Hidden Valley (D. SWING)

XVII. Wack Ass Moods

"He did what?"

Not much time had passed before Cynthia was on the phone with Dalvin. Her legs crossed, she sits in her bed watching the rain fall. It is a shock to hear what she is being told. Her accident with Derek only took place hours earlier. After ten minutes of tears and one hundred and seventy-five minutes of staring at the ceiling in silence, she sat up. As if Dalvin could read her mind, he dialed up her phone and of course, she answered in an instant— a little apprehensively but, nonetheless, she answered.

Dalvin laughs at his own story. "Exactly! An— Derek, get the door!" Kissing his teeth, Dalvin rolls his eyes with the shaking of his head. "I swear he been acting like he retarded all day."

"That's not cool," Don says from his closet.

He and Dalvin are in his room. They went to the mall to drop off Dalvin's applications. Though their parents keep his pockets at least half filled, Dalvin wants them as full as they can be. He's tired of having to wait on his parents before he goes to blow his money on the freshest kicks in the mall. Why can't he just buy it when he wants? Don's told him on a numerous set of occassions that he isn't fit for a job but, never would he ever purposely discourage his brother. So, Don and his healing shoulder are often seen driving around the city of Charlotte these days.

"He do!"

Cynthia's eyes roll at the brotherly exchange. "So, I meant to ask you—"

"Hey, Cyn."

The change of voice catches her off guard as she comes to realizes the change in voices. Even though he was not the male in her original dream, he was there last night. With all that has happened since this morning, Cynthia has not been given the chance to allow her new feelings for Don to soak. She remembers way back when she shivered at his every word. The small, tan cleaning towel that she accidentally dropped in church at the age of ten years old really changed her life. It was never the same after that. She can now see how stupid it was for her to even attempt to move on from Don. Does it really get any better than him?

Her words getting caught in her throat, Cynthia manages to spit out a reply. "Hi, Don!"

He pulls the phone from his ear, examining it carefully as he questions what the hell is wrong with her. He brings it back to his ear, still chuckling as Dalvin rolls out of his bed to see what Derek had come to face at the door. "Uh," Don falls onto his bed. "You okay?" His laughter sends her to the moon.

"I– I'm great!"

Dalvin turns the corner, returning to his bedroom, where Don resides. "Why Derek just gone leave without saying bye. Fool didn't even tell us who's at the door!" Dalvin's complaints come from the house as he falls over on the bed next to Don. Don looks over his shoulder, at Dalvin, still smiling from his slight chuckle session caused by Cynthia. "Man, is it me or has he been acting like a weirdo since me we got home? Like he snorted some catnip or something."

Shrugging off Dalvin, Don focuses his attention back to Cynthia. "You were killing it last night, Cyn. I told you was going to be there."

"She don't want to talk to you," groans Dalvin. "She's mad at you."

Don's eyes revert back to Dalvin, he pulls the phone away from his mouth with the transmitter pointing in the separate direction. "But she's talking though." His smart reply isn't heard by Cynthia, though she's clutching the phone, desperately awaiting his voice to return.

"Gimme' the phone," yells Dalvin as he snatches the phone from his brother. "Hello, Cyn? You don't have to talk to this man if you don't want to."

A problem arises.

The moment she woke up, all she wanted was to talk to Don... after she spoke with Dalvin. His voice seems to be getting deeper for a second time. It's happening slowly, but surely. She wants to be able to hear it every single day as the transition begins. Though she does see him everyday to begin with, there is always going to be a such thing as more. She'd like to spend more time with him, see him more often, sit next to him more often, talk to him more than she already does. As selfish as one would imagine it to be, she'd prefer to have him herself at all times accessible. The feelings within her are the kind her younger self always imagined she'd have. One thing making the largest difference is probably the fact that baby Cynthia thought of no consequences snd only Don. If this happens to be a mindset Cynthia returns to, Lucy predicts, all hell will rise in the valley that remains hidden.