It was a toast: together, they all took their first bite. Casey continued chewing.
For a few moments, they chewed in silence. Everyone had been working really hard, and they needed the energy boost. Ethan was sweat stained from putting furnature together and moving it once assembled because it "didn't quite work right there". Alethea and Casey were both caked in dust, dirt, and unnamable filth that grew in the basement. And Nikole looked like she always did after painting. Perhaps that's because she was the only one dressed properly for making a mess.
"So. This dream," Casey managed between bites, "Tell us about it."
"I don't really remember it." Reese shrugged.
"Pish posh!" Alethea shot Casey a look. He was good at impersonating her and the British slang she brought with her. He just laughed as he reached for his third slice of pizza. "Hm. Might need more pizza."
"Well. I do remember hearing my voice. Someone... something... I dunno. I think something was talking to me?" Reese shrugged. She really could barely remember the dream. Just a feeling of warmth. She wished she had brought her sweatshirt downstairs. It was cold.
"That was probably just us," Ethan said. "We had been looking for you. You just... vanished."
"But, you're known for falling asleep at random places, Reese. So, we went Reese scavenger hunting! Why don't you ever develop proper sleeping habits?" Nikole queried.
"Look at the pot calling the kettle black." Alethea murmured behind her veggies.
"I heard that!" Nikole threw her crumpled napkin across the room. "I am not the open subject of conversation! Reese is." Nikole turned her head swiftly in a mocking manner. "Well, Ms. Studebaker?"
"Studebaker?" Reese laughed. "Where did that come from?"
"I don't know! I just made it up..." Nikole looked around her post, sitting on the kitchen counter next to the pizza. "Damn! Where has all my ammunition gone! Pizza is too valuable."
"The point is, Reese has been sleeping while we have all been working to make this shithole livable. What do we do?"
"Oh, you have no right to be complaining a lack of assistance, Casey." Alethea scoffed. "I've been helping you myself."
"Ah, but she hasn't been helping anyone." Casey retorted.
"You are the one who wanted us to get this "shithole"," Alethea made quotation marks with her hands in the air. "Stop complaining."
"We're all tired. It's been a long day." Ethan interjected. Always the peacekeeper.
"Yes. It has..." Nikole agreed.
They all agreed. Moving and cleaning and unpacking and travel were all difficult. Unspoken peace settled as they sat to finished the last of their pizza.
Alethea was the first to break their silence. "I fear this task will never be completed..."
"Of course it will. It will just take time." Ethan comforted.
"Pish Posh!!" Alethea shot Casey another vampiric look. He ignored it. "We'll be done before you know it! Then imagine. The friends. The alcohol. The parties..." he approached Ethan's chair from behind and firmly placed his hand on Ethan's shoulder. Casey dropped his voice to a slightly seductive whisper, "The studying."
"Speaking of," Reese interjected, "What are we going to do with the basement?"
Alethea was gathering paper plates from everyone for the trash, and had begun wrapped the leftovers in aluminum foil. "I still say we need a Sitting Room."
"'Sitting Room' is so dull, 'Thea." Casey whined.
"Oh, and turning it into a gigantic practice room isn't?" Nikole retorted. Casey grinned and shrugged. His charm was unbearable at times.
"A Sitting Room. A... a... what do you bloody Americans call it. A... living room?"
"GAMING ROOM!" At once Nikole and Casey stood up.
"Oh! We can put the couch down there and the stereo..." Nikole bantered on.
"I have all my games, and I can get the pads sent up here when my speakers and music come..." Casey tiraded.
"Well. Sitting Room it is then. Yes?" Ethan smiled.
"That wasn't too difficult." Reese sat down again after helping Alethea put everything away.
"What are you doing, sitting down!?" Nikole exclaimed. "Get up! We must clean this basement! It must be golden! It will be our haven!"
"Our sanity and party house!" Casey seconded, standing himself.
Just like that, the two of them vanished. A pause and silence watched them leave.
"You think we should help a little?" Reese questioned.
Alethea was sitting down again at the table with a glass of water. "You go ahead and do that, Sleeping Beauty. I need a longer break."
"A Sitting Room, eh? For video games, and TV, and parties and the like?"
