They convey so much emotion when nothing else does743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIsL5J7hfg0
Scottie led me out of the examination room after she pricked my finger for the blood work. I followed her down a back hallway that led to even more rooms. She stopped me suddenly and leaned in close to my ear.
“How would you like to meet the head doctor?” Her voice was hushed and tickled my ear.
“Umm… Why?”
She shrugged.
“I don’t know, I just have a feeling he’d want to meet you. And it’s not every day we get a new person here whom I actually want to get to know, to be honest.”
“You don’t like the other people here?”
“No, I like some of the people, but some of them think they’re all that and a chip factory! I’m not much for those types!” Scottie motioned for me to follow her further down the hallway. We walked into an open room with comfy looking couches and coffee tables with papers and books placed on them. On the back wall was an open kitchen area with large cabinets and standard kitchen appliances. In the middle of the room stood a spiral staircase that traveled up to a loft style area above us.
Do they live back here? I couldn’t help but think.
Scottie giggled in reaction to my look of shock and motioned for me to halt.
She looked up to the loft and cupped her hands around her mouth.
“Hey Shamisen!” She sang before bursting into a fit of giggles.
Soon after, a messy haired man stuck his head over the railing above us.
“I told you to neva’ coll me that!” His voice was thick with a British accent. His head disappeared for another moment before his full body appeared coming down the spiral stairs. He had an unnatural grey hue to his already pale skin, but he looked fit and healthy otherwise. He stepped off of the landing and approached me with a skeptical eye.
“Whot did the cat drag in?” He looked to Scottie.
Scottie put a hand on my shoulder and looked down at me with a smile, then back to the man who I could only guess was the head doctor.
“This is our newest citizen of Strange. Her name is Penelope, but she goes by Kim right?” she questioned, turning to me.
I nodded and looked to the man whose gaze relaxed.
“Well then, it’s nice to meet-cha Kim. I’m Seamus, the head doctor here at Strange.” He glared up at Scottie. “Scottie, please don’t coll me that again, I am not an instrument!” He ruffled his hair to make it an even more messy pile of platinum strands.
“So, otha’ than ‘er, no’un else has come in today?” He questioned her.
Scottie nodded. “Yeah, I’m pretty glad though. That means that there haven’t been any fights so far!”
“Don’t get your hopes up, we’ve got a long aft’anoon.”
I didn’t pay much attention to their talking, as I was mesmerized by the room that I could only imagine they lived in. It wasn’t that big, but the fact that they had a living quarters in the back of the clinic just for them had shocked me for some reason.
“So where is she gonna board?” I heard Seamus ask.
“I don’t know, she’s going to have to stay somewhere…” Scottie’s voice drifted off.
“Hey, you were in contact with the Hershel couple recently, correct? Didn’t they say they have an opening?”
“Yeah, that’s true. I can call up Katie Bell and talk with her about it when I get up front!”
“Top! Once you do that, why don’t you take the girl out and show ‘er around! Then you can stop by their flat to see if that opening is true. Wait, who am I kidding? That flat is so big they can house the royal family!”
Scottie gasped.
“Are you… are you giving me permission to… to-“
“Yes, Scottie, I am, now get to it!” He motioned with his hands for her to move along.
Scottie turned back to me with the widest grin I’ve ever seen.
“Come on, Kim! Let’s see Strange in all its glory!”
Scottie walked me outside and started to lead me down the sidewalk, telling me about the places in Strange.
“There’s legitimately everything we could ever need here. You probably saw the restaurants when you came in, they are some of the best I’ve ever been to! We’ve got tons of houses that still need filling, but on the Mayor’s orders, you need to do an amount of service to “pay” for the house. So like I said, you’ll have to wait-“
“Scottie!” I cut her off. “Please, slow down, I can barely take anything in!”
Scottie stopped herself misstep. She let out an embarrassed chuckle and scratched the back of her neck.
“Sorry, Kim… this is the first time I’ve gotten to show anyone around and I was kinda excited.”
I sighed and sat down on a nearby bench. Scottie joined me, releasing an exaggerated breath as she sat down and crossed her legs.
“P-Kim,”
“What?”
I insisted further. “Call me P-Kim,”
“Okay…” Scottie nodded in understanding. “What’s the significance?”
