Chapter 4: Seeing More Than I Should
It was the smell that woke me up this time, the smell of bacon being fried on a pan. It was a homely smell, reminding me of when me Dad would get lazy and cook us all the same meal.
Which was still cooking for six people, me, my sisters and him but it was him that called it lazy.
"I'm up," I grumbled, rising from the bed as the door swung open.
"Wow," Doris went, her brows raising up as I started to rub the sleep from my eyes. "That's lucky timing, didn't think anyone could be such a light sleeper."
Stretching I threw the blanket up in the air, rolling off the bed before it could fall back on me. When it the bed again, it landed in a neat manner with only the lightest of creases on the quilt would let anyone know that I hadn't remade it properly.
"Mighty feat," she remarked, still standing at the doorframe with a rather amused expression.
"But don't show off," her expression morphed into a shaper one, "Make your bed like a normal person. All it takes is one drunken night and you'll slip on a shoe you didn't know was there, break your back and then what will you do?"
"Change me name to Igor I suppose," I replied, grinning slightly at the woman as she made her way out of the room to let me get dressed but not before letting out a yell before the door closed behind her with a soft click.
"Breakfast is ready on the table, so help yourself!"
I took a moment to take a real look around my current lodges. It was a small room, with a single wardrobe and a long mirror that stood beside that.
Next to a singles' bed was a bedside locker, the red color of which contrasted against the blue sheets of the bed like flame sitting on top of the water.
I put on a green plaid shirt, something at I wouldn't have even glanced at years ago as something that I'd wear.
But I found that it suited me well enough now, at least with the broader shoulders that I'd gained since last trying one out.
I was walking towards the room door with a small jitter to my steps, when suddenly there was a flash in my eyes, somehow the world became nothing a series blues, reds, yellows oranges, and even a few purples.
Quickly losing any sense of balance, I could feel my body twist sideways as it fell down, I only barely managing to grab hold of the door in time to stop from smashing into the floor.
Closing my eyes in an attempt to stop the sights before me but it did nothing. Instead, I was forced to take in all the colors, finally giving me enough time to really grasp what I was seeing, that the colors were mostly people shaped, moving in the ways people would.
I could make out the shapes of two people on the same floor as me. The first was a man standing by a really red surface, frying something I think.
The other was a woman, bending down to pick up something off the floor from another room nearby.
I think it was Mr. and Mrs. Urich?
Blinking hard again, the world shifted back to normal, like what I'd just experienced was a fever dream of a stressed mind.
But I knew it was something else, I knew that it was another power. First I'm bulletproof and then I can see using thermal imaging?
Did I get the brick package?
It seemed likely, especially given I think I'd used some form of super speed or enhanced temporal perception yesterday.
"Freaky," I pulled open the door, walking towards where I had seen the two. "Wonder how many more powers I'll get," I wonder if I could leap tall buildings as well?
My ears twitched, picking up a greeting shared between the two.
"Hello, handsome," Ben said, the contentment clear in the pitch of his voice.
"Hello, gorgeous," Was her response, her voice telling me that this was a tradition between the two. Something that they just did. I wondered what the story behind it was, but I don't think I know them enough to ask them that yet.
Pulling around the corner I entered the kitchen, with both of my hosts having by now sat down at the table.
There was a third spot, one set on the other side for me, already full of rashers and other fried food that I wouldn't usually touch… but I was hungry enough that it didn't matter.
"Morning," I spoke, nearly a whispered as I gingerly sat down on the chair as if it would suddenly teeth and go to bite me. I waited for the automatic response of morning from the two before asking the question on my mind. "This… mine?"
I asked while pointing down on the plate in front of me, failing at keeping a certain level of meekness out of voice.
"Of course, it is," Doris spoke, smiling at me like I was a fool to think otherwise. "I'd hardly let you use our shower, sleep in our guest room and then… not let you our food."
I chuckled lightly, grabbing at the fork and knife, then chowing down on the food like I was a hippo that hadn't seen food in a decade.
As I shoveled the food into my mouth, I could hear an odd sound, like the kind that came from machines smashing into the ground.
But when I stopped eating in an attempt to figure out where the sounds were coming from, the sounds quietened. Like they were never there to begin with… that was when I noticed both Ben and Doris looking at me with wide eyes.
"What?"
"Nothing," Ben leaned onto his hand, rolling his eyes as he did so. "Just hadn't thought that there was such a thing as a human trash compactor, seems I was wrong about that."
That was when it hit me, I was the one making those noises… as I was eating.
"Sorry about that," I replied, feeling the heat rise to my cheeks even while my eyes fell to my now empty plate. Looks like finished it without noticing. "I don't know what came over me."
Ben just nodded at me, dropping his own fork onto his empty plate, picking it up and placing it into the sink that was behind him before holding out his hand for me to pass over my own plate.
It was with a small smile that Doris stood up, walking toward the sink, something that meant Ben had to lean his chair forward to allow.
Suddenly I was taken in by the odd calmness to the room, by this homey feeling that I… I'm not sure that I'd felt in years. My heart skipped a beat as the two slowly smiled at each other with just the tiniest twists to their lips that reminded me of home.
So in engrossed with the idea of their interaction I failed to notice Ben stand up and tap me on the shoulder.
"Yeah," I blinked, coming out of my own world with the same kind of energy that a sloth would use to speak. "Sorry I was in my own little world."
Ben just gave me a look, nodding his head just a little while his hands came up to take his glasses off and wipe them off with a piece of cloth that he had in his left pocket. Once he was done, he motioned for me to follow him with a wave of his arm.
We left the apartment by the time he spoke again.
"You feeling okay?" Mr. Urich asked me, his voice soft and quiet in contrast with the harsh buzzes of the New York street that we were walking along.
I wasn't used to the busy city streets yet, the constantly yelling, the never-ending series of cars, of buses, and all assortment of vehicles that rushed passed us with their horns blaring. It all still took me by surprise is all.
It felt like a dream at times, one of those dreams where all the information I could glean from the area around me became for too much focus on anything for longer than a second. Not without being in danger of walking into someone.
"Yeah… just still a little bit shellshocked is all," I responded, kicking up a can lift on the path, managing to hit it into a nearby garbage bin. "Not used to this level of weirdness is all."
"Yeah, I don't know if there's anyone that would be," Ben replied as he stopped in front of a black car, it wasn't a model that I recognized but it looked to be at least three years old. "Get in, I've got something to show you."
"You've got a car?" I asked, shocked but still going inside the vehicle. "Why did we have to use a cab yesterday?"
"Doris needed to borrow it."
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