Forever Young

Chapter 33

When I first woke up, it took me a second to realize where I was. And why my skin felt so hot.

I moved to sit up, but was held down by Takoda's arm, which had sprawled across me sometime during the night. It was too heavy to wiggle out of, so I slowly lifted his arm and placed it across his chest. He didn't stir at all, and I was able to slowly slip out of bed. 

More comfortable with the house than I had been the previous morning, I made my way out of the bedroom and down the hall. I could play with some of the old toys while I waited for the boys to wake up- unlike a lot of the toys at my house, most of these older toys seemed to only require one person. Maybe I could even manage to get so good with the spinning-top that I could be better than Mato before he woke.

But when I made it into the living room, Kate wasn't there. Neither was Tanya. Only Elody was present, sitting near a window and reading. She sighed when she saw me.

"Where are Aunty Kate and Tanya?" I asked hesitantly, noting that she was sitting on the trunk with the toys inside of it. Maybe she would realize and offer to move, or at least stand up briefly so I could remove the basket before she sat back down.

But she made no effort to relocate, or even shift her weight. "They're hunting," She mumbled, never glancing up from her book. "I'm in charge. And I'm reading, so keep quiet."

I nodded, though she couldn't see. Her gaze never strayed from the pages of her thick book. I decided to go to the fridge and finish the rest of my breakfast from yesterday, since she wasn't offering to cook. It felt awkward opening the fridge- Esme always cooked my meals and set out my snacks for me. And this was someone else's fridge, making me feel even more uncomfortable with opening it.

But Elody didn't come to check on me when she heard the fridge open. Or when she heard me popping open the lid to the parfait. Or when she heard me opening and closing drawers in search of a spoon- which actually ended up being in the dishwasher. Maybe she hadn't known they were in there. That seemed like a nicer assumption than jumping to the conclusion that she had chosen not to tell me.

My parfait didn't last long- I had already eaten some of it the day before. Still hungry, I made my way back to the fridge. Most of the stuff wasn't cooked, and I suddenly wished I had paid more attention when Esme had prepared my meals. But then I saw a loaf of bread and a jar of unopened jelly, and I just made myself half of a jelly sandwich. It was too hard to get the little plastic clip back on the bread bag, so I just folded the wrapping closed as best I could and put it back in the fridge. Hopefully nobody would notice.

Once I finished my sandwich, I put my plate in the sink and tried my best to wipe up the drops of jelly from the counter. It mostly smeared and left a sticky residue, but I did my best. Maybe nobody would notice that, either. 

Now I just wished that I knew where the blood was stored. My throat was burning.

When I returned to the living room, Elody was still sitting on the chest with my toys inside. So I just sat on the rug and leaned back against the sofa. Eventually she would have to move, even if it was because she finished her book and needed a new one. 

Trying to fight off my boredom, my eyes moved to the cover of the book she was holding. I struggled to sound out the words, but every time, the words didn't seem to come out right. They never made sense, and I noticed a strange squiggle above one of the letters. Maybe it was another language.

After a few minutes, Elody glanced up at me. Why did she look so irritated when I wasn't even been speaking to her?

"Can you stop staring at me?" She complained, looking back at her book. "Don't you have something you can go do quietly?"