'Last box yes!' I thought as I carefully maneuvered the most delicate of the boxes.
I pulled all the cords out first and detangled them. Then I pulled the laptop out and that was followed by the printer, which was on top of the shitty tower I had managed to buy that actually worked with my laptop. When that was done I pulled out the wooden box from the very bottom, I quickly opened it and checked to make sure the mini cam was still in one piece and worked.
I stood and wiped the sweat from my brow, then grabbed the box opener to flatten the tall box that had contained all of my work equipment. I dropped that box onto the pile and then grabbed the whole stake and took them outside. I dropped the stack into the box outside the complex. I made it back upstairs in time to see the door next door close.
'Huh, I wonder who that is?' I thought as I opened the door to my apartment. I walked over and set up my computer and tower then let it run connection tests. As it did that I put the foam up on my walls.
'Damn it! Im short. In more than one way.' I thought angrily.
I jumped down from the chair, and walked over to the computer. I couldn't do anything until it was done doing eight million updates and connection tests. I grabbed my hoodie and pulled it on, then grabbed my wallet and keys. I made sure to lock my door on the way out.
'Let's go this way maybe its quicker to that diner I saw.' I thought as I took a few steps towards the other set of stairs from my apartment.
"AHH!" I yelped as I stumbled and fell.
'shit! My fuckin ankle! Damn shoes!' I grabbed at my leg pulling it in front of me so I could see my ankle.
'Damn it its twisted!' I thought angrily.
I looked up as I heard the door to the apartment I had fallen in front of open. I looked up to see a guy step out.
'he looks familiar, but from where?' I thought.
"Are you alright?" he asked as he held his hand out.
"Uhm, yeah yeah, or well I will be I think I twisted my ankle." I said.
I grabbed his hand and pulled myself up.
"Uh, here let me help you back to your apartment." He said, as he wrapped his arm around my waist to help support me.
"Im that door right there." I said as I pointed to the door right next to his.
"Cool so you're the new neighbor! Well welcome to the complex! Im Mark, it's nice to meet you, though I would have liked it more had it been under better circumstances." Mark said as he walked with me to my door.
"Uh here let me grab my key. Do you uhm want to come in?" I asked and even I knew it sounded lame.
"Sure sounds nice." He said.
"I'm going to apologize now I don't have anything to drink or any snacks. Actually I was headed to the diner when I tripped stupid shoes." I said as I finally got the door open 'I have to ask the super if I can replace it or get it replace.'
"Oh no! how did you even trip?" Mark asked as we stepped inside my apartment.
"My stupid shoes are too old and it happens occasionally." I replied.
"Woah, and why not replace them?" Mark asked as he looked around.
"I know, I know it's kind of messy and don't worry im going to get more foam soon so you may hear me recording tonight but after that it should be ok, and I can't afford to replace them, all my money goes to food, bills and rent." I replied.
"It's ok, and recording? Are you a YouTuber?" Mark asked as he helped me sit on the couch.
"Yeah, I actually am. Haha could you pass me the first aid kit it's on the fridge." I replied as I laid my leg up on the couch.
"Yeah, no problem. Hey if you want I have some extra foam myself it's not much but it should at least finish the area over there that you started." Mark commented from the kitchen.
"Oh shit! That's where I knew you from!" I exclaimed.
Mark walked back over to me.
"Yeah, im Markiplier." He said, and rubbed the back of his neck.
"I know! I watch your videos every day. When im not filming." I said with a small laugh.
Mark sat on the coffee table and popped open the first aid kit to grab the ace bandage, then he pulled my leg over to him and pulled my shoe and sock off, and began to wrap the acer around it.
"Haha, im sure there are others who you could watch more of." He commented as he continued to wrap my ankle.
"Well yeah, but Jack and Pewdie and Yami don't always update as fast as you do, or well Jack does but it's not always stuff I wanna watch. You and Jack are what I mainly watch too." I said with a smile.
"So, I couldn't help but notice..." he said and looked towards my computer.
"I know! I can't afford anything better! I hate it, it's so difficult to work with but I do, and really all I do is vlogs, well I say that but they aren't really vlogs there mostly like spoken conscious thought." I told him.
"Wait, wait, wait! Are you Kaley?" Mark asked, after he whipped his head around to look at me.
"Careful no need for whiplash! And yeah I am." I said with a laugh.
"I LOVE musings of a night owl!" he said with a smile.
