Dreamscape

Chapter 2 ~ Breakfast at Tiffany's

Lana was out like a light that night. As soon as she had gotten herself set up in her room, she had passed out on the bed like she had been hit over the head with a bat. And, somehow, in the night, Camo had ended up on her head; because when Lana woke the next morning, Camo was laying across her face. This gave Lana quite a start. Ah well, it had gave her cousin a good laugh. Lana and her cousin, Jordan, were as tight as peas in a pod. Even though they basically were exact opposites. They did almost everything together. Since they had been young, the two had been the best of buds. Lana didn't think she had loved being around anyone as much as she loved hanging around Jordan. The sad part was, the two hardly ever crossed paths. And when they did, it was a rare treat fit for the gods. This time around, the two had gotten lucky. Lana was staying for about a week... and so was Jordan. They'd have a week to catch up, goof around and go on adventures... if the rain ever cleared up. From the point Lana had woken up that morning to Jordan's laughter, to now, it had been a drenching downpour. Ah well. Jordan had said they could have just as good an adventure without going outside as they could with the outdoors in the package. The house was huge, after all. There was plenty of room to explore. This was true. Lana's grandparents' house was basically a mansion crossed with a cabin. That is to say a HUGE house constructed of wood logs, right smack dab in the middle of nowhere.

It was the middle of the morning, just before breakfast, when Lana decided to get dressed. She had fallen asleep in her outfit from yesterday, the one she had been wearing the entire time she had been in that cramped, little car, so it was high time she changed. Jordan watched the door to make sure no little, snooping, tykes came toddling in. Lana stripped down to her undergarments, glad to be rid of those clothes, and changed into something more her style. A white, turtleneck sweater without sleeves was pulled on over her violet tank top. Her long legs were covered by baggy, grey sweatpants that came down past her ankles and dragged on the floor. Her feet were covered by socks depicting a painting by Van Gogh. The one with all of the cool looking starts in the dark blue sky. Her tangled, unruly, copper hair was tied up in a high ponytail too keep it out of her greyish blue eyes. Her square framed, black wire rimmed glasses were perched on the bridge of her kind of long, kind of not, nose. That was how Jordan described it, and Lana agreed. One hundred percent. Lana scooped up Camo off the edge of her bed and headed for the door. Like she had said she would do, Jordan stood guard beside it. A stern look plasters across her face. Hands folded across her chest. The two locked eyes, then burst into unconventional laughter. Jordan had long, deep brown hair running down the length of her tall back. Her skin was a slight tan, unlike Lana's, which was as pale as freshly fallen snow. And she was about five centimeters taller that Lana. She wore a dark purple sweater that just barely covered her shoulders over a dark pink, spaghetti-strapped shirt. Faded blue jeans with holes in the knees came down to her ankle-high, perfectly white socks. After they were done laughing, the two walked out if the room and into the hallway. Side by side. It was time for breakfast, after all, and they didn't want to keep Grandma waiting.

Jordan peeked into the dining room, her hair falling perfectly around her shoulders as she leaned around the doorframe. Lana heard her gulp quietly, then leaned in herself to see what the gulp was about. Immediately, Lana knew what Jordan's uneasy gulp was intended to signal. Everyone had already made their way into the dining room and were all now seated around the large, circular dining table. Lana could pick out her mother and father sitting beside someone who looked like an older, rounder, version of her father. He kind of looked like Santa Claus if the old, jolly elf had clipped his beard. Grandpa. The other chairs were filled with Lana's brother, and a few of her other cousins. Two of the seats were empty. Lana guessed those seats were for her and Jordan, though her mind didn't have time to linger on that as her vision was drawn to the elderly woman sitting beside the Santa Claus with a clipped beard, her grandpa. The elderly woman who sat beside Lana's grandpa sent a shiver up Lana's spine. She peered down the bridge of her long, hooked nose at the two girls. Her gaze cold and unwelcoming. Pushing her elderly grandma glasses back up into place so she could see. Her fingers were long and gnarled, and Lana was able to see every vein that ran through them against her splotchy skin. The smell of smoke, old age and, oddly, pancakes hung around her in a wafting cloud, threatening to choke Lana from the sheer stench of it all mixed together. Lana hated how her grandma smoked. It was ruining her grandma's life and everyone around her's, too.