Haphephobia

Chapter 9

I woke up that morning for the second time, far from refreshed but fairly awake.

Groaning as my eyes took in the harsh flourescent lights, I sat up in my bed, folding the sheets back. I didn't forget what had happened last night, nor did I want to. But it wasn't a pleasant thing to think about the moment I woke up.

In the end, though my tired and quarrelsome mind may have had a thing or two to say against it, I decided that today-- keeping last night's conversations in mind-- I'd take the day as it came and see how everything played out. If I was honest with myself, it was the only thing I could possibly do while maintaining a relatively positive attitude.

"Mate, you take sleeping in to a whole new level." I heard the sound of a male voice drifting, unwanted, into my ears. I fought myself in order to keep from rolling my eyes. Folkvar was a cool guy-- but if there ever was the right mood to be in, I was SO not in it.

"Why, what time is it." I said more than asked, not particularly caring about the answer; but trying to at least be open to conversation. As cynical as I knew I was, I felt some strange obligation to at least try.

"Eleven thirty." Folkvar replied, and my eyebrows shot up.

Officially choosing to get up and out of bed, I made my way towards my closet. Upon entrance, I picked out some jean shorts and a plain green t-shirt.

Great-- now I was turning into Ava.

As soon as I had finished putting on all my clothes for the day, in addition to socks and an awesome pair of red Converse I found, I left the closet and the room without even a word to Folkvar. I could practically feel his bright blue eyes burning holes onto my back as I left-- I was sure he figured I was not the best morning person.

Walking all the way down the hall and turning a left to the bathroom, I knocked on the tall white door. When nobody answered, I opened it and walked towards the mirror, where I pressed that weird red button.

"Benjamin Richards. Level A. Shapeshifter." I almost crapped my pants when I heard the loud robotic voice resonate from the mirror. I had entirely fogotten about that little feature. The mirror popped open for me, and all my usual toiletries were placed haphazardly inside: it had only just dawned on me that the reason the mirror needed identification to produce the individual person's toiletries was to change out the items inside. I wondered fleetingly how it went about changing all of the shelves inside for everyone.

Brushing my teeth and running a comb through my hair absentmindedly, I thought about how the day might go. It was Saturday today, so I just figured we would do a little bit of our own stuff. I planned on spending the entire day with Ava if possible, since mingling with strangers wasn't high on my 'to-do' list: last night was one of my rare exceptions. At least I didn't have to touch anybody.

As soon as I was done fiddling with my hair, I took a deep breath and made to exit the bathroom. Just as I opened the door, I saw Anna extending her fist, as though she were just about to knock. I smiled politely at her and tried to slip by, hoping that could be my entire social dosage for one day.

"Nope. Don't you go anywhere. Folkvar said you were acting all down in the dumps so I figured you were just missing home already. Follow me." She said, all in one breath. Her mouth was curved up in an excited sort of grin.

Raising my eyebrows but saying nothing, I followed her as she walked ahead of me. We came towards the island separating the kitchen from the living room, and she instructed me to close my eyes while I sat on one of the bar stools.

"Okay, don't peek," She said, and I sat kicking my legs in the air while I waited for her to produce whatever it was she wanted to show me. Soon enough, I heard a muffled 'clink,' and she spoke.