Chapter Twenty - Amber

161 North Nearglenn Avenue, Apartment C. Amber studied the slip of paper where she had quickly scrawled Katy’s address as she gave it to her over the phone. “Well, Bray,” She murmured softly to the child in the stroller, “This is it. Our new home. What do you think? You like it?”

Bray cooed in response and Amber grinned. The apartment was on the bottom floor so she would not have to struggle trying to get Bray up the stairs. She rolled his stroller to the door and quickly pressed the button, trying to keep the butterflies out of her stomach. She could only hope that Danni and Moz would be as wonderful and understanding as Katy.

The door quickly opened up revealing a busty young woman with long curly dark brown hair on the other side. She was dressed in a comfortable looking violet knit shirt and a pair of black jeans, a huge smile spread across her face illuminating her natural beauty.

“You must be Amber.” The girl announced, her voice exactly as Amber imagined it should sound, low and husky with a definite sultry edge to it. “I’m Danni. And this must be Bray!” She squealed in delight as she dropped down to near eyelevel with Bray in the carriage.

“Hey.” Amber gave her a wobbly smile as Danni began to tickle the bottoms of Bray’s feet. She was not accustomed to Bray being handled by strangers or even admired by them. They didn’t get out much and suddenly Amber was nervous that he would not react well to someone else paying attention to him other than her. The last time someone had tried to hold him he had thrown such a fit they had to instantly give him back to Amber.

Danni began to make cutesy faces at Bray for several seconds, attempting to get him to laugh before she straightened herself and stepped out of the way to allow Amber to pass through. “Sorry about that.” She apologized as she smoothed down her hair with her hand. “I just love babies and Bray is such a cutie-pie. Takes after his mother, I can see.”

“Thank you.” Amber smiled felt her cheeks grow warm at Danni’s compliment. “Bray’s the sweetest little angel. If it weren’t for him, I don’t know how I could have made it this far.”

“He seems like a real doll.” Danni agreed, flashing Amber a friendly smile. “What don’t you two come in and sit down for awhile and I’ll get you something to drink, then I can give you a mini tour of the apartment, make sure you actually like it before you get all moved in.”

“Oh, I’m sure I’ll love it.” Amber assured Danni as she quickly scanned the living that was decorated in several different shades of blue. It seemed to have an ocean type theme, a lovely painting of the surf breaking against the shore hung proudly above the couch and several large seashells and conches scattered about on the end and coffee table. “I really like that painting. It’s amazing. It’s not a beach here in New Zealand, is it?”

“That?” Danni glanced over at the art, shaking her head. “No, it’s not. It’s actually a beach in Northern California. That’s where Moz is from.”

“She painted that?” Amber’s eyes widened, clearly impressed. She had not yet met the girl who would make her third flatemate, but from Katy’s description, Moz could be a bit testy at times. However, admiring the art, Amber could only see a beautiful soul with a beautiful talent.

Danni nodded, calling over her shoulder as she wandered out of the living room and into the kitchen. “Yeah. She’s got all sorts of pieces. She sells most of the stuff, but I loved that one so much I convinced her to let me buy it.”

Amber chuckled a bit as she took advantage of the time Danni was out of the room fetching drinks to release Bray from his constricting stroller. She instructed him not to touch the seashells, then allowed him to touch down on the carpet to explore his new surroundings, his crystalline blue eyes wide and wondrous.

“Here we go.” Danni returned with two tall glasses of a brown liquid and a smaller plastic cup that Amber assumed was for Bray. “I hope ice tea is alright.”

“Ice tea is wonderful.” Amber assured her, accepting the glass then followed Danni’s example in taking a seat on the comfortable sofa that took up an entire wall of the apartment. She took a sip of the cool liquid, savoring its sweet taste that was definitely not too sugary. Bray seemed a bit hesitant to try the new beverage, but after watching his mother he quickly gulped it down, a satisfied smile on his face.

“So,” Danni began after a brief moment of silence, “You work with Katy up at the Eagle Mountain observatory, right? How is that?”

“It’s a paycheck.” Amber replied, watching Bray carefully out of the corner of her eye. “I’m actually on the lookout for another job, though I’m not really looking, if that makes sense. I do like it, though, and the people are real friendly. There’s just something about that place that puts me on edge.”

Danni nodded in understanding. “Well, I’ll keep my eyes open for you. I’m looking for a new job as well. Retail really bites.”

“Oh? Where is it that you work?” Amber inquired politely.

“This little shop inside the mall, Exposure Lingerie.” Danni’s cheeks were flushed with color as she revealed this. She was obviously embarrassed by the fact that she worked at an underwear store, though Amber saw nothing wrong with it. “My dad really hates that I work there. He seems to think that someone as ‘brilliant’ as I am should be a nuclear physicist or something. At least follow in his footsteps a little bit, not my mom’s.”

“Your father was a physicist?”

Danni shook her head. “No, though he was just a plain ordinary scientist. He was the senior partner in the Pandorax Company before it went under a few years back. They were working on some biological warfare or something like that. I hated it, but he always said that was where the money was. When they were shut down they had been working on ‘crossbreeding’ the Bubonic Plague with Q Fever, bacillus anthracis and something else. All are completely treatable if diagnosed properly, but their symptoms are usually mistaken for a cold of the flu. A bacterium like that could wipe out over half of the world’s population before we really knew what hit us.”

