The loud clatter of metal against a hardwood floor stirred Chloe from a less than peaceful sleep. She drew such a sharp breath that burned against an already raw throat, her mouth dry and unforgiving as she kept her eyes clenched shut- not wanting to deal with whatever had been knocked from her grasp in the first place.
Beca was still pressed flush against her side, nails digging into her stomach as if she didn't want her girlfriend to stir. The older girl didn't remember her eyes drifting shut, or even how she had left off the conversation with Beca. The noise had clearly woken the both of them, but neither wanted to acknowledge it.
Chloe groaned against the sleep that still plagued her stiff body, laying in this position was hell on her back and neck, but she knew it made Beca comfortable to a certain extent. Usually, the two would pull apart of shift during the middle of the night, but neither of those things seemed to happen in the old house.
"mm," She felt her girlfriend's words vibrate against her chest. "What time is it?"
"I don't know, baby." Chloe used her free hand to rub the sleep from her eyes. She quickly regretted the movement, feeling the pain of moving furniture and shifting through old documents that her mother had laying around before her passing- she saved everything. It didn't' matter if it was a simple Easter card made out of macaroni and crazy glue or a high-school diploma. It was all filed away somewhere, not systematically, but somewhere.
She blinked a few times, not sure if the bright light that rushed through the room was due to a rising sun, or an old bulb that was across the perimeter. It too sat on the floor. Not giving anything much illumination, but it was enough. Chloe decided that it was still late. The blinds outlined by a dull moonlight instead of what the sun could produce.
"Still late," she sniffed, pulling herself away from her counterpart softly, not wanting to disturb her too much. The two of them must have dozed off for a few moments while talking. She knew she didn't sleep longer than a couple of hours- if that. Deep cobalt eyes quickly rushed to the flashlight that had fallen from her grasp and tumbled to the floor. It had rolled under the bed.
Chloe shook her head, slowly slinking off the bed to get down on her hands and knees. The ground was rough, cold as it soaked through the only pair of sweatpants she had brought with her. She could hear the springs of the mattress creak and groan as Beca blinked herself, propping up on her elbow to peer over the edge of the bed.
"It was the flashlight?" She scratched the back of her neck, knowing the answer already as Chloe pushed her shoulder against the floor blindly, her fingertips feeling around for the fallen device. She met it quickly, having cleared out underneath the bed a few days ago when they arrived in Georgia.
Her probing grasp touched two separate halves of the light- one that was cold and metal, the silver exterior, the other a plastic film that had once been covering the device. Great. Another thing broken. Okay, maybe it wasn't such a big deal, but her sleep ridden mind was making it into one. She huffed as she palmed both sperate pieces and sat back on her ankles. She shook her head.
"Oh," Beca was cross-legged, peering over the side of the mattress at this point, pursing her lips at the item they were sure to throw away after this. She softened at the discontent on Chloe's features, though, knowing that she was already at the end of her patience when it came to this house.
She was holding the protective glass in one hand- it was filmy and needed to be replaced anyway. The light seemed fairly new, the bulb still intact despite how easily the two parts broke away. It left a hollow tube that was dark despite its purpose.
"Hm," Chloe grunted, setting the glass aside as she focused more on the silver casing. She flipped it over and started to press it against her opposite palm, leaving red welts each time she pulled away. Beca cocked her head to the side like a lost puppy- in this case, she was. It was just a light. Chloe had this inert attachment to it since she came back down from the attic, though.
Both girls fell deeper into silence as a little paper flew from the casing, falling so delicately in the red head's palm. It was like a feather that had suddenly caught the right edge of wind. Weightless and curled at the edges from being shoved into a light that rested so far in an attic that Chloe was still shocked that she had even found it.
III-IV-VII-XXXV
It was written in soft brown ink. Maybe at one point it had been black, the paper a stark white that had faded to a sickly yellow. The haze had been burning thickly into the color for as long as the paper had been mysteriously shoved into it.
Chloe ran her thumb over the numbers, finally moving her murky gaze up to her curious counterpart. She had the covers curled around her fingers now, burrowed into it like each passing second made her draw back into herself. There was an unexplainable chill in the drab room.
"What is that?" Beca asked, sniffing slightly.
"Not sure," Chloe raised herself back up onto the edge of the mattress, letting Beca get a good look at the parchment that had fallen from the device. She grasped it easily, pressing her touch against the indentations that the pen had made so many years ago. They were significant and rushed, ink even seeping into the corner of the torn paper. "It's weird that it's in there though, right?"
"I suppose," Beca hummed, close to losing interest in the conversating as she thrust the paper back towards her girlfriend who took it gratefully- not finished staring it down or analyzing it yet. "I'm sure it's just some type of serial number or something. You know, for the manufacturers."
Chloe shook her head slightly, not taking her eyes away from the numbers. "In Roman numerals, Bec?"
"you never know," Beca settled back into the little spot of blankets that she purposely arranged so that she could curl up in the middle of them- completely destroying her badass persona as soon as she got a little sleepy. "Julius Caesar must have loved this brand of flashlight."
Chloe blew a puff of air out of her nose, not having the true energy to laugh at her girlfriend's antics. Instead, she set the light aside, shoving the paper back into its natural place before reaching over to the little desk lamp that was giving the small room it's unnatural glow. She flicked it off- plunging the two into darkness before sleep finally overtook them- neither thinking too much about the little paper in an even smaller flashlight.