"Really? I didn't think anyone actually liked those, I mean obviously some people liked them but, I just thought people used them as filler for in-between updates from more loved people." I said with a small level of shock.
"Yeah, actually me Bob Wade Aaron and Sean all watch them and then talk about them. We were all really upset when you posted the last one about not being able to update them as usual for a little bit." Mark said.
"Well im going to do a real vlog tonight but here's a sneak peek for you Mark, im updating musings of a night owl again as usual starting in two days, but shhh that's just a sneak peek for you." I told him with a smile.
He gave me a happy smile then gently settled my leg back on the couch next to me and stood up.
"Oo one second." He said then disappeared down the hall, I was now confused.
I heard a small shout from what sounded like my bed room and then footsteps coming back up the hall.
"Here lean up." Mark said as he laid a pillow behind me then threw a blanket over me.
"Thanks Mark, but you didn't have to!" I said with a small smile.
"I know but I wanted to, now get a nap I'll stop back over in an hour or two so you don't sleep all day ok?" He said as he made sure the blanket was tightly around me.
"Alright sounds good." I said with a small smile and a yawn.
I stayed awake long enough to hear him walk out the door, closing it softly behind himself.
I woke up about an hour later to a knock on the door.
"I'd love to answer that but if it's you Mark just come in!" I called I was too warm and actually in a little bit too much pain to move.
The door opened and I heard footsteps coming over along with an odd rustling sound.
"I really didn't mean to wake you up, I just figured It'd be even more rude to just walk in..." Mark said from the direction of the kitchen.
"The best part of this is that we just met and I trust you more than most of my family in my kitchen right now. Oh! Could you actually grab the Advil while you're in there my ankle kills." I called to him.
"Yeah just a second, and not that I don't like being trusted but why?" Mark said as I heard his footsteps again.
"Because except for my mother and sister my family tends to burn water. Thank you kindly." I said with a small laugh as I took the pain meds.
"Here I don't know if you'll like it but it's something." Mark said as he passed me a white takeout container.
I opened the lid and was amazed, that was a burger!
"No mushrooms right?" I asked, totally not drooling at this drool worthy burger.
"No, no mushrooms." Mark said with a face.
I laughed and started eating. I looked at him and ripped of the bottom of the container with the fries.
"For you!" I said with another laugh as I passed him the fries. He laughed and took it.
"Oh! Hey I brought over the foam." Mark said as he started eating the fries.
"Sweet! Though I am in no condition to be doing foam. I can't even move my leg without it hurting. Stupid thing." I said with a sigh.
He just smiled.
"Finish your burger haha I'll help you with the foam." He said.
"Can I ask why? And don't think im not grateful because I am! Really I am, but why?" I asked looking at him.
"Because you seem nice? I like helping others? I don't know honestly, it's kind of weird. Oh well." He said with a shrug.
I laughed and nodded as I ate, it didn't really matter why, im just glad it was happening. This ankle would have bummed me out for a couple days now I have a chance of it actually recovering right. We finished our food, and before I could pull the blanket off to look at my ankle, Mark had my leg and ankle uncovered and was un-wrapping the acer.
"Oh this could be more than a sprain." Mark said looking at my ankle.
I looked at it, both sides and the top, and I shook my head.
"It's not fractured, so it's probably just a severe sprain." I said with a grimace.
"How do you know it's not fractured?" Mark asked with a small frown.
"Don't frown...and see right here how there's no black or dark blue line? That's how you can tell if its broken, for an ankle at least." I said with a small frown of my own.
"That's right! I should know this stuff..." Mark said.
"That's right, you where pre-med too, and med-tech." I said with a smile.
"Wait, pre-med too?" he asked looking kind of confused.
"Yeah, I started with pre-med then it changed to English when I went to college, and now I have an English degree and I don't really use it." I told him.
"At least you finished a degree. Haha im short a couple credits." Mark said with what sounded suspiciously like a self-hating laugh.
"Mark, don't." I said with a sigh.
"What?" he gave me a confused look.
"That was a self-hating laugh if I've ever heard one, and trust me I've used that same laugh a lot. So just don't ok? You might not believe it but you do more good now then if you had your degree...which is really confusing but it's also true. There are a lot of people who are here, who might not be had you not gotten into YouTube. I mean shit your looking at one right now." I told him and hoped he understood.
He just looked away for a minute so I leaned over and gave him a hug.
