One - Parcel

After being dragged into work, Gilbert is visited by a strange girl...

The sound of his phone rattling on the table dragged him from sleep. With a groan, he lifted his face from his fluffy, off-white pillow and stared with eyes barely open. Today was supposed to be his day off, so his alarm wasn’t set; or, at least, shouldn’t be.

Running a hand through his wild, black hair he sat up and swung his legs over the side of the sofa, grey blanket sliding off him. Gilbert Ayers reached over and snagged the slim item from the glass surface, brows knitting in a drowsy confusion as he stared at the screen. With a sigh, he pressed his finger against the mobile and held it to his ear, rubbing his eyes tiredly. “Hmm?”

“Oh my God, Gil, what’s taking you so long!?” a girly voice squealed with excitement down the phone.

Gilbert couldn’t help but feel incredibly exasperated; especially at the use of his �" annoying - nickname.

“Morning Vanessa,” he grumbled as he pushed himself up from the sofa. His feet shuffled over the filth-ridden, cream carpet as he made his way behind the wooden counter in the room, guiding his body over the small amount of tiles and to the tiny fridge. Tugging the little icebox open, he pulled out a carton of milk and drank from the source greedily and kicked the fridge door shut on his ascent. “To what do I owe the pleasure?” he queried after a while, taking a massive gasp of air after finishing his drink and sacrificing it to a bowl of cereal.   

The girl on the other end giggled. She was giddy, he noticed. Taking his breakfast, he marched across the room and to his sofa/bed again, setting it upon the table as he listened. Idly, he swirled the mixture of orange flakes with his spoon. “Well!” she shrieked with an intense pitch, “I’ve just seen some awesome books at the library!”

Gilbert bit his lip and hung his head; he knew exactly where this was going. To be honest, he really, really could not be pestered today. It was supposed to be his long, lazy day off with nothing more than the television and maybe the odd can or two. Nothing extravagant, but it suited him just fine. “Vanessa,” he mumbled, “I really don’t think-“

“And you have to check them out!” she interrupted with an excited scream. Then, clearing her throat, she continued �" her voice considerably lower and more vacant this time. “So get your fat arse over here, now. I’m not stackin’ by myself”

Just as Gilbert’s lips parted, about to argue his part, he heard the all too familiar click and Vanessa’s voice was no more. Brown eyes rolled in their sockets as he held his phone out, glaring at it, before settling it upon the tabletop. Well, it seemed he had no choice in the matter �" the girl was bloody lucky he was good friends with her, else he’d never give his day off up.

Suddenly, his phone vibrated again and a message popped up. Twisting his lips into a frown, he acknowledged the new inbox he suspected from Vanessa and read it;

“And hurry up,

I’ve told t’ boss you were comin’ in.

Bob’s off too.

Cya.”  

Gilbert then proceeded to shovel his breakfast into his gob, glazed eyes fixed on the heavy black box pressed against the wall. His flat was small and need a clean, fast. But that could wait for later; it wasn’t like all the filth was going to hide whilst he was gone. He hoped, anyway...

“Well,” he moaned, massaging the back of his sore neck, “nothing else to do, I suppose” 

 

In a cream shirt and dark trousers, Gilbert stepped into the miniature library as he adjusted his square framed glasses upon his thin nose. Truthfully, he did not need them, but his sister used to always tell him how he suited glasses �" and ever since that happened, he wore them everywhere. As he marched through the corridors of polished mahogany bookshelves, Gilbert caught a glance of himself in a mirror, wedged between two stacks of titled works.

His black hair really needed cutting, feeling it brushing the base of his neck bugged him and his thick fringe would often invade his vision. He was small and thin, appearing very breakable �" which, physically, he was. Normally, he had very healthy, olive skin but as of late it seemed to get paler and paler. Perhaps he wasn’t eating properly? It wouldn’t surprise him, living alone was harder than he first thought.

The library, although small, was a maze and eventually Gilbert found himself at the staff room. He didn’t want to be here. He just could not be arsed. Not really. But, he knew that if he let Vanessa down she’d use it against him in the near future.

“There you are!” a low voice yelled at him as he escaped the room, gently shutting the heavy, grey door behind him. Unfastening the first two buttons of his shirt, Gilbert sent his colleague a fleeting look.  

