CONSTANT HEADACHE ; EZRA MILLER

one: the case of the missing milk

at nine thirty on a sunday morning, Chelsea was pulled from her slumber by the sounds of birds happily chirping outside her window.

every weekend, she thought. i just want to sleep in!

angry, cursing under her breath and not fully awake yet, she hastily pulled one of the pillows she'd been sleeping happily on just moments ago and pulled it over her face—and whether it was an attempt to block out the chirping, or an attempt to suffocate herself, even she didn't know. though, either would have been just fine at this point.

it only took no more than a minute for her to realise that, much to her dismay, her pillow plan wasn't going to work for neither suffocation herself, nor blocking out the chirps. instead, she settled on accepting her defeat and looking out the window at the view; a bright blue sky that held the bright, burning sun too high for her liking. and even then, it felt like the view was against her, like the sun was literally lecturing her to get out of bed already.

and no, the sun wasn't actually speaking to her, but if it motivated her, even a bit, who was she to question it?

and when she sat up, she found herself cursing under her breath for the second time that day. she rubbed the back of her neck. those stupid pillows were apparently too good to keep her neck in good shape. whatever, she figured the pain would wear away once she got a cup of coffee.

and Chelsea found herself shifting into a better mood in an instant at the thought of coffee.

coffee was the thing she yearned for most in mornings like these, which happened to be a normal occurrence lately, she could be given the opportunity to cure cancer and she'd still pause for a cup of coffee first.

because not only was she a privileged, insensitive prick, but also because she loved coffee.

and it was as if her lust for the warm beverage fuelled her with the newfound energy she needed, because only moments later, she found herself walking down the staircase and into the kitchen of her house.

as soon as she left the bottom of the staircase, she noticed the dangling silence, the only sound being her socks being dragged against the hardwood floor in a child-like action. the house was empty this morning.

Chelsea's parents both worked, and her only other sibling didn't spend a whole lot of time at home.

Chelsea always loved being home alone, not that it was an irregular occupancy, but it never got old. she was basically your textbook introvert, and something about an empty house made her feel at peace. that being said, she was delighted to know she was home alone, humming softly to herself as she retrieved a mug from the cupboard — though, obviously not before sliding on the kitchen tiles with her socks, which ultimately resulted in her colliding into the bench.

and for whatever reason, that brought back a string of memories; of when she was nine years old, and her family had just moved into this neighbourhood, one of her earliest memories from this house being the day she ran into the kitchen with socks on and unexpectedly fell, which led to a faint scar left on her knee. she still has it to this day.

and she would have laughed at the sight of herself, on the ground like that clumsy child she never grew out of, but she was growing eager to get her damn coffee already, she couldn't even take the time out of her day to ridicule herself- not yet.

and so you could probably imagine how heartbroken she was when she opened the fridge just to discover the unimaginable: no milk.

Chelsea was going to be utterly pissed off by everything today, she could just sense it.

"are you fucking kidding me?" her good mood instantly crumpled right in front of her very own eyes. she didn't need this right now, not on a weekend, and most definitely not on a Sunday.

who the fuck was responsible for this, anyway?
Chelsea let out a sigh. Kenny.

Kenny was Chelsea's older brother, and the only one in the house that would use the rest of something without replacing it, because that's what he did best.

Kenny was also the absolute opposite of Chelsea. he, contrary to the younger of the two, actually had a social life and Chelsea was pretty sure the last time he had read a book was when school made it obligatory. she chuckled at the thought of how opposite they were.

she wondered where he was right now. was he at his friends? his girlfriends? Chelsea hadn't a clue of his whereabouts, once again. her and Kenny might be total opposites, but they got along just fine. and besides, she missed when he wasn't home.

not that she'd ever admit that to the older sibling, obviously.

he must have gone out last night and left Chelsea for dead, with no company and no milk.

"trust him to do that." she muttered to no one in particular — not that anyone was here to listen, or here to head out and fetch some milk, for that matter.

and the reminder that no one was here suddenly made the house seem annoyingly quiet (though, that could have been due to lack of caffeine). Chelsea eyed the remote that was out of reach from her spot on the lounge, eventually giving in and moving to reach it.

she turned the tv on for background noise, and it eased her for a bit- that was until a the channels cut out and a familiar sound of static came on, scaring the absolute shit out of Chelsea.

"that's it!" she grabbed the remote as fast as she could and turned the tv off in an instant. why couldn't just one thing go right today?

it's this stupid house, she thought, nothing's going right here today.

and now that she was thinking of it, maybe she should go somewhere — somewhere out of the house.

Chelsea she didn't go outdoors very often at all unless it was absolutely necessary — necessary being when her mum made her — but when she did, she went to a small cafe that only took a small ten minute walk to get to.

the cafe was such a calming place to her, she often read there when she didn't want to be at home, and at the moment, she did not want to be at home.

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i'm not v good at writing but i'll get there + the name Kenny is bc of my friend. hope you're having a nice day!!!!