Agent Reptilian: Exploiting Gold|editing

Chapter twenty: Dark "morning"

"Woah! Even though we only slept for about five hours, I sure do feel active and alert!" Nix jumped up from her four poster bed and the springs squeaked as her weight came off of it.

On the opposing end of the bedroom (which was really only two feet away) I ignored Nix's unnecessary excitement and shuffled beneath the thin Hello Kitty printed bedsheet which was being used as a blanket. Everytime I tossed and turned in the night, the bed would groan loudly and the mattress springs would squeal. It was bad enough that the single wooden beds, with long wood spikes poking out from each end of it were meant for children under the age of thirteen, evidently unaccommodating for us two teenagers who were almost adults and had to sleep with their feet and arms poking out of the beds. I had gotten such bad allergies that no matter how often Nix and I would smack my mattress with pillows and the blankets to get rid of dust, I would at some point in the night start sneezing continuously and wake up with puffy, red eyes.

"Dust fife bore binutes." I mumbled, my face buried in the stack of pillows. Normally, waking up early was no trouble. Ever. In fact, I would usually wake up early, ready to start the day, in anticipation to see what's in store but this morning, the bed seemed more alluring than greeting the day with arms wide open. Perhaps the thought of school had made me anxious.

"I'm opening the curtains." Nix sang as she squeezed between her bed and the side table, then paraded towards the windows.

"Nooo! Spop!" I protested and pulled the sheets off my body, stood on the bed and leapt off of it, landing smack dab on Nix.

"ALASKA!" Nix cried as I jumped onto her back and lost my balance, slipping and resulting in both of us to collapse onto the hardwood floor with a vehement thud.

"Bokay, I feef bore awake ow." I spoke from under Nix's body. She got up and pulled me along with her too. Just as Nix was about to shout at me, she stopped in her tracks as she caught sight of the window. "Woah. Why is it still dark? And are the streetlamps still on?" Both of us eyed each other and hesitantly walked up to the window, drawing the purple velvet curtains back and staring outside in utter confusion.

I stuck my face against the glass pane, my breaths producing small circles of smog to appear and fade on the window. I moved my eyes around but it was difficult to see anything since it was pretty much pitch black. There were a few street lights outside which were illuminating light onto the sidewalks and approximately a hundred feet from their condo, there was a cemetery in view which had some light shining on it as well.

Nix muttered something about a book and left. Something moved in the graveyard that caught my eye. An animal perhaps? Several black figures were shifting around in the cemetery. No. It can't be an animal, especially since these figures were standing on two legs and had flashlights with them.

There was some shuffling and objects falling around behind me in the crowded bedroom but I ignored it and continued to gaze out the window. With low amounts of visibility, trying to distinguish between the figures and what exactly they were up to was nearly impossible.

"Hey, Nix, come over here for a second." I continued to watch the figures walking around in the graveyard. There appeared to be around seven to eight people. Suddenly, a bad thought entered my mind. "Nix loo-

"What Al?!" Nix spoke in a vexed tone. "Can't you see? I'm trying to find my Calculus textbook! Where is it?" Through the reflection on the window, I watched Nix frantically pacing about the tiny room, throwing bedsheets behind her, clothes, pillows, looking under the two beds and pulling items out that didn't belong to us that had been sitting there, collecting dust.

I opened her mouth to say something but my allergies got to me first, "Achoo!" I sneezed loudly and felt something tickling in her nose. "Stop that N-N-Achoo! Nix! Nix! NIX! I said stop it! A-A-Achoo! Oh god!" My head started to feel light as a feather.