Cat Got Your Tongue?

“Tori!” my aunt called - probably from her office - causing me to jolt awake. “’S time to get up. We’ve got new neighbors and they ‘ave kids that are around your age, be ready in an about an ‘our. We’re going over.”

I groaned, pulling the covers over my head and turning away from the door, hoping that I would be able to go back to sleep. But something must have been against me, because the light shining into my room seemed to only get brighter, and the voice that told me to get up had gotten closer.

“Nope, you’re not goin’ back to sleep,” she whispered in my ear after pulling the covers off me and throwing them onto the floor.

Narrowing my eyes at her, I sat up and got out of bed to walk over to the dry erase board on my wall.

When did they move in? I wrote, then looked back over at her for the answer.

“They got ‘ere yesterday and your uncle and I helped them get everything moved in. We’re going over to ‘elp again today, they want to meet you. And don‘t worry, I told Carol and Ian,” she answered, taking a seat on my bed after she picked the blankets up off of the floor. I nodded.

I’m going to take a shower. Then I’ll be down for breakfast. I re-capped the marker, placed it on the tray at the bottom of the board and walked out the door and into the bathroom that was across the hall from my room.

Reaching behind the shower curtain I turned the faucet until it was on a reasonable temperature. I undressed and grabbed two towels and a washcloth from underneath the sink before stepping into the shower and standing in the stream of hot water.

I reached for the bottle of turquoise shampoo, and squeezed a quarter sized dot into my plan before flipping the cap back on and setting it back onto the shelf. After lathering it in my hands I ran them through my hair, rubbing it in for a couple minutes before rinsing it out and doing the same with the conditioner.

When I was done with my shower I turned off the water and pulled the curtain back to step out onto the rug. After putting one of the towels in my hair, I quickly dried off with the other and pulled my robe on before unlocking the door and walked back across the hall into my room.

As soon as I opened my closet, I pulled down one of the band shirts that I owned and a pair of jeans, followed by socks, underwear, and a bra from the small cabinet in the bottom of my closet.

Knowing that my aunt was probably getting really impatient with me, I hurried to get dressed and get downstairs to eat breakfast. I quickly pulled on my clothes and ran a brush through my hair before exiting my room and closing the door behind me.

“Good mornin, Tori,” Uncle Tony greeted as I walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table where my plate was sitting, already made for me. I smiled back then turned to my food. “Hurry up and eat, we’re heading over there in a couple minutes.”

I rolled my eyes and continued eating at the same pace I was before. It’s not like they would leave me here anyway, even though that’s what I’d like them to do. They know that meeting new people wasn’t going to help me in any way.

It only took me five more minutes to finish my breakfast and down the small cup of orange that was sitting there. “Ready to go?” my aunt asked as she pulled on a jacket and handed me one of mine.

Nodding, I stood up and carried my plate over to the sink.

The weather wasn’t bad out today. Compared to yesterday at least, there were only a couple clouds adorning the sky today, where as yesterday it looked as if it would start pouring at any moment. We crossed through the yard, not bothering to the waste time to walk on the sidewalk.

The screen door to their house was closed, but the actual door was hanging wide open, it was a nice day for that. Glancing through the transparent glass I noticed that the stairs were right by the entrance, just like they were in our house. A knocking sound was emitted and I looked up to see that Aunt Molly had announced out arrival.

“’ello, Molly,” a woman said opening the door and shaking hands with my aunt then turning to my uncle. “Nice to see yeh, Tony. And this must be Victoria.”

I smiled at her, then looked up to my aunt expecting her to correct her on my name. “Please, call ‘er Tori.”

We were led into the house, and I noticed almost instantly that the whole set up was much like our own house. Except that everything was backwards. In our house the living room was to the right of the stairs, and the hallway that led to the kitchen was on the left. Here, the hallway was on the right and the living room on the left. All in all I don’t think it would take me much time at all to try and find something here. That is at least if everything was like this.

“Tom, Oliver!” the woman, who’s name I just now realized was Carol, yelled as she leaned on the railing to the stairs. “The neighbors are here, come downstairs!”

She didn’t wait on them before continuing down the hallway and into the kitchen. Instead when we entered the room we were met with stacks of boxes and so far only a kitchen table was the only piece of furniture in the room. They all turned to me as two boys stomped into the room. The heat rising in my cheeks only led me to believe that my face was turning red from all the attention I was receiving.

“Tori, I’m going to help Carol with things ‘ere in the kitchen, and your uncle went with Ian to run some errands. Do yeh mind ‘elpin out the boys?” It wasn’t until then that I noticed that my uncle was no longer with us. And she knew that I wouldn’t turn down that offer with the people I was supposed to help in the same room so I shrugged and turned to look at the boys.

They looked quite different. But they both had the same shaggy brown hair, just styled in their own ways. One of the boys had tattoos up and down both of this arms and I could see the top of one peeking out of the collar of his shirt. His eyes were a dark hazel and the way he was dressed matched. He seemed older, and more outgoing than the other, but that’s all I could tell from an appearance.

The one who I suspected was younger, was almost entirely different. His eyes were the first thing I noticed, they were bright blue. The clothes that he was wearing were also a bit more modest looking and the way he stood all but screamed that he was probably shy. Unlike the other his hair actually looking like he spent some time trying on it and he was shorter, making him more my height.

I looked down, not wanting to spend too much time staring at them. “Oliver’s the one with the tattoos and the other is Tom. Yeh can ‘ead on upstairs if you want, Tori. I’d like to have a word with ‘em beforehand. Either of the room’s at the end of the hallway upstairs is fine. You’ll end up in someone’s room,” Carol explained ignoring an interruption Oliver made, complaining that he’d rather be called Oli and not Oliver, it didn’t matter to me. The only time I’d be using his name was in my head. But I guessed that he didn’t know that yet.

Deciding that I’d probably not like to know what she was going to tell them I turned and walked back down the hallway to the stairs. My name was mentioned in their conversation and I paused to listen.

“Don’t bother ‘er to talk, there’s a reason behind why she doesn’t and you’ll find out on your own time.” their mother told them then I heard footsteps.

After jogging the rest of the way up the stairs I rushed down the hallway and turned into the room on the left, the same spot my room was in at home. I’d have to find out who’s room it was when they showed up.

“So yeh don’t talk? At all?” the older one, Oliver, questioned as he sauntered into the room with Tom following behind him. Figures he’d go and ask about the same thing his mom just warned him not to.

I shook my head as their jaws dropped and eyes widened. I guess that they weren’t used to it. “We’ll just ‘ave to stick with yes or no answer questions then. Or would yeh rather us getcha something to write on, or does it not matter?”

They nodded as I shook my head no. “I’m gonna get back to my room, Tom,” Oli said as he held up a hand, waving goodbye.

Well, at least I know who’s room this is now.