Todd had never done anything like this in his life. It was a big step – moving out. It wasn’t an easy decision, but ultimately it’s what he needed. The early-twenties student had worked tirelessly on resumes, applications, and projects. Now, finally, it seemed to be paying off. Todd was accepted into his number one choice to a master’s program at the school of engineering. He even earned a scholarship through an assistantship to pay for the venture. The only problem, if it could even be considered that, was it was far – really far. He would have to move out for the first time.
It wasn’t as though he didn’t think he could survive on his own, adulting and managing an apartment and everything that went along with it. It was just the chance and the plunge into the unknown that had him on edge. His mother had been more than supportive through the entire venture and his father expressed his concerns. Some of his siblings, the young twins, begged him not to go while the other, a younger sister, excitedly discussed what she was going to do with his room.
Through it all, he finally made the decision of moving out on his own.
So, after weeks of preparation, he was now on his way down the driveway and riding the highway. The family was tagging along for the ride but couldn’t stay long. They also decided to make the trip all in one day, starting early in the morning and driving all the way to location.
The young adult listened to music to occupy the time while he drove. The hours passed and now, for the first time, he saw his new apartment. Time, on the road, seemed to inch by at a crawl through every road and every passed exit. Now that he was there, time ran through his fingers like sand. Before he could turn his eyes and blink, Todd and his family had unloaded his car, the truck, and were out the door again to retrieve some of the final furnishings for the apartment. He barely had a chance to open some of this boxes of personal things before they all rushed away to eat dinner together as a family for the last time in a while.
The end of the evening came and Todd’s family took up residence in a local hotel down the road, leaving the young adult to sit and absorb the situation. Rather than go immediately to bed, Todd decided to decompress and unpack a few personal items and sketch. Something about sketching layouts and plans of the apartment seemed appealing to him.
~~~~~^*^*^*^~~~~~
Shay was encased in total darkness other than a sliver of muted light for hours on end. The box had reached an uncomfortable warmth because of her body heat and the entire circumstance had her sick to her stomach. She wasn’t sure where she was. She definitely wasn’t sure where she was going. More importantly, she was completely on her own. Everything left an odd mixture of bitter and acidic taste in the back of her throat.
The young teen’s mind was sent in complete panic for a time. The unknown was terrifying, and she had to stifle her sniffling and tears out of sheer terror of being discovered. After a while, however, she remembered her brothers would tease her if she were caught crying and how her parents would scold her for giving up at the slightest challenge. She was a Borrower, and Borrowers never gave up. There was always a way; all she needed to do was find it.
There, in the dark, she began planning and going through, step by step, everything she would need to do in order to get back home.
There was an immense amount of jostling and, a few times, she felt the contents of the box shift and slide, collapsing her hiding place significantly. There were the sounds of many different people, some young and some older. Then quiet. The box suddenly flooded with light and the voice of the young man came flooding through.
“Yes, I just want to get a couple of these things unpacked before…” The very tips of his fingers reached into the box and grazed the top of the notebook concealing Shay’s location.
“None of that. We have to get you furnished before all the store close. Come on,” the motherly voice cut his statement short. Shay ducked further down into the box, covering her nose and mouth so the slightest squeak would be muffled. She heard the young man sigh and the hand retracted, and the sound of fading footsteps sent an unbelievable relief through Shay’s body. It was several minutes of total silence before Shay dared to readjust herself to a more comfortable position.
She used all of her concentration and listened, closing her eyes like her brothers taught her so she could focus clearly. The young teen could hear the sound of a refrigerator. She could hear the sound of the air kicking on. Otherwise, the apartment was empty.
Now was her time.
Shay crept out of her hiding place and took her time getting out of the box. She still had her hooks and lines as well as food and some supplies. It was enough. All she had to do was get into the walls. Maybe she could find someone to help her. Shay had confidence in her what few borrowing skills she possessed, but hadn’t put any of them into practical application. Her brothers had told her of the dozens of times they had to improvise. Did she possess the same level of skill and intuition?
There was only one way to find out. Shay slipped off of the edge of the cardboard and landed stiffly on the carpeted ground. She was in a room filled with boxes scattered everywhere and a bed in the corner. Immediately scanning around the vicinity, there were three places she could hide – under the bed, nearby shadow of the box flap, behind the door. Shay didn’t know what else there was and had another choice – try to get into the walls or get a lay of the land.
