'in which you find an acquaintance'
Your face was buried in the white cover of your pillow. The covers over your head kept the heat in, protecting you from the outside's cold that has seeped into your room over the night. The quiet of the house pounded in your head, neither of your roommates making a noise. Due in part to neither of them being home.
Your stomach heaves in hunger as you roll over to your side. With the movement the blanket folds, revealing your face to the cold. As your eyesight adjusts to the room a shiver spikes through your body. Groaning in discomfort, you throw the blanket back over your face.
It had been an unreasonably slow morning for you. So slow in fact, you were almost certain that it was past noon. You had heard Vivian walking around in the kitchen what had to be hours ago, with no reaction from you. Another growl from your stomach might finally be the thing to push you out of bed though.
With a grumble you roll onto the floor, pulling your blanket with you. The thud, as jarring as it was, was nothing compared to the sudden cold that was plastered onto your bare arm. Jolting up, you stare at your wall in a daze. An unrelenting pounding fills the cavity in your head as your brain cells take a vacation.
A hand on your head and the blanket around your shoulders, blindly you stumble your way to the kitchen. Pulling open the fridge you squint trying to decide what to have for breakfast. Well... Late breakfast, seeing as though you were correct in your assumption that it was past noon. With a carton of eggs in hand, you close the fridge door again.
Glancing out the window you watch the rain plow past. It had been like this all morning. Another reason you had no desire to get out of bed. The rain made you miserable from the moment you heard it pounding down from outside your window.
With a sigh, you set the carton on the counter. Opening the drawer with the pans you pull one out, banging it against the drawer a few times as you do. With the pan on the stove, you crack two eggs into it, before turning the heat on. Shuffling around with your blanket clutched in one hand, you go for the salt and pepper on the other side of the kitchen. After the egg was salted and peppered to your liking you lean against the counter next to the stove.
Your eyes trailed to the window again. The rock on the small window sill sat there dimly. Cold and grey and unassuming. You have no clue why Vivian held onto the thing after leaving Roling. Even if it was sparkly in the sun, it held no purpose, and certainly wouldn't be the first thing on your list to grab if you had to leave your home suddenly. She was incredible at marching to the beat of her own drum.
A clap of thunder rolled out, followed shortly by a bright flash of lightning. The light above your head flickered abruptly. You glance over at your eggs. They'd better finish cooking before the power goes. A second clap of thunder. You glare at the eggs, daring the power to take away your late breakfast.
The betrayal left a sharper pain in your heart than when you failed the calculus test. It was dark in the kitchen. Little light flooded in from the cloudy outside. A dramatic groan fell from your mouth, as you slid against the cupboards to the ground. Your hands cradled your head as you sat helplessly in the dark.
What does a girl have to do to get through living in the past? Too many things have gone wrong too many times, and you were reaching your limit. Even if the power going out wasn't the end of the world, it was a building windstorm battering against a house built from straw. Hasn't killed you yet, but it was getting terrifyingly close.
Your heart pounded in your chest as you pulled the blanket around your knees. This was ridiculous. Who has a breakdown over the power going out? Who stays in bed all day because it was too cold? Who avoids going outside to avoid re-meeting one police officer?
You stood to your feet and all but stomped down the hall to your room. You throw the blanket back onto the bare bed, a shiver coursing through your body as your skin gets exposed to the air. Rummaging around in your closet leaves you with an outfit that you promptly change into.
It's when you begin to pull on your socks is when your senses finally come back to you. What were you doing? Planning to go out in the rain? That's essentially a death sentence for you. You'd end up soaking wet and miserable. More so than you already happen to be.
You flop backwards onto your bed, hitting your head against the back wall. You breathe heavily. A forearm over your eyes plunges you into further darkness. With each breath, you feel your chest rise and fall. Diaphragm contracting and relaxing. Air coming down your trachea, to your bronchi, to your bronchioles, finally to the alveoli, the oxygen crossing through to the capillary beds encasing each. A sigh falls from your mouth.
What were you doing? You were neck deep. Lost in the past, with no way home. Living with two siblings who you thought hated each other when you first met the two of them. Almost having a mental breakdown when the power went out while you were making food. Calming yourself down by reciting the path of air to the lungs. Suffering because you hadn't eaten yet today.
Standing up, you rub the back of your head. Even if the eggs you were making hadn't finished cooking, there had to be other food you could get your hands on. With a small but solid plan, you return to the kitchen.
Before your final destination, you make a quick stop in the hallway. In that closet, you feel around blindly for the flashlight that Justin had bought, citing it was 'only for emergencies'. You believed this qualified as an emergency.
