Everything's Temporary, Right?

Chapter 1: Meeting

A knock came at the door, surprising me. Knock, knock. There it is again... Wait. Didn't my parents say that they temporarily 'adopted' some foreign kids? Scrape, scrape... Klink! What the? I know that sound... Someone's trying to pick the lock! I sigh, jumping out of my bed. "Oh geez... I fell asleep in jeans... again..."

I was groggily making my way down the hallway when the doorbell rang. "Discover the doorbell now?"

I rip open the door, expecting to see my friends there. But instead I see two kids. "Oh. It's you guys. My parents are next door." I jam a finger in the general direction.

"We know. They sent us here." The kid with glasses spoke up.

"Really? Haa... Fine, come in." I'm so lucky my last brother moved out already. "Let's put your luggage in a room."

"Okay." They responded together. I lead them down a short hallway. Did I mention that I live in a mobile home on my parent's land? Well, I do. There were four bedrooms down here, one being mine.

"Okay. You both can have one small room, or one of you can have the larger room."

The girl spoke up, "We'll take the two smaller rooms."

"Phew... The larger room is kind of a mess..."

"I have a request." She asked.

"What is it?"

"Can I turn the larger room into a lab?"

"Go ahead. Just don't ruin the house."

"Good." She trots off to the larger room.

"She's... Well, she's creepy."

"Tell me about it."

"Oh! I knew I forgot something!" I hit my head. I start open closet doors and cupboards, searching for something furiously.

"What are you doing?"

"Lookin' for Shin."

"Who?" He asked, but I wasn't listening.

"Shin? Shin! Come out! Shin!" The girl comes out of the larger room with a small fluffy ball of fur in her arms.

"I found her lounging on the couch in there..."

"You found Shin! Who's a good puppy? Shin!" At the mentioning of her name, Shin's eyes flutter open.

"Woof! Wo-Woof!"

"Shin, let's go eat!"

"Woof, woof!" Shin jumps out of the girl's hands and runs into the kitchen. I walk a little fast to keep up with her. I pour puppy food into her bowl, having to push her away a bit to finish pouring. I hummed a song horribly out of tune as I put the food away. I had just taken a cup out of the cupboard when a knock came at the door.

"TAAAAAYLOOOOORRR!"

"Gah!... Mom and Dad... That reminds me! We never properly introduced, right?" They shake their heads. "Well then..." I bend down to they're levels. "Hello, I'm Taylor. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Edogawa Conan."

"Haibara Ai."

"Uh... What are you're first names?"

"Conan and Ai."

"Oh, right." I glance towards the door leading to the front room, wondering what's taking them so long. I realized then what's going on. My head falls. "Oh god..."

"What?"

"You guys might wanna run..."

"Why?"

"Because they're here..."

"Who're?"
"My friends... And A'lyce is crazy for anything remotely cute. Which would include you two." His mouth formed an 'O' shape.

"Where can we run?"

"The back door is in my room, just behind the four blue baskets."

"Thanks!" He pulls Haibara down the hallway. I sigh again, walking towards the coffee pot for a cup or two. I add around 12 spoons of sugar and some milk into one. I really needed the energy. I down the cup immediately, thinking about what I should say when they walk through the door.

"TAAAAYYYYYYYYYYLOOOOOOOORR!"

"What is up with people shouting my name out?" Suddenly the door almost falls right off of it's hinges, A'lyce standing in the doorway. "Hello A'lyce, is Miguel with you?"

"Yeah! He's right down here!" She pulls him through the door.

"H-Hi Taylor..."

"Hiya Miguel!"

"Okay, where are they?"

"Who?"

"Those two kiddos that are supposed to be here."

"Oh, Conan and Ai. They just left."

"But we didn't see them..."

"They went through the back door." She sighs.

"When will they be back?"

"I don't know." Just then Haibara comes from the back rooms. "Uh... Hello... Haibara..." A'lyce was next to exploding with excitement. Haibara sends her a death glare, one that made even my scared. A'lyce calmed down completely.