“I don’t know, it just the P from Penelope and Kim combined.”
“It’s just interesting sounding, how’d you get that nickname?”
“Just a name my dad would call me,” I answered honestly.
“Huh,” Scottie looked to the fountain that was directly across the road from us. It seemed to mark the center of Strange.
“It’s an interesting nickname, never heard of it before.” She commented.
“Well I’ve never heard of a girl being named Scottie.” She let out a chuckle.
“Well, you can blame my father for that! He’s wanted me to be a boy all my life!”
I looked to her confused. “What do you mean?”
Scottie sighed.
“My father wanted to have a son to be his first child, he had my mom do everything she could, home remedy wise, to make it so my gender would be a boy. But when I came into the world and I didn’t have a penis, my dad went nuts.”
“Oh… Wow…”
“Yeah, soon after he was buying action figures and Legos and trains for me when all I wanted were Barbies and stuffed animals. He’d punish me for not playing with the toys he bought either. My mother tried to get him to treat me like a girl but that did squat. He wanted me on sports teams, playing football and basketball and everything in between. He told me in high school that was so I would be around a lot of testosterone and maybe that would affect me, making me want to be a guy, and in his words, ‘Want to get an operation’.”
“Wait, so-“
“Yep, my father wanted me to be transgender! The one thing that many parents were scared out of their mind of was my father’s one dream.”
“Wow…”
“Yeah, and when I got out of high school, he ended up disowning me.”
“Wait, why couldn’t your parents just have another child?”
“My mother died from Leukemia when I was in middle school, and my dad refused to find another person to love, so…” She shrugged. “I don’t care though, he never thought of me as a daughter and now he doesn’t see me as a son either.”
“That’s… really sad,”
Scottie stretched her arms out in front of her.
“Yeah, it is… Oh well,” She checked her watch.
“Oh, crap,” She got to her feet. “We gotta get you down to Katie Bell’s, I’ve gotta get back to work in 10 minutes!”
“But, you were showing me around-.” Scottie pulled me to my feet.
“There’s not enough time now. If you want, come by the clinic a little later and I can show you around a bit more and answer any questions you have. Although you can go around on your own, if you’re up for it.”
Scottie looked up and down the street, then motioned for me to follow her.
“C’mon! They live just down this way!”
I closed the white gate behind me, then turned to face the house that I hoped would be my temporary home.
The house was a newly coated shade of olive green with a tan brick porch and clean white columns to hold up the porch covering. Decoration vines climbed up the columns and traveled up the walls, making the building seem older than it probably was. The place was huge; the walls had windows signifying three floors. It was the biggest house in the entire community!
Scottie rang the doorbell as I walked up the steps onto the porch. She looked to me with a smile, before facing the door once again. After a few long seconds, the door opened.
“Scottie! I got your call, I’m glad you came!”
The woman was a bit shorter than Scottie, making the woman look up to her and showing off her prominent jawline. She looked to me and smiled a genuine smile, the first one I had seen in years. Her face was speckled with freckles that added to a sort of innocent aura about her. She quickly straightened her large pink bow, peeking out from behind her ear before she spoke again.
“You must be Penelope! It’s quite a pleasure to meet such a kind looking face!”
Her voice was soft but I could feel the meaning in her timbre as it vibrated through my bones! It had a bit of a ring to it, harmonizing through the air as she stopped talking. She took my hand gently and patted it in hers.
“I have a feeling you’re going to love it here.”
I couldn’t help but smile as she brought me inside with Scottie close behind.743Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbSeSoz0mb5
The foyer was beautiful, with auburn wood floors and a large chandelier that hung right above us. The kitchen was off to the right, with the living area on the left, divided by a wall but open for all to see. At the beginning of the dividing wall sat a small wheelchair, most likely for someone in the house, and not just for decoration.
“We open up our humble abode to anyone who is new to Strange. You have to get on your feet you know! And we have too much room to spare here! So you can room here until you get some hours under your belt; then we’ll have to charge rent!” She giggled with the last statement as she stopped in the middle of the foyer area.
“Umm… I’m sorry ma’am but I never got your name.” I felt kind of stupid saying it.
“Oh! I’m so sorry, Penelope, where are my manners? I’m Katie Bell! And soon you’ll meet my-“
“IS THERE COMPANY?!” A voice rang through the house. Katie Bell looked up and cupped her hands to her mouth.