"If that's what you want. Yes." Alethea nodded.
"Awesome. This year will be a year never to forget."
Word Count:
5,387 / 50,000
(10.0%)
"...Reese? Reese." Alethea's voice crawled its way under Reese's sleep-induced coma and began to kick her back into reality. "Reese. Love, wake up."
"Mmm." Reese rolled over on her bed. She had just dropped there to plan where all of her posters would be meticulously placed.... Her neck ached deeply. "How... long have I been..." A yawn interrupted her sentence.
"I'm not sure. Perhaps an hour? Possibly less."
She stretched and rolled around to her stomach. Alethea was standing in the doorway. It was strange, waking up in a new room. The windows still let in daylight, so that was positive as far as Reese was concerned. With effort, she sat up. The Sandman still inhabited the corners of her eyes, and left a haze sitting still over her brain.
"Love, you alright?"
It took effort for her to focus her eyes on the Brit. "Uh, yeah. Just... some crazy dream."
"Dream?" Casey's voice echoed from the hallway, coming closer. "You were sleeping!?" His words dripped with sarcasm. Suddenly his head popped in dramatically between Alethea's hip and the white doorframe. "I'm ashamed." His head vanished.
Alethea shook hers. "Ignore him. He's in one of his... moods."
"I heard that!" Casey's voice echoed again in the hall, this time in the opposite direction.
Reese finally was absorbing everything. What was that she was thinking about? A dream? What... some kind of... Reese frowned. She couldn't remember. "Go figure.." she mumbled to herself.
"What was that?" Alethea was still standing there. Worry crossed her brows.
"Ahh. Nothin'. Just, mumbling to myself." Reese blushed. She suddenly realized that Alethea's overalls were covered in deep grime. Alethea caught the look and blushed herself.
"Yeah. It is... fairly dirty out there. We started to clean the cellar. It has not been used in years it seems. Probably because everyone's afraid of it..." She wiped her hand on the denim and frowned when the grime merely spread itself around. She shrugged. "It's nice, however. We could really make it into something. Personally," again, she tried to wipe the grime on different section of her clothing. To no avail. "I'd like to make it a Sitting Room--"
"Drawing Room!" Nikole announced as she walked swiftly past.
"--But, everyone seems to have their own ideas. What about you?"
Reese finally stood and stretched. "I dunno. Practice studio?" Alethea made a face. "I haven't seen it yet."
"Your room is coming along nicely."
"Oh, come on in. Geez. You and your manners." Reese mocked.
Alethea stepped inside and admired the organization of everything. "How long will this last?"
Reese threw a pillow at the unsuspecting back of her best friend. "Forever!" she cried triumphantly. Alethea merely picked up the pillow, fluffed it, and returned it to its rightful home.
"You music majors. So dramatic."
"Come ON!!" Nikole's whine could be heard all the way from the front of the house.
Alethea smiled to herself. "Sorry. I forgot. Dinner." Reese was abruptly aware of the scent of warm, fresh, pizza. "We ordered your favorite..."
The two young women made their way between a labyrinth of boxes. More than once, they had to backtrack out of dead ends filled with Styrofoam, bed parts, and boxes too tall and too heavy. All of their belongings had been shipped in advance because they couldn't move furniture on the monorail. Arlington was a metropolis, but the concept of an individual motor vehicle was almost a joke. Public transportation reigned. Only the wealthiest, or the stupidest, had cars. It made life a lot easier for the largest city on the continent.
Downstairs, the pizza boxes were already open. Casey had his mouth open and a piece of pizza, complete with dripping cheese, dangled over his head for the first bite. He froze when they came down. "I'm hungry."
Ethan laughed. "You're always hungry."
Casey shrugged and lowered the pizza into his mouth. "Mmm." was all that escaped his chewing lips.
"I christen thee!" Reese grabbed a piece of pineapple and cheese pizza and raised it in the air. "Kitchen and all around dining area!" Everyone else joined her, raising slices of pepperoni, veggy and plain cheese likewise. It was a toast: together, they all took their first bite. Casey continued chewing.