"Now, I don't suppose you'd have some sort of poison in this house, now would you?"

"That depends."

"On what?"
"On what type of poison. Potassium cyanide, hydrogen cyanide, hallucinogens, some magnesium, heavy dose of iron, gold, or other heavy metals, or good ol' rat poison?"

"Hmm... Well aside from the hydrogen cyanide and the hallucinogens, all of them."

"Okay..." I walk to the sink, inputting an eight number password on the keypad. I scramble around under there for a bit before pulling out three large bags. I recheck the contents as I hand them to her. "That should be enough, right? If not, I have more." Everyone in the room stared at me.

"You're quite... resourceful..." She walks back to the room. My friends were scared stiff.

"Uh... Taylor?"

"Hmm? What is it?"

"Why do you have, like, a hundred samples of almost every poison in the world under your sink?"

"Actually, they're in a safe under the sink." I said all matter of factually.

"Okay... but why?"

"Because. I need something to scare people with."

"Uh... We're going to go now..."

"Really? Bye!" They practically ran out the door. "Ha! Ha Ha Ha!" I was laughing like crazy until I heard a small cough come from behind me.

"If you're finished..."

"I'm finished, I'm finished..."I wipe a tear from my eye.

"You don't just keep that poison around to scare people, do you?"

"How did you know?"

"Because when I opened the door to that room, there already were beakers laying about."

"Oh."

"What were you doing?"

"Trying to find the antidote to something..."

"To what?"

"My best friend..."

"What happened?"

"He... Uh... He... Um, well, he... shrunk?" Her eyes widened.

"Oh, is that so... I'll help you."

"Really? But, what would a kid like you- oh my god. It isn't..."

"Whatever you're thinking, it's the truth."

"You and Conan shrunk?"

"Me and Conan? And here I thought that you'd only catch on to me..."

"I'm special that way." I said, grinning like an idiot.

"Show me your notes."

"What? Oh, sure..." I rummage through a drawer. "Here." I said, handing it to her. She flips it open, scanning through it's contents.

"Impressive. How long has it been since 'it' happened?"

"2-3 weeks, why?"

"How long do your 'cures' work?"

"A hour to a day, again, why?"

"Because..."

"Oh." She stops reading, seeming to contemplate something.

"Explain this part a little." She points to a bunch of scribbles I had written down.

"Well..." I point to other scribbles on the page as I spoke. "If you put some cyanide here, and mix it with a bit of magnesium, then throw in some liquified iron, then..." It took a while, but I finished explaining it. "...And then 'POOF!', it should work."

"Ah... I see..."

"See what?" She decides to change the subject.

"What other things are in that safe under the sink?"

"Well, there's a bunch of other poisons, some chemicals that I'd rather not say, some blood samples, a human eye and a finger," Her eye twitches at this, "A family photo, about four billion dollars packed neatly into three black suitcases, and some 'cures'."

"So... You keep an eye and a finger under your sink?"

"Yeah! You wanna see them?"

"I'd rather not..."

"Too bad. They're in perfect condition too..." After I said this, Conan walks in.

"One question."

"Yes, Conan?"

"What do you use the eye and finger for?"

"Some cloning experiments, other types of experiments, and sometimes I like to stare at the eye."

"I'm officially creeped out..."

"Just one other thing..."

"What?"

"Don't tell my parents, please?" Their jaws dropped at this.

"You mean they don't even know about this?"

"Well, they know about the photo, the money, and the 'cures'..." Conan got a confused look after I said cures.

"Wait, what cures?"

"About that..." I explained everything to him. He had only one thing to say.

"Who did it?"

"Did what?"

"Made your friend like that."

"Two people. One heavier guy with sunglasses and another with long hair."

"What colour was the hair?"

"About that..."

"What?"

"My friend's colour blind." I laughed nervously. They glared at me.

"Haa... How old was he?"