“Yeah! It’s a new girl to Strange! Come down and meet her!”
She sighed and looked back at me with a smile.
“These walls are paper thin, I swear-”
A ruckus was heard upstairs before we heard grunts of someone coming down the stairs as fast as they could.
A man burst through the dividing streamers in the kitchen and planted his arms on the counter, trying to catch his breath.
“I’m good…” He wheezed. “I’m okay…”
The man was missing a shirt, but wore long cargo pants and sneakers. My mind fully processed why he was shirtless and my mouth fell agape.
Large wings were sprouted from his back, twitching and quivering, like they had a mind of their own. The feathers ranged an ombre of colors from mahogany to white as snow. Each feather shuddered as the man stood straight and started to stretch his back. He took notice to my staring and chuckled sheepishly.
“Sorry if I- uhh… sorry…” he started to back out of the kitchen.
“N-n-no, you’re fine!” I manage to spit as he turned around. He looked back and his eyes met mine. His were a golden hue that even seemed to glitter at the light hit them.
“I’ve-I’ve never seen a person with w-wings before,” I stammered. He looked behind himself to see his wings.
“Oh right… these guys,” his wings shimmered as he looked to me once again. “I’m so used to them I forget they’re even there, to be honest,” He chuckled to himself and walked through the kitchen to the foyer to join us. Katie Bell got to his side.
“Penelope, this is Danny, my fiancé.” She added the last part with a bit of extra confidence. Danny flashed a grin and put an arm around his lady. She looked up at him and got on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. He was about a head taller than her, and a few skin shades darker. His wings tucked into his back, camouflaging themselves to make it look like they weren’t there at all.
“So you’re the newcomer? What do you think of Strange so far?” Danny turned his attention to me.
“This place is… astonishing…”
Danny chuckled.
“But how has it not burnt down from anarchy?” I questioned.
He sighed with a grin.
“That’s a history lesson for another day, let’s get you a bed before you ask those type of questions. Tomorrow we can get you in to see Samantha so that you can learn all about it.”
I tilted my head slightly. “Who’s Samantha?”
Katie Bell butted in. “She’s the person in the Mayor’s position right now,”
“Right now?” Danny looked down to her. “You say that like she’s not going to last,”
“Well, with how long Cadenza was alive, it won’t be long till someone-“
“Katie, don’t say those things!”
“Dan, you can’t deny the facts-“
“Guys!” Scottie raised her voice to get the attention of the debating couple, who immediately looked to her. “Let’s not talk about politics while this girl has no clue what you two are talking about.” The couple exchanged glances before chuckling off the argument.
“Well we have a bunch of furnished bedrooms upstairs, you can choose whichever one you’d like!” Danny finished his sentence as Katie Bell let out a gasp.
“Wait! Danny, what about Millie? She said she wanted a roommate, didn’t she?”
The couple looked to me with hopeful eyes, then back to each other. Katie grinned and put her hands together in a grip, then looked back to me.
“Penelope, we have a girl who lives in our basement area. You might have seen the wheelchair as you were walking in here; that is hers.”
“Then why does she live in the basement?” I questioned.
“She requested it,” Danny shrugged. “She didn’t want to get in our way, and since our basement also has a stocked kitchen as well as bed and bath, we agreed, thinking that would be good for her, that way she doesn’t have to come up and down the stairs to get food or use the bathroom. Also she’s just a yelling distance away if she ever needs any help.”
“She’s a troubled girl. But she means well! She’s a nice girl!” Katie felt the need to rebut her first statement with some form of reassurance.
“Troubled isn’t the word… Her mutation makes it hard for her to communicate with others.” Danny added.
“What I don’t understand is why it affects her this way and Cassandra isn’t affected!” Katie pondered. Danny let out a breathy laugh.
“If anything Cassandra would be more of a bitch if she had Millie’s effects!”
“Dan!” Katie Bell snapped as him.
“What?” He laughed again. “I’m being truthful! With how high her hubris is and how much she talks now, she would not have the courtesy that Millie has. She’d be talking off everyone’s ears, literally! They’d just fall off and run away!”
Scottie felt the need to butt in.
