I heard someone in the next room. They were dressing themselves. They opened drawers and unzipped suitcases until they found the most suitable garments. Soon Nathan appeared and he was pulling a gray shirt with some blue streaks on it down over his stomach. “Good morning,” I said in a dull toned, zombie-like fashion. Nathan stared at me before mumbling a reply and grabbing his watch from the floor then putting it on. “You gonna manage?” he asked as he looked at me. I was still staring up at the ceiling when I spoke. “I may be permanently traumatized from a severe lack of what to do at the hours I was awake. My eyes may hurt for the next few hours and I think that the ice had an immutable effect on my brain tissue. Other than that, I’m fine. How are you?” I said in my dead method. I shifted my eyes to my younger brother. Nathan stared at me some more, studying my appearance. ‘My new bruises must be showing through,’ I thought with some bitterness. If this had been a movie and if Nathan had glasses, he’d be cleaning them on his shirt right about then. After he was done doing that, he would say an insolent remark. But this wasn’t a movie, so all he said was “Okay…” before he went in to wake Elijah up.
Elijah hovered above me and looked down. As he rubbed the leftover sleep from his eyes, the corners of his lips twitched upward. He was glad that I had been hurt the night before. He started to say something but I cut him off. “I need… coffee” I said and looked into my brother’s face. “Black or with cream?” he asked. At least he understood. “Whichever has more caffeine,” I answered and Elijah left to serve me. Nathan sat down on the couch and laughed when he made my stomach into a footstool. When I flinched, he took them off, did it again and when my reflexes jumped again, he laughed. After that, he kept them off.
I heard the light steps of my little sister and Athena as they woke up and as I heard the heavier steps of my mother, I sat up. I didn’t want to worry Mom too much and lying on the floor like a corpse wouldn’t make anything any better. I thought about sitting up there with Nathan, but the sun was too hot to sit on the couch. I don’t know how Nathan could stand to sit up there. I was squinting up at Nathan with my legs pulled up to my chest when Elijah brought me my coffee. It was hot and it didn’t taste very good so I drank it slowly. Mom appeared as I drank the last few sips from the cup. She was brushing her long, long hair when I greeted her. “Good morning, Mom,” I said with a smile and set my cup down on the floor beside me. It made a hollow clunk as it went down. Mom smiled down at me and smoothed my hair a little. I had washed out the gel and it was an opportunity my mother couldn’t pass up. Usually, with the help of the gel, I could hold up various objects with my hair, like big pink erasers or pencils.
“You feeling okay dear?” she asked. I nodded. “Yeah, I’m feeling okay. Do I really have to stay up until ten?” I suddenly stopped speaking. I felt like I was whining. “Never mind Mom,” I apologized. Nathan was listening to us, I could tell. His hair glowed golden in the hot sun as his eyes flicked back and forth from Mom to me then back again. Nathan soon lost his interest in our conversation and started playing with my laptop. As Mom felt my forehead I gave Nathan a glance that told him to lay off my stuff. Nathan immediately withdrew his fingers from the keyboard and closed it. “You have a slight fever and you’re paler than usual. Are you sure you can go through with the interview?” her face held concern as I looked into it to give my answer. I did feel a little weak and fuzzy around the edges. But I wasn’t going to tell Mom about it because she’d either gives me heavy doses of medicine or take me out and cancel all that we had planned for that day. I had lived with her for nearly eighteen years, I knew her by then. I told her, once again, that I was fine.
“Ok, if you say you feel good, then nothing’s really wrong. Now, get dressed for the interview. Hurry now,” she concluded and commanded lightly. I stood up on my feet and walked to the other end of the bus, my bare feet padding softly on the floor.
In the dark room, I peeled off my old clothes and tossed them to the floor. Nearly naked, I searched for some things to wear. I pulled a crumpled red muscle-tank top out of my suitcase. I unrolled it, held it up and looked at it. It disgusted me and I threw it over my shoulder. It landed on the arm of a chair then it slid to the floor like a defeated soldier. I pulled out another shirt. It was dark blue and had a Japanese symbol on the front that was printed in baby blue. It was long sleeved. Satisfied, I pulled it over my head, down my stomach and jerked on the sleeves so that they covered my wrists. I tugged on a worn pair of blue jeans with holes in the knees. After I put on a pair of plain socks, I grabbed my boots by the laces and sat on the chair to slip them on.
“Are you ready?” Athena asked from outside the closed door. “Almost,” I told her. I grabbed my watch and put it on. “You’d better hurry,” she said then she left. I grabbed a coat that fell to my mid-thighs and started putting my arms through the sleeves as I opened the door to the room I was in.
As I pulled on my coat and stretched my arms through the sleeves, the sun seemed to burn my hands. I pulled the coat sleeves down so that they covered my knuckles at the least. They felt better after I did that. It felt so strange to be so covered up. I didn’t mind too much though. I stepped to the open door and they all stared at me like I was from another planet. I didn’t care, though. The sun was too hot for me to be revealing much skin.