Shay decided she needed to know where she was going to be borrowing from and that it was safer when the humans were gone. There wasn’t much time. Creeping along the sides of the walls and listening all along the path, she inched along until she found a stack of nice tall boxes to climb up onto. The hook felt heavy in her hand as she pulled it from her hip and took a calming breath before swinging it as hard as she could. It soared through the air, but Shay had no such luck hooking it the first time like she had at home. It took the Borrower teen three times to latch the hook into the tower of cardboard boxes.
Hand over hand, Shay climbed to the tip top of the boxes and kept low to stare out across the vast human world. Humans were amazing. They made such large structures and moved about so quickly. They also had an uncanny ability of turning the world upside down, which is exactly how Shay felt as she stared out upon the vast room filled with boxes, feeling a sense of vertigo smothering her as she looked up and down and out.
The walls were smooth and freshly trimmed. The lights were blinding white instead of the warm yellow. The walls were grey and the electrical covers were fresh and white. The kitchen was on the other side of the room but was bare from what Shay could see. The carpet smelled fresh and unused. Undoubtedly, the fibers would be coarse and rough like they were in the bedroom.
Shay knew she only had so many non-perishable items in the form of chips and her water pack was already at its last sips. If she were going to make it, she needed to get to the kitchen and find help. The determined teen belayed down the line, forced the hook free from the cardboard, and began her trek to the kitchen.
If she thought latching the cardboard boxes were hard, this next task was nearing impossible. The slick counters gave no amount of purchase for her hook as she threw it nearly a dozen times and, even then, it only caught the nob on the drawer which she had to precariously perch on to jump up onto the counter.
The moment her eyes scanned the slick surface, she noticed something that was finally a stroke of good favor. Nearby was an electrical cover, slick and white, and it was near the sink. The Borrower quickly made her way to the sink while pulling out her water canteen. It took an embarrassingly long time to rotate the nozzle and push the handles into place for the finest trickle of water to drip from the tap. It was a precarious business to balance on the edge of the sink and not slip from the slick surface, but Shay allowed herself to feel a spark of pride for finding water all on her own.
The high, however, didn’t last long. Shay hurried to the electrical cover and realized with a heart pounding clutch that she didn’t have the tools necessary. Her mind began racing. How long had the humans been gone? What was she going to do if she couldn’t get the door open? Shay’s breath shallowed before she recalled the words of her parents.
When confronted with the impossible, take a breath and realize nothing is impossible. After all, if a human can do it, so can a Borrower. Her hand instinctually fell to the hook on her hip and it hit her all at once. The ridge was just the right size to slip into the screw. She placed the edges together, feeling that familiar spark of excitement that made her heart race. She counted down in her mind. Three. Two. One.
With all of her strength, Shay threw all her weight to the side and braced the other arm to help break the seal. It all happened in slow motion. The side of the hook slipped out of the groove. Shay’s momentum carried her cartoonishly slow through the air until she crashed onto the counter. Already, she knew a bruise was forming on her elbow. This would not stop the determined girl.
She repeated the motion again and again and again. She didn’t slip as epically as she had the first time, but each attempt proved just as futile as the last. She tried everything from trying to walk while pressing her hook into the screw and having her feet slide out from under her to using her leg to kick at it. Out of breath, Shay stared at her metallic nemesis when she was suddenly struck by a realization. It was a terrifying thought that stopped her heaving breath in her chest.
Water was essential. Shay didn’t need her brothers or her parents to tell her that. Another thing that was essential was that obtaining water needed to be done without being too obvious. Making holes in pipes was risky as humans tended to find leaks or know something was off within a short amount of time. The quote unquote “safest” route would be to go out onto the counter or into the bathroom to retrieve water. Shay and her family were fortunate to have their kitchen near the human’s kitchen. The pipes already leaked a little which made it easy for them to get their water. Based on what she had seen, Shay came to the sickening conclusion that wasn’t the case in this place.
The realization shook her to the core and had her re-evaluating her entire gameplan – there were no other Borrowers living there. She was completely and utterly alone.
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