Isolated

Chapter 6.

It had been three weeks since Rian first mentioned the high school reunion, two weeks since Lily was diagnosed with cancer and a week since Doctor Luther had come over and antagonised me. I was still jobless and bored out of my mind. I had mopped and vaccuumed every floor in the house, twice and oiled and dusted every wooden surface. At this point the house was starting to look like a showhome. Not that I didn't mind, the cleaniness really helped settle the small amount of OCD in me.

I chucked the dirty rag in the bucket next to the washing machine and placed the surface cleaner back in the cupboard. Staring at the window cleaner I decided against going around and cleaning every window in the house, so I left the laundry room and headed back into the kitchen.

Out the kitchen window I could see the backyard, it wasn't much. A small stone patio with a few chairs, a garden shed and an array of colourful flowers which were all starting to bloom as March neared its end and the middle of Spring approached. A tall wooden fence enclosed the area. I watched as the sun slowly sank behind so it was mostly concealed by the wood before heading into the living room where Mum and Dad were sitting on the sofa, Dad's arm looped over Mums body as she sat into his side.

After 30 years of marriage you'd expect them to be bored of each other, sitting at the opposite ends of the sofa trying to get some alone time like the couples in television 'relatable' soap operas. But they were still as close as they were when they first got married (or so I assumed as I didn't appear until three years later). I envied their relationship, I hoped that one day I too could have a bond as strong as theirs with someone else. A soul mate.

They were watching some stand up comedy show, lightly laughing whenever something funny was said. I took a seat in the armchair and Mum looked over at me.

"I was thinking we order something in for dinner?"

I nodded, "sounds good."

I already knew that we would be having take out for dinner, it was already 7:30 PM and no one had made a start on preparing any meal. Both Mum and Dad had arrived home from work a little later today and they were both more tired than usual. It was okay though, I wasn't especially hungry. I'd had a custard square for afternoon tea.

My focus drifted to the television screen, where an Indian man was complaining about the restrictions of his culture to the audience. Dad snorted as Mum let out a little giggle and I just rolled my eyes at how poorly executed the joke was.

Mum waved her arm at me, "C'mon Andie, laugh, it was funny."

"It was not," I retorted, "it's the same joke every Hindu comedian uses."

"Don't be a Debbie-downer," Dad groaned, "if you're gonna pull the fun out of everything then you can leave and order us pizza."

"I'm not talking on the phone," I stated.

"Do it online then."

"Fine, but if I'm ordering then I get to choose what we are having."

To engrossed in the television show they both ignored me and I shrugged, getting up from the chair. I wandered into my room and beelined straight for my laptop, turning it on and waiting for my lock screen to appear. After entering my passcode I opened Safari and typed in 'Dominoes'. I eagerly scrolled through the many pizzas and picked two, as well as adding garlic bread and fries. I selected delivery and typed in our address before clicking order, and before I knew it up on the screen was the little timer telling me when it would be on its way.

Knowing that I wasn't welcome in the living room (at least until the comedy show ended), I opened up a new tab and clicked the bookmark for Facebook. I had taken quite the liking to the social media site and had liked a lot of pages which provided enough content to fill up my newsfeed. I scrolled past a few picture statuses before a chat box in the right corner of my screen popped up.