Caveship

1 || The Invitation

The piercing blare of the alarm clock was enough to wake the dead. Nicholas jolts out of his slumber, his face inches away from the source of the noise. Groggily, he lifts a hand to smack the snooze button, but in doing so misses, the clock tumbling off the nightstand. It clatters to the hardwood floor, skidding a few feet before it is stopped by its own power cord. That it was still intact after its fall was a testament to the sadism of the person who'd created it. The slap earlier had turned off the alarm, but unfortunately, had turned on the radio instead.

"—still baffled by the seismic activity all around the world, calling it unprecedented, officials are warning everyone to—"

"Turn that thing off!" A muffled, feminine cry comes from the other side of the house.

"—roads have been closed in response to the..."

Throwing half of his body off the bed, nearly banging his head against the nightstand in his stupor, Nicholas grabs the cord to the alarm clock and yanks it closer with more strength than is necessary. As it hits the underside of his bed, he sighs and groans. With a curse, and another yank, he lifts the alarm clock and finally turns it off.

"Thank you!" That same feminine voice calls out. "Trying to sleep here!"

"Must be nice to sleep in whenever you want!" Nicholas yells back, still half-awake, and thus the response is probably louder than intended.

Practically skidding into his doorway comes Michelle, clearly confrontational by the annoyed look on her face. Wearing pink pajamas, a bit ratty due to it being clearly a size too small, it's obvious that she's the older of the two. Her blonde hair and green eyes are a stark contrast to Nicholas's brown hair and blue eyes. She has a number of tattoos, just barely visible from what little flesh her pajamas expose. Anyone who saw them together wouldn't guess they were siblings.

"What did you say, brat?" She growls.

"Party too hard last night?" Nicholas replies.

"Oh, you little... as if you're such a saint!" 

"More saint than you, Satan. Aren't you too old to be at home?" Nicholas growls at her, climbing slowly out of bed. Not so much because he wants to at this point, but more because he feels the need to be on his guard now. "Can you get out of my room?"

"I'm not even in your room."

"Well, you're in the doorway."

With a roll of her eyes and a rude gesture, Michelle turns to walk down the hall, her voice echoing as she speaks. "If you're late, don't beg me to take you to school."

"Fine by me!" Nicholas says, clearly riled up enough to not care about making it to class on time. "I'd sooner crawl there than owe you a favor," he mumbles under his breath.

Finally left alone, he shuffles into his bathroom, still trying to fully wake up. His crumpled shirt and underwear come off as he closes the door. Turning on the water inside, he simply climbs into the shower, the cold water immediately snapping him fully conscious. He shudders and leans in to move the water temperature higher, hoping it'll make it warmer faster. It does the trick, but the temperature quickly rises to boiling lava hot. With a startled yelp, he quickly regulates it back to cold. After a few minutes of showering, he jumps out and wraps himself in a towel, walking back into his room.

Nicholas's bedroom isn't particularly large, but it's big enough that he has some privacy. A twin bed, a desk with a single chair, and a dresser take up most of the floor space, with the only other doors linked to his bathroom and his closet. The walls, painted a sky blue, are leftovers from his childhood days. If one were to look closely, they could see the remnants of what used to be fluffy white clouds painted over. A single window looks out over the backyard. Through it, he can see the nearby retention pond, just in view of a sign buried in the ground that warns people not to swim in it.