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…
“See ya!”
Chester flew through the stairs without even looking. Being a Saturday, someone would presumably ask why he was going away so early. Presumably someone old and cranky. But she wasn’t there at the moment. So, this left someone who is at oldest around two years away from him.
The snow had finally fell since the night. The wet, muddy front yard ground gained a soft, and white cover sheet to hide itself from unsuspecting entrants. One could already see their breath quite clearly, some while even inside. The rest of orphans were dressed in their sweaters, thrown against their PJs, complimenting the warm look with socks and slippers. The were all bundled in a living room, the one place inside the house with a working fireplace. If that wasn’t reason enough for them to avoid any other room, it is also the working tv set, which showed their favorite program that they all get to watch on the weekend. It was a show that took the world over, about a child superhero and her team of mini-robots, mesmerizing any kid that fell within the ages below ten. All the orphans, sans Chester, happened to be in that range, fittingly enough.
They were sitting around, all filled with comfortable bliss, as Miss Cheshire left yesterday for an errand. This meant that all of them were allowed to do whatever they desired until the end of the day. No chores, no schedules, no need to assembly themselves five times a day, so that she could count them, head by head, to make sure they all were still there. It was a day of liberty that all kids love.
All nine kids were situated on a single couch, which had musty smell of wet cloth, sweat, vinegar and a touch of mold in the corner. No one sat at the corner. The other three kids were on a large, wooden chair, trying to fit themselves on one pillow. It did not help that one of them brought a book, and the other had jam and burnt toast.
The TV had been playing loudly, so much that it screeched during highest point. But everyone was enamored, as the superheroine was in the middle of taking down the alphabet eating monster by using sign language and teaching it to her robot friends. The static lines would not stop the excitement that was going on the screen.
“Brian hid my bowl again!” Cindy shouted, just as the superheroine realized that maybe alphabet eater had a neglectful pair of parents.
“No I didn’t,” protested Brian, the young white wolf, pulling his lips back. He always did that whenever he lied.
“Did too!” Cindy crawled to Lily, to not get in the way of everyone watching. The latter was sitting at the top of the couch. “Lily, tell him to put back my bowl!” she said, pointing to him from the other side.
Lily looked at Brian, who just ran out of the room. She sighed, wiped her webbed hands, and then got off the couch. The young bat girl crawled under everyone, only to stop right under Mimmy to help her up the couch. The very young peachick said “Thank you!”, only to get shushed by everyone. She got up after finally crossing, and as she passed by, turned to the next page of Tam’s book. She got out, and returned immediately with a towel in her hand, and gave it to young kangaroo mouse. The latter mouther thanks, and Lily nodded.
She ran out and got near the staircase, then stopped after taking few steps in. She narrowed her eyes, and then heard a creak. She slowly stepped forward, and raising her head, ran upstairs. She halted in the middle of it, and then repeatedly stomp each foot on one step, before finally ceasing to crouch down. She peeked from above the rails, and after a solid minute, found Brian’s fuzzy head poking out of a hole. Pushing on the board, he got out from below the stairs, and carefully began sneaking back to the living room. But as he was sneaking, Lily flew down and immediately dove to his hole.
The boy’s mouth was wide open, when he found her pulling out an empty bowl from it.
“Found it Cindy!” Lily yelled. She passed by Brian, and nudged his shoulder. “Find a new space to hide,” she said, returning to everyone else.
The boy couldn’t help, but mope.
…
“Sir, they are here.”
“Yes, thank you, Miss Vulpine,” Mr. Mouton answered, putting down the phone. The fox woman nodded, and left the door ajar, much to his annoyance. The school board had already flooded him with the parental complaints already, and it was one thing to choose to deal with them himself, but completely another to be forced on the behalf of the head principal. Apparently, someone stole a piece of equipment in his house. But who knows what that addicted hoarder might have lost? The elder crow’s anger got the better of him, when the phone rang once again, and after picking it up slightly, immediately slammed it down. The two boys shook a bit from seeing that.
“Mister Cheshire…Chester…take a seat,” Mr. Mouton’s tone was surprisingly friendly, despite that one thing he did. Not that the hedgehog liked it any better.
“Hey there, sir.” Chester kept glaring with suspicion, even after taking the seat. Mouton wanted to roll his eyes.
“Um, do forgive me, I had a bit of a busy day. You boys understand that, don’t you? Considering it’s the weekend?”
“Sure thing, sir,” Chester replied. His arms were crossed and the daggers he shot drilled right through him. Who knew a young kid could get so judgmental?
“Is it…Mr. Cheshire, are other kids in your group happened to be busy for today?” Mouton asked.
“Umm…you see,” Tom fumbled about, scratching his ear, and avoiding any eye contact. Next to the hedgehog, the tubby cat felt like he was in the middle of deflating. “Matthew is focusing on his…um…thesis, for university, about philosophy and theory and stuff. Eleonora said something about her mother wanting to stay at home, and then Napoleon…um…”
Tom swallowed. Mr.Mouton furrowed his feathery eyebrows, and then pushed his neck out, as if trying to look for something. Tom, in return, just scrunched himself, while mumbling incoherently.
Then Chester poked him with his elbow, causing the cat to jump and exclaim, “He doesn’t like to talk!”
“Excuse me?” Mouton asked.
“I mean…he never liked presenting…STAGE FRIGHT! He has a big stage fright! It’s pretty severe.”
“And…are you sure you don’t?”
“Ummmmmmmm…” Tom body began to slowly scrunch again, but Chester elbowed him back again. “Nope! Not at all.”
