Project PK Run

[The Writing Owl]

"Warning. Warning. Subject 626 escaped. Lockdown will commence in 3... 2... 2... 2... Error. Error." The electronic voice repeated as a small figure ran through the halls. She looked no older than 15 because of her tiny and underfed appearance. Her long, tangled hair flew behind her in a streak of black. She panted as she ran through white halls, the security cameras blowing up as she ran. Guards started to flood in, ready to block her escape. Her eyes flashed red as the fabric on their armor lit up, causing them to scream out.

She ran past the destruction, and into the woods surrounding the strange building. It burst into flames behind her, slowly burning to the ground. She paid no mind, panting as she kept running. Her adrenaline kept her going as she ran farther and farther away from the hell-hole that had been her home.

Thunder boomed in the sky. It was raining on the Thursday of the month of April. Not all that uncommon for the state of Washington. Most found it an inconvenience, though not the small girl shivering near a dumpster. It had been a month since the government lab #608 burned down and no one had any idea who was responsible. It was hard to tell that the small shivering girl near the dumpster had anything to do with the lab, let alone that she was the cause of it.

The small girl got pitiful looks, especially when they saw her eyes. They were a colorless gray. She shivered, hoping to find some place to shelter herself from the rain. All of the stores had kicked her out since she couldn't pay for anything. She walked through the alleyway and stumbled upon an abandoned back yard. She tilted her head, wondering if it was alright. The loud roar of thunder washed any doubts from her head as she quickly moved to the back door, pulling on it and banging it, trying to get it to open.

 

[Laur]

Lee had just started to sit down when he heard a startling banging sound which made his heart skip a beat. It also made him drop the mug he was holding, spilling hot milky tea all over the ground. "Shit" he muttered as he tried to decide whether to manage some of the mess first or to go see what was going on near his back door which was making so much noise. It made much more sense to assess the more immediate threat first - the noise - but it was dread and fear which made the lean young man pick up the mug first and settle it down on the coffee table before walking back towards where he heard the terrifying sound.

He grabbed a dinner knife from his kitchen counter on the way to the door and clutched it tightly, thinking about how he could use it in the case of some kind of attack. Please be a raccoon, or a demented bird or something he thought as he approached the door, irrational thoughts about psycho killers and drug crazed gang members filling his anxious mind and making his fingers shake a bit as he reached out towards the doorknob. Why doesn't this stupid house have a window facing the back? he thought as he slowly creaked the door open with his heart racing and the knife in his hand already poised for a strike.

The knife lowered, but only a little bit, when he saw a girl much smaller in stature than him standing near the doorway. But his chest was still tight and rattling with fear because - what kind of sane, harmless person bangs and bangs on someone's back door unless they're at least a little psycho, or worse, being chased by psycho? He stood there somewhat stunned and frozen with the knife in his hand staring at the girl and trying to assess what he was supposed in that moment, but his brain became overloaded with the confusion and panic and he couldn't do anything but stare and wait.

 

[The Writing Owl]

"Ah!" The girl yelped, backing up. She tripped and fell on her butt into a small mud puddle that had formed. "I-I-I was-I didn't-I mean-I'm sorry-I-I-I." She stuttered, scooting away from the man with the knife. She just wanted a bit of shelter from the rain. That was all she wanted. She waited for him to strike as she put her arms over her face to protect it. She was shivering in the cold rain.

A man. An actual living breathing man lived in the house with the abandoned yard. She felt fear start to rise in her chest. Would he hurt her like the scientists? Was he a gang member? Would he rape her? A million and one thoughts ran through her head as she waited for him to stab her, most likely killing her. She deserved it she guessed. A life for a life as the old saying went. Though, she would have to die many times over if that were true. She peeked through her arms, looking up at the young man in fear.

 

[Laur]

Lee shouted at the same time the girl shouted, and he felt like fleeing back into his house until his rational consciousness burst through his panic and realized that the girl was sitting completely helpless in the mud, stuttering and holding up her arms, absolutely terrified of him and his knife.

