Collision Course

Chapter 12: About time

My feet padded on the grey concrete so quietly it was hard to even recognize that it was in fact feet and not a scampering mouse. I'm pretty sure a ghost could've been louder than I was at that time. Then again, there's a fine line between life and death. One wrong move and you're on the wrong side of the tightrope.

A heavy weight seemed to be pressed on my chest and back as I followed Carrie's black north face to her front door. Ironically, my backpack was left sitting in the safety of sleek, black metal while I was a sitting duck.

Carrie opened the brown painted door with a shiny silver key and immediately I wished I was in the safety of my room. My feet almost stopped and took me running but my brain yelled for them to continue forward. A couple more soft pads of my feet and I was standing in the foyer of my newfound friend.

Almost instantly my eyes were flickering around the area, mapping every object that was set in a specific spot to satisfy the owner's needs. It was like the shutters of a camera every time I blinked, logging each moment into my brain until I felt the need to bash my head against the floor.

The photo of the open and spacious hallway decorated in a light brown and creme color scheme was logged first. An image of the television room to the left of the door with a step down came next. The five consecutive chimes of the clock signaled the printing of the open staircase spiraling downwards to a large basement on the right side of the door. Soon I had two pages of catalogued pictures of the foyer alone, each in high definition.

The sound of muffled thumping ripped me away from my real life Lily experience. Carrie's boots smashed the white snow into the fluffy brown rug, giving it a sugar coated effect. She caught my gaze and grinned at me with amusement.

"Are you going to take off your shoes and coat or would you like to eat dinner, leaning against the door?" She questioned hypothetically. The fuzzy north face was removed from her shoulders and thrown onto a coat hanger that resembled the one in Beauty and the Beast.

I rolled my eyes as a response and leaned down to take off my soaked converse. This was not going to be good for the color. Carrie giggled at my groan of complaint.

"Is that the disgusting sound of Captain Hook's laughter I hear?" The shout came from above us and I found myself in pause of taking off my jacket as I heard shuffling upstairs.

"Very funny, Tinkerbell," Carrie shouted back. A smile tugged at my lips, forcing me to try and be happy at the sibling teasing that was the way they showed care for one another. Thunder seemed to strike through the house as a loud pounding came closer towards us. Oh boy.

The thunder seemed to diminish when the familiar head of quiffed black hair and tall figure stepped out from down the hall to the right. Charlie turned towards the door with a goofy smile on his face that made him seem ten years younger than he really was. Then his dark eyes landed on me and seemed to brighten to the tenth-fold.

"Max!" He yelled and began the short jog to my still frozen figure. That put the movie on play real quick as I ducked to the right of his outstretched arms.

My sock covered feet slipped slightly on the hard wood floors throwing me off balance. Thankfully the railing to the basement catches my fall and I'm able to stabilize myself long enough to watch as Charlie runs right into the door.

A loud thunk echoes in the house when his body collides with the brown door and the wood shudders slightly at the abrupt contact. Charlie's body is forced back by Issac Newton's law and he crumpled to the ground.