A GIFT BEFORE HALLOWEEN - ST/MILEVEN AU

Chapter 4

The next morning, Mike was woken up by his little sister who was sat at the foot of his rickety metal bed. Much like the rest of the Wheeler Laboratory, everything in his room was dirty and old. The wooden surface of his wardrobe was peeling as were the legs to his desk – that was almost always empty. Rusty metal shelves lined the iron-plated walls, some at an odd angle making anything placed upon it fall to the floor. His room was at the top of the building, out of sight and out of mind; his first choice would've been the basement but due to his father's business, it was used for more useful purposes like storing ingredients for future potions. Sunlight streamed through his circular gridded window, casting a cage-like pattern on the floor and Holly's face. He had to squint due to the brightness, only his head lifting off of the pillow to meet his sister's eyes. "Hello," he greeted in a groggy tone.

"Hi," she replied in a sugar-sweet voice, her little frame bouncing slightly on the mattress. The girl – much like her mother and sister – had pale skin with a slight tint of blue; stitched lines coated her body where their father had sewn her together when Mike was ten. Her blonde hair was drawn up into two high pigtails, the bobbles holding them in place adorned with tiny spiders. She wore a patchwork dress in an assortment of colours, not unlike others she owned.

"Can I help you?" He asked, a slight smile on his features. Mike was often woken up by his little sister, whenever she woke up first she'd always dash upstairs to his bedroom, hoping to catch a moment of his time before he disappeared for the day with his friends again. Holly was by far his favourite out of his family – she didn't care about anything, just went around doing what she liked until someone told her she couldn't. The little girl was vastly different to his older sister, Nancy, who thought through her every move like the entire world would collapse if she put a single foot out of place. Mike always preferred Holly's more free-spirited nature.

"Nope," she responded, popping the 'p', "you were back late last night."

He raised an eyebrow at her statement. "So, you're here to scold me?"

A furrow formed between her brows. "I don't know what that means."

Sitting up slightly, he shook his head with a laugh. "Never mind."

"So, why were you up so late?" She tried again. "Were you doing something that would get you in trouble again?"

Mike tilted his head in thought. Usually, his answer was yes, it was always yes because what sort of life would it be if he had done something he was supposed to. However, this time he really wasn't sure if the previous night's events would get him into trouble. Surely finding two people who had fallen mysteriously from the sky wasn't his fault. Whilst that might be true, hiding them in the house of the most infamous guy in town probably would.

"Guess you'll never know," he returned, throwing the covers from his body, and swinging his legs over the side of the bed. Raising his arms above his head, he stretched with a yawn expecting the conversation to be over.

"You should stop getting into trouble, Mikey Boy," Holly said, proving his thoughts wrong. Her voice was one of innocence, and to add to the guilt trip she'd given him the most adorable puppy dog eyes she could muster.

"Stop that," he frowned, "one day it's actually going to work and I'm not going to be happy."

The little girl leant forward, placing her arms onto the bed for support. She intensified the expression, adding a pout of the lip.

"That's it," he said before launching for her and pulling her into his gasp, tickling her sides. Childish squeals filled the room along with Mike's amused laughter.

"Stop, Mikey, stop!"

He kept up the torture until his eyes caught sight of the clock on the wall, indicating it to be nine o'clock in the morning. "Shit," he muttered, immediately taking his hands from his sister's sides before standing up to go over to his wardrobe. "Why didn't you wake me up earlier?!"