Amber shuddered, a cold chill creeping down her spine. Instinctively, she reached for Bray and pulled him close. Through a drug induced haze Amber vaguely recalled her teachers talking about biological and chemical warfare and how it would be the war of the future. Personally, Amber would prefer to be wiped out by a nuclear bomb. Quick and instant. That’s how she wanted to go.

“Hey, how about that tour now?” Amber asked, her voice a little shaky. She couldn’t understand why Danni’s strange revelation had unnerved her so, but as soon as the dark haired girl had begun to explain the details of what her father had been studying, Amber had been filled with an extreme sense of dread and fear.

“Sure.” Danni grinned brightly, apparently unaffected by the dark conversation they had just had. She rose to her feet and smoothed down her soft grey trousers then began to lead Amber about the small apartment, pointing out the different bedrooms, which one Amber would be sleeping in and where the bathroom was.

“There are laundry facilities on sight, but I’d recommend not doing your wash on the weekends.” Danni chuckled. “There’s this crazy lady who does about forty loads on Saturdays and clogs up all the machines.”

“Thanks, I’ll remember that.” Amber nodded, slowly beginning to feel comfortable in her surroundings. The apartment was pleasant and well decorated throughout. The room she would be sharing with Katy was large and spacious, obviously the master bedroom. It had a huge walk-in closet which Katy’s clothes only filled a third of. She would have plenty of room, more than enough really.

“I really need to get back to my mom’s right now, though. Get the rest of my stuff before she’s back from her appointment.” Amber furrowed her brow, mentally going through everything she owned and choosing which was the most vital and important. “Will you be around for the next few hours?”

“I’ll be here.” Danni nodded. “I don’t go in to work for another five hours.” Danni grinned, then suddenly offered, “If you’d like, I can watch Bray for you while you’re moving your stuff. I’m sure it’d be a lot easier on you if you didn’t have this little guy getting in your way.” Danni stooped down and hoisted Bray up onto her hip, surprisingly without any complaint from him.

“I don’t know,” Amber hesitated, a strange feeling coursing through her as she watched the younger girl hold her son. Danni made a soft cooing noise, causing little Bray to laugh and giggle, a huge happy smile plastered across his young face.

Suddenly the room began to spin and Amber felt as if she was going to be sick. She tried to focus on Bray and Danni to steady herself but suddenly they were not alone. A man stood next to Danni, his arms wrapped around her as they both admired Bray. His hair was long, sandy brown and he had the most intriguing blue eyes Amber had ever seen. As if feeling her eyes on him, he looked up, straight at her and smiled, causing her heart to freeze.

“Amber! Amber!” A loud panicked voice yanked Amber out of her delusion. “Amber, come back to me!”

“Wh…” Amber blinked her eyes several times, surprised to find herself lying flat on her back on the living room floor. “What happened, Danni?” She focused on the girl hovering above her, her face filled with concern.

“I don’t know.” Danni bit down on her lower lip nervously. “You were mumbling something and then suddenly you just fell over, like you had passed out but your eyes were wide open and staring! I’ve never seen anything like it, Amber. You scared me so bad.”

Amber slowly digested Danni’s words as she cautiously propped herself up in a sitting position. She didn’t feel weak or light-headed whatsoever and couldn’t understand how she had passed out like that. “That was so weird.” She mumbled, moving to stand up. “Nothing like that has ever happened to me before.”

Danni said nothing, whimpering softly as she rose with Amber. Bray was hiding being her leg, staring at his mother with wide frightened eyes. Amber wanted to pick him up and comfort him, but the thought of falling over like that again with him in her arms terrified her.

“I think you better go see a doctor, Amber.” Danni suggested, her voice thick with fear. “That’s not normal.”

“No.” Amber shook her head, trying to shake off whatever it was that had overtook her. “I’m fine, Danni, I’m sure. I just got light-headed or something. I feel perfectly fine now, though.”

Danni looked at her doubtfully. “Are you sure?”

She nodded, forcing a grin. “Yes, I’m fine. Perfectly fine. I’ll leave Bray here and come back with the rest of our stuff. If that’s still okay with you…”

“Oh yeah, that’s just fine.” Danni nodded, though it was clear she had not been convinced by Amber’s words. Amber didn’t care, though. She had to get out of there, clear her head and figure out just what had happened.

“I’ll be back soon.” Amber promised Danni then dropped down to her knees to be eye-level with Bray. She tussled his hair and beamed at him confidently. “Hey munchkin, I’ll be right back, okay? Be good for Danni.”

Bray nodded his head, his face still pale. “I wuv ou.”

“I love you too, Bray.” Amber whispered back, pressing her lips against his forehead before she rose to her feet. She grabbed her purse and keys from where they sat on the foray table, then turned back to give Danni one last confident smile before she stepped through the door, her mind busy as it tried to place the face from her vision. She knew she knew him and yet…

“Knock it off, Amber.” She muttered to herself, hurrying to her Nova. “It was nothing. Nothing at all.”