Cursed

1

Someone was in her house.

The sounds of pots and pans crashing as they collided with the tiled floor filled her ears. Soon it was followed by a good long list of swearing and the smell of... bacon? The more she concentrated, the easier she made out the sound of frying meat. Sizzling and crackling, echoing through the empty house. There were many things one could expect from someone who had snuck into their house but having them... prepare breakfast... was not one of them.

'Though, I guess, criminals get hungry too. Why not stop for a snack?' Lily thought with a small smile as she let out a long yawn and stretched; feeling only slightly annoyed at being woken up at what she guessed was an ungodly hour. It always was.

Lightly she ran her fingers over the soft cotton of her blanket cacoon, letting a small sigh escape her lips before she tossed the covers back, losing all the body warmth she had accumulated over the night and instead being attacked by the cold temperature her house seemed to permanently be under. Her toes lightly brushed the shaggy carpet as she fumbled her hand over the smooth, cold, wood of her bedside table to find the strong plastic of her sunglasses.

"7 steps to the door," her voice came out slightly hoarse and she was pretty sure she had a bad case of morning breath but she couldn't find the will to make herself care. Despite the constant paranoia her morning mind seemed to always be under- the fear that someone had broken into her room just to lay things in her path so that she would trip over them- she walked confidently out of her room. She slid over the open wooden door out of pure habit. It was never closed but she always felt the need to make sure, just so she didn't end up with a nose bleed so early in the morning.

She followed her nose down the set of 26 stairs, each step increasing the mouth-watering smell of bacon and a bunch of other foods. It seemed her intruder had decided to cook up an entire feast. The bitter smell of black coffee swirled around Lily as the oddly distasteful smell of frying eggs tagged along, masked but still quite detectable. The sweet sound of humming came from the kitchen, easily carrying through the spacious room, followed by the occasional, hushed, swear word and clatter of yet another object plummeting to the ground.
"You know," Lily started as she walked the 10 steps towards the bench top where the leather high chair stood. The early morning sun brushed over her exposed flesh, kissing her awake. "Breaking and entering, especially while the occupants of a house are asleep, is considered illegal." Her voice was a quiet grumble, almost overpowered by the piercing scrape of metal chair legs against clean tiles.

"It's not breaking and entering if you have a key," Alina sung back in a tone way too cheerful for the hour. Ceramic plates clattered and a spatula scraped against pans as she plated up breakfast. 

"Whatever it is, it's creepy," Lily muttered, her fingers drumming against the laminated bench top, waiting impatiently as her stomach let out an irritated growl. "And how many times do I have to tell you that I can cook for myself?" She added with a small frown.

Alina laughed it off as she lightly padded closer, her ever present artificial flower scent invading Lily's nose as the plate and cutlery were placed down before her.
"I do this for practice and experimentation, not for you." The amusement was clear in her tone before she added, in an almost after thought, "eggs at 3, bacon at 9 and toast at 6."

Lily nodded absently as she made the ingredients into a sandwich, an agreement the two had that stated that Lily would allow being cooked for as long as she could have at least one roll in the process. She purposely took her time with making the sandwich as she heard Alina fidget. The anticipation in the air was so thick she could probably cut a slice and put it in her breakfast for some added taste.
"Come on Lily," Alina whined, her foot tapping against the tile sin impatience, "you do this every freaking time."
Lily felt herself fighting back a grin as she innocently answered "I don't know what you're talking about." She finally took a bite of the sandwich, the perfectly toasted bread crunched under her teeth while she had to press a little harder to detach the unusual tasting bacon. It was almost... sweet.

"What did you put in it this time?" She asked, though her mouth was still full of half chewed food meaning that is came out more like "wha d yo put in dis tome?" with the added bonus of wet crumbs.

"It's a secret!" She could hear the smile in Alina's voice as she unconsciously traced her lips. As a kid she'd play a game with her dad where she'd try to tell his expression by running her fingers over his, mostly, smooth- and sometimes prickly with stubble- face.

"It's amazing," Lily admitted after she swallowed, knowing that it would only boost her friends ever growing ego but also knowing that she was an awful liar. 

"I knew it!" Alina exclaimed triumphantly with a grin that Lily knew was spreading over her features just from the rise in pitch in the girl's voice. Alina had even clapped a bit to her words; the sound seemed a lot louder in the spacious house.

"Alina," Lily hissed, sloppily putting the sandwich down onto her plate and looking to where all the noise had come from. Her father had come home from work not too long ago and wouldn't take kindly to the sounds coming from the kitchen. He was normally a light sleeper compared to Lily so if she had woken up to Alina's presence there was no doubt that he had heard it as well but decided to ignore it- he had come to terms with the fact that the girl seemed to waltz into their house like she lived there a while ago. The only thing he had to say about it was that if there was too much noise he'd change the lock.

"Sorry," Alina whispered, words muffled by, what Lily was guessing, was the girls hand over her mouth. Funnily enough, the tone which Alina whispered in was the same as the one Lily normally talked in. It seemed that the girl couldn't do anything quietly. Even from where she was sitting Lily could hear her deep and even breaths.

"You definitely will be when he wakes up," Lily replied in a mutter as she devoured what remained of her breakfast.

"Just hurry up and drink your coffee," Alina pushed a ceramic mug towards Lily, causing it to unpleasantly scrape against the counter top. "We're going to be late otherwise" 

Lily wrapped her hands around the hot cup, "late for what?" She asked as she took a sip and made a face at the bitter taste. "And you forgot to put sugar in here."

"It's a surprise," the sing-song voice was back, if there was anything Lily had learnt to be weary of it was that tone. "Not to mention," Alina continued, "I did put sugar in, I just may have forgotten to mix the coffee"

Lily sighed, mocking annoyance even though she felt a small smile on her lips "you could have told me." 

"Fine. Be careful, Lily, I didn't mix in the sugar," Alina replied with, quite sarcastically, as she handed Lily a tea spoon. "Now drink up and do something about that morning breath while I find you something more... appealing."

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Dedicated to ArPtak because of their super helpful comments on this chapter!

So this is part one of the first chapter, it's here to provide a little bit of a feel of how I intend to write the story. I promise the next chapter will both be a bit longer and more exciting.

What do you guys think of a POV which excludes sight? Would you continue reading?

Until next time, keep safe and be kind to yourselves,
Artemis.