Amber was afraid. Her favorite "Game" was too risky. It had taken her to a new level of self-discovery then and she toyed with the concept of repeating the phenomenon. The hiding, the sneaking, the rapture. --Little Girl Games-- she thought but had not quickly dismissed. She was almost 20 and she was going to try to prove it. Remembering her place in the universe, she dropped her baggage in the doorway and along with it, the first year of college. The smell had shifted slightly but not changed since the beginning of her 14-month departure from her childhood home.
"Don't drop your stuff there, take it to your room."
"Fiiine", Amber replied, grinning at the scolding from her mother. Something she didn't realize she missed. "Anything else?" asked Amber, mocking disdain.
"Just you wait, young lady" started Debra. "Your work around here has just begun."
Kicking the door shut behind her with bags in both hands, she started her nostalgic march up the stairs. Her eyes darted across the second floor's horizon as in came into view. A flood of ancient blood surged through her system as she passed her parents room. A quick double take made unnecessary by the closed door. Almost as if she heard something...
She made it to the room she had once called her own. An invisible museum of emotional ups and downs. An altar to a soul not yet estranged. She set down her bags at her sides and spun in the chrysalis that she emerged from, gazing at the past from her present. The wanderlust only lasted a second before she stopped dead.
Her Game Box. The Pink bejeweled and unicorn-laced lock box that held her most unholy of secrets was on her top shelf. Far away from it's hiding place in the closet, it's presence caused a bolt of panic to shoot through her.
Her breath returned only after a brief furious investigation. The lock had remained untampered and secure. Amber shifted to the writing desk and reached deep underneath. Retrieving a small taped down key that survived the intermission, the Three were reunited at last. Forgetting all else in the world, She plopped down on the bed covered in freshly laundered towels and used the key.
Everything was there. Everything.
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Everything for Amber's visit home had been handled. The morning had become night, seemingly skipping the day. Debra emerged from the steamy aftermath of her nightly shower in her nightgown and plopped herself down with pleasant exhaustion. Her husband quickly entered the humid, mist-filled bathroom to brush his teeth.
"Fresh, fresh." exalted Debra. "Fresh laundry for the whole house."
"Dafs goob" Ben gurgled, attempting to agree. Spitting out and finishing up, Ben continued. "A clean place for us to dirty..."
"Don't you start, Mister" scorned Debra.
"It was the deal"
"I know but...she might not be asleep"
"It was the deal"
"We might be too loud"
"The deal"
"But--"
"Deal"
"Okay, well just let me say goodnight to her one last time."
---Amber's eyes widened---