Aubrey's feet hung off the side of the counter, her palms digging into the rough edge as the older blonde struggled to keep her legs still. She felt like a kid at a candy shop, fondly recalling the times she had spent in this kitchen as a kid, on this very counter more than once.
It was a sunny day in the middle of summer, the Georgia heat too strong to do anything more than lean against the cool grass and stare up at the slowly dissipating clouds. She and Chloe had been sitting in the backyard while doing just that- hands still sticky from popsicles that dribbled before they could even consume half of it.
The sickly aroma of artificial sweetener must have drawn in some insects, or bees the be specific. Aubrey knew she wasn't allergic or anything, but as soon as one had dug it's pointed stinger into the flesh around her elbow she couldn't help the tears from boiling over and sliding down her cheeks. Chloe panicked. Chloe's mother didn't.
She simply lifted the squirming six-year-old into her grasp and carted her into the air-conditioned kitchen. Even the change in temperature was enough to shock the girl into sniveling slightly into the woman's chest instead of sticking to the drawn-out sobs that had torn at her throat. She shook as Mrs. Beale set her on the edge of the counter right by the fridge.
The woman soothed her with soft coo's, rubbing Aubrey's back before quickly stirring a mix of cornstarch and warm water together. The blonde watched her carefully, the woman kind with such soft eyes. They looked exactly like Chloe's; kind and forgiving as she struggled to make conversation that would distract the young girl long enough to smear the cold blend of powder and water onto the welt that slowly grew.
"You're okay." She said softly, still rubbing small circles on the girls back as the pain started to fade out into nothing more than a dull ache. "You're okay."
"Aubrey," Beca's deep voice pulled the blonde from her thoughts as she snapped her water brimmed eyes up towards the brunette who was sitting with her back against one of the dining room chairs. She had her computer opened in front of her- the glow casting an odd shadow against her face.
She was weary, having been responding to emails all day. Somehow the woman got a chance to get at least a week off work to make the trip to Georgia. That didn't mean her workload changed, she still had clients that expected to be taken care of for the cash they produced. It wasn't unreasonable, but at this point, it was annoying.
"You okay, dude?" She asked, flicking her eyes back to the screen to close out of the programs that were taking up her dash. She wasn't going to be able to focus much anyway, swallowing thickly to avoid the nausea that pushed against her core. It was the worry. Worry about Chloe. The girl halfway through a long shower as her girlfriend and best friend sat in an uncomfortable silence.
"Yeah," Aubrey knit her eyebrows together, her tone edgy and defensive as Beca leaned back in her seat and closed the computer. She was used to the hostility when it came to Aubrey- it had been there since day one at Barden. The girl softened, however. "Yes, I am. I was just thinking."
Beca nodded absently, playing with the edge of the kitchen table as she looked at the checkered floor. It was like something out of a diner in the 80's the black and white colors were staggered, the white faded to nothing more than a light yellow- no matter how many times Aubrey had taken a toothbrush to it this week. It was a clean as it could get- the whole entire area smelling like lemon and baking soda.
"I never met her," She finally said not dragging her stare away from the focus point she had chosen- a colored magnet on the fridge. It was one part of a larger set. The whole alphabet. Now it was just a single red S. "Chloe's mom… I mean."
Beca once again swallowed against the lump in her throat as she lifted her stare to meet Aubrey's olive one. They didn't always look so green- they were usually a deeper shade of blue or even grey- but when she was upset they were green. Not quite envy, but sadness.
"She was sick when Chloe and I started dating." Beca continued "She was gone before graduation… but I'm sure you already knew that."
Beca trailed off, wiping her palms stiffly on her jeans. The fabric was cold compared to her touch which was clammy and shaking. Emotions hadn't ever been the girl's strong suite- so much in fact, that her and Chloe never really talked about family much. She went to the funeral two years back and held Chloe while she sobbed openly and wouldn't pull herself away from the bathroom floor for a whole week. She was supportive… she was, but Chloe still refused to open up about her mother, just like Beca shied away from her alcoholic father. It was a topic that each could silently agree on was untouchable.
"She would have liked you," Aubrey said, finally, lowering herself off the counter as she grasped the white mug of coffee that wasn't as appetizing as it was before. She had burned it, lost in her stupor of thought long before Beca wondered into the kitchen and settled herself at the little table.
The taller blonde sat in the chair opposite from Beca now, struggling to regain feeling in her legs as she ran her finger over the soft handle in her grasp. "She was eccentric, you know? Wasn't always… but towards the end, Kelley started to get into different studies. She liked figuring out how things work, just like you do."
"Studies?" Beca leaned forward in her seat, interested.
"Yeah," Aubrey waved her hand in front of her face, swallowing thickly to get rid of the sour taste in her mouth. "She started studying cryptography. It was a good distraction from the pain, I think. She really liked codes and riddles, would spend days at a time trying to decipher some of them."
"That's cool," Beca's eyes flashed in excitement. She had always loved that kind of thing too- Chloe had never mentioned it, but she wasn't surprised. "Very Goonies."
"Right," Aubrey laughed, shaking the morose feeling she had as she recalled Kelley in such a fond light. "I'm sure there is a secret treasure in this house somewhere."
The two of them laughed, the sound of a shower and rusty pipes still thick in the air. It was groaning and creaking just like this old house. The shared moment died down, leaving two silent women- one staring idly at her hands, the other gazing out the window at a backyard she could never quite forget.