The Sleep Part I: The Fan & The Things That Hit It

Chapter 8: One Basket All The Eggs

"Like what the absolute fuck Evie? You're so slow. I've been out here for ever."

"Oh, um, hi Sierra."

Well, this is unexpected. Sierra Williams. At my house. She's never been to my house. Ever. Even though she has lived around the corner since we were both like five years old.

She walks in, ponytail swinging. You wouldn't know there's a disaster going on, the way she's dressed. Huge handbag over her shoulder, huge sunglasses on her head and huge wedges on her feet.

She sits down at the kitchen counter, staring at the remnants of our lasagne.

"Gross Evie, did you eat that?"

That's two insults in less than a minute. "Yeah, we've had a rough day."

"Oh, hi Darcy, and um, hi other little Asian boy."

Darcy turns around at Sierra and looks her up and down. "Who are you and why are you in our kitchen and why are you dressed like that? Don't you know the aliens have put everyone to sleep?" He doesn't wait for an answer, he just turns back to his video game.

I swallow a laugh. This day couldn't get any weirder. "Darcy, this is Sierra. We go to school together."

"Whatever," Darcy moans.

That's strange, he is never rude to anyone.

I ignore him and continue the introductions. "Sierra, that's Jin. We, um, well, he's living with us now. As of yesterday." I need to figure out a better explanation for the Jin scenario. "And those are our two new dogs, the Labradoodle is Darcy's, and the Daschund is Jin's."

I call back to the boys, "Have you named them yet?"

"Yep, mine's called Alfonso," Darcy says.

"The President," Jin says.

Wow. I turn back to Sierra and continue "... And the dogs names are Alfonso and The President," pointing again at the canines, who have made their home on the couch. Mom and Dad would have a fit, but I've got more important things to worry about. "Sierra, um, how can I help you?"

"You were gone practically all day, Evie."

"Yeah, we were getting Dad," I say, taking a seat at the kitchen counter.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I went and got Mom last night, from the TV station, and we all went to get Dad from his office today."

Sierra looks surprised at this, "Uh, like, wow."

"Why are you looking at me so weird?"

"Well, I mean, my Mom and Dad are out of town, they're always out of town. But even if they were like, here, I wouldn't think to, like, rescue them. That's, just, random."

"But they're my parents, Sierra. What else was I supposed to do?"

"I don't know, like, how many times have you wished that they were gone from your life, like before and stuff?"

"Never. I mean, I get angry with them, but that's normal. But I don't want them gone."

"Huh."

This is so strange. I didn't exactly sit around wondering what it would be like to have an actual conversation with Sierra... I was never that desperate to be her friend. But I didn't think the first time we spoke would go down like this. I thought we'd bond over something normal, like a band we were both really in to, or an assignment we'd have to do together. I didn't think we'd discuss whether or not it's normal to rescue your parents in a disaster situation.