Armed with the trusty flashlight you examine your eggs. The tops were still clear and gelatinous, the flakes of pepper suspended on the tops. Not the most appetizing to your eyes.
Admitting defeat on the egg front you turn to the fridge once more. Briefly you scan over the contents. Apples, a head of lettuce, a half moldy tomato. You grimace at the tomato. It had been sitting on that shelf for too long, and none of you wanted to deal with it, so it had been sitting in the fridge for a couple weeks now. You close the fridge door, an apple in hand. What you don't see, can't hurt you.
Biting into the apple, your eyes fixate on the window, for the third time that day. Really, you should go outside. It was quite apparent you were going stir-crazy from your lack of time outdoors. You had been going out at least daily for a while, but slowly you drifted into hardly going out, unless it was absolutely necessary for you to make a grocery run. If only it wasn't raining...
With nothing but the pattering of the rain on the window and the occasional clap of thunder as background noise, you slowly finish your apple. Once you decided you were finished the core was as skinny as it possibly could be, and sections of it had browned in the time it took you to eat it. You throw the core in the garbage with a sigh.
You head to the living room, picking up a book that rested on the table at the edge of the couch. Scanning the synopsis on the back, you take a seat on the couch. Finding some intrigue in the plot you open the book, reading a few chapters.
From what little you read, you came to realize the novel was a romance book. Likely, it was one Vivian had picked up, though you find the thought of someone like Justin settling down to read a romance novel after one of his shifts incredibly amusing. Unlikely, though.
The plot followed a recently heartbroken girl, who found love again with a some boy she ran into. Obviously, quite basic. More obvious, you were leaving out a lot of detail. Unfortunately, most of the writing was entirely out of your style, leaving you recalling absolutely nothing outside of the most basic of basic details.
Out of boredom, you discard the book back where you found it. You stretch your legs out across the other couch cushions, staring at the wall. Shadows fluctuated on it dimly with each subtle shift of your body. For a while, that managed to keep you entertained. You messed around with the few shadow puppets you knew, projecting a childish story on the wall. At least it was more entertaining than the novel you tried to read.
Your game continues for a while until you take notice of the shadows harshening against the white paint. You glance out the window. It had stopped raining. With slight difficulty, due to your half-asleep legs, you stumble your way to the window. Staring out you see the enormous puddles settled in the uneven roads, reflecting the bright light of the evening sun.
With great effort, you push your cheek against the window trying to catch a glimpse of the sun that had been hiding behind the clouds for the duration of the day. You groan slightly as your efforts prove fruitless and flop back on the couch. At least it was finally light out again. Hopefully, the rain will take a hint and mind its business for a least a little while.
A yawn falls from your lips. Surprising, seeing as though you slept until noon. Must have been such an exhausting day for your body, doing absolutely nothing for hours and hours on end. You cross your legs, the shadows fluctuating on the wall.
You could go do something if you really wanted to. It had finally stopped raining, meaning you wouldn't get wet anymore... It was probably still cold out there though. The cold inside definitely hadn't changed at all throughout the day. And there was still the overhanging threat of some car splashing you as you go down the sidewalk.
You stand and return to the kitchen. Grabbing the flashlight from the counter, you quickly return it to its rightful place before leaving the hall. You pace a couple times in the kitchen. Passing back and forth. The stove, the fridge, the stove and the fridge. Repeatedly the appliances appear in your vision.
You grab a paper towel from the roll before opening the fridge. Gagging slightly, you wrap the towel around the squishy tomato that had been rotting away in the fridge. As soon as it leaves your hands you reach for another piece of the towel wiping your hands with it aggressively, attempting to remove the feeling of the tomato from your hands.
Once you finish recovering, you walk to your room. Readjusting your pillows to be square at the head of your bed you grab your blanket from its muddled home, hanging half off the end, traipsing onto the floor. Shaking it out, you lay it over your bed, covering the pillows. With some effort, you tuck the exposed edges under the mattress, making the cover tight over the bed.
You sigh once you finish. What else could you do? Clean up your egg? You planned to finish cooking that later, even if it wasn't the most sanitary after sitting out for a couple of hours. Clean the bathroom maybe? It hadn't had any major mess in it since the toothbrush incident from almost a month ago. You glance out your window. Guess there's no avoiding it anymore.
From your closet, you grab the jacket you had Vivian get for you earlier this month. You drag it partially on the floor as your head to the front door. Slowly you slide it on, pulling the zipper up all the way, to where it stops around your neck. You slide your shoes on with minimal effort before putting your hand on the door handle.
