Chris woke up with a popping back. He groaned softly as he looked down next to him, where Brett was, holding onto him for dear life. Chris rolled his eyes and pushed Brett off of him before he stood and grabbed his duffel bag. He searched for his clean pair of clothes and went to the bathroom once he found them.
After a bit, he came out, stretching his limbs like he almost always did. He heard some laughter coming from the living room. Those dumb girls must have woken up. Chris walked back into the living room, only to see Alice and Samantha hunched over Brett, Alice drawing on his face.
"What are you idiots doing...?" Chris asked as he approached the two girls.
"Drawing. Gotta get my anger out somehow." Alice replied with a snicker as she continued to draw on her brother's face.
"Well, I'mma head back to my place before my mom wakes up." Chris grabbed his bag once more and walked over to where his shoes were, quickly putting them on.
The three awake teenagers said their goodbyes and Chris left the apartment. He took in a deep breath of that stale air and made his way to the elevator.
~~~~
Chris quickly, yet quietly, snuck back into his apartment and into his room. Thankfully, his mom wasn't awake yet. He climbed into bed and pretended to sleep, until his mother came to wake him up.
"Chris, darling, it's time for you to get up. I can't have you sleeping in." Melissa smiled before she made her way to the kitchen to make breakfast.
Chris got out of bed and stayed in his bedroom for a bit, just to make his mom think he was getting ready for the day. After he felt confident that enough time had passed, he made his way to the dining table, where his mom was putting a plate of waffles at.
"I left you 50 dollars for you to have fun and get yourself something. Don't worry about not spending it all!" Melissa called out as she left the apartment.
Chris quickly shoved the waffles down his throat, cleaned up the table a bit, and grabbed the 50-dollar bill. He was totally going to spend as much as he possibly could.
He quickly fixed up his appearance and went out the door. As he was locking the door, he froze. He smelt pool water again... But this time, it was even stronger than before. He slowly finished locking the front door and slowly turned around, jumping a bit when he saw a small girl wearing a yellow, oversized shirt in front of him.
"Uh.. Heyy little kid.. What uh.. what are you doing here..?" Chris let out a nervous chuckle as he spoke to the little girl whose soaked, black hair clung to her.
"Hi." The girl waved, completely ignoring Chris's question.
"Uhm... Where are your parents..?" Chris looked around, thinking that her parents were somehow around.
"Daddy left and the cops took Mommy." The girl explained, small laughter weaving in between her words.
Chris just stared at the kid in shock. What did she just say? How does someone even respond to that? So, using his brain, he asked the most logical question he could think of, "how old are you..?"
The little girl looked at her hands before she held up six fingers. This girl was six?? How is she not in an orphanage??
"Uh.. So.. uhm... Why are you soaked?" Chris pointed out, given that he was concerned about the water dripping off of her. He didn't remember seeing a pool or anything like that at all.
"Mommy was teaching me how to swim and then everything went black and then I woke up on the floor." The girl explained. "And I'm going to beat you up." She then started to throw the dumbest, cartoon looking punches you have ever seen at Chris's legs.
Chris thought he was going to feel pain, but he didn't. He looked down in confusion -given that he didn't know why the little girl was beating him up- only to see that her punches were going through his legs. He stared at the girl in shock and confusion. Was he hallucinating? Did he actually lose most of his braincells? What in Jesus's name was going on?
"Oh. They don't work. I'm dead!!" The little girl cheered, as if being dead was a good thing.
"Oh, dear God, I think I'm schizophrenic.." Chris pinched the bridge of his nose as he spoke.
The little girl stopped cheering and stared at him, "stop using big words that I don't know."
"No."
"Yes."
Chris groaned and rubbed his face, "I don't have time for this.." With that, he walked towards the elevator, rolling his eyes as he heard the pitter patter of the girl's feet hitting the floor.
"Do you have to follow me?" Chris questioned, clearly annoyed with the small girl.
"Yes."
Chris took in a deep breath and quickly entered the elevator, pressing the first floor button and the close doors button as fast as humanly possible. However, the girl phased through the doors and stood next to him. The ride was quiet for a minute before Chris spoke up.
"So uh.... What's your name?"
"Alexa. It's short for something I can't pronounce." The little girl said as she played with her hair, "my daddy used to make me coffee all the time, it was really yummy."
Chris nodded, trying to look interested in what the girl had said. The elevator doors soon opened wide and Chris rushed out.
"Bye bye!" Alexa called out as she waved goodbye to Chris.
Chris exited the apartment building, and was instantly greeted by that dead, empty town.
"Where to go first..." Chris pondered before he saw the candy store. He grinned and raced over there.
~~~~
After what felt like hours of shopping for useless things he didn't need, he entered his apartment and set the things down. He looked into his pocket and counted the change, he somehow still had 20 dollars left.
"Might as well keep it for later." Chris shrugged, before he heard a knock at the door.