Clambering down from a tiny, red ladder, Vanessa stormed over to him. She was dressed in a white blouse and a short, dark skirt with grey and black stripped stockings. Her coffee-coloured hair was straightened over her left shoulder with a pink extension attached to it. Mechanically, she chewed on her piercing looping her plump, bottom lip and arched a pencil-drawn eyebrow at him. Honestly, why did she completely shave them off?

“You,” she spat, jabbering her purple painted nail at him, “are bloody late”

Gilbert brushed her hand away and matched her menacing stare. “I don’t recall you ever giving me a set time, besides I’m supposed to be off today,” he grumbled, brushing past her. Vanessa rolled her hazel eyes, body twisting around as she followed him down the aisle.

“Well,” she declared after a moment of silence, “Bob’s not in and there’s no way I’m stackin’ on my own. Plus, since you’re my best friend, you were the first option”

Gilbert stopped next to the box she would have been rummaging around in earlier, and took a look himself. The first book he selected from the mix appeared to be a supernatural romance or something. Scoffing, he dumped it back in the box before looking through it again. It wasn’t exactly well-organised, he found himself fortunate the place was so small. “Well, next time I might appreciate a sleep in,” he grumbled, holding a selection of books to his chest as he rose to his feet.

Vanessa folded her arms and looked down. She seemed to contemplate something for a moment, and then she spoke. “What’s up? You’re not your usual, happy, self”

Holding a science-fiction book, he was about to stack it when he froze, brown eyes glazed over. Then, he glanced at Vanessa, pushed the book into the gap on the shelf and turned to her. He stared at the ground and rubbed the back of his head, seeming incredibly awkward. “I...” he paused to take a breath and then whispered, “I saw my sister yesterday”

Vanessa’s jaw dropped, before she shook her head and bit onto her knuckles, eyes looking away. “S**t,” she mumbled, “that’s why you left early, isn’t it? Sorry”

Gilbert smirked and finally brought his gaze up to her’s. “No problem,” he remarked, tucking more books into the beds upon the shelf, “you didn’t kill her. Some other filth did”

Vanessa was silent for a moment, before joining in with work, stacking books on the shelf above him as she climbed up her ladder. “How you can be so nonchalant about it? It freaks me out,” she said with great honesty.

At this, Gilbert was unsure of what to say. So, he just chuckled and brushed it off. Nonchalant? Really? He was just trying to remain as calm as possible. Heck, that thing couldn’t have even been his beloved baby sister �" it looked nothing like her. Shattered bones. Grey skin. An unrecognisable face...  The image caught in his mind and he started coughing, choking on the very picture. Vanessa’s head whipped around to him as his doubled over in a fit. Just as she went to help him, he held up his hand and murmured something about ‘water’ as he stalked off.

                 After a drink in the staffroom, Gilbert retired to the toilets to wash his face. Giving himself some time to think about anything apart from that. His sister was beautiful and healthy; not that thing he saw yesterday. But, it was not only that that disturbed him.

Leaning over the sink, he cupped his hands to gather some icy water which he splashed over his face. Then, he gripped each side of the white bowl and stared at his reflection. Dark eyes glared back at him as droplets of water trickled over his slightly sunken in cheeks, a few locks of hair clinging to his face. With a flick of his hand, he brushed his fringe from his eyes. He took his glasses and set them upon his nose again, blinking as his eyes adjusted. It was easy to see his sister within his face �" especially now with his paler skin.

“What?” he barely breathed, noticing something behind him in the reflection. The being lifted their eyes to him, gave a small smirk and vanished as soon as he whirled around to confront them. A girl? He was certain of it. Who she was though he hadn’t a clue; and she certainly wouldn’t have been Vanessa. Just who...?

                The remainder of the day went by fairly smoothly. It had been practically dead and often they closed early, due to it being a Sunday. The entire time Gilbert did his best to be himself, joking about and reading various novels out in funny accents to Vanessa. He didn’t want to burden her with his troubles, she didn’t deserve it. Not in the least. She was a wonderful friend; regardless of forcing him to work or not.

 

That night he returned home rather refreshed. After work he decided to take a long walk to clear his thoughts completely. Although Vanessa and work was a big help, it still lingered on his mind, not to mention his little scare in the toilets earlier �" of which he put to his own imagination; it was a crafty thing, after all.