“Wait, hasn’t she done that already?”
A laugh was shared by the 3 who actually got the joke, leaving me out in the cold, just staring at them.
The room went quiet as the laughter settled.
I cleared my throat.
“Can I meet Millie?”
“’Course! I’ll go get her!” Danny grinned and went for the stairs, turning back to Katie as he got there.
“Get her wheelchair over here,” Katie nodded to him and scurried over to the front door to get the wheelchair. Danny disappeared down the stairs, making significantly less sound than he did with his entrance. Katie quickly returned, rolling the mobile chair to the right of the stairs and waiting there patiently.
Thumps were heard of someone coming back up the stairs. Danny stepped onto ground level once again.
There was a girl in his arms, one arm wrapped around her legs and the other to support her back. Her legs were twig thin, extending from her shorts and forming shriveled up feet at the end of the two appendages. Her arms had a bit more meat on them, but it didn’t help that she looked sickly skinny to begin with. Danny gently shifted her in his arms so he could place her in her wheelchair. The girl’s eyes met mine and they widened with glee. Her mouth quivered trying to smile, but it seemed unable to.
Years of pain can do that to a person.
I blinked away those words from my mind.
Danny let go of the girl, placing her into her seat, then straightened out her legs. He stepped aside and I got a good look at my soon-to-be new roommate.
She was young, younger than me, maybe 12 years old. Her dirty blonde hair came down over both her shoulders in two loose ponytails. She looked into my eyes and I could feel her emotion radiating from them. She was elated to see me!
Me? Why me?
Maybe just anyone! I am new after all.
The girl’s happiness suddenly drained away and she looked anxiously to Katie Bell. She chuckled.
“Go on Millie, I can assure you that she doesn’t bite!”
Millie looked back to me and let out a tremoring breath. She cleared her throat slightly.
“Hello… outsid-er… I am… satisfied… to make… your… acquaintance. My designa-…n-n-name is Millie Daniella-… no, just… Millie.”
I felt confusion fall over me, but I shook it off and gave Millie a warm smile.
“It’s nice to meet you, Millie. I’m… P-Kim,”
Millie blinked slowly.
“P… Kim… P-Kim… That is… inter-esting.” She cocked her head slightly to the side. “Are you a geneti-… mutant… too?” She suddenly looked behind herself and shook her head vigorously before snapping her head forward to look at me once more.
Was she…?
I sighed.
…Punishing herself?
I smiled to her.
“Yes,”
Her eyes widened and her mouth opened slightly to gasp. She stared at me for a moment in silence. I looked to the ground awkwardly.
“Umm, please excuse me asking, but why do you talk like that?”
Millie’s eyes drooped away from happiness.
“My… mu-mutation… gifted me… with superior… intellect… People… don’t… comprehend… my… traditional… vocabulary… and… reciting Michael’s diction: “You-talk-too-fast-you-smart-ass-cripple.”
My brow furrowed.
“What?”
Katie Bell sighed and put a loving hand on Millie’s shoulder.
“She has to slow herself down and knock her vocabulary down a few levels so that people will actually understand her. It’s quite demeaning really.” She sighed. “Michael is very mean to her-,”
“That kid’s mean to everyone,” Danny interjected. Katie nodded in agreement.
I thought for a moment.
“Well… you can talk normally to me… if you’d like, that is, Millie!”
Millie looked up to me with astonishment in her eyes.
“R-r-really?”
I nodded with a smile. “Sure, it’s probably not that bad, let’s hear it!
A giddy smile formed onto her face, a face that hadn’t seemed to see a smile in years.
Millie took a short breath in.
“Thank goodness, it’s been substantially too protracted since I last enunciated how I habitually do! Your character is quite engrossing, I request to become further acquainted with you. I adore stuffed fauna and glucose sustenance! But it is essential to learn about you! How have you devoted your past life? What is your choice nutrient? Do you accredit evolution or creation? How are your sleep patterns? What is your blood grouping? What antibodies are in your plasma? Are you currently menstr-?”
“Woah Millie! I think that is enough of a brain dump for one day, don’t you?” Danny put his hands on her shoulders to show that she needed to stop.
Millie’s smile fell and she sunk into the back of her wheelchair. Danny sighed and looked back to me.“Why don’t we show you your room then?”
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