Drip, drip, drip; the droplets of water fell from the sky, at first small in number, though more quickly joined in as thunder began booming through the sky. From the window of a small room, a young boy, barely older than twelve, sat and watched the storm. For a moment he closed his eyes and just listened. The soft 'ping' of raindrops knocking on the forever locked window was swallowed by the sound effects of the natural lightshow.
Slightly opening his eyes he stared at the ground, legs pulled taut against his chest. His head popped up in surprise at the racket coming from the ceiling. After a moment a ceiling tile began to move and the boy almost smiled as he stood up slowly, slightly wincing. He made his way under the moving tile, careful to keep the falling dust out of his eyes.
Soon afterwards, a little girl's head with shoulder-length pink hair popped up from the space. Smiling and waving, their eyes held the short conversation they had. The repeated questions and answers as clear as the rain. "Hey, how are you holding up? Do you need anything?" "I'm fine. It could be worse, though I'm out of band aids again if you have any." And she would give him a sad smile before tossing down a box of silently said items and a sheet of paper. "Thanks Laura." "Anytime."
And thus the six-year-old's head would disappear and the tile would be fixed as though it wasn't ever moved in the first place.
The young boy waved a little at nothing in particular before stuffing the band aids and paper into the medium-sized box containing his belongings near his cot for later. Looking back to the floor, he swept up the bits and pieces of the tile that had fallen on it and moved them under his cot, making a mental note to dump them out the first chance he got. Finishing up he walked back to the box and pulled out the paper, quickly scanning the message written in a code that he had mastered long ago. He, Laura, and her older brother Rod had created it soon after Rex arrived and had been improved up until recently.
Hey. Hope you're doing okay. As you probably know, I snuck you a few extra band aids. I thought I'd warn you though, Seth's in a bad mood today. Be sure to rest up.
Rod
He finished reading it with a sigh. Sitting down, he tore the message into a million different pieces with practiced ease. Sitting back down, he slid that under his cot as well. I'll have to dump that later too… he though, lying back down. He frowned knowing what was to come.
Oh well, might as well get some rest now. Rolling over, he pulled the blanket over him and hugged it tight as he drifted off into a light sleep.