So, dressed only in his boxers, Gilbert sprawled himself out across the sofa yet again, face buried in his pillow. He could never actually be bothered with his bedroom; he found the bigger space and fact that the fridge was a few steps away more comforting. For a while he was like that, unmoving, until his body became fully relaxed and he drifted off into a deep sleep. His dreams were invaded by bloody, violent images he couldn’t quite comprehend. It seemed that, subconsciously, he could not ignore what he saw just the day before; these pictures would invade his entire night, he knew.

That is, until �" Ding dong!

His head lifted and he looked around towards the front door, arching a brow. “What time is it?” he grumbled, reaching for his phone nestled on the tabletop. Then, there came a persistent rapping at the door. Flipping his phone up, he bolted from his sleeping place. 9:09 pm, not too late, but a bit late for visitors. “One minute, lemme throw something on!” he called, scavenging for his trousers he discarded earlier and pulling them up his bony legs.

Then, both swiftly and cautiously, he approached the door and winked an eye shut, peering through the peephole. His brow furrowed. Not anyone he knew, but...

He cracked the door open, standing in the gap to prevent the visitor’s entry. Tilting his head to the side, he regarded her.

A small, sweet looking girl with tanned skin and turquoise blue hair, falling in two long spirals past her breast at the front and cut short at the back; almost shaved, in fact. Her eyes were slanted and sparkled even in the dingy light of the corridor. Red and white stripped tights clung to her chubby legs, with red boots covering her feet. A scarlet jumper hung off her shoulders above a pair of black shorts, braces running over her shoulders and making a descent down her back.

She smirked, creating dimples in her cheeks as her amber eyes - obviously contacts - searched him.

“Gilbert Ayers, right?” she quizzed, her voice quite deep and slightly nasally; as though she had a blocked nose. Gilbert gave her a moment’s silence before deciding it was safe to respond. “Yeah,” he grumbled, still tired, “Can I help you?”

A look of relief seemed to have crossed her eyes, when she grinned and bobbed her head up and down. In her hands, she clutched a parcel to her chest. “Sure can,” she held the wrapped box out to him, “I’m here to deliver this to you, actually”

At this, Gilbert was taken aback. He hadn’t ordered anything and wasn’t expecting anything else to be delivered to him. Not unless this was a scarf his grandmother forgot to send him for last Christmas.

Gingerly, he took it off her as well as the biro she held out to him, signing a sheet of paper and handing it back to her. The strange delivery girl checked the slip over once, nodded and tucked it away in her jumper. “Right, cheers mate, I’ll catch you later; enjoy”

Gilbert made half an effort to wave her off as he skulked into his flat, slamming the door shut behind him. The entire time his eyes were fixed on the mysterious package. Gradually, he stepped over to the sofa, examining the label stuck onto the parcel at the same time. There was nothing actually on it, just his name and address; no return address, code, nothing.

Once sat down, curiosity got the better of him and he tore into the box. Then, he stopped and stared with wide eyes. “This is...”     

Author's Note

Quickly checked this over... it was a bitch to write, I was struggling for a good while. Hopefully things will flow easier in the next chapter, fingers crossed. Anyway, please, enjoy~

Reviews

[Aly Jones]

Dang. This was long! The detail was amazing, and the entire thing was captivating, but it was long.

[StarNinja]

*Puts on Hipster Glasses*
Cliffhangers are so mainstream.
*Takes off Hipster Glasses*
Not bad. The story is setting itself up for what comes next, which I find is the hardest part about writing, is the set up. Cuz you just want to get to the pay off right? Anways, good job.

[Cynthia]

Oh, I am being such a bad person, I am so so sorry about not noticing the chapter is up! And seriously, I am getting to the next one now, I am in a rush, LOL. And just one thing, I think maybe you can adjust the size of the words, its bit of hard to see, I dont have a good eye sight.
Nice Job!

[Athena Ramos]

this is whaaaat?!! aahh~~ the read requests can wait.. next chapter!!! XDDDD

[Nothing Personal]

Wow. A packed story..Good dialogues..Great flow and a teaser end..Perfect !!

[<3Lil.Bit(:]

What is it! Cliff-hangers aren't good you know :P Anyways, great chapter.

[Cynically]

Very good description, and lovely flow of showing the character's personality. It has me wondering what will happen next. XD

[Marie Harrison]

Ah.. that's no way to end a chapter! What a mean one you are, making me wait to see what happens next!

[Short.Nerd]

Love the description! I look forward to reading more.

[arlery]

good description, though not as good as your previous ones. But I think I'll wait and read the rest of the chapters before giving my opinion.
Keep up the good writing.