Megan
By Min Farshaw
Chapter seven: In which Howl spends a great deal of time in the bathroom.
Light streamed through a narrow gap in Howl's curtains and struck Sophie right across the face, not quite unlike having your eyes gently flogged with flower petals. The moment she opened them, she had to shut them again right away. In the interest of the preservation of her corneas, she rolled over before opening them again, holding her arms up to her face so she peeked between the gap, in case the sun was going to play more nasty tricks on her.t
The rest of the room was dark, except that narrow strip of illumination that had so blinded her just moments before. It ran across her hair and hand, to a little piece of it on the coverlet, before it jumped up to lie just across the bridge of Howl's nose, then onward over his head and ear. His mouth was slightly open, and his hair was a tangled rat's nest of golden strands. In the dark, half light of the room she could even pick out little bags under his eyes. She was admiring this image when she realized what it meant. She was in bed. With Howl. She and Howl were sleeping in the same bed. Together. She blinked twice before a furious blush bloomed on her cheeks and across her nose. Then she realized where his hand was. It rested on her side, just where hip meets waist, and curled around a bit to her back. His other arm rested a scant few inches from her face, a strand of her hair tangled in his fingers.
She sat up immediately, which simply caused Howl's hand to slide down her side to come to rest just above her knee. Lucky for her, the hand was above the covers, just like the rest of Howl's body, which was laid out in an ungainly sprawl over the bed. In fact, Sophie was pushed so far to the edge of the bed that she was afraid for a moment that she might fall off. Worst of all, Howl was still smiling slightly.
" Howl." She whispered, trying to wake him up, " Howl" A little louder. He groaned and moved slightly in his sleep, " Howl!" even louder.
" Ah! Sophie, It's too early for that. Go back to sleep." He muttered. Then the hand, thankfully, returned somewhere to the vicinity of it's owner. The hand, and It's owner didn't sound the least bit repentant or concerned that there was a girl in their bed.
This was of a great deal of concern to Sophie of course, being the girl in Howl's bed. She pulled the blankets up to her chest, even though she was fully clothed.
" Howl!" She said, even louder than before. She couldn't think to say anything else to say that was appropriate for the moment.
" Please my dear, spare me my head, go back to sleep." Howl muttered, curling up into a smaller ball. Sophie stared at him, utterly unwilling to spare any pity for him, even though his drunkenness had been convenient for her the previous evening
" HOWL! How did I get here?" She shouted, drawing the covers even tighter against her chest. He looked at her, puzzled and bleary eyed.
" You fell asleep here of course. I would not have the heart to deprive a young lady of her bed." He said, thinking his sentence through carefully. His tone was pure, almost as to remind one of a chivalrous knight. A knight with a hangover that is.
" Then why are you here!" Howl winced at the volume before replying.
" Sophie dear, I need sleep as well. You wouldn't be so heartless as to deprive a hardworking wizard from his own bed would you?" Sophie blushed furiously for no reason again, because he was starting to give her that look. The one that made him look devilishly handsome and innocent at the same time. Even his bleary red eyes could not counter it. It just made him look more pathetic and worthy of her affection. No! Sophie thought, I will be strong! I will make him explain himself. He brushed his hair back from his eyes before reaching out to tuck an errant strand behind Sophie's ear.
" Incidentally Sophie, Cariad, How would you feel..." oh dear Sophie thought as he began speaking, Oh my, he's not going to... when his speech was interrupted by a loud bang from downstairs.
" Ah! Howl what was that!" She cried, taking the opportunity to lean back from Howl. She was not ready for this. She wasn't dressed or anything! Howl scowled and tried to pull her closer again.
" It was probably nothing Cariad, if you'd let me finish..." He started, but Sophie cut him off again, the panic welling in her throat.
" Nothing! Howl what if it's a burglar or a murderer or something!" She yelled, finding a slight tinge of pity for his pained wince at the volume once more. " I'm going to go see what it is." Before Howl could say anything to the contrary, Sophie raced out of the room, her heart pounding like a drum in her chest.
She clattered loudly down the stairs, certain that she could hear blood pounding in her ears. There at the bottom was no burglar or murderer, come to vandalize their house in their sleep, but Megan Parry, rattling the knob above the door, and Calcifer, laughing his head off.
" Megan!" Sophie cried, pounding down the last few steps, " You aren't leaving are you?". In that sudden, horrible moment, Sophie felt an intense kinship for this woman, this sister of Howl that had so traumatized his younger years, for this woman that had convinced her wayward brother of the error of his ways, at least where proposals were concerned.
Megan looked a little ashamed for a moment, then drew herself up to pin her piercing blue eyed stare on Sophie.
" I have a family to attend to." She said cooly, as if Sophie were some kind of unwanted intruder or jailer. All sense of kinship for Megan quickly dissolved into seething anger once more. With that anger came a wave of relief that she knew that she didn't really like Megan.
" Leaving! Without so much as a goodbye or a thanks for dinner!" Sophie shouted, ignoring Megan's previous comment, " That's what I'd call extremely rude!"
" Rude! Rude!" shouted Megan, " At least I was brought up with proper manners!"
" Proper manners! Abandoning your own brother when he's ill!" Sophie screamed back, conveniently forgetting that Howl had awakened and had a lengthy conversation with his sister that evening, nor that he was probably getting out of bed at that very moment.
" I thought I was leaving him in capable hands. Obviously my faith was misplaced in a little girl!" Megan replied, hands on hips
"Little Girl! I've been older than you!"
Without pausing to consider the dubious validity of this statement, Megan drew in a deep breath, probably in preparation for a mighty declamation. However, she was interrupted before she could start by Howl, who had stumbled down the stairs enough to observe their fight.
