Chapter Three | Roommates
Ashlynn's sleep was, well, present. In fact, it was the first time in a long time that she'd managed to sleep all the way through the night without waking to some odd terror or another. Usually, it was some kind of bug that decided to scurry across her chest or into the entrance of her hideaway. Sometimes it was a cold drop of water or the sound of some human thing just outside of her hiding place.
This morning, if it could even be called that, left Ashlynn feeling rested and secure. She stretched under her blanket and, for once, didn't kick a pile of snow or feel like she needed to immediately survey her surroundings in case there was something dangerous nearby.
It almost felt weird having such a peaceful and normal morning. It reminded her of the times in her old home before she was forced to leave, but now wasn't the time to think about all of that.
Sadly, the alternative wasn't much more pleasant to think about.
Ashlynn had to learn more about the humans in the home she decided to inhabit and whether or not it would be a good idea to stay. The looming question of whether or not to continue was something that immediately spoiled the pleasant morning for the Borrower, but there was no time to dwell on it now.
She needed food and supplies, and there was only one way to do that – go borrowing.
The tools at her hips, rusted from years of use and abuse, needed immediate replacement. The food store in the ripped backpack was piddly at best, even with the newly added cookie fragments. Even her shoes were so worn that they were letting in the water and cold.
It was time.
She gathered up what few supplies she felt comfortable with carrying with her including her lamp with her last battery, borrowing pack, hook, thread, and toothpick spear, which was far from her desired pin that she'd gifted to her brother before….
It felt like so long ago now.
Don't think about those memories now. You've got a job to do. Just do it you wuss.
Maneuvering through the wires and poorly shot nails, Ashlynn found her way back to the same place where she'd been the day before, which was in the apartment of that one guy. If he were alone or gone most of the time, she would count herself among some of the most lucky Borrowers in the entire world.
If not… well… she didn't want to think about that.
She secured her hook and line and slid down the edge of the wall back toward the electrical cover she'd used the day before, but she was only halfway down when she heard something just beyond the drywall and insulation.
"Hey! Soren, could I have chocolate chips in mine?" The hair on the back of Ashlynn's neck raised immediately. Were the kids already up? There was an immediate churn in Ashlynn's insides as she touched down onto the interior platform on the wall and peeked out the tiny gap between the electrical cover and the world of the humans.
It was that kid!
She knew it in her gut, and now it was confirmed. The kid had a bit of a rounder face and these pale blue eyes. It made her squirm uncomfortably that she could make out the details on the kid's face, especially the couple little freckles that were on his neck. Barely an arm's length away, the kid bounced on his toes up and down as he looked up and to his left, an innocent and pleading look in his eyes.
"We're making all of them with chocolate chips, and blueberries, and strawberries," said a deeper, more masculine voice that obviously had to be the dad, Soren. Ashlynn wasn't sure if she should risk any further glance and if she should just cut her losses and leave only to wait for a few hours to make the trek again. Her Borrower nature, unfortunately, was usually overridden by her own curiosity.
The Borrower woman needed to figure out more about this environment. It had been too long since she'd been safe and she had been in more dangerous situations before, and she wasn't about to give all of that up if it wasn't worth it.
"Yeah! And whipped cream!"
Sure enough, another kid appeared behind the other before nudging him out of the way, so he was closer to the older human. The two started shoving back and forth slightly before the dad turned and grasped the boys' shoulders.
"Dorian, you were fine on my left, and Rey, don't push," said Soren. "And I don't want to hear 'he pushed me first' because, otherwise, I'm eating all of these waffles by myself and I'm not sharing. You two can wrestle while I finish all of breakfast by myself."
"No! Soren! That's not fair!" whined the one called Dorian, who had a striking resemblance to the one called Rey, though Dorian had a more square jaw, and his hair was a bit longer."
"Yeah! That's not fair!" complained Rey, his features pinching in frustration and defiance at the unfair situation.
"Well then, it sounds like we should compromise and get along, right? And, if we finish all of our chores, we can play some games and pick a movie from 'the book,' if you're good that is," stated Soren.
"Really?" the boys asked in tandem. Their reactions made Ashlynn smile. It reminded her so much of how her and her brother used to interact while her parents worked to get the two of them to cooperate and work together.
Such great times.
Ashlynn watched carefully as Soren finished making omelets, adding vegetables much to the boys' dismay, and load up the kitchen table with enough food to last her a lifetime. They sat down, prayed, and ate food together before going around the house and commencing these "chores" that they said they had.
It was yet another risk, but Ashlynn dared to dart out onto the counter once again and snag some of the leftovers from breakfast. Just a little bit. A piece of cut waffle that wasn't smothered in syrup. Two cut pepper fragments. An armful of egg. A fragment of toast.
Ashlynn knew it was an immense risk, yet desperation drove her forward anyway. The perishable food she snagged would serve as her immediate meal while the other fragments could be dried and stored safely. She was back in the walls and shimmying up the line within moments of securing the food in her bag.
