No. 9: Accidents Happen

No. 9: Accidents happen

Kaleigh starred at a blank page and felt it eating away at her. Well...it wasn’t actually blank. It had splashes of color, a floral print made up the page it’s self, but it was still blank. Blank of any personal touches, anything that made it hers, or showed any signs that anyone even owned it. She looked over at the stack of photos next to her, and fingered through them, smiling at a few and laughing at others.
She grabbed the glue stick and smeared the white goop on the back of a picture and stuck it on the page.
A grin crossed her face as she began to piece together her own work of art. “Maybe some things haven’t changed.” She wondered out loud.

.:+++:.

Cliff watched his sister from the comfy recliner in the living room. He had a blank spiral bound notebook open on his lap and was tapping a pencil against his mouth.
“Dude...”
Cliff looked over and saw Venn standing next to him with a wet towel in his hand, and basketball shorts on.
“It was cute when you had a crush on her before and all, but get over it. She’s your sister.”
Cliff made a disgusted face.
“Oh that’s just gross Venn. C’mon! That’s just nasty.”
Venn rolled his eyes and tossed the towel back into their room. He moved and sat down on the couch.
“What’s with the notebook?” He asked.
Cliff sighed and looked down at the blank sheet of paper daring to eat him alive.
“I’m trying to write something.” He explained.
“Like a paper?” Venn suggested, not sure what to make of his brother’s explanation.
“Uh...no...more like a...”
“A what?”
“A book.”
“A book?”
“Are you on repeat or something?” Cliff asked, his tone getting slightly annoyed.
Venn shook his head. “Since when have you been into writing?”
“Um...since forever.”
Venn shot him a look that said ‘I don’t believe you.’ Cliff sighed and gestured to their sister who was sitting on her bed nodding her head to the beat of the music playing in her room, while putting pictures in a new photo album.
“Ask Kale. She’ll tell you.”
“Huh...” Venn rose from his perch at the edge of the couch and walked into her room. When he tapped her on her shoulder to get her attention, she jumped out of her skin, screaming at the top of her lungs.
When she saw who it was she relaxed a little.
“Geez Venn! Don’t do that again.” Her eyes darted up and down his torso for a minute. “And get a shirt on.” She ordered, turning back to her work.
Cliff chuckled quietly, before Venn shot him the death look and he shut up.
“Kaleigh did you know Cliff was a writer?” He asked.
“Yeah. He gave me a book to read back...there.” She answered, careful not to look at him.
Venn’s eyebrows rose into his dark hair and he shook his head.
“So everyone knew but me?” He asked, walking back out of her room and into the living room.
“Well if by ‘everyone’ you mean Kale. Yup.” Cliff suddenly got an idea for a character and he immediately went to writing down the rough sketch.
Venn groaned and gave up. Shaking his head, he walked into the bed room and decided to leave them alone.

A song came on and Kaleigh froze.
Cliff saw the lack of motion in her room and glanced up.
Her back was stiff and her jaw clenched with hard snap. In a flurry of motion she jumped off her bed and turned the music off angrily.
She exhaled and rolled her neck, then walked into the kitchen.
"You okay?" Cliff asked, following her with his eyes.
She shrugged her stiff shoulders and tossed a piece of bread into the toaster.
"Not really, now that you ask. Thanks for the concern though." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm, and Cliff had a feeling she was in a really, really bad mood.
"What's up?" He tossed his notebook to the side and walked over to the island that stood between he and his sister.
She sighed and held her head in her hands.
"Lots of things. School's a killer, I keep getting massive migraines and I just ran out of painkillers. It rained all day which did nothing for my good mood! And it's just the wrong time of the month right now so everything's irritating me!" Her anger came out strong in her voice, and her body reacted to the stress.
The alien feeling started once again at her core and moved outwards with every heartbeat. Scaring her, as it hummed through her veins and out her fingertips.
Her hand had been going to pick up the piece of bread that had just popped out of the toaster when it happened and the toaster suddenly went buzzerk, sparking like crazy 'til it collapsed on the counter in one smoking heap. But it didn't end there. The power surge ran through the plug and into the electrical wires, causing the lights to flicker like crazy.
"What's going on?!" Venn shouted from his room as the lights threatened to go out.
Kaleigh looked around with fear written on her face.
"Did I...?" She asked Cliff once the lights settled.
Cliff shook his head and walked over to her.
"No, no it wasn't you." He said comfortingly, letting his sister cry into his shoulder as the day just got to be too much for her.

.:+++:.

Music blasted through the room, drowning out all the city noise that came with the territory.
Brandon stood in front of a blank canvas, not quiet sure what to do. Obviously it had to be filled with something, but the hardest part was always trying to figure out what that something should be. Scenery? Abstract? People?
He finally decided on a pair of eyes that hadn't left him alone for days.

First came the eyes, bright blue like the sky on a clear day with absolutely no clouds in sight. Something more that made them unique was that rim of silver around the edges.
Skillet blasted through the speakers so loud he didn't hear the door open up behind him.
A finger tapped on his shoulder, making him jump out of his skin. He turned around and saw the familiar curls of his little sister.
"Oh it's you." He muttered, putting down the paintbrush and turning to his sister.
Her angelic smile beamed up at him as she spoke with her hands.
"Who's that?" She asked.
He glanced between her and the face that was just beginning to appear on his canvas.
"Oh, she's....someone I haven't been able to get out of my head since I met her." He signed back.
Her eyebrows rose as she grinned.
Brandon saw the look in her eyes and sighed.
"No, not like that, I mean, she's a very interesting person! That's all!" He cried with both his hands and his mouth.
"Oh that's all?" She asked. He groaned and rolled his eyes.
"What do you want Maddy?" He asked. Slightly put off now.
Maddy smiled that smile that almost always made him forget the reason he was mad at her to begin with.
"Someone's on the phone for you." She signed.
"You could have said that to begin with!" He dodged around her and ran into the house, welcome for the warmth of the heater his mom kept running.
His sneakers slipped and slid when he hit the hardwood floor that ran through out the house.
"Mom!" He cried as he hit the floor with a loud thud.
A small women with long brown hair that fell over her shoulders, came running in when she heard the cry.
"Oh baby, I'm sorry I forgot to tell you I waxed the floors today while you were at school!"
He groaned from his position on the floor, then just gave up completely of trying to regain his feet.
"Here's the phone." His mother handed him the landline, probably the only one left in the west side of DC.
"Hello?" He asked, his voice strained slightly.
Maddy came in and smiled when she saw him lying on the floor talking into the phone. She always knew he was different, but she didn't know he was weird on top of it.
Her mother played with her hair as she watched her son's face turn from curiosity, to determination, which was shown by the lines on his forehead that deepened.
He said a few more words on the phone before hitting the 'end call' button and laid his head back on the floor with another low thud.
"Who was that dear?" His mum asked.
He took his time answering. "A teacher. Giving me notice on a project I have due soon... Sorry but I've got to jet. I'll catch you latter mum."
Brandon cautiously rose from the floor, testing the ground under him and walking painstakingly slow so he didn't risk falling again.
"Bye Maddy. I'll see you later." He kissed his little sister's forehead before kissing his mother's.
"Bye mum. Don't wait up, I might be late." Said Brandon as he threw on his jacket and headed out the door.
Maddy's mom sighed and squeezed her close.
"Teenagers. They'll be the death of me." She muttered to herself.