To Regain What Was Lost

Chapter 20: House of Mirth

Click. 

Click-click-click. 

Bap. 

Click-clickity-click. 

Click. 

Finally, the old lady leaned back, and inspected her handiwork. All the locks that lined the door was locked, and the door was held firmly into place. 

Grabbing a piece of paper, she neatly wrote "Gone Fishing", and taped it to the window. 

Satisfied, she nodded, smiling, at her handiwork, and walked to the kitchen. "Hello sweets," she greeted. 

"Er, hi," William replied awkwardly. "So what were you saying about soliblargh or whatever?" 

"Solirant," the lady replied. "I tried my very best to look as solirant as possible, but in the end, it's completely impossible for anyone to look solirant unless they're dead." 

Sighing sadly, she looked into the distance. "Oh! Could it be that you're dead?" she asked brightly. 

Looking at Wyetta and himself, William shrugged. "I guess...I don't really know what happened," he replied. 

"That's amazing! I didn't get any tips on how to look more solirant, but this is amazing! Amazing!" she screamed, sinking through the floor, still screaming excitedly. 

Popping right out of the floor, she asked, "Oh! Then what brings you around here anyways? I'm not asking to be polite, this is actually really amazing, and I'm genuinely curious!" 

"A light," William replied uncertainly. 

"What?" 

"Never mind." 

"Well, how long will you be staying here?" 

"I don't know." 

The lady clapped her hands. "Awesome! You two can stay here while you're still in this world!" 

"Um, thanks?" 

"Don't mention it! I'll go prepare your rooms now, pretty please wake up the girl next to you and fill her in on the details?" the lady asked, grinning as she hobbled upstairs. 

Nodding, William turned around, and began to persistently poke Wyetta on the cheek, chanting, "Wake up, wake up, wake up." 

Several minutes later, William stopped and stared off into the distance. "Why doesn't it work? Jake manages to wake me up all the time like this..." 

"William, wake up!" Jake whined, voice a high-pitched shrill. "Wake up! Wake up! Wake up, wake up, wake up!" 

Fingers jabbing into William's cheek, Jake continued to scream. "Wake up! Wake up! William! Wake! Up!" 

Consciousness floating up to the surface in his mind, William let the warmth of the bed cover him as his brother prodded and pulled at his cheeks. Sighing in contentment, William turned around, and went back to sleep. 

"Gah! Wake! Up! You! Dumb! Boo-boo!" Jake screamed. 

Hours later, William finally exited dreamland, Jake was screaming, rolling around on the floor, pounding on William with his fists, and getting snot and slobber all over the place. 

Yawning, William asked, "Oh, why are you here, Jake?" 

"Finally, you woke up! You took forever!' Jake complained. 

William nodded his head fondly at the moment. Jake never did got past the whining, and actually told William why he needed to wake up. Cracking his knuckles, William leered down at the blissfully unaware Wyetta. William knew what he did wrong now. He wasn't suppose to poke her...