Her New Life

Chapter 3: Let's Hang Out! Part 1 of 2

I woke up shortly, I checked my phone and I've only been asleep for about 30 minutes. I groan as I roll out of bed, my legs feel wobbly and my eyes are stinging. I'm starting to consider going back to bed when someone knocks on the door.

    "Come in," I groan and HC pushes open the door.

    "Hey, sorry to bother you. Are you okay?" She says once she looks me up and down. I guess I looked pretty bad.

    "Oh yeah, uh, totally. I just look horrible when I wake up. I call it, 'Ugly Sleepitus'." I gave her a joking smile to ward her off from my dishevelled appearance and probably nervous air.

    "Oh okay. I just wanted to ask you where we could sleep for tonight and what our plan was for tomorrow." HC said heard a bustling behind the door which was probably her brothers.

    "Your brothers can sleep in the room with the two inflatable mattresses and you can either sleep here or in the guest bedroom that's across the hall from that room. If you want, totally your choice. I'm planning to have us all pile into the big black car, we'll drive to your house, pack up things you guys want to keep/need, and then we'll head back. Oh, wait, you guys have a minivan right?"

    HC cocked her eyebrow, "yeah, why?"

    "I can put one of these devices in there so that Simon can steer the car and then we can have two large cars, maximizing what we can bring here." I said as I showed her the devices. Just then my phone buzzed, all of the people I had contacted had said yes to coming to live with us and help out. They're all coming the day after tomorrow.  I gave HC a quick debrief on that situation before we left to have dinner.

    I'm not at all a talented, 5- star chef so dinner was kinda hard. I really can only make ramen, rice a roni, and frozen meals. I'm pathetic, I know. But we managed to get by with very few injuries... Okay, I might have burnt myself a little, but it's fine. Tis only a flesh wound. We cooked up some rice a roni and decided that we had to learn to cook and bake competently. With our stomachs full, we made our bed time preparations, brushing our teeth, feeding the pets, etc. Then we went to sleep.

    I felt a comforting sensation of warmth snuggled under the blankets, maybe it was because I missed my parents but I felt as though I was wrapped in a giant, loving hug. The type of hug that you dad gives you after coming home from a trip. I quickly fell asleep and escaped into a dystopia. I was being chased by this frightening shadow creatures, they bound towards me with their teeth bared in a sinister smirk. They screech, their voices booming yet shrill. I've been running for so long I can't feel my legs as they crumble in on me and I fall to the ground. I struggle to get back up as the creatures close in on me, I hear shuffling as I look up. A figure that I can quite make out stands above me and raises something long and sharp into the air.

    I suddenly realize what's about to happen and the only thing I can say is, "Fuck me." Before the sword comes down on me and I wake up in a cold sweat, Sable jumps up onto my bed and snuggles against me. I give her a few pets before trying to go back to sleep. It might have been a few hours till I was able to finally go back to sleep.

    I wake up at about 6:30 because of my alarm, I quickly shower, get dressed, and head downstairs to make some food before we leave. The others should be up soon so I want to make sure they have something to eat before we go. They come down soon, dressed and ready to go. We have breakfast quickly before piling into the car and heading to their house which is 3 hours away.

    Three hours and two rest stops later, we've made it. Simon pulls the car up into the driveway and parks it. We get out and immediately enter the house and their mini van, which thankfully HC had the keys to. I let them say their goodbyes as I set up the device in the windshield of the steel gray mini van. The middle lights of the device goes on and I know it's connected, satisfied I shut the door and head into the house. I call and asking if anyone needs help. HC asks me from the landing of their house if I could help her pack up a few things.

I meet her in her room, "What do you need help packing?"

"Some personal things, I don't know what to keep and what to sell." She winces at her room of belongings, each with their own story.

"We can see which ones have the most value first and then work from there."

"That sounds good. She says as she starts picking out things from her shelves.

She decides to keep her jewelry collection, some of her electronics, her sketchbooks, and a few other trinkets along with the necessities like clothes. We go down to pack up all the stuff for her pets as well. We empty the litter boxes and stuff them into the van with a few bags of litter, bowls, and food bags. We put her cats in their carriers place them in the back seats where her brother will sit with them. We pack all of the boxes of their belongings, some non perishable food, and a few mattresses into my car. Then we set off, me in my car alone and her in her family's car with her brothers and cats. However, just as we leave, we get pulled over by a cop outside a supermarket. We roll down our car's windows as she stepped out and walked up to my window first.

"What are you doing with all of that stuff in your car? It's illegal now to move out of your house." She says accusingly, eyebrows arched.

I respond calmly and politely, "We're getting rid of a bunch of stuff from her house, driving it to the trash people so they don't have to come and pick it up."

"What's with the cats in the carriers then?" She smirks like she's caught me and I recognize her. Back when I used to go to school with HC, that was one of the most popular and most jerkish of the girls there.

"We're giving them to a shelter, she can't take care of them so we thought it would be better to put them up for adoption at the shelter." I give her a smile, trying to deter her. I have a feeling the Space Pirates have started enforcing laws such as the one she named before and I'm not about to get us arrested.

She lets out a huff, "Well, you're free to go then."

I thank her and we drive off. I call HC just as we get out of the cop's sight. "Yo, you okay?"

"Yep, we're fine, just a little shaken up. You?"

"I'm a little on edge after that. We're gonna have to be really freaking careful in public." I grip the steering wheel tighter as Simon merges the car into the left lane.

"Yeah, speaking of which. What was all of that with Raquel about?" Her brows are furrowed, I can tell by her voice.

"The Space Pirates have laws being enforced already. She was trying to bust us on one which I guess is that you aren't allowed to move. I was able to persuade her that, that was all just us driving some stuff to the garbage dump." I say, running my hand through my hair.

"Great, who knows what other laws they've enforced." She grunts.

"Yeah, by the way, can you get one of your brothers to text the rest of the group to be careful of cops because the cops might be suspicious of them lugging a bunch of boxes. Also, make sure to install a VPN, hopefully they can't track you with one."

"Pardon the intrusion Miss Light and Miss HC, but we at the D-Lab wish to inform you that there is no need to be worried about the Space Pirates listening in as we have installed an advanced VPN on all electrical devices before the mist." Simon suddenly said from the little device on my windshield. I jumped in my seat and accidentally honked the car horn.

"Simon! Geez! You scared the daylights out of me!" I yelled at the device.

"Me too, man! Why did you do that!?" HC said from my phone.

"And how did you even know we were talking about that?" I ask suspicious of the D-Team's intent.

"We didn't realize you two were calling at the moment, it only just sprung to our minds."

"It's fine, we'll be back soon. Tell Dr.Z not to burn down the house while we're gone." I jokingly said, we bid each other goodbye before hanging up.

When we all got home from our road trip it was already the evening but there was still a fair bit of work to be done.