"Same age as me. 17." A knock came at the door. "That might be him." I ran to the door. "Hello?"

"Taylor, it's me."

"Brandon!"

"Taylor, we need to talk."

"Can it wait?"

"No."

"Well, you might be excited about this..."

"About what?"

"I found two others in your situation!" His eyes lit up.

"Really?"

"Yep! They're in the kitchen!" He took his shoes off and ran to the kitchen. "Brandon! Wait a second!"

"Brandon? That's such an ordinary name..."

"Haibara... Brandon is a common name here, and it just so happens to be his real name."
"Really?"

"Yeah." I look over, seeing him and Conan talking enthusiastically. "Hey," I said, glancing at her. "What do you think they're talking about?"

"That depends."

"On what?"

"On if Brandon likes mysteries."

"I do believe he does..."

"Then..."

"Oh." I leave Conan and Brandon to talk. I walk into the living room, shooing Shin off the couch. I start to search for the remote, finding it under the table. "How did it get under here?" Just as I lay back on the couch, the phone rang. I mutter a bunch of creative curses as I reach over to snatch up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hello Taylor. Is Brandon there?"

"Yeah, he is."

"Can you tell him to come home?"

"Sure thing Ms. Hadfield."

"Goodbye then." She hangs up without a reply from me. After muttering some more curses, I hop off the couch.

"Brandon!"

"What is it?"

"Your mom wants you at home now."

"Already? Aww man..." A frown appears on his face. I smirk at him.

"Do you need me to help you with anything?" I said snidely. His face turns a deep crimson.

"N-N-NO!" He walks to the door.

"Wait! I forgot to give you something..." I ran to one of the many drawers labelled 'Candy', and pull out about 13 pixie sticks. "Here you go!" I plop them in his hands.

"What are these for?"

"Because your mom interrupted my T.V time."

"So that means?..."

"Go wild. Eat those at exactly 7 o'clock for maximum effect. Annoy the hell out of your mother and anyone else who's there. Be best to eat them all at once." He grins and looks up at me.

"Thanks a lot!" He rips open the door, closing it behind him. My smirk widens into a grin as I laid back down on the couch. I flip through at least 400 channels before settling on news. The only interesting piece on was a serial killer somewhere in the world. They say he/she killed around 45 people already. My eyes slowly started to close.

I awoke to the sounds of repeated beeping and shouts. Groggily, I sat up. "What the- Oh my god. What happened to my kitchen?" The kitchen was a complete mess. There was, what I could only hope, tomato soup splashed all over the walls. There were eggs sliding slowly down almost every surface, what looked like seven different types of meat hanging half-off the ceiling, and smoke was pouring out of the oven. I stared, horrified, at Conan, who was sitting on the floor, pulling cheese out of his hair. Haibara was shouting incoherent words at him, though I did hear some words, like 'idiot', 'how is this even possible', and the fact that he was trying to make some sort of pastry. "What the hell happened to my kitchen?"

"Oh, Taylor. You're awake."

"What happened?"

"Uh..." Haibara spoke for him.

"He TRIED to make cupcakes."

"Then explain to me why what I think is tomato soup is on the walls, there are eggs on almost every surface, meat on the ceiling, and cheese in Conan's hair!"

"Oh, that. Well, you see, he has absolutely no sense of being able to cook."

"I could see that."

"That's probably the best answer you're going to get."

"Just clean it up." Conan jumped up, muttering 'yeah, yeah'. I sigh, turning back towards the T.V. My face paled and my eyes widened at what I saw. I stared angrily at what appeared to be macaroni all over my television. I turn back around to see Conan cowering slightly behind Haibara. "One more question." You could practically see the venom dripping off of my words.

"Y-Yes?"

"How did macaroni get on my T.V?"

"Uh... I don't know?" I snapped at that, turning towards the door. I rip open the door with so much force that it almost fell off the hinges, and stormed out.

TBC in chapter 2.

First line from next chapter: Once out of the house, I look around, not really paying attention to anything.