16 March 2013
"Do you see the faucet?" Laynie asks. I think Vynn inspects the faucet, because I hear water turn on and off. On and off. On and off.
"Intresting..." Vynn mumbles. I push Maicy down when she tries to peek around the curtains. She falls, shaking the curtains. Ack, I must've pushed her harder than I thought!
Maicy stares up at me, frozen. I lay down next to her as quietly as I can. Vynn gets quiet, and the water turns off for good.
"What is in this bathroom?" Vynn demands. I hear Tayla moaning- I bet she realized that it's us, hiding.
"Oh, nothing." I hear shuffling, and a shadow falls over the curtain.
"Yeah, soap probably fell or something." Laynie backs up Tayla. Yes!
"Really? Let me look..."
"NO!" Tayla snaps. The bathroom gets silent again.
"Move." Vynn pushes Laynie and Tayla around.
"Stop!" Laynie yells just as the curtain gets pulled open. We stop breathing. Vynn stares straight ahead and doesn't look down. Maicy clutches my arm, squeezing the feeling out of it.
"See? Soap or something!" Tayla screams. "There's a... a... super old... box! No one can find the key so we don't know what's in it!"
"Really?" Vynn turns away. "Where?"
"Upstairs!" Tayla screams again. I watch as Laynie yanks Vynn out of the room. Maicy lets out her breath, and so do I.
"We need to get out of here." Maicy whispers.
"But we can't. Tawn and Vynn could be, like, trying to take over the world or something!"
"Yeah. Yeah, I bet that'll happen soon."
"I'm not kidding. We need to stop them."
"Laynie and Tayla are trying to. They know."
"Still! We need to help!"
"After what happened a couple seconds ago? No. Come on." Maicy climbs out if the tub and I follow. When did Maicy get so good at leading? Geez, she was so quiet when I first met her.
We sneak out of the bathroom with no trace of Tawn, Vynn, or Quinn anywhere. I lead with Maicy creeping behind me. We approach the glass door and I silently push it open.
Maicy and I tiptoe out and I shut it. I look behind us, checking for anyone, then nod to Maicy. We run. Past the windows, past the front door, and past the house, we run.
Finally, we reach the alley we have to go down. Maicy stops and bends over, panting. I lean against an abandoned building. A skeletal tiger cat scampers out the open door with a dead mouse in her mouth.
"Why did Vynn want to see old stuff?" I finally ask when I catch my breath.
"Um, I'm not sure. He's obsessed with antiques, and arcitecture, so I guess that's why." Maicy looks up at me, sweat streaking her forehead.
"Oh. Okay." We stand in silence for a while. "So, should we get back to do our chores?" I ask.
"I don't know. You didn't seem to want to do those this morning." Maicy smirks up at me.
"Who cares. I want to get home before Tawn and Vynn do. Let's go."
"Fine." Maicy still hasn't caught her breath, so we walk.
The dreary gray and black buildings blur by. I'm lost in thought about the orphanage. I want things to go back to normal- life before I got adopted. Too much has happened in a couple days. Getting adopted. Living with Gabby. Having phsyco 'parents' that whip you when you don't act like their servant. Moving away from my home. And so many weird things, too. The random note in the car. Vynn's obsession with antiques and architecture. A mysterious place called Render where a orphaned girl was taken. And a rich hobo named Logan who loves phones. Hm...
"We need to stop here." Maicy interrupts my thoughts. I look around. We're back in Flotown, but not neer our house.
"Why?" I ask.
"Shopping, remember? I bet Gabby didn't come. I can't even believe that she didn't come with us to the orphanage." Maicy replies.
"No one can believe that." I smile. "Do you have money?"
"Yep."
I follow Maicy to a giant grocery store next to a fancy pizza place. This is Flotown, after all. Maicy leads me through the automatic sliding doors and into the colorful store.
"Um... What do we need?"
"Milk. Eggs. Bread. You know."
"Okay."
I wander down an aisle that might have bread in it. Servants and rich people inspect boxes like detectives. I look around and spot some bread loaves on the top shelf. Great, the top shelf. How can I reach that?
I reach up. No such luck. My hand streches a couple feet short of the bread. I look around for something to stand on, but there's nothing. Wow, this figures.
"Can you reach that for me?" I ask a tall butler. The butler glares at me. "Or not..." A maid walks by just then. "Can you grab that bread on the top shelf for me?"
The maid smiles sweetly at me. "Oh, I would, but I can't reach it, either." She pads off. Great.
How can I reach it? I stretch. Nope. I stand on my tiptoes. Nope. I jump. Nope. I stretch while standing on my tiptoes and hop febily into the air. Nope!
Ack! We need this bread, or the Pillets are going to kill us! Literally! I look around for another idea.
Maybe I could climb on the shelves. Uh, no. I notice a rich woman placing a box of noodles into a cart. Maybe I could stack up boxes to make stairs? No way.
Then it hits me. A cart! I could step on a cart, which is a couple feet off the ground, and reach the bread! Yes!
I run to the front of the store, people giving me dirty looks as I do. Who cares. I grab a cart and push it to the bread aisle.
Now, how do I stand on it? I fumble around, trying different positions, but I'm just not flexable enough. Curse my stupid body. I finally just swing my legs over the cart so I'm standing inside the basket. It shakes a little, and starts rolling away. I clutch to the shelves of food and steady myself. Now everyone in my aisle is staring at me like I'm an idiot. Hey, maybe I am. Definatly childish- I mean, seriously! I'm standing. In. A. Freaking. Shopping. Cart.
I reach up now. Sadly, my hands don't even come close to the bread. They're still about a foot away.
Hoping to get this over with a soon as possible, I realize that of I stand on the side of the cart, I'll probably reach it. So, I do. The shopping cart slides around beneath me, and I wobble. My balance isn't that good. I look up and almost fall backwards. Why am I even doing this? Why didn't I just ask a cashier or someone like them? I'm soooooo dumb. Maybe Gabby is rubbing off on me- this seems like something she would do.
I reach up and my fingers graze the bread's packaging. I finger it, and bread falls down into my hands. Yes!
Now, how do I get down? I've been practically leaning on the shelve to keep my balance. Now...
"KIELA!" Someone yells from somewhere in the store. What?
I shake. My shopping cart shakes. The shelves shake.
Then everything comes toppling down.
I'm such an idiot.
Grandfather's Clock Chapter 11 • Opuss № I