As I stepped off the bus, the sun flooded suddenly into my eyes. They burned so much that I had to squeeze my eyes shut. I brought my hand to my face to block out as much as I could. Grimacing, I ran back into the bus. My boots stomped on the floor as I franticly searched for a pair of sunglasses, dark ones. I found a pair next to a hand-held video game among Nathan’s things. But I didn’t care if they were Santa Claus’s sunglasses, I needed them. I pushed the video game out of the way to grab the glasses. It clattered to the ground. One battery shot out of it and rolled across the floor. As I was leaving, I slipped the sunglasses over my ears.
When I stepped outside for the second time, Nathan was the only one left waiting. “C’mon Aubrey. We have to get there very soon,” he said and began walking toward the building’s entrance as he still looked at me. As we began to walk together I looked at him and asked how long before we were late. He grinned and replied, “Two minutes… Race ya!” then he ran down the hallway. I laughed at him and started running after him. “I’m gonna get you Nathan!” I said with a laugh in my voice as I dodged the suited people in the hall. Nathan looked back with a grin and ran faster. The men and women in the hall stared after us like we were prisoners that had just escaped from the local state penitentiary.
We sprinted all the way to the elevator. Nathan hit the button and it turned orange. While waiting impatiently in front of the metal doors, we decided in unison that it was taking too long and started up the stairs. We climbed up with booming steps that echoed down the stairwell. Nathan scrambled up two steps at a time, getting a little more ahead of me with each stride. I jumped up the last three steps and surpassed my brother. “Hey! That’s not fair!” he shouted after me as I turned the corner sharply. My boots slid across the floor like insane skates and my legs fell away beneath me. It wasn’t very graceful and I performed this act with accomplished emotion. With a loud yell, I slammed into the wall and onto the floor. Luckily, my head didn’t get a second bash and my boots were the only things that saved me from plowing through that wall like a bulldozer. My sunglasses fell off as my ear hit my left shoulder. I quickly put them back on and resumed my chase.
Nathan dashed ahead of me and slowed down at an intersection of hallways. Apparently, neither Mom, Athena, nor Elijah had given him the exact directions to wherever we were supposed to go. I caught up to him. With heavy breaths, I darted my eyes around and down each of the three hallways. I caught an image of blonde hair that lingered very close to the floor. I ran down the hall to catch my mother. Nathan finally caught onto the fact that I had seen Mom and began to run after me.
When we approached, Mom looked up. She had a look on her face that I would’ve laughed at if this situation weren’t serious. I knew we were loud coming down the hall, but I didn’t know we sounded like a stampede of elephants. When Mom got her wits together, her expression changed. The corners of her lips turned up in a relieved grin and her blue eyes brightened. I gave my inherited version of the same basic expression as I came to a stop. “Hi Mom,” I said cheerfully between my intake of air. “Hello sweetheart” she replied and reached up the brush a few soft locks of hair from my eyes. Nathan ran into my back with a hollow thud. He was repelled a little bit as I stiffly took his blow. His head bounced above my shoulder for a moment then he stood on his tiptoes. “Hi Mom,” he said with a smile on his face. Mom smiled back at him.
Athena’s head popped out from behind the door Mom was near. “Get in here you guys!” she said with a little laugh. I opened the door all the way and stepped in with Nathan right behind me. Elijah was already lounged out on one of the seats. His eyes drew to the door upon my appearance. He frowned that I was even able to get off the bus. There was also a girl with fire engine red hair and a smile on her face. Her style was junkie; a little vintage was mixed in there along with her Indian bead jewelry. I assumed her as our interviewer.
“My name is Annie. I’m to interview you today,” the girl said with a flash of a smile. I smiled back at her and a twinkle came in her eye. Tightness grabbed at my stomach. She was going to pick on me. And she wasn’t a fan of the music, I could tell. She was a fan of us. I could tell I wasn’t going to like this very much. “Hello Anonymous Dreamer…” she began.
“Aubrey, your band is one of the few new bands that get their own tour. What’s that like?” she asked me. I laughed. “Horrific,” I said, “We have no clue whatsoever on what to do. So we just try to act natural and experiment with things.” She seemed pleased with this answer. She then turned toward Athena. “Are you dating any of your fellow band-mates?” she asked her. I though this was a trick question. The gleam in Annie’s eyes told me this was true. Athena’s face held its smile and she proceeded to answer the question. “No, I am not dating them,” she said and tossed her black hair over her shoulder. Annie's face resumed its satisfaction. “Elijah! Do you love your brothers?” she moved on to her next victim. “I love my brothers! How could I not? They’re more like two best friends than my brothers. I enjoy every moment they’re around!” Elijah pumped the sick fakeness of his answer with a grin. Athena leaned up from beside Nathan and looked at me as if to say, “Oh my God, how fake can your brother get?” I answered back with my own look. “Very,” it said.