The Evanent

Chapter 5: Atticus

A bang sounded from the back door, "you know, I might start coming in through the back; less people can see me from here." Padmei's footsteps echoed through the empty rooms until she came to a stop next to me. "You're still asleep?" I had been huddled in a corner where I had made a makeshift "bed" out of sheets and a pillow that Mei had let me use last night. "I've already gone to all my classes, Atticus! It's-" she paused to check for the time, on her phone no doubt, "It's 5 o'clock!" I dug my face deeper into the pillow, bringing the edges around to block out her noise. I was too used to sleeping during the day, and being fully alert at night; after all, I was born in the night. "Come on! Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey!" She nudged my side with the toe of her shoe, she managed to hit a tender spot causing me to flinch and shy away from her touch. "Oh, so you're ticklish? Interesting." A menacing cackle oozed from her voice, "Very interesting." The meaning behind her words were crystal clear, if I didn't get up, she would wage war.

Groaning, I sat up, stifled a yawn, and stretched. My eyes weighed a ton, it was nearly impossible for me to crack them open even slightly. "How? How are you awake right now?" After Padmei had let me in the apartment last night, she decided to spend the time she had left before school with me.

"With this little magical drink Kat introduced me to." She stuck a steaming Styrofoam cup under my nose. The mesmerizing scent of melted caramel and roasted coffee beans infiltrated my senses and lured my mind to wake up; coffee was one of my favorite things to consume when I visited down here. I took a quick swig from the cup, instantly the bittersweet taste erupted across my taste buds, sending each of them on a strange pleasure roller coaster. "Good, huh?"

I had emptied half of the cups contents by the time I finally looked up at Mei, her eyes were blood shot, but as wide as a full moon. Her hazel orbs twitched back and forth looking at each of my eyes in turn.

"It's a caramel Macchiato, Kat ordered one for me this morning. I've never had one before." She took a quick sip from her own cup, cringing as it burnt her tongue. "After my second cup, I realized it was an expresso. There's an extra shot of caffeine in this to keep you going! That old hag barista tried to cut me off. She said I had too many." She scuffed as if it were an inconceivable notion.

"Well, how many have you had?"

"This is only my fifth cup." She took another quick sip.

"Maybe you have had too many." Her eerily wide-eyed haze fell on my outstretched arm as I tried to take the drink from her.

"You want to keep that arm?" I retreated when she barred her teeth, preparing to strike and rip off the limb. "Oh! I almost forgot! I'm going food shopping, and you're coming with me!" When I groaned she pointed a red-painted finger at me. "Hey! If you're going to eat our food, you're going to help us buy it." She looked me up and down, smirking. "And we're going to buy you a change of clothes; those could use a good wash."

"There's nothing wrong with my clothes, they're perfectly fine." They only had grass stains and a little tiny splatter of blood, nothing I couldn't deal with. I have definitely had worse 'wardrobe disasters'.

"Nonsense! I am SO not in my right mind, this is the perfect time to go spend all my money. Well... my parent loan." During our two hour chat this morning, Mei had specified, more than once, how much she hated having to rely on her parents financially. She felt like she was intruding into their life and should be able to support herself. "Anyway! You need to bathe!" Her cheerful mood returned as she hopped up, she pulled me to my feet, helping me gather up my 'bed' as we headed out the back door.

Before we both plunged into her apartment, she checked to make sure it was "Kat-free" and then pulled me inside. Without even stepping over the threshold, she had already insisted that she show me how their shower worked, and once she got the water to her ideal temperature, she sprinted from the bathroom and returned with a light purple, soft towel and a black T-shirt.