Stormy Weather

January 27th

The Berman residence sat at the very end of a cul de sac, filled with old wartime houses that hadn't been renovated since. Most houses in Shadyside were like that, bungalows with only a basement and ground floor, flat roofs and brick accents. A lot of the time, it looked like people had just copy and pasted houses they were so similar.

There were a few exceptions, of course. Down on Main Street, there were short apartment buildings, older than your mom's mother's grandma, rusty, crusty and filled with small one-bedroom one-bathroom apartments, they were a good option if you lived by yourself.

And every so often, there were skinny little houses that happened to have a second floor, although they looked so unstable that they would probably blow down in a rainstorm. Celeste was lucky enough to live in one of those.

Celeste walked up the Berman's driveway, there was no car in the driveway. Ms. Berman wasn't home. Shrugging off the observation, Celeste knocked on the door. No answer. Again, she pounded against the door, she knew the little devil was home, Celeste just had to lure her out of her cage. Celeste put her ear against the door, listening as carefully as she could, there was movement in the house.

Celeste waited for approximately five minutes, then rang the doorbell and ducked below the peek hole. After a few seconds of deliberation from the person inside, the door finally swung open "This better be some important ass mail" the person grumbled,

"Happy birthday!" Celeste jumped up in excitement, but Ziggy's angry expression became worse

"Go away" she started to close the door but Celeste wedged herself in between, stopping Ziggy from slamming it on her face

Celeste was half inside the house half outside "it's your sixteenth birthday!" She still wore an excited grin, which Ziggy's perturbed expression was not happy about

"I know, and there was a reason why I didn't open the fucking door" Ziggy snapped "Go home, Celeste"

Celeste was one of the most stubborn people you'd ever meet, so instead of leaving, she pushed against the door with all her might, and slipped fully into the house, landing flat on her ass "I'm not going anywhere, I cleared my schedule and am going to spend the entire day with you"

Ziggy rolled her eyes, slamming the door shut, rushing down the hallway, walked into her room and slammed the door shut. Celeste could hear the faint sound of a door locking.

Huffing at the girl's temperament, Celeste brushed herself off and stood up, walking to Ziggy's door "Cmon Ziggy! Don't be an asshole!" Celeste called, "I took out my paycheck early so we can go to that stupid old bookstore that you like! I'll let you buy as many weird-ass Stephen Queen books that you want!"

"King!" She yelled back "His name is Stephen King!"

"Right, Stephen King! I'll buy you lunch and we can even eat an entire cake just you and me!" No reply, Celeste rested her head against the door "It's your sweet sixteen Ziggy, you can't spend it in your room all day"

"Oh yeah, because spending it with my ex-tutor is so much better"

Celeste scoffed "Hey! You should be grateful, I spent my sixteenth birthday in a holding cell"

The door swung open and Celeste almost fell forward, Ziggy stood behind it, her orange hair still looking so vibrant even in the dead of winter "yeah, for a crime you committed"

"That's not the point" Celeste scoffed "the point is, it would've had a horrible birthday, if it weren't for Arnie in that cell with me, telling me the worst puns ever and making sure I celebrated even when I didn't feel like it"