As she perched on the edge of the light socket and listened to the humans below while eating, she decided that she needed to observe them for a time to determine whether or not she should take up a better long-term position here. Sure, there were other apartments, but this one seemed to have a jackpot of materials and unguarded food laying around.
At the very least, the humans didn't seem all that observant; probably because the human boys were so messy and the dad, Soren, was so used to cleaning up chaos after them.
Maybe a house with these rambunctious boys isn't the worst thing, Ashlynn thought to herself as she nibbled on the egg and pepper. I can hunker down and be safe while also having access to all the essentials. I hope so at least.
Ashlynn wiped her hands on a small cloth fragment she'd attached to her bag before hoisting up her essentials once more and venturing out into the darkness to explore the other apartments. Perhaps there was another human unit she'd be better with.
~~~^*^*^~~~
Ashlynn's exploration of the other apartments yielded few results as beneficial as the one with the dad and the two young human boys. It took a few days of observation and poking around, but eventually Ashlynn's adventuring paid off. She felt confident in where she placed her belongings, but the humans in the other apartments left something to be desired.
Above the place she chose as her makeshift base was a woman and her teenage daughter, and the two of them often had shouting matches about something or another. Ashlynn didn't really understand, nor was she required to. What the humans were up to was their business and she had no desire to piece everything together; at least, not yet. The entertainment portion of observing the humans would come after she was established.
Another apartment housed two elderly humans who had an army of furry felines, all more than eager to sniff and swipe at every shadow and darting motion. It would have been perfect if not for those pesky purring pouncers. To be fair though, Ashlynn decided she didn't care for the elderly couples' food selection, considering it consisted of those aluminum foil trays that you heat in the oven. Salty and messy.
Hardly proper borrowing material.
The last apartment was vacant at the moment, but during one of the days where Ashlynn was exploring the barren cabinets, she heard someone come in and start talking about the place. She crossed her fingers that there might be another human who was a good choice to borrow from, but she wasn't counting on it. Based on her luck, it would be another human with two young children.
Alas, her roommates down below her were probably going to be her best bet when it came to gathering supplies.
Despite her mild apprehension, she slowly began to enjoy watching these three humans interact. The first week after she'd settled down and began watching them to learn their behaviors, Ashlynn discovered a few things about her new roommates.
The oldest of the two youngsters, Dorian, had a passion for music. He was constantly singing or humming while tapping or twiddling his fingers on the different counters. It made Ashlynn all the more glad she didn't decide to take up residence on the ground floor under their bedroom. There were a lot of good things in the boys' room like batteries and building materials because the youngest, Rey, was an inventor of sorts.
Rey was the one Ashlynn decided she needed to look out for. Between his inventions and tinkering, there was just something warning her in the back of her mind that she needed to be wary of this one. In her mind, if any of the boys were capable of creating something that could catch her. He was the most observant of the three and, being a young boy, had the energy and drive to come after her if he spotted her.
It was the oldest, in her mind, that Ashlynn knew almost nothing about. He was a hard worker and, more often than not, was doing something or another for the kids. Sometimes his clothes smelled singed, or he had smudges of dirt or some other weird substance on his face or on the back of his neck, but one thing was certain – he loved the two young humans in his care.
It did make Ashlynn wonder about him though. The more she listened, the more she was unsure about Soren's relationship to the two young boys. Every other parent child relationship she'd witnessed had the child calling the older human "mom" or "dad." Neither of the young boys did that to Soren. They always called him by his first name – Soren.
She wondered if it was because he wasn't their real dad or if he was some kind of uncle or something, but even then the name was the thing that was holding her up.
It wasn't her business and she wasn't even sure if she wanted to know. Still, it was something to help keep her mind busy as she passed the time watching the humans and memorizing their patterns to best time her borrowing trips.
Goodness knew she needed it.
On the bright side, all her building materials were coming along nicely and Ashlynn now had a makeshift pantry to help dry and stale some of her supplies while also keeping some of her other items cold by the cold water pipes, which was an adventure in of itself involving a rusty corkscrew from behind the cabinet that she'd found and a lot of tape she'd absconded with from a recently failed project Rey tried to make.
Now that everything was set up sufficiently, Ashlynn knew what she needed next – a proper bed. Though her instincts warned her that she'd have to be careful, she had made up her mind after that first week that she would stay here in this apartment. At the very least, she needed to stay until springtime.
Best part was she knew exactly where to find all of the material she would need in order to make this dream bed of hers. The only problem was that it was in the boys' room, but she had a plan for that. They never got up in the middle of the night, which is when she would be out and about borrowing anyway, and she needed to take just the right amount of material so that no one noticed her presence.
Her plan was in place. Her tools were sharpened and checked – twice.
What could possibly go wrong?