"I-I'm sorry." he said, lowering the knife and hesitantly taking a couple small steps forward into the rain. "Are you okay? Hey... don't worry... I'm not going to hurt you..." He reached out his free hand, offering it to her so she could stand up, out of the mud. He realized she was probably just trying to get out of the rain. She seemed to be filthy and emaciated - she was probably homeless, maybe a runaway. Lee had never been encountered with a situation like this before but he immediately felt sympathetic towards the girl, wanting to do everything he could to help her.

Besides, he'd been pretty lonely the last few months. His parents had pretty much dumped him in this weird, isolated house after he'd failed to make full scholarship to any decent college and pretty much gave up on the idea he would ever be capable of fulfilling his education. The place was a dump and looked like an abandoned house - even a haunted one - so no one ever visited or even came near. The girl probably tried to get in because she thought it was abandoned or something.

She was lucky it was him in there, drinking his tea and longing for some kind of companionship, and not some psycho rapist or someone more jumpy than he was who would have stabbed her on site just for trespassing. She was lucky it was him standing there with his open hand willing to pull her out of the rain.

 

[The Writing Owl]

The girl slowly moved her arms away. He wasn't going to stab her? She felt confused as she took his open hand. Someone wanted to help her. The thought made her chest warm. She blinked her gray eyes, studying the man in front of her. He looked lonely. He had to be, living in such a strange house. Her gray clothes, browned by the dirt and filth she had accumulated over the last month, probably made her look homeless. Her messy hair didn't help either. She looked like a mess and felt quite self-conscious about it.

She pulled her hand away, ashamed of dirtying such a clean and pure hand with her filth. She cleared her throat, nervous. "I-I'm alright... I-If I could stay for the night... just the night, I would be really grateful." She said, her voice slightly hoarse from underuse. She tried to clean herself up, make herself look less like a savage.

 

[Laur]

Lee could hardly believe that this poor, ragged girl had ended up on his doorstep, but he didn't hesitate to not emphatically when she asked to stay the night. "Yeah, yeah that's fine. Anything you need," replied. He held his hand out towards the doorway, welcoming her to enter.

"I-I'm sorry it's kind of messy. And I just spilled some tea over there. I'm gonna clean it up." He was embarrassed, not quite realizing that his house was probably cleaner than any place the girl had been or slept recently before. "And by the way, I'm Lee. I'm the only one who lives there. The guest room is upstairs. I can show you if you want." He felt nervous, not about having a mysterious stranger in his home but about having a guest at all when he hadn't prepared and nothing was clean and he didn't know what else to offer her.

 

[The Writing Owl]

"W-would you mind if I used your bathroom?" The girl asked. "I-I need to wash off." She looked around. It was a whole lot nicer than what he was saying. It was quite clean compared to what she was sleeping in before. She smiled at his name. "It's nice to meet you Lee. I'm Erinn." She fidgeted as she looked around, afraid of dirtying the place.

 

[Laur]

"Yeah, yeah, that's fine" he said. "There's one down here. It's right over there" he added, pointing to the door. "It's nice to meet you, Erinn."

Lee felt bad. He just felt a rush of grief thinking that right there in his bathroom could be the first time the girl had washed herself off in days, maybe weeks, maybe even months. He also wondered when was the last time she could have eaten.

"I have some food too, if you want. I've got snacks and stuff, and like, microwave meals. You can help yourself." He realized that didn't quite sound right, and he quickly adjusted it. "Or I could help you make something if you need it." Slightly red, he grabbed some paper towels and went over to where he had spilled his tea, busying himself by soaking it up from the rug.

 

[The Writing Owl]

Erinn nodded and walked into the bathroom quickly. She looked it over and started to mess with the knob, turning the water on and starting the shower. She stripped her dress off quickly and stepping into the warm stream of water. She smiled as the dirt and grime that she had accumulated ran off of her in small streams of water. She used his soap, hoping he wouldn't mind as she cleaned herself off. She finished in five minutes as she stepped out of the shower, now clean and refreshed. She looked down and frowned at her dirty dress. She couldn't wear that if she wanted to stay clean. She sighed as she grabbed a towel off of the rack, making sure it was one of his worse towels.

She bit her lip as she called out of the bathroom. "Um, Lee? W-would you mind if I borrowed some of your clothes? J-just for the night!" She looked back down at the dress. It had bloodstains along with dirt and grime. Those would be hard to get out.

