The Wavy XA Chapter by SwagMaster A past character shows again.
Weeks passed. The house became our home, and we did our best to keep it in running condition. None of us could get jobs, as it would attract too much attention, and had to scavenge and steal the food, clothes, and other necessities we needed. All of the clothes that had been left in the house we had been able to use, as Jezelle Siderov's clothes fit me, even though they were a little baggy, Oliver's fit Damien, and Erik's fit Dexter, which did not make him happy, and resulted in vicious swearing all day (nobody could take him seriously, though, with his cute British accent). Kate, Ella, Sadie, and Peter all had to get clothes from wherever they could.
Luxury items were scarce, and we all had to make do with what we had. I've always loved drawing and painting, and cultivated that talent by decorating rooms and sketching on the backs of used papers with pencil stubs. Ella loved to bake, but baking ingredients were not an option, as we only stole necessities. Instead, she scrimped and pinched with whatever we had, and often was able to come up with interesting but delicious treats. Kate and Peter practiced their singing and dancing skills together every day in their rooms and loved to put on skits and plays for the rest of us. Their diligence nurtured growing talents in the arts.
Sadie was often found hanging around the town's veterinarian's office, helping with odd jobs, and our house was a refuge for stray cats, dogs, birds with broken wings, and mice who had unfortunate encounters with the mouse traps. Damien kept a strict workout regimen in the basement, and Jeremy spent almost the whole day in his room, emerging every once and a while to present homemade trinkets, like wind up toys, remote cars, and other things. The pink hair dye in Kate's hair finally washed out, leaving her hair at its natural shade of strawberry blonde, and Jeremy finally toned down his efforts to wheedle me into leaving Damien. We all learned to work and cooperate with each other, and a sense of family settled over the household. I forced everyone (including me) to do drills and exercises every day, like running laps, push-ups, sit-ups, stretches, lifting heavy objects, basic defense moves, and specialized exercises to work out their powers. It was grueling, but necessary, if an extreme situation ever arose. Far too often, the stress would get to me, and Damien would take me up to the roof to just sit and talk, maybe steal a kiss or two, well after everyone else had been hurried to bed. It helped relieve my fatigue and hopelessness, and I was immensely grateful that when worse came to worst, I could at least cry on someone's shoulder. Nobody found us, no close call occurred, nothing happened; it was like the whole operation had completely forgotten about us. "Come on, guys!" I exclaimed, attempting the impossible mission of shepherding a sleepy Auriela, a grouchy Peter, a giggly Kate and Ella, a wide-awake Sadie, and a hyper Dexter, to bed. It had been exactly five weeks and two days since the escape. Alantia had been completely dormant, and the other personalities (except Keaira) had been dutifully sharing Auriela's body. Yesterday had been Beth's turn, and today had been Auriela's. The plan to keep Keaira back was a tremendous success; the demented personality couldn't even make an ounce of headway in the wall the others had created. Eventually, Keaira just gave up, and resigned herself to whiling the days with trying to form her own body. "Listen to Adri." Damien commanded forcefully, and helped me herd them all out of the bathtubs, into pajamas, and into their bedrooms. When they were finally in bed, and mostly sleeping, Damien looked at me. "Roof?" he asked. "Roof." I agreed, slipping my hand into his. We hurried towards the door, when a voice stopped us. "Headed to the roof, I'm guessing." Jeremy sat on the couch, a sullen look plastered on his face. "Just for a while." I frowned. "Why don't you go to bed?" "Oh, yes, don't let me keep you from making out with your precious boyfriend." he sneered, and I blushed furiously. "You know, I'm just as old as you two!" "Yes, but you didn't lift a finger to get the younger ones to bed." Damien reminded him coldly. "You may be as old as us, but you act like you're their age. Grow up." "Grow up?!" Jeremy stood, turning and ugly shade of red. "You're one to talk! Sneaking up to the roof every night, completely forgetting about our situation!" "And you act like there is no situation!" Damien roared, his anger showing itself. "You forget that there is a group people in this house who are younger than us, the oldest only fifteen! They need reassurance that there will always be someone to take care of them, and that someone is Adri! She works all day to basically mother them, help them feel safe, and you have no idea what that does for them!" Jeremy glared at Damien. "You don't deserve her." Jeremy snarled, and stalked out of the room. I sighed, torn once again. "Still want to go up?" Damien took several calming breaths before speaking again. I looked up at him and slowly shook my head. "Let's just go to sleep." I told him wearily, and pecked him on the cheek. Treading softly as to not wake anyone up, I crept into my room and crawled between the covers next to Auriela. Her even, measured breathing calmed me down, and my eyes began to droop. As my heavy lids fell lower and lower, I yawned sleepily. Suddenly, I tensed my whole body, instantly wide awake, as I heard the front door open, accompanied by heavy breathing. Loud footsteps plodded towards my room, the closest one to the living room, and I hear the knob begin to turn. Quick as possible, I leaped out of bed, moving next to the door, pressed against the wall. Tightening my hands into fists, I watched as the door slowly creaked open, the light from the hallway