It All Started With An Apple

Chapter 12

She trotted over to us and handed us each a pair of clothes.  She grinned as we smiled in delight over the pair she’d selected for both of us.  She knew us well.  “Here you go!” she chirped as we held the clothes within our hands.  “Is there anything else you need?”

We shook our heads.  I started toward the door, tossing her a smile.  “Nope.  Thanks, Aunt Jill.”

With that, we exited the room.  I waited for Kyla to move past me before shutting the door behind us, cutting off Uncle Rick’s snores.  I wrinkled my nose.  I’d always known he snored—I mean, it wasn’t the first time I’d gone into Aunt Jill’s room at night.  But this was the first time he’d snored that hideously. 

“Okay, who calls the bathroom?” Kyla whispered, cutting off my thoughts.

I cocked an eyebrow at her.  “There’s more than one bathroom,” I whispered back.

Kyla stared at me for a long moment before sighing.  She tried her best to be as dramatic as possible, sounding pained that she had to explain herself to me.  “Not up here,” she explained, shooting me a feigned exasperated

“Well then.”  I paused.  “I call the one up here!”

I scurried away from her as she paused to process what I’d said.  A few moments later, after I’d already rounded the corner, I hear a brisk, “Hey!” and then footsteps hurrying after me.  “I already called it!” I called softly as to not wake the children slumbering in their bedrooms, turning and almost tripping into the bathroom.  I giggled as I closed the door behind me.  “Go downstairs and change,” I teased.

I heard Kyla huff.  “No, I think I’ll just wait here.”

That was Kyla for you.  Waiting instead of going down a set of stairs to the bathroom.  Though, if I were to admit anything, I’d have to admit that I’d probably do the same thing.  I mean by the time you got downstairs and into the bathroom, the person upstairs would already be done.  And then you’d have to come back upstairs.  So much work.

I undressed and threw on what Aunt Jill gave me.  I felt so clean!  Well, cleaner than before.  I would have felt cleaner if I could have some clean underwear.  But I wasn’t going to ask Aunt Jill for that.  That was too personal—even if we were related.

“Hurry up!” Kyla called impatiently as I finished slipping on the shirt.  It was rather comfortable!  I pulled my hair out from underneath the shirt, looking at myself briskly in the mirror before sighing and trotting toward the door.  I threw it open, finding an irritated Kyla on the other side.  “Did you know you take thirty years to change?” she seethed.

“Next time I’ll go slower,” I teased, squeezing passed Kyla.  I grinned as she shot a scowl in my direction.

“If you do that then I’ll kill you,” Kyla said lightly, practically throwing herself into the bathroom.  I cocked an eyebrow at the closed door.  She’d kill me?  I wasn’t certain, but I was pretty sure that killing others wasn’t looked highly upon in most countries—including this one.

“You act like it’s a life or death situation,” I mused.  “You’re not going to die from waiting two minutes.”

“I am if I don’t get in clean clothes now,” Kyla called, her voice muffled slightly from the closed door.

I smiled, shaking my head at my friend’s dramatic-ness before shuffling back to Britain’s room, my dirty clothes crushed into a ball within my arms.  I paused in front of the door.  Much like at my house when Dannon’d been on the phone, I could hear muffled voices under the door.  Except, this time, I could not understand a word they were saying.  There were a couple times when I thought I understood, but then I’d shake my head, knowing I’d gotten it wrong.  But there was this one time where I could have sworn I’d heard my name.