For a few moments, they chewed in silence. Everyone had been working really hard, and they needed the energy boost. Ethan was sweat stained from putting furnature together and moving it once assembled because it "didn't quite work right there". Alethea and Casey were both caked in dust, dirt, and unnamable filth that grew in the basement. And Nikole looked like she always did after painting. Perhaps that's because she was the only one dressed properly for making a mess.
"So. This dream," Casey managed between bites, "Tell us about it."
"I don't really remember it." Reese shrugged.
"Pish posh!" Alethea shot Casey a look. He was good at impersonating her and the British slang she brought with her. He just laughed as he reached for his third slice of pizza. "Hm. Might need more pizza."
"Well. I do remember hearing my voice. Someone... something... I dunno. I think something was talking to me?" Reese shrugged. She really could barely remember the dream. Just a feeling of warmth. She wished she had brought her sweatshirt downstairs. It was cold.
"That was probably just us," Ethan said. "We had been looking for you. You just... vanished."
"But, you're known for falling asleep at random places, Reese. So, we went Reese scavenger hunting! Why don't you ever develop proper sleeping habits?" Nikole queried.
"Look at the pot calling the kettle black." Alethea murmured behind her veggies.
"I heard that!" Nikole threw her crumpled napkin across the room. "I am not the open subject of conversation! Reese is." Nikole turned her head swiftly in a mocking manner. "Well, Ms. Studebaker?"
"Studebaker?" Reese laughed. "Where did that come from?"
"I don't know! I just made it up..." Nikole looked around her post, sitting on the kitchen counter next to the pizza. "Damn! Where has all my ammunition gone! Pizza is too valuable."
"The point is, Reese has been sleeping while we have all been working to make this shithole livable. What do we do?"
"Oh, you have no right to be complaining a lack of assistance, Casey." Alethea scoffed. "I've been helping you myself."
"Ah, but she hasn't been helping anyone." Casey retorted.
"You are the one who wanted us to get this "shithole"," Alethea made quotation marks with her hands in the air. "Stop complaining."
"We're all tired. It's been a long day." Ethan interjected. Always the peacekeeper.
"Yes. It has..." Nikole agreed.
They all agreed. Moving and cleaning and unpacking and travel were all difficult. Unspoken peace settled as they sat to finished the last of their pizza.
Alethea was the first to break their silence. "I fear this task will never be completed..."
"Of course it will. It will just take time." Ethan comforted.
"Pish Posh!!" Alethea shot Casey another vampiric look. He ignored it. "We'll be done before you know it! Then imagine. The friends. The alcohol. The parties..." he approached Ethan's chair from behind and firmly placed his hand on Ethan's shoulder. Casey dropped his voice to a slightly seductive whisper, "The studying."
"Speaking of," Reese interjected, "What are we going to do with the basement?"
Alethea was gathering paper plates from everyone for the trash, and had begun wrapped the leftovers in aluminum foil. "I still say we need a Sitting Room."
"'Sitting Room' is so dull, 'Thea." Casey whined.
"Oh, and turning it into a gigantic practice room isn't?" Nikole retorted. Casey grinned and shrugged. His charm was unbearable at times.
"A Sitting Room. A... a... what do you bloody Americans call it. A... living room?"
"GAMING ROOM!" At once Nikole and Casey stood up.
"Oh! We can put the couch down there and the stereo..." Nikole bantered on.
"I have all my games, and I can get the pads sent up here when my speakers and music come..." Casey tiraded.
"Well. Sitting Room it is then. Yes?" Ethan smiled.
"That wasn't too difficult." Reese sat down again after helping Alethea put everything away.
"What are you doing, sitting down!?" Nikole exclaimed. "Get up! We must clean this basement! It must be golden! It will be our haven!"
"Our sanity and party house!" Casey seconded, standing himself.
Just like that, the two of them vanished. A pause and silence watched them leave.
"You think we should help a little?" Reese questioned.
Alethea was sitting down again at the table with a glass of water. "You go ahead and do that, Sleeping Beauty. I need a longer break."
"A Sitting Room, eh? For video games, and TV, and parties and the like?"
"If that's what you want. Yes." Alethea nodded.
"Awesome. This year will be a year never to forget."
Word Count:
5,387 / 50,000
(10.0%)