(no subject)
The tornado was over.
Kate could feel the change in pressure, just like her mom had said and she grabbed her viking hat as her mom climbed the basement stairs and pushed open the door. Sunlight flooded in around her and she turned back and said, "There is a light at the end of the tunnel, Max. There is."
Confused, Kate glanced at her dad briefly, but said nothing. When he began to climb the stairs, she followed, her phone clutched tightly in one hand, her hat in the other. She wasn't sure what had really happened in the basement during the tornado, she wasn't sure what was wrong with her aunt or why her mom had seemed so... resigned, almost. She wished she could say something to Marshall, ask him what he thought, but she was tired of letting everyone else know their business, so she continued to hold her tongue and just followed her dad and brother upstairs into the sunlight.
Lifting one hand to shield her eyes, Kate fumbled for the door knob and opened the front door, tripping over her boots as she nudged her hip against the door in order to keep it open.
"Wow, Moosh," she grumbled. "Way to be a gentleman."
Marshall said nothing in response. As she looked up, Kate figured that was probably due to the fact that he was no longer in front of her. Neither were her parents and what she was looking out on sure as hell wasn't the tornado ravaged front yard she was expecting. She was supposed to be seeing the houses along her street and probably Mr. Hubbard's car with some tree branches strewn across it. A few felled street signs. Something normal.
This was not normal. This was even more not normal than Kate was used to.
Across from her were two buildings, one that looked like it might be a bar. There were trees and a boardwalk and people. Way more people than there would have been on her street in Overland Park and none of them she'd ever seen before. Even the weirdest of her neighbours she'd at least waved to once or twice in the past forever that she'd lived there. They weren't her friends, but she knew who they were. She knew them all.
These weren't her neighbours.
With a heavy sigh, Kate reached up and mashed her viking hat on top of her wig, then stomped over to a nearby rock and sat down heavily. Squinting, she held up her cell phone, trying to see what her reception was like out here, then picked Marshall's number out of her contacts and tried to call him. No voicemail, no ringing, not even one of those annoying 'the cell phone customer you are trying to reach is currently out of calling range' messages that Kate hated so much. There was just nothing. Not even a dial tone.
"Well, that's just great," she muttered, tapping her phone in irritation. "Can you hear me now? Yeah, thanks for nothing Verizon."
This, whatever it was, probably meant she wasn't going to the comic book store with Lynda, because she was either really fucking far from Kansas or she was still in that basement having some kind of episode and frothing at the mouth. And that was exactly the last thing her family needed right now, since her mom was still pretty crazy and she was kind of sure that her parents' marriage was falling apart and now her aunt was carrying Neil's baby, who was definitely not her fiance. It was all like some kind of screwed up soap opera and Kate was pretty sure she didn't want to be the 'out of the blue seizure character' in this story. So if she wasn't having some kind of head trip, that meant this was real.
Which was a whole different level of fucked up, but kind of preferable to having convulsions on the floor of a basement in a house where Mr. Hubbard had killed himself.
"Yo," Kate said to the person who had just walked out of whatever building she'd stumbled out of a few minutes ago. Tilting her head back, she lifted one hand up to hold the hat on her head as she stared up at them. "So, uh... where am I?"
Because she sure as hell wasn't in Kansas anymore and she was pretty sure the tornado hadn't picked up her house and heaved it all the way to Oz.
[First person (who is not her brother) can explain the island to Kate. Anyone else can find her wandering the Compound wearing the hat and wig from her icon and the costume pictured here.]
Kate could feel the change in pressure, just like her mom had said and she grabbed her viking hat as her mom climbed the basement stairs and pushed open the door. Sunlight flooded in around her and she turned back and said, "There is a light at the end of the tunnel, Max. There is."
Confused, Kate glanced at her dad briefly, but said nothing. When he began to climb the stairs, she followed, her phone clutched tightly in one hand, her hat in the other. She wasn't sure what had really happened in the basement during the tornado, she wasn't sure what was wrong with her aunt or why her mom had seemed so... resigned, almost. She wished she could say something to Marshall, ask him what he thought, but she was tired of letting everyone else know their business, so she continued to hold her tongue and just followed her dad and brother upstairs into the sunlight.
Lifting one hand to shield her eyes, Kate fumbled for the door knob and opened the front door, tripping over her boots as she nudged her hip against the door in order to keep it open.
"Wow, Moosh," she grumbled. "Way to be a gentleman."
Marshall said nothing in response. As she looked up, Kate figured that was probably due to the fact that he was no longer in front of her. Neither were her parents and what she was looking out on sure as hell wasn't the tornado ravaged front yard she was expecting. She was supposed to be seeing the houses along her street and probably Mr. Hubbard's car with some tree branches strewn across it. A few felled street signs. Something normal.
This was not normal. This was even more not normal than Kate was used to.
Across from her were two buildings, one that looked like it might be a bar. There were trees and a boardwalk and people. Way more people than there would have been on her street in Overland Park and none of them she'd ever seen before. Even the weirdest of her neighbours she'd at least waved to once or twice in the past forever that she'd lived there. They weren't her friends, but she knew who they were. She knew them all.
These weren't her neighbours.
With a heavy sigh, Kate reached up and mashed her viking hat on top of her wig, then stomped over to a nearby rock and sat down heavily. Squinting, she held up her cell phone, trying to see what her reception was like out here, then picked Marshall's number out of her contacts and tried to call him. No voicemail, no ringing, not even one of those annoying 'the cell phone customer you are trying to reach is currently out of calling range' messages that Kate hated so much. There was just nothing. Not even a dial tone.
"Well, that's just great," she muttered, tapping her phone in irritation. "Can you hear me now? Yeah, thanks for nothing Verizon."
This, whatever it was, probably meant she wasn't going to the comic book store with Lynda, because she was either really fucking far from Kansas or she was still in that basement having some kind of episode and frothing at the mouth. And that was exactly the last thing her family needed right now, since her mom was still pretty crazy and she was kind of sure that her parents' marriage was falling apart and now her aunt was carrying Neil's baby, who was definitely not her fiance. It was all like some kind of screwed up soap opera and Kate was pretty sure she didn't want to be the 'out of the blue seizure character' in this story. So if she wasn't having some kind of head trip, that meant this was real.
Which was a whole different level of fucked up, but kind of preferable to having convulsions on the floor of a basement in a house where Mr. Hubbard had killed himself.
"Yo," Kate said to the person who had just walked out of whatever building she'd stumbled out of a few minutes ago. Tilting her head back, she lifted one hand up to hold the hat on her head as she stared up at them. "So, uh... where am I?"
Because she sure as hell wasn't in Kansas anymore and she was pretty sure the tornado hadn't picked up her house and heaved it all the way to Oz.
[First person (who is not her brother) can explain the island to Kate. Anyone else can find her wandering the Compound wearing the hat and wig from her icon and the costume pictured here.]
