Turning a Home on its Head

The story begins with Penny frantically running from a mysterious hooded figure and confronting her brother Kurt who she hasn't seen in years.

Kurt had crept slowly out of a dream he had, one of which he particularly enjoyed, to a sharp ring echoing throughout the room. He sat there adjusting his eyes for a second, gnawing at the drool that stained his chin.

"Command: Answer." Kurt was able to let out a quiet mumble and then sat there in silence waiting for Sheryl to connect him to his earpiece.

"I'm sorry Kurt. Can you state your command again?"

"Command: Answer"

"I'm sorry 'Answer' is not a valid command. Please state your command again."

On the other side of the line, Penny was trying to catch her breath. She stared around the passing crowd of people, attempting to eye her follower. Her bag weighed with each heavy step.

"Command: Answer the phone, damn it." Kurt rubbed his eyes awake and started to sit up, the bed rolling up with him keeping the pillow behind his head.

"I'm sorry 'Answer Damn It' is not a valid command, would-"

Kurt cursed, "I'll do it." and then pressed onto his ear. Sheryl was heard whimpering apologies in the background.

"Hello?"

Penny flinched at his answer. She hadn't had time to gather her words yet, and was suddenly unsure of how to ask for help without giving away her name. But she feared that if she didn't keep up the movement with the crowd she would be spotted. In between these thoughts the silence on the line continued.

"Hello?" 

Kurt cupped his ear and turned it like a knob. With this a little box popped up in the bottom left corner of his peripheral. A picture of static appeared where there should have been a picture of who was calling. This was especially odd. He eyed the bold letters below the picture that read "unknown" as he pictured a small, pale girl with long, poorly kept, blonde hair he had not seen in years.

"Pen, Is that you?"

Penny caught a glimpse of the hooded figure through the vast crowd. She could see his legs march towards her and started to push through the crowd, abandoning her temporary plan.

Kurt heard the dial-tone buzz in his ear. Straight-faced, he yawned and rolled out of bed. The shades turned mechanically to the let the sunlight in.

Penny dropped the burner she had in her hand and watched as it faded away in the passing crowd. She lost herself in the sound of the cars floating above her, moving together at a very fast pace. It was impossible to hear her breathing so heavily in the dense crowd she was in and she was stricken with worry that no one would notice this man taking her, or worse, killing her. After all, it was noon, the busiest time in Central Cadwallader. Bank Tellers, Businessmen and Shoppers made it virtually impossible to share space. The road here even travels above the square so vehicles have room to drive and people have room to walk.

She caught herself tweaking out. She slowed down and took a deep breath, then hid herself under a plastic, white "Gorgeous Girl" mask her brother bought her for Halloween when she was quite young. She started to move and built towards a small awning at the other end of the street. The broadcast over Central Cadwallader shared the new minute, a couple of commercials and then a loop of the morning's newscast.

Kurt walked through the rooms of his apartment, each time the house moved out of the way to let the natural light in. He stopped only in the kitchen to the sound of the coffee maker starting. Kurt stood in front it trying to force his eyes open when he saw a small bag of D-20 lying on the kitchen counter. In a slight panic attack he hid the bag in the silverware drawer, praying he'd remember later.

Upon closing the drawer he heard a faint sound, much like an old car engine revving up, and he drifted off to a distant place that smelt of gasoline. What I wouldn't give to see one in action, he thought, or much less someone drive one.

He was interrupted by a knocking on his living room window and as he looked over he saw Penny, hovering outside, with her new boots sputtering out hot air. She motioned at Kurt frantically as she appeared to stumble in mid-air.

"Good Morning." Kurt said as he opened the slider just big enough to fit a small 10 year old sized girl.

Penny tripped inside, just barely avoiding getting her feet/boots caught on the windowsill. 

"You know it's like 12, right?"

"It's 6'o clock somewhere."

Penny stopped fumbling with her boots and stared at him dumbfounded. Ignoring her questioning look, he walked towards the coffee maker. 

"Cream, 2 sugars?"

"Black." 

She stood up with only her socks on now, and pulled the small pack she had off her back and threw it between them. As she searched through the bag he caught a glimpse of the mask hanging on the top of her head, holding the hair usually in her face to the side of her head. The mask was mostly white, with large pursed lips, but a large gold butterfly made up the mascara and most of the left side. He couldn't quite remember where he knew the mask from. 

"You know who I am, right?

"Penny, no one knows who you are." He said as he stirred the sugar in his coffee.

Penny felt her stomach drop but ignored it.

"I was returning a package I picked up on Glocca Morra when I noticed this hooded guy following me. Now, I know what you're thinking. 10-year old girl. Hooded guy."

"So... Like black long robes?"

"Like the Grim Reaper? Don't be a rumpus, dude. He was wearing a green hoodie with a small crooked face on it."

Kurt looked relieved.

"Anyway, as daunting as that guy looked, I think he was only trying to capture me. He was armed with a stun gun and aimed for non-vital spots. My legs for example."

"But he missed?"

"And I got away." Penny smirked and pulled out a small box like object, "With this." 

She seemed to have some difficulty lifting it; Kurt saw that as odd considering the size but his suspicions were confirmed when she dropped the box on the floor and it made a loud thud.

"What is it?"

"I don't know, man. But I think that's the point. There could be anything of any size, shape or dosage in that box," She wiped her brow like sweat had been dripping from the frayed edges, "but it always weighs the same."