“I see,” replied Mr. Mouton, eyes moving from one kid to the other. “Well, I guess he will have to do. Have you readied the documents I sent you?”
“YES!” Tom affirmed. After a solid minute of staring, and then Mr. Mouton reaching his hand did the cat finally gave those documents to him.
“I see…all signed…Alright, guess you are ready to go for today. I must say, when I read all of the papers you sent previously, I was impressed by your dedication to this hobby, it’s quite…passionate of you, Mr.Cheshire.”
Tom looked stunned for a moment, and then blushed. “Oh, thank you.”
“Your video presentation was also good.”
The blush then disappeared, and so did other color, from Tom’s face.
“Oh no, should I have-“
“Calm down,” said Mouton, easing him back in. “Your video was still allowed. I also updated them about your team, though we’ll have to…um…bend the truth a little, no?” Mr. Mouton chuckled, to which Tom repeated in kind, though in more stilted in return.
“So when’s the battle thingie?” Chester interjected. This whole time, he barely changed his demeanor.
Mr. Mouton sighed. “It’ll start around noon. It’s a forty minute drive out of the town, and I’ll take you there personally myself.”
“Oh, okay good!” Tom said, smiling. “I guess I’ll have time to sleep a bit.”
“You had bad sleep?” Mouton asked, making the boy shake again.
“J-just-“ Chester nudged him again, “just nervous that’s all!”
“Well, alright. Do remember, that if your bot wins today’s fight, we can enter our school as a competitor. From there, we’ll be allowed to participate and move into the city, having a sponsor and principal’s own pocket, to fund our stay right next to the ARKYO Institute itself. From there, you have the chance to compete, and win a large sum of money Doesn’t that sound enticing?”
“It sure does,” Chester answered.
Mouton looked at him, and sighed. Why does this boy have to make this so difficult? He is doing them a favor. Well, himself a favor also, but that was beside the point. Funding this and jumping through hoops was a far, FAR more difficult task than this spiky haired individual ever considered.
“Thank you very much…sir,” said Tom, nodding. He was edging at the seat, as if he was ready to jump out of it.
“Yes, you’re welcome. Now go and get yourself and your bot ready. By the time we leave, you should be in prime condition to fight, understood?” Mr. Mouton said.
“Yessir!” Tom exclaimed.
“Good.” Mr. Mouton looked at both of the boys. “Looking forward to seeing more of you,” he said. And of your peculiar friends, in wherever strange place that you kids help them hide in, he thought. He gave a warm smile of the formal kind.
As expected, Chester did not take to it. He understood something was up, and it was so obvious, that he needed to call it out. Some people, adults especially, need to get called out when they act like it. So when they stood up, Chester tilted forward slightly, eyes locked on Mr. Mouton. The vice-principal did nothing but raise an eyebrow to give back a stink-eye. Tom just had his eyes bounced from one to the other, sort of standing there. He felt awkward. Before the confrontation could go further, a phone rang. Mouton picked it up, and apparently it was the principal again. They needed to talk alone.
Both boys left the office and made their way to the hall. While Tom rubbed one eyelid, Chester prodded his puffy side with his elbow.
“I’m awake!” Tom quickly responded.
“What’s his deal?” Chester asked, still focused on the conversation. His kept folding themselves, to give him that look of someone onto something.
Tom stood there, and limply shrugged. “Maybe he thinks its good money?”
Chester thought on it. He leaned his head and then after bobbing it side to side, shook it with a frown.
“Nah, don’t think so. We better watch him. Something tells me he has something more going on than he says.”
“Can we do that after I sleep?” Tom asked, and then yawned. “I haven’t slept at all, and I think I might fall over.”
After swift deliberation, Chester answered with, “Sure.”
…
Flora scrolled through Barbie’s phone. She had lost hers for a while, sometime a day ago. Surprisingly even for herself, she didn’t consider it to be that much of a loss for her. It felt nice even, like she managed to be free of some oppressive power. But then she wanted to check up on what’s new, and took Barbie’s while the latter was changing. The news feeds, as expected, was littered with the same old same old. Like a politician making some stupid statement, a new sickness found, awful criminal apprehended, a young entrepreneur publishing a book, a woman kidnapped in the city from her car, and then topping it all off, another article about The Golden Girl.
Golden Girl.
She had been the biggest celebrity on the web since back late in the fall. Around the same time when they tried to get their own fame, but that just proved to a waste of time. This felt like a blow to her plans like no other, as if she should’ve never tried in the first place. To top it off, while Flora wanted to ignore her and brand her as some fake, Rose apparently recognized her, and so did the other spirits. And because of that, getting to the city had never been so important.
But then, who is that last person with the spirit of their friend? Golden Girl rarely makes public appearance for interviews and such, so they had nothing to work with. On top of that, there were literally only her and the other three kids when the spirits were released. Who in the world managed to get the sixth one? What an odd mystery.
“How do you like it?”
Flora looked up. She cocked her head, first on one side, then twisted it and narrowed her eyes, trying to get a good angle to look at the dress. Barbie spun around gleefully, letting the frills float around her jeans.
“Like it? I thought, maybe, I could mix-n-match my stuff with yours, and get something interesting! Pretty cool, huh?” She pulled on her glittering jacket, whose color matched the sweater underneath. “Also, notice this bow? I think I just found it in the closet. I think they came from the people who lived here before! How-”
“Ok…Let’s try that again,” Flora said, standing up. “This time, I get to choose.”
“Oh, ok!” Barbie said smiling.
Flora smiled back. She took a look at Barbie’s closet, then backed out with an “ooh!” After biting her lip, she dove right back in.
This will take a while, she thought.
…