Earthbound: Right at Home [Complete]

Chapter 19: Sacred Innocence

You don't remember when you fell asleep, but you weren't expecting to be in your cot the next morning.

As a matter of fact, you weren't expecting to see Ness causally hanging out in his bed, still dressed in his striped pajamas, skimming through an old comic book as if nothing happened.

Even stranger... the room was spotless.

You sat up, scratching your head, deathly confused.

"Sleep well?" Ness asked, causing you to flinch. You looked at him with wide eyes, blinking out of pure confusion.

Deep down though, you felt like laughing.

"What the heck happened?" You say, demented.

"Well..." Ness said as he closed his book and moved to sit on the edge of his bed.

"After the fiasco with the rain, my PSI did eventually calm itself down. I did fall asleep... so did you... on my shoulder."

Your face involuntarily turned a bright pink.

"Sorry about that... I wanted to make sure you were alright."

"It's fine... honestly..."

An awkward silence was short lived before Ness cleared his throat.

"Anyways, I put you on my bed for a while and cleaned up my room, since I had the extra energy. Once I was done, I carried you over to the cot."

"Oh."

"Because... You know, I knocked over the bookcase."

You nodded, tilting your head. "How come you didn't wait?"

Ness gave you a crazy look as if you just cursed at him.

"Seriously? There's no way I was leaving my room a mess. My mom would kill me if she found my room like this."

That made since. Though, you wondered if he stayed up all night.

"Besides, I have something else planned. I don't want to spend it cleaning my room."

You nod. "Alright then, seems reasonable."

Ness smiled, then left the room to get dressed.

The typical routine had begun. like every morning. A routine that you've gotten pretty used to at this point. You got dressed into your new set of clothing, grabbed your baggy jacket and headed down stairs, waited around for Ness in the first floor of the house.

Like always, the home was quiet. The lights were turned off allowing streams of sunlight to pass through the curtains. Getting board, you sat down at the couch, gazing at the television that was turned off for now. It only came on during the evenings... you just realized.

Your stomach grumbles.

Instinctively, your eyes wonder over to the kitchen looking for anything to eat. You looked over to the fruit basket, only to be disappointed.

There weren't any.

Were they... apart of a plan?

You knew that basket was filled yesterday, so it only made since. You decided to wait around and see what the day had in store.

Ness did eventually come down stairs, dressed in his usual attire, including the yellow jacket. Curiously, you watch him head over to the fridge, examining the items inside.

Should you be eating?

"Hey could you hand me that basket over there?"

"Sure, what for?"