"I know you don't think of it like that you see us for what we are, but a lot of us see you as a hero. So don't, don't be upset, or sad over not having a piece of paper. We all love you for you and that's what matters. You've helped all of us in some way or another. So really you are doing better than anything a degree could give you." I told him softly.
He hugged me back and I thought I heard a sniffle.
"I...im honestly not sure what to say...I've always hated that I never finished my degree, then I remember the channel and it just makes it seem ok...and then to hear something like that just...makes me realize how important it is." Mark said still sniffling softly.
"Mark, I hate to tell you this but it's not the channel that's important to us. It's you that's important to us. Without you the channel wouldn't be the same." I told him as I pulled back to lean against the back of the couch.
He smiled, eyes still full of tears and went to work rewrapping my ankle.
"Do you have crutches?" Mark asked softly.
"Yeah, there in my bedroom closet." I said with a small smile.
He stood up after gently settling my leg onto the coffee table. I heard his footsteps disappear down the hall and let the few tears I was holding in fall. I wiped my face dry when I heard his footsteps coming back.
"Here they are!" Mark said, in what sounded like a happier voice.
"Haha thanks!" I said with a smile of my own.
He passed me the crutches and I stood up with very little struggle.
"This isn't the first time you've had a sprain this bad is it?" Mark asked as he made sure I was steady.
"Nope, then again I've had these shoes for the last five or six years so there have been a lot of falls." I said as I walked over to the computer desk.
"Oh! I've actually meant to ask, but do you have steam?" he asked as he came over and leaned against the wall.
"No, no I don't." I said as I dug through the drawers of the desk.
"What are you hunting for?" He asked.
"My stupid checkbook I wanna see if I have anything left." I said with a grimace as I put too much weight on my bad ankle.
"Ah. Why don't you have steam?" Mark asked as he watched what I was doing.
"I can't currently afford steam cash so im not getting it until I can get games for it." I replied as I found my checkbook.
After that it was mainly talking about our channels, and getting the foam up. A couple hours later and it was time for Mark to leave.
"I should go. I have to do some filming and editing tonight." Mark said as he stood up.
"Yeah I have to do some filming tonight to, not much editing simply because I have a cheap editor, well actually its free but hey it works!" I said with a smile as I grabbed the crutches to walk him out.
"Haha yeah whatever works." He said as we got to the door.
I had opened the door and he stepped out when he turned around suddenly.
"Hey, just in case you need anything, my doors always open I usually don't go to sleep until after three or four am. So come on over whenever." Mark said as he stepped to his door.
"Same to you Mark, except I would be, im up until five usually most mornings." I told him with a smile.
With that we both walked into our own apartments. I closed the door and walked to the kitchen. I shook my head. Mark had actually gone out and bought me groceries. I looked on the table and saw a box. I walked closer to take a closer look. It was a shoe box with a note.
'hey, I had to. I hope you like them. :)' is what I read on the note.
I pulled the top off the box and the tissue paper from the top, and I felt my face split into a goofy grin. Because inside the box sat a pair of blue and purple champions with small red and green stripes. No one had ever paid attention to what I liked and to have Mark a virtual stranger pay attention to me...it brought tears to my eyes. I pulled the shoes out and slipped them on, a perfect fit. I took the ratty old Nikes which I had actually gotten second hand and tossed them in the garbage. I decided to stay barefoot though so I took them off and carefully put them where I wanted my shoes to go. I walked over to the computer and started the thing up. I opened my recorder and voice mixer then started the camera after I got my hat on.
{video}
"Hey guys! Im, Kaley the night-owl annnnd Im back! I just wanted to make this quick video to let you know that musings of a night owl will be back in two days tine! Woo! This vlog is the first of many! And you all dictate what goes on I can speak in other languages if you want just comment a word and a language, but be warned I will probably butcher it horribly! So sorry about that in advance! But also feel free to leave a comment on this like a question or even just a random comment. I'll be making fun of any hate comments, so please remember to comment nicely! And I guess I mean that's really all I had planned...hmmm oh! Also if you want to know more about me go ahead and ask questions make them personal go ahead! I don't mind I may not answer if there to bad but go ahead and ask! Alright all I hope to see you all soon! Many hugs and much love until the next time!" that was a seven minute video and I threw it into the free editor I had and changed some stuff and added some things. Then I posted it.
I moved back from the desk and stood. I decided to call it a night. Earlier than normal but I hurt. I headed into my room and changed out of my jeans and t-shirt/hoodie and into some pj's then I bound my long red hair back into a bun.