Enclosed part 2 (short story)

I walked awkwardly into the big house and looked around. I sighed. "The guest room is on the third floor, second door on the left," Violet called as she ran up the stairs, dumping her wet rain jacket on a huge lounge chair in the living room and slamming a door closed behind her. I pulled the strap of my backpack higher up on my shoulder and walked up the stairs. "Mitch," I said quietly as he stepped out of the hallway on the second floor, shocking me. "Hi." A shiver went down my spine as I tried to keep myself from staring at his bald head, where his shaggy black hair was when we were going out. "What are you doing here, Jamie?" he asked in a scraggly voice. I could tell he had just been throwing up. "Vi was giving me a ride home, 'cause everyone else had left, and my street was closed, so I have to stay-"

"Vi was giving you a ride home? What do you mean?"

"Um...she was giving me a ride, there was no one else there, I was stranded." Mitch rolled his eyes, "You would be." He nudged past me and walked down the stairs, heading toward the kitchen, without another word. I closed my eyes and just stood there for a moment before continuing up the stairs.

I pulled out my cell phone once I was in the guest room with the door closed.

After calling my parents and explaining where I was , I dialed my sister's number,

"Hey, Riley."

"Heyyyy Jamie-kins! Connor's on the other line."

"Hi Connor."

"Hey, James."

"It's Jamie." Riley giggled in her I'm-flirting-with-a-guy way, and I rolled my eyes. Fabulous. And here I wanted to have an actual conversation with the girl. "Listen, I gotta go, guys. I'll talk to you later."

"Bye, Connor!"

"Yea, talk to you later."

"So, what's up, Jamie-kins?" I sighed and lay back on the bed. "I'm at Mitch and Violet's."

"WHAT?! What do you mean?!"

"I mean I am currently sitting in the guest room of the house belong to the parents of Mitch and Violet Merson."

"Wow," Riley said. She paused. "What are you doing there?"

"Um, currently? Staring at the ceiling and wishing to be anywhere else." Riley sighed, "No, I meant, why are you there?"

"Well, Violet was giving me a ride ho-"

"Hold on."

"Yea?"

"Violet was giving you a ride home? As in Violet Baudelaire Violet?"

"Creative, Lemony Snicket."

"I didn't think of it."

"Then completely unoriginal." Riley snorted before continuing to say, "What was Violet doing giving you a ride home?" I sighed, "Everyone had left except her and me, so she gave me a ride home."

"Wow. Violet Merson doing a good deed."

"Mhm."

"But that still doesn't explain to me what you're doing in the Merson house."

"Our street was closed. Accident."

"Isn't there a way around?"

"Nope."

"Couldn't you just go by foot?"

"The crash was still being cleaned up. Nothing I can do about it."

"Aw man, that sucks. I'm sorry."

"Yea, whatever." I sighed, "I wish you still lived here, Ri." Riley chuckled, "Sorry, sis, but California is the place for me. I'm not a big rain person, you might have noticed."

"Yea, I noticed. She chuckled again. I heard someone yelling something in the background and Riley put her hand over the receiver, yelling something back. "Listen, I gotta go, Jamie-kins. I'll call you later, k?"

"Yea, ok, sure." I sighed as I hung up and flopped down on the bed again. It was 6 o'clock on a Friday evening. It was pitch black because it was still winter. I didn't have anything interesting in my bag, not a book or a magazine...even my cell phone didn't allow unlimited texting. I sighed and groaned. "What the heck am I supposed to do for four hours?" I asked the ceiling. The next thing that happened was so completely ironic and perfect that I had to laugh outright at the sheer pathetic-ness of myself at that moment.

The power went out.

© 2010