casting a silhouette into the room. With a savage yell, I whipped the door all the way open, attacking whoever was breaking in. As I assaulted the person, I heard muffled shouts from my victim. "Wait, stop! Friend! FRIEND!!" He screamed, and I stopped beating the crap out of him. The commotion had woken everyone up, and they all stared down at the newcomer. Alex. He was bloodied and bruised, and ninety-five percent of it did not come from me. His clothes were tattered and ripped, and his eyes had a wild look in them as he frantically surveyed his predicament. "I'm so sorry!" I apologized hurriedly, bolting to my feet and helping him up. He stared at all of us, as if in a daze. "Nice house." he mumbled, swayed, and thudded to the ground. I shrieked with surprise, and ordered Damien to carry him to my bed. Sadie, who had basic medical skills (thanks to her dad, who was a doctor), grabbed our stolen medical kit, pulling out bandages and creams. Opening the arnica cream, she proceeded to rub the lotion on Alex's many bruises. Alex stirred and moaned softly, but didn't wake. "Will he be okay?" I asked anxiously as Sadie attended to him. "He'll be fine." Sadie reassured me as she daubed the cream on his injuries. "A night of rest a day of relaxation is all he needs. Now, all of you, out." She began pushing and shoving all of us out of the room, except for Peter. "Pete, I'm going to need some help with the more....personal injuries, and I'm sure Alex would prefer it be a boy his age." The last thing we saw before Sadie shut the door was Peter's extremely embarrassed face. "Poor kid." Damien chuckled softly. "Okay, let's move! Back to bed, now." Damien and I both hurried everyone back to their rooms and beds, deciding Auriela and I would spend the night squeezed in with the other girls, since Alex was currently occupying our bed. With all the excitement, everyone was asleep before you could say "insomnia". Except for me. Unwanted thoughts swirled about in my brain, and unanswered questions about why Alex was here. What did he want? How did he get here? Where was the rest of his group? Why does it look like he had tried out boxing a grizzly bear? I tried to force these thoughts away so I could rest, but they refused to disperse, and I just had to wait until my sheer exhaustion became dominant. My eyelids became like heavy weights, and I couldn't do much to stop them from dropping, even if I wanted to. Instead, I closed my eyes and sank into oblivion. When we all awoke, we found Sadie already awake and ready, waiting for me to gain consciousness. "Alex is awake." she told me. "I need you to kind of explain things to him, so hurry up and get dressed." I grudgingly got ready for the day, blinking the sleep out of my eyes. When I finished, I followed Sadie, who walked briskly back to my room, where Alex was. He was sleeping, his eyes closed and his face peaceful. "Alex!" Sadie whispered loudly. "I brought Adri." "Huh?" Alex sat up groggily. His eyes slowly focused on my, and I just stood there, quietly examining him. He was much easier on the eyes, with all his awful wounds covered by bandages. His bare chest was encircled by a wide band of white linen, and his head was also sporting a cloth cover that went all the way around his skull. "Hello Alex." I said quietly. "Remember me?" Alex squinted at me, as if trying to recollect something. Finally, he lit up. "Yes!" he exclaimed. "You're Adri! Let's see, you had Damien, Peter, Sadie, and-" His eyes widened. "Oh, crap." "Crap is right." Sadie snorted as she started changing Alex's numerous compresses. "She doesn't even remember the-" Pause. "Thing you did." I finished lamely. Alex stared disbelievingly at me. "Whatever." he said finally. "I'm guessing you have some questions." I nodded, and he leaned back, sighing. "Ask away." "First of all: why are you here?" I asked curiously. "I needed a place to hide." Alex answered simply, closing his eyes. "Hide from what?" "From them." Alex shuddered. "They're awful, awful, soldiers, worse, crueler, than the ones sent to kill our families and kidnap us. They dress entirely in black, and every inch of them is covered with something. Even their eyes are blocked with a shiny black plastic thing, so you can see your reflection as they attack you. Every soldier wears a band around each arm, which has a circle depicted on it. In the circle, it shows a wavy, thick sort of 'X'. The same symbol is shown on the helmet, just above the eye guard, and is also shown on the back of their hands. They have no mercy." "Never met them." I replied shortly, and Alex's eyes snapped open. "What?!" he practically shouted. "But, but, that's impossible!" he stammered. "You must have TDs, or at the very least Auriela does, and they'd come, and you'd know!" He was clearly agitated, by the way he stuttered and blundered. "Ok, that's enough!" Sadie prodded me towards the door. "Out!" "No! Wait!" Alex shouted. "I'm fine! Stay!" "He said-" I tried. "OUT!" Sadie thundered, and shoved me out, slamming the door shut. Inside, I could still hear arguing as Alex protested loudly to my forced absence. "Really, Sadie, I'm fine." I heard Alex insisting. "Adri can come back." "No." Sadie replied firmly. "Now, hold still. I have to change these wrappings." "Hey! No need to change those ones!" "Yes, there is! They'll be infected!" "Please, just let me-" "HOLD STILL, DAMN YOU!!" Sadie roared, so loud everyone else turned questioning gazes to the closed door, which went silent as Alex complied with Sadie's orders. I stayed there a moment longer before joining the others in the kitchen to make up for my missed breakfast.
© 2012 SwagMasterAuthor's Note
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SwagMasterRoosevelt, UTAboutI use swag ironically so much that it's not ironic anymore. more..Writing
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