At 7:05pm there came a sharp knock at the door. Lily looked up from the book she was reading and went over the front door, a smile spreading across her face as she opened it. But no one was on the other side.
"Dorcas?" Lily frowned.
The knock came again, but obviously it couldn't come from the front door. The one she was standing in front of. There was no one there.
Her frown deepening, she returned into the house.
"Did you hear someone knocking?" Lily asked her mother, starting to question her sanity.
"Yes, didn't you answer it?" Rose asked.
"No one was out front."
"Anybody looking for this?" Daniel asked as he walked into the room, his arm around none other than Dorcas Meadows.
Lily came up close to get a good look at the girl under her fathers arm. "Nope, never seen her before in my life." She said, turning to look at her mother so that her smile was hidden.
"Oh really? Well in that case, Dan how 'bout you come keep me company?" Dorcas played along turning to Lily's father.
Daniel's eyes brightened and was about to reply enthusiastically when his wife coughed purposefully. Looking over at her, he smiled. "Regrettably, I'm all Rose's for the holidays." He said and moved around the room and embraced Rose from behind. "Sorry Dorcas."
Dorcas sighed heavily and Lily shook her head. "I'll settle for Lily then. C'mon let's get your stuff." She said walking over to a bemused Lily and walked up the stairs.
Moments later Lily was hugging her parent's goodbye. "Bye Mum. Bye Dad. See you guys on Sunday."
Dorcas quirked a brow. "Huh?"
"We only consented for Lily to go if we saw her a bit over the holidays." Rose explained.
"Sunday lunches to be exact." Lily nodded.
Dorcas smiled. "Cool, we'll see you guys then."
Daniel and Rose laughed as they began to show the two to the door.
"Bye you guys. Have fun." They called from the door.
Lily and Dorcas waved from up the street and turned a corner.
"We better not be walking all the way to your place, Dor." Lily muttered as she dragged her trunk behind her getting some odd looks from the people around her.
Dorcas laughed. "Don't be silly." She paused to look at her friend. "We're walking to the taxi street a few blocks down. I saw it on my way here." She said.
Lily groaned. "Can you take this thing then? I'm tired of people staring at me."
Shaking her head, Dorcas complied at took Lily's trunk. She took on step forward and felt her arm pop back. "Bloody hell! What on earth have you got in here?"
Lily merely shrugged. "Just a bit of light reading."
Dorcas scoffed loudly and began lugging Lily's trunk. Once they reached the next road Dorcas puffed and dropped it on the ground. "This is ridiculous."
"How bought we both pull it then." Lily suggested and grabbed onto the handle. She motioned for Dorcas to do the same but found that she was resting against a wall, quite puffed out.
"Just….give me…..minute. Or ten." And she slid down to the floor.
Lily smiled. "C'mon lazy ass."
"This coming from the girl who wouldn't get out of bed to talk to me on the phone." Dorcas scowled.
"Oh alright. You really need to lay off the liquorice wands." Lily said, patting her stomach after she sat down beside her friend.
Dorcas stuck her tongue out at her and they both laughed.
Ten minutes later they were read to go. "Ok let's do this." Lily said. "One, two, three!" The trunk lifted slightly and they both began to drag it while walking on a weird angle so they could see the street ahead.
"Ow!" Dorcas exclaimed again. "Ok, stop. Stop, stop, stop." She said and dropped the trunk yet again. "I'd rather stop ever block for ten minutes than deal with bruises on my legs." Being in the awkward poison they were, the trunk often hit them in the back of the legs.
Dorcas bent over to examine her calf which had already started to turn a bit blue. "Bugger."
"May I help?" asked a male voice.