Subterra Heart

An Excerpt from the Journal of Nelda Crane

Date: 14/20/940

Finally! Stocking duty's over now – one of the techs just came by to let me know. I know his face, but I don't think I was ever given his actual name. I guess it's high time I start getting to know my coworkers now.

Weirdly enough, in some ways, I almost think I might end up missing being on stocking and inventory. Almost, but not quite. It's been too long since I last got to use my brain.

Dr. Rocha has been bringing his son in to work for the past few weeks. The kid's name is Sebastian, but he'll answer to "Stan" or "Sea-bass" too. Although, that last nickname seems to get on his nerves, which is always fun. He might be around fifteen-ish? Somewhere around the same age as my oldest niece, Tally. Don't quote me on that though. Anyways, he's a quiet kid who doesn't talk much, but when he does talk, we've been commiserating about our joint boredom. We've even started coming up with goofy nicknames for some of the lab techs (and I guess that I get one too now that I'm about to join them). I kind of feel bad for him though. He doesn't seem to get out too much. Maybe he'd be able to make some friends if his dad would ever let him stop with the homeschooling. Or he could always get a job. Jobs are good...sometimes (yes, I know, I'm still mad about being stuck on stocking duty for so long. I'll get over it).

His mom came by the lab the other day. She's a very quiet woman, but very sweet too. I didn't really get to talk to her, but she left cookies for the lab in the breakroom. They were pretty tasty! I overheard a couple of the lab techs talking during lunch though (the ones we've named Pigeon and Princess) – they seem to think that she's standoffish for not sticking around and chatting. They probably think the same of me too since I don't do a whole ton of chatting either. Then again, they've never even deigned to talk to the lowly stocking girl. Oh well, their loss. Honestly, I think that Mrs. Rocha is just shy, and I don't blame her.

So yeah, part of me is wondering if I should introduce Sebastian to Tally so that he'd actually have someone to talk to. I'm pretty sure she'd turn her nose up at that idea though. She's perfectly fine with coming to me for help with her homework, but Founders forbid that I ever try getting involved in her social life. Or maybe she and Mimi would trick him into taking over as a babysitter for little Clara. I love my nieces, but those girls can be sneaky like that.  

I guess it's not my business, and I've got bigger things to worry about. I've been trying to look into apartments a bit more, and it is tough to get a hold of something near Fenders Ct. I might have to expand my search radius. It's annoying, but at least I'm in a relatively stable situation now that I know I'm actually wanted in the lab.

Now, I've got to prove that I can do the work. 

Nelda Crane, signing out.

A/N: Thanks for reading! For those of you who have read past Chapter 11, I'm working on backfilling pieces of Nelda's storyline right now (so for reference, this entry happens prior to the Interlude).