It shook as you held onto the smooth surface. You're being ridiculous again. You are just going for a walk before Justin and Vivian get home. That's all your doing. You won't run into anyone. You're just taking a quick walk. Your nerves do not become settled by your repetitive mantra. If you didn't know better you'd almost say they worsened.
You turn the knob, exposing yourself to the cold air. The smell of rain was in the air as you stepped out, closing the door behind you. No going back now. With your hands in your pockets and your face buried in the high collar of your jacket, you take a few steps out onto the sidewalk. You hesitate, shuffling your feet along the concrete and glancing back at the beckoning door.
You shake your head. You're just going for a walk. That's all that's going to happen. You are going to walk. And walk you did. Aimlessly for a good while, but eventually you came across what appeared to be a park. Your hands fell out of your pockets as you stared upwards at the sunset. It was a cascade of a deep red and orange, contrasting with the warm yellow glow of the sun. In short, it was one of the most incredible sunsets you had ever seen. You took a few steps forward, almost chasing the beauty presented before you.
"It's a pretty nice one isn't it?" You jump, stumbling forward over your feet, tripping and falling onto wet grass, "Oh crap! Are you okay?" In your daze, the stranger puts his hands on your shoulder, helping you back to your feet. You reel away from his touch as you gain your bearings.
"I'm fine." Your glare causes the brunette to flinch under your scrutiny.
"Sorry 'bout that. I didn't mean to scare you." He chuckles awkwardly, gazing back toward the setting sun. It casts his face and clothes in a gentle glow. Your shoulders drop. Hands back in your pockets you let out a sigh.
"It's okay." You turn back to the sky as well. The area fell into silence for a good while. The water staining your pants began to soak into your skin by the time the stranger spoke up again.
"The name's Lucas." You glance at him from the corner of your eye, "What's yours?" You shift your weight on your feet, gripping the fabric in your pocket.
"...[Name]" He nods, satisfied with your answer.
"So what are you doing out here?"
"I was taking a walk..." You shuffle a few more inches away.
"Yeah? Guess I'm interrupting you then?"
"No. I was... Distracted." You yawn, as you bask in the subtle warmth of the receding sun, "What about you?" The prompt falls on deaf ears for a good while. So long in fact, you began to wonder if he was just ignoring you, or if he actually hadn't heard you.
"Got into a fight with a... Uh..." He trails off, still scrounging for the right words despite thinking so long, "A family member of mine."
"That must be rough."
"You could say that again." Lucas laughs, less awkward than the first time, "It was more petty than anything. Nothing important." You stare off into space for a good while.
"Still. Can't be that great getting into an argument with someone who's family, even if it is over something petty." The air becomes awkward and quiet at your comment. You stare back at the disappearing sun. The orange had almost completely disappeared meshing with the incoming black of the night. A few stars peeked through the remaining scattered clouds.
"So... Uh..." You hum in response to Lucas' attempt at a question, "How long have you been in Knoxville?" You glance at him briefly. Could he somehow tell that you weren't from around here? What should you tell him then? Should you go with Justin's story of you always living here? Or should you just tell the truth? You sigh, resting one of your hands on your waist.
"I've been here a couple months now."
"Really?" He asked, with great interest in his tone.
"Yeah... Came with a couple of friends." You glance back over at him, "What about you? How long have you been here?"
"Uh! I'm just here for some business things. So only a couple of days so far."
"Yeah? How long will you be staying?" Your question seems to stun him into silence as he blankly stares at you. Very, very unnerving.
"It... Depends." He finally relents, running a hand through his hair, "Could be only a couple more days, could be a couple of months."
"That's quite the difference." Lucas laughs quietly at your comment, before averting his gaze.
"Yeah... It's what me and my... brother were arguing about." He shakes his head, sudden annoyance in his voice, "He wants to get what we came here to do over as quick as possible. I think we should wait it out so we don't mess anything up."
"Huh." You say flatly staring back up at the sky. It was mostly the same this time you looked at it. Maybe more stars had popped out from the darkness, but you couldn't tell. "I... Should probably get going home."
"Oh, yeah." He takes note of the impending darkness, "Didn't mean to keep you this long."
"It's alright."
"Do you... Uh, want me to walk you home?"
"No. I'll be fine. It's not far from here."
"Right! I'll see you around then." He pauses, "Maybe."
"Maybe." With a wave you bid him goodbye, making your way back to the apartment, completely satisfied with the way your walk turned out.