 

[Laur]

Lee had finished up cleaning the mess he had made when Erinn had frightened him with her racket at the door and spent the rest of his time while she was in the shower looking through his fridge and cabinets to see if there was enough food and clean dishes for him to share with his guest while she was there. He was feeling unreasonably anxious about the hospitality he was strangely desperate to show to his surprise visitor. It probably had to do with the way he was raised, feeling like the less you knew someone the more important it was to prove your worth to them.

When he heard her call to him from the bathroom he quickly took a couple steps closer to make sure he could hear what she was saying, then panicked slightly thinking maybe he had heard her wrong. But he was too embarrassed to ask her to repeat herself so instead he went for what he thought she had asked for - some of his clothes to get dressed in while she was staying. "Sure, I'll get you some!" he called back as he raced up the stairs.

He looked hastily through his drawers for something that might just be small enough to feel normal-ish to the girl who was much shorter and slimmer than he was. He wasn't a huge guy - about 5'10, lean and slightly muscular - but Erinn was a tiny girl, seemingly starved and probably younger than him, at least as far has he could tell. Then again he knew that starvation or poor health could stunt growth - make one appear younger - and it pained him to think that that could be the reason why Erinn was so puny and frail. Suffering had stopped time for her.

"Here... do you want me to leave it outside the door?" Lee asked loudly through the bathroom wall. He had found a t-shirt in his dresser that fit him like skin but would probably hang like a curtain on Erinn, as well as pajama pants with a string that he figured would stay around her waist if she tied it up as tight as possible. He had neglected to include any kind of underwear - it just hadn't occurred to him at all, probably because the idea of a girl like Erinn wearing his own briefs was too much of a "dirty" thought for the pure-minded Lee to even conceive.

 

[The Writing Owl]

"Th-that would be nice..." Erinn said, keeping the towel wrapped tightly around her. She felt nervous. This man was going to stab her in the back. She knew he was. She had never known anyone who would be as nice to her as he was. She had been beaten, experimented on, and even starved, but she thought that was the normal since she had grown up that way.

She looked down at her dirty dress. She'd have to wash it sooner or later. She wondered if he had something she could wash it with. She would hate to dirty his tub further without something to help clean it out, like the soap she had used. A small shiver ran through her body as the cold air hit her. What would she do with her dirty dress? She couldn't just leave it on the ground to let it continue to make his floor filthy.

 

[Laur]

"Okay! They're right outside the door. I'm going right upstairs now. You can call me if you need anything!" He placed the bundle of clothes right outside the door and then went upstairs, not wanting her to feel uncomfortable, like he was standing outside the door stalking her as she tried to get dressed. He wondered if she would need to use his washing machine to wash the clothes she had had on before, but figured she would let him know eventually.

Once he was upstairs, he went into the guest room and looked around it to make sure everything was in order and acceptable. The sheets were on the bed, the lamp on the end table was working, and so was the lock on the door. The room had never been used since he'd been there.

 

[The Writing Owl]

Erinn quickly grabbed the clothes and put them on. The shirt was way too big for her and she had to double knot the pants to keep them from falling, but they worked. She picked up her dress and walked out of the bathroom, making sure it was clean before leaving it. She walked upstairs and tried to find Lee. When she found him, she saw him working on a bedroom and tilted her head.

"Um, Lee...?" She asked. She wanted to ask what he was doing, but when she tried that with others, they didn't take it so well. So, she refrained. "Do you... do you have anything to help me wash my dress? It's really dirty and I didn't just want to leave it on the floor and dirty the floor." She seemed uncomfortable asking for these things as she looked at the floor.

 

[Laur]

Lee's attention quickly shifted from the empty, unused bedroom to Erinn who was standing in the doorway holding her dirty old clothes and wearing his clean shirt and pants. Just as he expected, they hung right off her - his shirt was practically a dress itself. "Yeah, yeah, sorry, you can use my washing machine, of course. I can do it for you if you want." He didn't know what he was apologizing for - it was just a habit of his when he was worried about messing something up. He was acting like he'd already messed up on his quest to be kind and hospitable to the unfortunate girl who had so suddenly entered his life.

