The apple didn't fall far from the Tree

I followed Roger up the creaking stairs and he guided me down a long hallway. After passing some doors he came to one and opened it.

It was a small room that had pastel yellow walls covered with small white flowers. There wasn't much inside the room besides a queen sized bed, window, bed stand, and a closet with a mirror beside it. Other than that the room was empty. I looked at the alarm clock on the bed stand. 2:02 a.m.

Roger walked in and I followed. He put the bags on the floor and turned towards me.

"Okay so this is your room. Your brother is in the next room and your dad is in the room further down the hall on the opposite side of this one. Your alarm isn't set, but feel free to set it if you want to. I am in the room across from you if you need anything!" He smiled at me and I turned to see his room across from mine. It was just like this room except he had made it to belong to him. After all he had been there longer than I had.

I shyly looked up at him, but looked back down. Avoid eye contact! "Oh..well thanks a lot...for the bags..and...stairs. The stairs were nice. And you're across the hall..yeah." I just spoke nonsense! WHAT did I even say?

Roger creased his eyebrows and looked confused, but then he shook his head and smiled. "Um..okay, well goodnight Victoria!" He flashed a smile and ran his fingers through his hair.

I nodded my head and immediately closed the door the moment he walked out. I have no idea why I'm acting like this. Acting like I've never been around anyone my age before! I sighed, fell onto my bed, and breathed in the scent of the quilted blankets. As I was about to doze off I remembered something.

"Johnny!" I abruptly sat up and made my way to Johnny's room

After making sure that Johnny was sleep I headed back to my room and fell asleep the second I closed my eyes.

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I woke up to sunlight and the sound of people talking coming from downstairs. I feel so...uhg. I don't even know. For a second I forgot where I was when I looked up and didn't see my ceiling. I sat up and looked at the alarm clock. 7:08 a.m. That means the cafe had just opened.

After laying down for a bit more I finally got up and looked at myself through the mirror by my closet. I'm even more of a mess than I was last night. My bed hair was all over the place and you can obviously tell I had just woken up by my face. Ew.

There was a lot of noise from down stairs and it was this early in the morning. I understand that they're a cafe and all, but you'd think that everyone would be quietly drinking their coffee at this time of day! I rummaged through my luggage and pulled out some blue jeans and a pastel blue T-shirt that had The Wave by Hokusai on it. I wanted to take a shower since I didn't have time last night, but I didn't even know where the bathroom is.

After some intense thinking, and a failed attempt to make my hair look more decent, I decided to knock on Roger's door. After hearing nothing I realized that he was probably downstairs helping out with the cafe. As I turned around I heard his door open.

I turned around and looked at him. You could see he just woke up and it was a beautiful sight. Wow...how does someone's face look that amazing when they've just woken up? I stared at him.

Roger raised and eyebrow and waved his hand in front of my face, "Hellooooo..Earth to Victoria." I snapped out of my daze. This is so embarrassing.

"Oh yeah sorry! Um..I...shower.." I took a deep breath and made a mental note to cry over how much I was embarrassing myself later, "Where is the bathroom?" Yes! First time I finally got a complete sentence out of my mouth in front of him!

He chuckled and leaned out of the doorway, "Yeah okay, the bathroom is the last door on the right." He pointed down the hall and I nodded.

"Thank you. I.. I actually thought you would be like," I looked down from his eyes, "downstairs by now. You don't help out with the cafe?" Wait am I making conversation? I'm slightly proud of myself!

"Oh! Well my friend Adrian usually takes my shift on Mondays and Fridays and I usually just chill up here until later on. Then I start to help out when it gets a little busier even though I'm not officially working." He was leaning against the door way as he talked.

I nodded, "Oh okay..cool. I'm gonna go now and clean myself up." I laughed nervously and pointed down the hallway.

"mm" Roger nodded and I was about to walk away before he stopped me, "Oh wait, hey! After you get out I was wondering if you wanted to take a walk with me."

I froze. Take a walk? What does he mean? I just blankly stared at him.

"Well my mom wanted me to show you around the town and I wanted to get to know you a little. I'm more than happy to make a new friend." He smiled at me, but it ended the little fantasy of him shirtless that was running through my head.

"Oh..yeah friends! That sounds nice. I'd like to, but I'd have to take Johnny with us. I can't leave him."

Roger nodded, "Yes, of course! I understand." He smiled, "But you better hurry up and take that shower before I hop in there first." He joked.

I smiled and ran down the hall. Roger grinned and watched me before closing his room door.

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I got myself and Johnathon ready and Roger led us out of the door. He showed me around the town and explained the significance of different stores. We even stopped at a small playground for Johnny to play at.

Afterwards Roger started to lead us towards the church. Johnny skipped on the cobble stone sidewalk playing his own game while Roger and I watched.

"He's...deaf, no?" Roger raised an eyebrow and looked towards me and I nodded.

"So that means he will be attending the program that the Pastor's wife has set up at the church. She'll be happy to hear she has a new student!" Roger smiled.

"Oh! That's the school my dad was talking about! I didn't know that it was at the..." I trailed off my sentence as we approached the church and stopped. "..church." Johnny had ran ahead of us and I watched him as he stared at the church, frozen, like he had been last night when we first arrived. This time, I too felt like something was wrong.

Roger looked at both of us before waving his hand in front of me, "You seem to space out a lot...but yeah this is the church! AKA the place that you're brother will be attending lessons."

I tuned out Roger and continued to stare while he spoke. He said something that I didn't quite catch and walked over to block my view from the church. I snapped out of daze.

"You really do live in the clouds don't you?" He chuckled, "You should take me up there some time. I wanna see what's so amazing that takes you off of earth."

I was still slightly distracted, but that was until I looked up at Roger's face. If anyone, he'd be the one who lived up in the clouds with a godly face like that!

"umm....yeah, sorry. Let's go." I walked around him towards Johnathon and tapped his shoulder.

(sign) "let's go Johnny. You hungry?" I smiled softly as he snapped out of his daze. He nodded his head and held my hand as we walked back towards Roger.

Roger walked us back home and we arrived there at 6:38 p.m. I had checked my watch the moment I walked through the door.

The shop was still open and Roger had rushed to help the moment he walked through the door.

Aunt Nina brought over some chicken tenders for Johnathon and a salad for me.

"So how ya'll liking the town?" She smiled widely as she spoke, excited to hear my opinion. She had her hair tied up into a bun and an apron tied around her.

"It's nice." I answered shortly, keeping my eyes down while I was still thinking about the church.

Aunt Nina frowned and creased her eyebrows before pulling up a chair to sit beside me, "What's wrong honey? You seem....down. What're you thinking about?"

I thought for a few more seconds before I turned to talk to her, "We visited the church today and I don't know...something seems off about it. It looks a little run down too. What's up with that?"

Aunt Nina's facial expression darkened and she took a deep breath before she spoke, "Well you're mother did always have a nose for dark energy...I'm guessing the apple didn't fall far from the tree." She smiled but her eyes remained dark, like she knew something.