Innocence is what he knows

The Guest

(none of the characters belong to me except from Lucy, Derrel, and Isabel)

Narrator's P.O.V

The girl was interrupted by the sound of a car parking next to her house. She had been adding a few dollars to a jar with a small label and scrawny handwriting etched onto the label titled "travels". It had become a sort of ritual for the girl to fill the jar; by scraping money from her allowance, from her job in the local pharmacy, and an occasional change or dollar she had found while walking. 

The jar was now half-filled and it took her a while to fill it up halfway due to her not wanting to ask for more allowance or a raise or any favors. Her need to want to travel somewhere else, her need not to have to see the same row of houses with white picket fences and neatly trimmed lawns was covered over just a want, such changes were too different for her to realize how much she needed it.

She managed to hide the jar before she heard the key turn and the front door open. She hid it in the usual spot, underneath the bed in the left corner just behind the monopoly board game

When she sat down on her bed, she stopped to hear the sounds of her mother's footsteps and strangely she heard two pairs of shoes, her mother's and somebody else's, somebody's that she just couldn't recognize. One of her mother's customers perhaps?

Hearing her mother's voice, slightly muffled but clear enough to hear " My daughter Kim is away but she should be back in a few days.....Lucy.......upstairs.....introduce yourself".

Lucy's p.o.v

I double-checked to make sure that the jar could not be seen, making my head a little bit dizzy from the sudden movement as I looked underneath the bed as if I was checking for monsters ( in my big age of 18) and then lifted my head again as I heard the same, unrecognizable footsteps begin moving  this time for the stairs. 

My mom doesn't make me meet her customers so maybe it's... ugh, I don't know but I do know I had to tidy myself up. I looked in the mirror, slightly twisting to see my messy hair and small crumbs from a cookie still stuck to my face on the circular mirror plastered with pictures of doodles of landscapes, unfinished characters, and animals. I wiped the crumbs off with the sleeves of my denim jacket. 

Quickly tidying up my hair I made a self-note that maybe it is helpful to have to go to work because at least I won't have to meet the mystery person in my house clothes which are mostly plaid pajama pants and a white vest. I stood up when I heard footsteps that stopped right in front of my closed door.

"oh right let me open that for you dear" I heard my mom and then the door opened. I became tense, I don't enjoy meeting new people per my mom's request as she usually says something embarrassing and I would want to crawl into my room for all eternity. However, this time I was already in my room so plan A is already lost. 

My mom was standing in front of my room saying that there is someone that would be staying with us for a while. It was only until she stopped talking that I noticed a lot of messy black hair, all in different directions right behind her. I nodded and she walked into my room, my eyes following her until I heard a shuffle of steps and felt eyes on me.

I turned my head around and met the gaze of two brown eyes. There stood well someone who looked out of place in the pastel-colored wallpaper of my rooms. A very pale man only dressed in black, matching his messy black hair, his clothes had multiple buckles and zippers. Even though he dressed as if he could easily make a grandma faint, his hands were the oddest part. They looked to be made of blades, parts of scissors, or something like that. He stood there quietly, brown eyes that looked into mine before wandering off.

"Hi, I'm Lucy it's nice to meet you, what's your name?" I tried not to sound too awkward.

"Edward" he had replied in a voice that didn't seem quite like his. It was a bit soft, gentle, and kind.

"Edward will be staying in the guest room next to your room, you should show him the neighborhood when you have time, I have to do my errands in a bit so I'll have to get ready" she said cheerily and looked at Edward and then back at me as we both stood there not quite knowing what to do. 

"show him the guest room Lucy" she said before she walked past Edward who looked even more uncomfortable than before.

"It's right here" I stood up and walked out into the hallway, hearing him follow me, I pointed to the guest room right next to mine. It was smaller than mine and only had one bed, some posters including the same one as mine of a landscape which I put up to cover the hole that resulted in me and my sister thinking that Olympic sports inside edition in my room would have been a good idea. The guest room didn't have that much in it but I guessed that Edward wouldn't be one to complain. 

"Is this okay? Would you like something else? maybe pillows or...." my voice trailed off, I forgot what else there could be that would be needed (it was quite a long time that we had a guest stay over usually my friend Isabel would take the second bed in my room). Before I could gather an idea though, he had shaken his head one, two, and now three times. Huh actually sort of, quite adorable.

"Well if you need anything then do say" I turned around but then turned around to face him as I remembered something, he looked at me with a sort of confused but intrigued expression.

 "You need to try the cookies I made, I'll get them for you" I turned around and left him in his room and practically ran down the stairs, I took the cookies that were left on the kitchen counter and made my way up to Edward where I found him sitting on his bed, eyes fixated on the poster on the wall until he looked at the tray that I was holding.

 "There used to be more but well I ate them," I said sheepishly placing the tray right next to him, It took him a while to take the cookie, he had just found that stabbing the cookie with one of his scissor fingers had done the trick and he had taken a bite out of it.

 I wasn't too sure what to do as I felt it was rude to just stare so I pretended to look for something in the room. I looked at the posters, opened one of the cabinet drawers, and then realized that was an even ruder thing to do seeming it's his room now and stared out of the window.  

"It's good, thank you"  I stopped looking at the castle out of the window and the houses that led to it. 

"Thanks, I could make some more soon if you would like, I need the practice anyway, only last week I nearly burned down the kitchen trying to make a cheesecake" I smiled to which Edward gave me a small one back. 

"Well I have to go now but if you need anything then do say" I added before I made my way down to my room. He just nodded.

I wonder how it would be when Kim gets back. Then it really would be a full house and yet strangely enough I didn't seem to mind having an extra addition in the house even if it was for a while.