"Oh, also, this is the room you can stay in. I hope it's alright for you. The sheets and everything are clean - I've never really had to use this guest room before." He felt a little embarrassed as the words came out of his mouth, basically saying he had never had guests before. He didn't want to sound like a pathetic loner, but that's essentially what he had been in the past year, losing touch with almost everyone and sort of disappearing into himself and his strange little house.

 

[The Writing Owl]

"A... washing machine?" Erinn asked. She suddenly felt incredibly stupid. How could she not know what this machine that was so common to him was? She felt herself shuffling her bare feet, looking down to the ground. She waited for him to start berating her and to hit her for being so dumb. When the hit didn't come, she looked up at him hesitantly.

She was surprised she was getting a whole room and a bed to herself. It wasn't even a bed of hay! It was an actual, real bed. She wondered how it felt like... it was probably extremely soft and comfortable.

 

[Laur]

"Y-yeah. It's in the utility room. Do you want me to show you?" He had to remember to say utility room instead of basement, because the washing machine at his parents' house was in the basement but his was just in a room on the same floor as his living room, kitchen and bathroom. This dumb stupid house didn't even have a basement. "O-or I could just take it and wash it for you..."

He felt bad because the girl seemed to feel bad, but he wasn't sure what kind of bad. Worried? Embarrassed? Annoyed? Maybe she was just physically and mentally exhausted from everything she had been through, whatever that was. He kind of wondered if any of that would be explained to him, but it seemed rude to ask.

 

[The Writing Owl]

"I don't know what a... washing machine is." Erinn said quietly. She shifted. He had done more than enough for her. She couldn't ask him to wash her clothes for her. That would just be rude. She shuffled her feet, the feeling of stupidity multiplying.

She was tired and she just wanted to lay on the bed in the room and sleep. However, her stomach reminded her with pained pangs that she needed to eat before she did anything. The stress off having to survive on her own was finally starting to leave her as she felt herself unwind slightly. A sigh fell from her lips as she waited for him to start laughing or make fun of her or something.

 

[Laur]

"Oh, I-I'm sorry." Lee was frankly shocked. He had assumed the girl was underprivileged, maybe homeless, but he didn't realize the extent to her isolation from normal life. She didn't even know what the basic household appliance was, the appliance used to wash her clothes, implying her clothes hadn't been washed for a long, long time. He felt his heart beating faster, just for fear of saying the wrong thing in front of her, feeling like her situation was much more tragic and sensitive than he had expected.

"That's alright. I can just wash it for you if you want." He wasn't sure if she would be comfortable with him just taking her clothes, but he figured she didn't really have another choice if she wanted to wear her own dress again. He couldn't imagine that, after showering what looked like weeks of filth from her body, she would want to put it back on in its sad, grimy state. But maybe that was very privileged of him. He had never had to wear filthy clothes before, but Erinn was probably used to it. He suddenly felt like a snob for even having a washing machine and having lots of clothes.

 

[The Writing Owl]

"I-I wouldn't want you to overwork yourself..." She said. "You already have done too much for me." She blushed as her stomach suddenly growled loudly. Her hunger was quite apparent as she tried to hold her stomach with her full hands. She just continued to do stupid things in front of this kind man. Such a kind man shouldn't deal with a creature such as her.

 

[Laur]

"No, it's not too much!" Lee quickly replied. He was extremely insistent on doing everything he could for Erinn, even though she was a complete stranger - it was just his nature. Plus, in a way she was doing something for him just by being there. He had been very bored and lonely lately, and at least helping her out was something to do. He wanted to help her.

Lee noticed the girl's stomach growling, and he realized that she must be starving as her hands moved over her very thin abdomen. He didn't want to make it obvious that he heard the rumbling, but he knew she needed food or she would be weak and sick, or maybe even worse considering he didn't actually know how long it had been since she'd last eaten.

"Do you want me to make you something to eat? I could wash the dress while you eat. I promise you it's not a hassle at all. I was really bored anyway so I'll be glad to have something to do." Lee was dead set on convincing Erinn that she wasn't a burden. He just wanted to give her what she needed and he didn't want her feeling bad about it to get in the way of that. He was an anxious enough person already - two anxious people in the house would surely make everything more difficult.