borderline - the last of us.

02. investigate.

POKE. Poke. Poke, poke. Poke. Poke!

Lou slapped Tess right across the wrist at the insistent nagging, tossing and turning on the old couch to try and get back to sleep. Lou was grabbed by her wrists and hauled upright, squinting and blinking as her eyes adjusted to the light. Being a master of manipulation and all that, Lou had actually managed to bag herself a day off of school! ...With the exception that she spent the day under the supervision of Tess and Joel, but a win was a win.

'You got milk?'

'Excuse you?'

'Over at your place. You have any milk? I need coffee.' She repeated slowly and louder, bordering on the edge of mocking the girl that sat in front of her. Lou looked at her, frazzled, and Tess opened her mouth again, but she was shut up by the teenager standing up and shuffling towards the door of the apartment.

'Uhm, I'll check.' She said tiredly before flinging the door open and taking five steps forward to her house. She didn't even bother to close either of the doors behind her, because it was only going to be a short journey anyway.

Their apartments weren't much different. Joel and Tess's was a little bit bigger, had more space in the living room. It was good, especially for today, because Lou liked to move around a lot. She could never really sit still apart from when she was asleep, which was what she was doing before she was so unceremoniously disturbed.

She passed through the kitchen, opened the door to the fridge, and closed it again when there was no milk. She tried to remember if she had accidentally used it all for her cereal and paced towards the table as if the carton would appear magically. She squatted and looked underneath the table, the post-sleep haze still messing up her mind and making her do stupid shit. Right now, if you told her that fairies were real, she totally would've gasped Kevin-Mcallister style and asked where to find one.

She sighed and stood back up, at the direct end of the hallway that led to the rest of her home. Inside her usually empty, she had never paused the retracing of her steps, which led her back to the mental image of her dad paused in front of the door, clattering around with his keys, opening the door and then closing it behind him.

After that, Lou went into a deep spiral of consideration while she ate her cornflakes and barely noticed her dad reentering the kitchen and kissing her goodbye with the empty promise that she would be in school on Monday.

The only reason Lou hadn't realized her dad had entered the room again was because she didn't hear the classic sound of the bedroom door's lock clicking shut behind him, echoing throughout the space.

Dad had left his bedroom, the one thing he actually used all of those years of stealth and training to protect, unlocked.

'What a fucking dork!' Lou gasped to herself, taking the opportunity of a lifetime and not even hesitating to walk down the hallway and head to the door at the end of the narrow corridor.

It was when she stood in front of it that she began to have second thoughts. She glared at the piece of worn-down wood like it had done something to her, and stuck her foot out in front of her to push at it. The thing didn't budge, and that was when Lou stepped forward and placed her palm against the door handle.

It was cold and it made her flinch. She realized how much of an idiot she probably looked like right now, and decided to just go for it.