| Safe | a post volcanic eruption story

5

The Girls wakes with the Cat sleeping on her chest. She shifts slightly and the Cat's eyes pop open as he sits up in alarm. The Girl sighs and she moves to get up. She grimaces at an aching pain as she sits on the edge of her bed.

The Girl had been quite sore lately. She had started working working in the garden more than her body is used to yet. The Girl had worried that when the Boy arrived they would run low on food. They had, but not alarmingly.

Both the Boy and the Girl agreed to only eating two granola bars in a weeks span. While they eat the fresh goods as they need.

The Girl stands and pulls her night shirt off, putting a day shirt on. She peeks out the door of her room -which was once her mother's- into the windowed hallway.

The Girl can tell by the brightness of the hallway that it is early in the morning. She still has a couple hours before the Boy will be awake. She decides on doing the laundry for the week before he wakes up.

The Girl steps out of her room, the Cat following her obediently. The Boy's room is a fair walk from her's. As he insisted on having a room close to the botanical garden.

With all her clothes tucked under her arm the Girl tiptoes into the Boy's room. She glaces at him sleeping in his cot, he does not stir. The Cat moves to jump onto the Boy's bed,

"Cat!" The Girl whisper-yells at him.

His head whips around to eye her in annoyance but strolls back over to her side.

When she makes it to the tub room she strips out of her clothes to wash them. After a while the Cat scampers off in fear and it causes the Girl to feel uneasy. Feeling as though someone is watching her, she looks around and sees no one.

-

The Boy wakes with a start when the Cat jumps onto his stomach, claws barred. The Boy gasps in shock and slight pain, bolting up into a sitting position. He eyes the Cat with a groggy expression and says,

"What's got you so riled up?"

The Cat ignores him, or more logically, cannot understand a word of what he said. The Cat paces at the end of his bed, watching the Boy.

The Boy pushes himself off the cot, mumbling it's too early for this shit to himself. He searches his room for at least a shirt, realizing his clothes are gone. The Boy assumes its laundry day and sets out to prove his suspicion.

The Boy is a door away from the tub room, he can clearly hear the Girl sloshing the clothes in water. He decides against going in upon the chance that she's cleaning her own clothes as well.

The Boy notices that the Cat seems very on edge in this area of the building, which is odd. He shrugs it off as the Cat disliking baths and continues on.

The Boy makes his way to the cafeteria, the Cat still at his feet. He quickly shuffles to a table to eat breakfast though it is nearly noon. Fuck it he follows his own rules now, no society norms anymore.

For some reason, though, the Boy can not get the hairs on the back of his neck to lay down.