Janis Sarkisian x Cady Heron Oneshots

You Plus Oven Equals Disaster (Part 1)

Being a writer, this took awhile not just because of school but because I got a random idea during Spanish class and wrote it down on a piece of paper... then almost lost it... while having the end of the story in my notebook with no beginning or middle context... oops. Also this is the beginning of the oneshot where Janis accidentally burns down part of the Heron's kitchen.

Despite living in Africa for most of her childhood, Cady still has a fear of the dark. In Africa there was vast open space and she was used to the darkness of her tent at night. But it's totally different in Evanston. When it's dark, there's so many things that Cady can bump into. The coffee table, bam! There goes her knee. What if she stumbled into the kitchen and accidentally turned on the stove? Or bonked her head on the shelf? Of course all of these fears can be pushed back into her head because of the wonderful invention that is the iPhone flashlight, except for one time: a power outage. 

Cady's phone dies as she's listening to a podcast and doodling to distract herself from the storm outside. She doesn't think anything of it, just stands up and pulls her brown fuzzy blanket up around her shoulders, tiptoeing across the hardwood hallway. The cold hits her feet in an instant, as she regrets not putting her fluffy socks back on. In her room, she reaches behind her night stand to plug in her phone, wiggling her USB cord in when the lights flicker once, twice, and they're out. Cady freezes.

"Oh no. No no no. No! This isn't- nope," a terrified Cady says as she springs up from where she was sitting on her bed, looking around frantically. As if that'll change a thing. Dread seeps through every cell in her body when she realizes that "Getting Curious" with Jonathan Van Ness is about to be her demise. "This is the fucking worst!" she wails to no one. Her parents are staying over at a science lab in DC this weekend, so she's been left alone. Cady paces back to the living room to see if she could maybe walk to Janis's when she hears a rumble of thunder and a crack of lighting. Not a chance. "What do I do?! Cady, calm down. Call Janis!" Cady sprints to her room. "Wait," she whispers. Of course, her phone is dead. "Dammit Cady, you lived in Africa... without power... for years and you can deal with almost any emergency yet you can't seem to thrive without power!" she yelps to her empty living room. Lightning crashes again and Cady flops on to her bed, clutching her lion pillow pet in agony.

***

Janis is watching A Quiet Place when the lights start flickering. She squeaks in fear when the lights all go off at once, along with her TV. Considering she watches horror movies alone for fun AND in the middle of a storm at night quite frequently, she recovers almost instantly. She sighs, flipping onto her stomach and grabs her phone off of the coffee table, opening up her messages with Cady.

Hi love! You doing ok? Janis asks, knowing that Cady can have a hard time being in the dark alone. She gets no response but thinks nothing of it, assuming she's doing math homework, and puts on her favorite podcast (My Favorite Murder) and makes herself some tea. After about 30 minutes, Janis begins to worry when she hasn't yet gotten a text back from Cady.

Cady? Love, are you okay? No response. She calls Cady, and it goes to voicemail immediately. Janis throws on her jacket over her black tank top and pulls on some sweatpants over her fishnets and shorts. Finally, she throws a few candles, some matches, a battery pack, her meds, and some snacks in a backpack.

"Dad!"

"Yes Janis?"

"I'm going to Cady's! She gets nervous in the dark and she's alone at home and she isn't answering her phone!," Janis yells.

"Do you need a sleeping bag?" her dad inquiers.

"I'm not too worried about it," Janis replies frantically, shutting the door behind her without waiting for a response. She knows that Cady won't allow Janis to put her down all night.