CHAPTER 3

When I woke up again it was after one and I was starving. I could hear the muffled sounds of my aunt's voice and women laughing. Her presentation was still going on and she'd be ticked if I showed my haggard face

anywhere near her friends.

I rolled onto my back and brought the covers up under my chin and looked around the sparse room. When I first moved there in an attempt to be generous—Clarise had said I could decorate it any way I wanted to, so it

would feel like home.

But I was ten, it didn't feel like home then, and I was too sad to even attempt to decorate anything. I didn't even know what I'd want to do with it. And now it's been so long since the offer I'm too afraid to ask if I could decorate it.

It'd been used as a storage room, so it was the afterthought of the large home. The walls were white -though with the small basement window above my bed they looked more grey than anything. There never was adequate sunlight, which was fine with me, it sort of suited my mood. I brought very little from my house. Everything we had-toys and all—was sold to pay for the funeral and other expenses.

The creepiest part was pipes that ran along the side of the ceiling. My aunt used to fuss about them saying she'd get Uncle John to cover them so they wouldn't look so awful, but he never did. The pipes tended to make

some odd sounds at very unexpected times during the day and night. Though I didn't realize what was making the sounds at first. It took a couple of years before I was about to pinpoint they came from the pipes. Now the odd banging or rushing of water only startles me when I'm thinking too much.

My throat was dry and tummy grumbled. Dang. I was hungry. I figure it's been at least twenty-four hours since I last ate. Slowly I climbed out of bed and was surprised that my pounding headache seemed to have faded a

bit. It was more just a solid, workable headache, than the horridness it used to be. I scrounged around in my backpack and found a half full water bottle and guzzled it down. Then I rummaged through my dresser and came up with a sleeve of Ritz crackers I'd stashed there a few weeks ago.

The crackers weren't too bad. I was worried they'd be stale or something, but they were fine. So I ate and hung out in my room, deciding if I couldn't leave without walking right past the party, then I'd better do something productive. After about ten minutes homework was a no go. This headache wasn't playing around. I probably needed some Tylenol or something.

But again, that was stored in the medicine cabinet and I'd have to pass by the presentation to get it. I sighed and plopped down on my bed.

Laughter.

Those women could stay here all afternoon.

I stared at the ceiling some more deciding if I'd rather sleep off the rest of my headache or not, but I wasn't really tired.

Then the strangest thing happened. I swore I heard Clarise's voice laughing and chattering as she headed down the stairs.

"Indy loves company! Her room is down here, she likes to enjoy the peace and quiet from her cousins upstairs."

Holy cow! Was she bringing some of her friends down here to see me? I quickly grabbed a comb and began hacking at my hair as I threw a sweatshirt on over my PJ top. I threw the bedspread over the messy sheets and

chucked a couple of pillows off the floor near the headboard. Then I stuffed some clothes back into my drawers that were hanging out Clarise knocked and used her sticky-sweet voice. "Indy? Are you there? We've got something that'll cheer you up."

This really was happening. How could this be happening? The last thing I wanted was some weird smelling oils on me. "Yeah, I'm here." I quickly scooped up a ton of trash and put it in the can near the door.

"How are you feeling?"

"Great. A lot better now that I've slept." I zipped up my backpack and shoved it in the far corner and then tossed my shoes beside the dresser. I quickly glanced around. No embarrassing underwear anywhere. Room looked pretty decent. My head was definitely pounding.

I pasted a smile on my face as I opened the door. "Hi." And then that smile dropped. "What in the world are you doing here?"

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