A Small and Tall Collection

Noticed

Chapter Four | Noticed

Hook. Lamp. Line. Pin. Bag.

Everything was on her hip or on her back, and she was ready for one of her more daring borrowing trips. What made it daring was that the things she needed were under the bed of one of the boys who lived in the apartment, and it was something that might be missed.

What Ashlynn was looking for was cloth and stuffing for a proper bed. She'd been accustomed to sleeping on the ground or against any and all weird and hard surfaces, and only once for a very brief time did she have a bed. She loved it. The warmth spreading through the covers with no downward draft chilling her to the bone. Something soft to replenish rest after a hard day's work. There was nothing like coming back from a borrowing trip and flopping down onto a thick cushion and curling under a nice thick blanket.

If this place was going to be a long-term solution, at least for the coming months, Ashlynn needed to allow herself to have some of the nicer things - and that included a bed.

So, she waited patiently by the ceiling lamp and listened to the family of three as they talked about their days and ate dinner. Ashlynn promised she'd borrow some of their leftovers if the borrowing trip went well and if she had the time. The smell alone was tantalizing and made her mouth water. She wasn't sure what it was, but Ashlynn wanted to taste it. If it was Soren cooking, there was no doubt it was going to be delicious. Until then, she quietly nibbled on a corner of toast and part of a dried sausage she'd nicked from breakfast while listening.

The three finished dinner and separated to complete their various activities while they took turns showering before the three of them finally settled down and turned out the lights. She stood and stretched, placing her hands against her back and leaning back and twisting from side to side as her back cracked dully, before walking back to her area and beginning the countdown to when she'd set her plan into action.

It was a simple process. She'd done it a million times before for every borrowing mission she'd ever been on.

Lights out. Wait. Check sleeping boys from a distance. Dart to borrowing. Borrow it. Get back to the walls. No hip lamp outside the wall. No sudden movements. Don't deviate from the original borrowing on a high-risk job. Always have a backup plan. Don't let the little buggars see you.

What could go wrong?

It was an old hat, and Ashlynn knew it well.

Still, it didn't stop the jitters making her hand twitch ever so slightly as it rested on the edge of her hook. She knew it was probably inaudible, but every step felt heavy and loud. Every scrape or crunch of even her lightest borrowing shoes felt like scratching sandpaper with a rusty nail as she moved through the walls. The little pieces of drywall and dust that littered the ground cast long shadows and threatened to create an avalanche of sound that would lead to her discovery by the humans.

Being a Borrower, thankfully, had its privileges and let her move about silently with ease.

Still, she couldn't help but imagine the worst case scenario.

Ashlynn maneuvered past the walls, pipes, and wires until she reached the edge of the wall that was part of the boys' bedroom. The chasm of darkness yawned before her, but this was the easy part. She secured the line she'd borrowed from some twine she found in the garage and climbed carefully along the prickly material. It made her hands raw, even through her well earned callouses, but Borrowers can't be choosers and she needed the line more than the comfort of a decent line.

Even fishing wire would be better than this. Ashlynn thought as she carefully descended the line. She winced as the rough material poked her again. The Borrower woman finally made it to the bottom of the line and shined her light on her raw hands and immediately noticed that "little" poke she'd received before was bleeding now.