Resident Evil: Oblivion

Tension

Leon just finished dishing the rice and chicken onto three separate plates and was in the middle of dealing out seasoned green beans when the door opens and Selena slips into the house. She sneaks up behind him and goes into battle stance as Leon sets down the pot and wooden spoon, apparently not hearing her. She swings with her dominant fist, throwing most of her body weight into the punch and releasing a breath of air. Leon turns around right before it connects and catches her fist, twists it, and brings her body flush against his chest.

"Ugh, Leon! Ow!"

Leon releases her with a smirk. "You're still too loud."

"I thought I had you this time," she pouts. It was something Selena and him enjoyed doing together. Every morning (except for weekends because Selena was lazy) the two would go warm up with a mile and a half run, and then spar some, and then end the work out with another two mile run. Sometimes they ran five miles, but Leon was getting older and his body was having the beginning signs of breaking down from everything he had been through. He held firm though and pushed himself. He wasn't a cripple yet.

Leon placed the plates on the table just as there was a knock on the door and Alice poked her head in. She had a tired smile on her face, wrinkles crinkling at her eyes. She waved at them and came deeper into the house.

"Hey, I'm here," she says warmly. Usually, Alice was a bit of a Tom boy, but this evening she seemed to have put some effort into her appearance. She wore an off the shoulder black shirt and light blue jeans and some black and white Vans. Her hair was freshly washed and flowing just past her shoulders. Her eyes were lined with eyeliner and her lips had a coat of pink gloss.

Selena hid a snicker behind her shoulder as she hunched over her plate. Without the threat of bioterrorism for the past eleven years, she had cleaned up rather nicely. She had also been spending a lot of time with Leon. Dinner with her was not a rare occurrence. It almost felt like they were her parents.

That opened up a whole new can of worms. She missed her mom and dad. Whether they were good people or not...they were her parents. She had a missing half brother, too, presumed dead, though the body was not recovered. She hadn't known Jake long, but she missed him too.

Leon and Alice were laughing about something and Selena rolls her eyes and shoves a piece of chicken in her mouth. It was good, really good, and Selena cleaned her plate quickly. She dismissed herself to go put her bag together for school in the morning.

She was half way through senior year and had her own little clique of friends she always talked to. She wasn't sure how she was going to say goodbye to them when she got accepted to MIT all the way in Massachusetts. That's what she kept telling herself...when, not if.

Selena grabbed her messenger bag from under her bed and made sure her laptop was inside untouched as well as her three notebooks. One was for school notes, the other was for her own personal projects, and the third was an old journal that used to belong to her mother. She always kept that on her...but she never wrote in it...not after that night.

All her mechanical pencils had adequate lead in them and were placed neatly in their designated spots beside her red, blue, and black pens. She had two sharpies, a silver one and a black one. She had a pack of Wintermint gum to help her concentrate and a pack of Big Red gum just for her obsession with cinnamon. After completing her check list she threw her bag on her vanity desk and went to her closet to pick out her outfit. Black skinny jeans, a white tank, and a black thin hoodie would work, she decided, with matching Chuck's. 

A knock at her door alerted her to someone walking in. Alice slipped in and closed the door, leaning against it. "Are you alright," the woman asked.

"I'm fine," Selena quips while laying her clothing for tomorrow out on her vanity chair. Alice sighs.

"I know I'm no Ada, but we used to be close once."

"Why do you always bring her into it," Selena rounds on the elder woman. Ada had not been seen since the night Leon took her away. Her closest friend had abandoned her and as good natured as Selena was, it cut her deeply. She had just been orphaned and had needed Ada, and she was just gone. Alice has always been jealous of the bond Selena had with the Oriental.

"I just wish we could be closer."

"Alice, I have nothing against you, okay? I'm a teenager, I have hormones and mood swings. I'm not massive depressive and I don't hate your guts and not every problem I have is directed at you-nor is it any of your business what my problems are. You're not my mother."

"I just thought you'd need a mother figure. Your mom and I were friends...I feel like I have a responsibility to you."

"Are you sure you don't just want to use me to get into Leon's pants," I bite. My glare is as harsh as my words and I bite my lip, regretting my words moments after saying them. I hadn't meant it, but Alice was always trying to 'talk' to me...it was annoying.

Alice's eyes harden and she is silent for a moment. She stands taller and swallows before opening the door. "I just want to help you, Selena."

I don't say anything as she closes the door. I knew what came next. Alice and Leon would go watch a movie in the living room and talk. They never went to Leon's room and Leon assured her that he and Alice weren't a couple...not that Selena cared. But the relationship never changed, the flow, the routine it all became redundant.

Selena slipped into bed ready to be at school already.

A/N: not a whole lot happening here. The first few chapters are mostly just character building and reanimating the relationship she had with the others in the last book.

Nevertheless...I hope you enjoyed it thus far and look forward to your comments about the book! I hope I do ABOMDJ justice...or at least surpass that one. Let me know! Love you all!