"They couldn't change the weight?"

"Like some sick joke between engineers." She huffed and then glanced back up at her brother giving a begging smile, "Anyway, I can't let that grim looking guy get a hold of it so I'm leaving it here."

One of Penny's boots was heard coughing over by the open window. Kurt stared her in the eyes for a second then opened up the top flap of the coffee maker and scooped out a large handful of unpressed coffee beans. He shook them in his hand briefly and then tossed them in one of the small mugs on the counter.

"I hope you do understand. I can't keep something that dangerous and hot in here." He said handing her the cup, "This should be to your liking."

Kurt hovered over to the door. He flipped the lock over and pulled the door open slightly. Then he fell over onto the couch. Penny watched in disgust as she looked around for a rebuttal. She took a mouthful of beans herself and then searched through the utensil drawer of her brother's kitchen. Pulling out the baggie of D-20 she grabbed the opposite mug and stuffed the cup. Then walking over, past the open door and at the head of the couch, she spit out the coffee beans in his face. He squinted and swatted them away like a bug as she dropped the cup on the table next to him.

"And this should be to yours."

Kurt opened his right eye to see the bag haunting him from the cup. A vague image of a tall woman shriveled, droopy eyed, drifted in his mind and he squinted his eyes shut

"God, just shut the door and tell me what you came here for."

Penny walked over and rested her hand on the doorknob. She took a large breath and gathered her thoughts. Thinking about leaving the door standing open.

"Kurt. Do you still have the Thruxton?"

"No I got rid of that years ago."

"Where is it?"

"I'm sure some older gentleman who still likes to do his own taxes has it now." He huffed a bit and then eyed Penny. "Brought to him, for a lot of money, by someone a lot like you I assume."

"So you pawned it." Penny took a good look around the room eyeing the white walls and moving boxes that still littered the hallway. "And bought this place with the money?"

"Funny, huh." He said putting his arm behind his head. "People pay so much money for places so far from the real world. I'm sure it's at least a couple grand a month for just one floor up."

Penny, having enough, stomped over to him. She took her coffee mug and slammed it down on the living room table. The glass shattered over the floor. Kurt remained still as his sister took a shard of glass and pointed it at his neck.

"Get up."

Kurt started to push Penny's hand away. But Penny responded by shoving the glass closer to his neck.

"We're walking to the lock-up where you're keeping the Bike. Then we are coming back her to discuss where we are keeping the box" Penny tried pulling him up by the collar put he was too heavy for her. He motioned for her to let go and while swiping his long blonde hair out of his eyes he sat up and started to walk towards the door with her and her weapon drawn following behind him.

Kurt stopped at the door to get his shoes on. Penny watched impatiently with the dagger in hand when Kurt noticed the socks on Penny's feet.

"You're going to be needing your shoes if we leave the house." Penny glanced down to her feet, she played a little with her toes as she wondered what to do with her hands. She thought about just walking in her socks before Kurt nodded towards the slider where her boots were laying. Penny started walking backwards slowly, still facing Kurt as he fumbled with the laces on his shoes. Her arms remained spread out towards him; the pointed end of the glass shard facing away from her; which Kurt, now leaning on the counter next to the door, found pretty trivial. Arriving at her shoes, Penny debated at how to approach putting on her boots without taking her eye off of Kurt but eventually gave up when she found no solution to keeping the dagger in her hand and putting on her boots at the same time. She kept looking down and back up in quick sessions before she started having trouble with turning off the sputtering jets on her boots at which now she had to retain full focus on. Kurt, very carefully, reached into a drawer on the counter he was leaning on and then with her attention still drawn away he started to walk towards the baggie lain amongst the shattered table. Penny noticed this when she looked up and stood up fast fumbling to get the dagger in her hand.

"Hey, don't you f*****g mo-"

She stumbled forwards as one of her boots malfunctioned and jerked her right foot up. She tried to save herself with her hands as she started to fall but ended up cutting her left hand with the glass shard as she hit the floor. She let out a yelp and then quickly tried to assess the damage. Kurt, now leaning halfway down towards the ground, picked up the bag of drugs and the mug lying next to it. Pocketing the drugs he started to walk towards the coffee maker.

"Hey," Penny shouted as she attempted to cover the wound with her right hand, "Make yourself useful and rip a couple sheets of paper towels off for me." She walked over to him, picking up her backpack, as he put the mug down on the counter, grabbing the roll of paper towels. She fished through her backpack and pulled out a small tube, resembling a container of toothpaste. She looked up to see Kurt with the towels in hand and a mug of more coffee in the other. He went to hand the mug of coffee to her first and she grabbed it and tossed it back onto the counter, reaching for the paper towels instead. She wiped the blood carefully from her hands with one of the sheets and then applied the ointment to her hand. Kurt watched as the ointment quickly closed up the wound and form a scar on her hand, she then used the remainder of the paper towels to clean up the rest of the blood.

"Are you alright?"

"Shut up," Penny scorned as she picked up and took a swig of the coffee Kurt gave her. "Just... make sure you remember exactly where the lock-up is for me. We don't want any unnecessary accidents on the way now do we?" 

She tossed the blood towels in her brother's face and then pointed dagger back at him. Kurt turned around to leave his house. Penny shut the door behind him and the box remained unmoved in the middle of the living room.