Freefall

Newspapers

Lynn opened her eyes, blinking in the dark Lynn checked the time. It was 2 in the morning. Lynn sighed as she realized her little "nap" turned into a whole nights worth slumber. Lynn stood up from her bed and went down stairs to do the tasks she should have done yesterday. As she completed said tasks she couldn't help but notice the money on the counter with the note from her parents.

Dear Lynn,
we're sorry we yet again won't be home for a few days, as you know your father and I are very busy people, so we hope this money will cover things like groceries, and anything extra can be used to go do something fun for yourself.
  -Love, your parents

Lynn sighed as she read the note. Another weekend spent alone then. She threw the note in the trash and put the money away as she got out a instant Mac'n cheese cup. As she did as the instructions said to do on the cup she picked up the newspaper from yesterday that she hadn't gotten to read yet as she put the Mac'n cheese in the microwave. As she read through the paper she noticed something that puzzled her but also made her slightly uneasy.
In the paper there were 2 kids who'd gone missing within the same week. That was odd. As Lynn stood there she got lost in her train of thought.

Why had the kids gone missing?.....

Lynn thought to herself as she walked back up stairs and changed out of her clothes from yesterday, a dark yellow T-shirt with black shorts and black socks that went to her knees, that also had little cat ears on the top with little cat faces. While Lynn was walking down the stairs she took her messy hair out of the two ponytails they'd been in the prior day. Still thinking about the possibilities of what happened as she walked down stairs, she again, didn't come down to earth until she smelt something odd. Smoke. Lynn looked up to realize she'd set the microwave for longer then it should have and it was now on fire. So she did the only logical thing to do and turned to the front door, bolted towards it and unlock it, and fly down the street to Herb's house.

Lynn wasn't an out of shape kid but she didn't stop until she reached Herb's house, so she was out of breath by the time she got to his house. Inhaling deeply she aggressively pounded onto Herb's front door, screaming "HERBBBBBBB". Within minutes the front door opened. Lynn chuckled nervously at the man standing before her. Herb still had one hand on the door, his hair was down and slightly messy, he had a light blue shirt on with grey sweat pants.

"Yes, Lynn?" Herb said sounding tired. Lynn started bouncing on her feet "um, so long story short my microwaves on fire" Lynn said impatiently. "WHAT? You could've yelled that to begin with!" Herb said as he ran past Lynn, down the street back to her house. Lynn gave an exaggerated sigh about having to ran alll the way back again before turning on her heel and sprinting back to her house. By 3 in the morning Herb had put out the fire and fixed the microwave. He was the handy man of the neighborhood after all.

"Thanks Herb" Lynn said leaning on the counter sighing. "Yeah well next time set the Mac'n cheese to 3 minutes. Not 30" he said putting his tools back into his tool box (he had Lynn ran back down the street back to his house and grab it for him) Herb turned toward the front door to leave. "Do you...wanna stay for breakfast?" Lynn asked trying to have someone to spend time with, she looked at Herb giving him a goofy smile like she hadn't just caught the microwave on fire. "Lynn. It is 3 in the morning." He said before smiling, motioned for Lynn to follow "I don't think I'll stay, but you could come over to have breakfast with me instead" He said walking down the street, pausing to wait for Lynn while she locked the front door.
"Sooo what's on the menu?" Lynn asked as she skipped down the street with Herb. "Hmm I guess you can decide" he said giving her a goofy smile. Lynn went to open her mouth to speak, her eyes excited- "wait. Don't tell me. Pancakes and bacon?" Herb said with a knowing smile. "And with strawberries on top?" Lynn asked as she turned around to skip backwards, smiling at Herb. He gave a smile, the kind of smile a dad might give his daughter, "and with strawberries on top". Lynn jumped for joy "yay!" She yelled nearly tripping backwards. "Shhh! Before you wake up the whole neighborhood!" Herb said goofing off as he ran ahead of Lynn. Shouting in a hushed tone, "race ya!" Herb said not stopping for Lynn. "That's not fair!" Lynn half shouted half whispered as she took off down the street after Herb.