~Ebola~
Hallinan's Household 359.63.15
The same characters surfaced. Mollie scrolled down and was dismayed, not to mention impatient.
She picked up one of the disks she unlocked, and waited for the computer to read it again. It was odd, really. Usually, if she opened a non-text file on Word, she would see symbols like $,€, and -. But instead of the normal numbers and signs, she found herself looking at alien characters that weren't even in bizarre Wingding fonts.
It was like...hieroglyphics - a completely new language, and a story was written in this indecipherable script.
Gnommish.
Of course, she did not know this. Mollie was merely waiting for her sister's return, and the promised explanation about graphing curves when there is no "slope".
A grunt from the floppy drive signified the completion of reading the file. Mollie sat on the revolving chair and put her face inches away from the screen. Her eyes scanned the file. She clicked the mouse to move the cursor away from the main body of...figures...
Only the word "Frond" was spelt in the normal English alphabet. The rest were acorns, three-dimensional boxes, waves, dots, and crescent moons.
"Frond" was the command word that Miri programmed any application to read as the starting process of writing in Gnomish. Much like script language="javascript"!--xxx-- was to tell most browsers to start reading in javascript.
Mystified, Mollie clicked out of Microsoft Word, spat out the green floppy disk, and threw it into a cardboard box marked "backups of miri's programs".
She pounced on the sofa with Lilac and switched on the television. The Disney Channel seemed much easier to comprehend. I can always ask Miri about them, she mumbled, and petted the cat.
Only five minutes elapsed before a buzzer rang.
"Hallinan residence, please say your name," Mollie shouted, as she had heard her parents say many times before.
But there was only static and an occasional crackle. The voice-activated speaker eventually went dead from the lack of response.
Mollie sighed and ignored whoever was outside to watch Duck Tales.
The buzzer rang again. Lilac perked her ears up, and Mollie was inclined to respond.
"Hello. This - is - the - Hallinan's. Please - say - who - you - are." She made sure to enunciate every word.
Again, the speaker showed no signs of life other than trees, grass, and insects paddling around the house.
Mollie got up and turned down the volume. She plopped Lilac back on the sofa, creeping cautiously down the short flight of stairs.
She opened one of the double doors and found no one outside. Upon pulling the door wider, a sharp breeze came in, and Mollie shut the door. Mother hates flies, she remembered.
On the white sofa, Lilac began to go insane.
"Meowww!"
The loudest meow Mollie has ever heard. Lilac was usually silent, and complained only by haughtily lifting her head up, or projecting narrowed eyes.
The kitten pounced from the sofa, leaving a fresh paw mark on the leather, and started running around the living room.
Mollie dodged sideways to let the cat pass. Claws clacked the wooden floor, slid, and then regained balance again. Mollie rolled her eyes and sat on the sofa. She turned up the volume to drown out the cat.
Minutes later, Lilac stopped and pawed back to her seat. Her ears were drooped, and her tail narrowly missed the floor. The cat's usual aristocratic composure was deflated.
Mollie, once again, rolled her eyes. She applied herself to watching the animated television.
I wonder if Miri programs in weird symbols, Mollie mumbled, because I've never seen her write like that. But when her door shuts, we all know she's up to something secretive. And she got really mad at me once for going in her room without telling her.
A fierce shattering erupted upstairs.
The cat's nose twitched, and Mollie shut off the television. Mrs. Tramp, the next door neighbor, was beginning to mow her lawn anyway. The sound would drown Uncle Scrooge out.
She clambered the stairs, not caring whether Lilac followed or not. The steps were still rather wide for Mollie's stature. After all, she was only five, and skinny for her age.
Mollie scowled. I'll be six in two months, her voice declared proudly.
"Meow," Lilac agreed.
Presently, Mollie pushed the oak door gently open. Her sister cleaned the bedroom recently, though crates of programming books littered the floor. The old-fashioned window brought in continuous fresh air, making the curtains billow wildly.
Mollie halted. For a moment, she observed the decorative black bars holding up the lace. They had little swirls on the end and misshapen flowers in the middle. But the left side of the pattern was shimmering slightly, like the background of a mirage.
She squinted. It isn't the heat, she reasoned. It's seventish outside.
Then she observed the floor. Along with a book titled UNIX in a Nutshell, she found pieces of a broken turquoise vase. Fifteen minutes ago, Mollie swore the vase was in tact. She had passed Miri's bedroom on the way to the bathroom.
The origin of the noise was here. Although the vase had been tucked snugly away from the edge of the nightstand, and was constantly under watch. Apparently, this vase was from a highly prestigious antique store that Mother bought from or something.
Mollie wanted to roll her eyes.
But Lilac went crazy again. The cat bolted straight toward the vase pieces, sliding across the porcelain, and meowing frantically from the sharp cuts the pieces made in her fur.
Mollie watched as the cat banged into one wall after another. She was unable to find the situation humorous any more.
A loud buzz. Mollie scampered down the stairs.
"Hallinan residence, plea - "
"Mollie, It's me. Open up because I'm dropping my laptop..."
Mollie ran and swung the door open. The laptop flew in, landing in her small hands.
"Good catch," Miri remarked, towing in her backpack. She shut the door and surveyed the living room. "Where's Lilac?"
Mollie was deprived of a civilized answer.
"Ehhhhh...Miri..."
Miri started toward the stairs. A bundle of chemistry homework required completion.
"What? Is she throwing a fit?"
"Well...yes...and, eh, the vase broke. You know Mum will kill us."
There was a brief pause. Paper was being drawn out, or a notebook was being flipped.
"The turquoise one? And Lilac broke it?"
Mollie squirmed uncomfortably. She walked over to the sofa and plunked herself down.
"Lilac was with me watching TV. Then, I heard this awful shattering noise in your bedroom. I went up and saw the vase in pieces. And then Lilac went crazy. She's still in there."
The last comment was slightly unnecessary, as Miri was already in her room. A white cat ran insanely around, and blue porcelain was scattered everywhere. The shimmer by the bar seemed to have disappeared.
"Tikhii, tikhii Lilac!" Miri took out a pencil. She observed Lilac, and quickly moved a book away from the cat's path. The Art of Iris Cams, courtesy of Foaly.
"¿Por qué tienes demasiado prisa?"
Then, to Mollie:
"Are you sure Lilac wasn't up there before you started watching TV?"
"I'm sure," Mollie said. She thought for a second. "Dad said this house was haunted before we moved in. It could be a -a ghost or something..."
Upon looking around the room, Miri noticed a little shiver of air by her closet door.
She laughed tentatively and kicked her Unix book out of the way. "Well," she called, "I think it's gravity playing tricks on you again."
Her first lie of the day. Not bad.
Usually she made four or five already.
The shiver moved away from Lilac. It hovered to its original place, above the black bar.
Lilac unexpectedly hopped into Miri's lap, and the girl turned her chair around. Her hands restrained the cat while her eyes examined the shimmer.
"Mind unshielding now, Captain Short?"
Immediately, the shimmer emitted a pneumatic hiss. LEP Captain Holly Short was now in the visible spectrum, wrestling with her mechanical wings. Finally, she descended onto the wooden floor.
"Very good, Miriena. You've grown since I had last left you."
Behind the entrance into Miri's bedroom, Mollie gaped at the Recon faerie.