Crowned [Sequel to Turned]

Chapter 3: Tiny Apartment

Whittaker smiled slightly as she pushed Cole on the swing. He was giggling now. After explaining to Cole, he reluctantly agreed to allow Whittaker to sell their house. It was the best thing Whittaker could think of. It would give them some money to live off of along with money to buy a place to live. Whittaker had spent most of last night running numbers to see what they could afford, and had come up with a tiny, run-down apartment on the other side of town. The good things Whittaker could think of was that there was a nearby park and library, so Whittaker could take Cole around town to entertain him.

"Higher sissy!!" Cole squealed happily on the swing.

"If I make you go much higher you'll become an astronaut." Whittaker said teasingly and laughed.

"Swings don't take people to space silly! Rocket ships do!" Cole said with a large smile.

It had taken a day or two, but Whittaker was able to cheer up Cole some days and keep him from dwelling on the fact their parents were dead. Though, his voice was softer than ever. Even now, his shouts were still soft and quiet, only meant for Whittaker to hear.

"Are you sure about that?" Whittaker asked and pushed Cole even higher, causing him to giggle more, his voice still soft.

"Yes! I'm not in space sissy..." He smiled and giggles quietly, looking at Whittaker whenever he came down from his arcing swing.

"Oh, ok then... I'll just have to try again!" Whittaker suddenly pushed Cole even higher up in the swing and his giggles continued, growing softer the farther he went away, then louder as he returned.

"Nope! Not yet sissy." Cole grinned as he returned to Whittaker and she grabbed the chains of the swing to stop him.

"Dawww..." Whittaker thought a moment, "I believe we can go to our new apartment then bud, it should be ready for us now." She moved the swing so it was perpendicular to the ground and released the chains, helping Cole down.

"Okey sissy!" He hopped down from the swing and took Whittaker's hand.

She smiled, gently holding Cole's hand and leading him towards the apartment. The apartment budding itself was small, only two stories high with six apartments on each level, there's was at the front of the building on the far right, bottom floor. Walking up to the door, Whittaker saw the number "3" painted in black on the door. The paint was old and chipping, as if it had seen more than enough misuse for how long it had been there.

Whittaker put her hand in her pocket and fished put a silver key with the number "3" imprinted on it. Inserting the key into the door and turning it she heard the click of the door opening. The door screeched in protest as she pushed it open.

Cole's grip tightened on her hand now, nervous from the appearance of the building. The room didn't appear much better. Wall paper had been put up over old paint and was peeling in some places. The only furniture left was an old, stained and tattered couch with a rocky kitchen table and two miss matched chairs. The wooden floor boards had small gaps between them in places and large cracks running down them from years without proper care and attention. Flicking on the lights caused a dim light to spread over everything and cast strange shadows in every direction. It took several moments for what little lights there were to warm up and brighten, which removed some of the strange shadows.

"Well, this is our home Cole." Whittaker stated, a bit disappointed at the appearance of the apartment.

"Ok sissy... It needs some fixing up!" He ran over and pushed in one of the miss matches chairs up to the kitchen table, then ran into the only bedroom in the apartment.

"It will look better when we get our stuff here." Whittaker said, more trying to convince herself than Cole.

He looked around and nodded, pointing to the corner of the large great room near the old couch. "We'll put the book shelf there sissy." He went over into the bedroom and pointed under the window. "A bed here, and a toy chest at the foot of the bed!" Cole smiled and looked at Whittaker.

She couldn't help but smile as she walked over and wrapped Cole in a hug. "Well then, we can do all of that when our stuff arrives tomorrow."

"Ok... Can you make some ice cream?" He smiled and looked up at Whittaker.

She thought a moment and nodded. "To celebrating our new home!" Taking his hand she led him over to the tiny kitchen. To see that it contained an oven, fridge, and microwave made her happy. Though, there was no dish washer. It didn't bother her much, she could hand wash dishes, and it wouldn't be too bad with only two people.

"Did you bring the stuff with you?" Cole asked and looked up at her.

Whittaker stopped and shook her head. "No... That's right, we didn't bring anything here yet... I guess we have to go shopping then to buy some food then. Want to get some lunch first off?"

Cole merely nodded and squeezed Whittaker's hand. With a small smile, she ked her little brother out of the house and towards a nearby fast food restaurant. They would eat, then go to the grocery store to buy some food, cream, sugar, vanilla and chocolate for ice cream. Whittaker didn't need any special way to freeze the ice cream, she could easily use her powers. Cole liked it that way. And she did too. The ice cream always seemed better that way, when she would freeze it with her powers.

Their parents had taught them when they were little that they were special. They weren't like the other kids, they had powers. Their powers could scare other people or cause the people to attempt to lock them up, from fear of the unkown. So, Whittaker and Cole learned that keeping their powers hidden was what they had to do, but, they could use their abilities at home with super vision. That's where Whitaker learned to make ice cream with her ice powers. With her parents. But now her parents were gone. Now it was only her and Cole. Now she had to care for her brother, as her parents had for her.