" Megan, Sophie, please, don't fight on my account. I beg of you, think of my health!" He cried out in a desperate, self pitying tone.
" Stay out of this Howl!" The women shouted at him, their gazes never leaving each other. Howl promptly took a seat on the stairs, his lip pulled down in a full pout.
" Look at him! Like a whipped little dog! All because some shameless hussy like you got her hands on him to steal him away!" Megan shouted
"I stole him! I stole him away! More like you drove him away Megan, with all your shouting and bossiness!" Sophie yelled back, " That's why he is so cowed!"
" I don't have to stand here and take these... these false accusations!" Megan added, her tone so sour as if she had bitten a lemon as she spoke.
" Fine then leave this house! You were never invited to come here anyway!"
" Maybe I will!"
"Good!"
"Fine!"
"well?"
" ... I can't open the door." Megan admitted, some of the heat removed from her voice.
Sophie marched over and spun the knob to black down and pushed the door open to the familiar grey expanse. She found it difficult to keep up her own steaming facade as she did so.
" Umm, goodbye then." She said, the moment having turned considerably more awkward, " I mean, Get out!"
" err, right yes. Goodbye" Megan said, backing out the door, eyeing her slouched brother and the room until the nothing swallowed her completely. Sophie let the door fall shut with a click, and suddenly found that her legs would not support her. She slid to the floor and found choking sobs rising up in her throat. Tears blossomed in her eyes and she desperately tried to stifle them and her sobs with a pathetic little hiccup. This alarmed Howl, so he tottered down the stairs towards her, and crouched right in front of her slumped form.
" Ah! Sophie, why are you crying! You got rid of Megan!" he said, wiping away her tears with one hand. The look on his face was open and full of childish concern, " I've been trying to do that for years!" Sophie hiccuped again and drew herself into a tighter ball, trying to hid her face. He touched her hair in what Howl thought was a soothing motion. Sophie peeked up at him and began to cry, with great hiccuping sobs into his chest. She felt him wrap warm arms around her and pat her back awkwardly.
" What was that, Sophie?" He asked in response to her mumble
" Oh god Howl, your family hates me." She said, a little more clearly between sobs.
" What! Megan positively adores you!" Howl responded. Sophie stiffened and looked up at him with tear stained eyes.
" What are you talking about," She sniffed, " She c-called me names and insulted my cooking, the house and my life."
" Oh, that. Sophie love, Megan only lets herself get into really good arguments with family." He said, smiling at her. Sophie wanted to smile back, but Howl had said family.
" Wait, Howl, what do you mean by that. I'm not..." she started
" Ah Micheal!" Howl exclaimed, the panic barely audible in his voice, " Glad you could join us! Why don't you and Sophie get yourselves settled for breakfast. I'm sure my sister left some tea on." He planted a quick kiss on Sophie's cheek and promptly dashed off to the bathroom. Something had scared him off, Sophie suddenly knew.
A kiss, any kiss from Howl would have made her blush just hours ago, but now Sophie thought back to the boggy marsh, and the moment they had shared. Was he ever going to kiss her like that again? Was his desire to marry her nothing more than a silly drunken promise? And for someone who had drunk such a volume last night, shouldn't he have a hangover? Never mind his words a scant few minutes ago, while they were wrapped in the warmpth of sleep. He could have been asking her anything.
The answer to her last question was the easiest, as Howl poked a damp head around the door frame.
" Ah, Michael, do me a favour and mix up some of that brown powder in the third jar on the second shelf with a little lemon and water? Instructions are on the lid." He grimaced and shut the door behind him.
When taken down, the jar was labeled Headache Cure, though Sophie was fairly certain that the word 'hangover' had been scratched out and headache added over top. The powder formed a vile smelling glop that began to bubble and froth as soon as the lemon was added. Sophie and Micheal put it aside, far from their meal where they could not smell it and ruin their appetites. They started and ate breakfast without Howl, who still hadn't come out of the bathroom. His usual perfumes could not be smelled in the occasional rolls of steam that came from under the door, but Calcifer assured them that It was probably some new fad for him.
An hour passed.
Then two. Micheal ventured out into the garden by the waste to cut flowers for the shop. Sophie busied herself with cleaning up the rest of the house, but she was running on automatic, compulsively looking at the door. Occasionally she would hear a thump or a noise from inside, or a fresh roll of steam would creep out around the edges of the wooden door to ensure her that Howl was still inside and had not died.
By the time Micheal returned with a fresh basin of flowers, there was still no sign of Howl.
They opened up shop for the day, fifteen minutes late, to the ire of one young man with tousled blonde hair. Sophie snapped at him because his impossible shade reminded her somewhat of Howl, though the stranger had none of Howl's bearing and was at least five years too young. Besides, no one could truly match Howl's hair.
When four hours passed and still no sign of Howl Sophie began to worry.
" HOWL" She screamed, pounding on the bathroom door, " Howl! What's wrong with you! Open this door right now!"
" Go away Sophie, please, your shouting hurts my suffering head."
" Then why don't you come out here and take your headache cure." She asked, leaning against the door and trying not to grit her teeth in frustration.
" I'm Fine. I want to be alone. Please go away." Called Howl's voice from within. It was echoed and distorted, something to due with all the steam and plumbing in there.
Sophie went away, if only to scream into something. She returned to the shop and sold a woman who looked remarkably like a younger Miss Angorian, with a heart shaped face and raven tresses, a bouquet of flowers for the woman's sister's wedding. The blonde man from earlier walked in just as they were arranging it, kissed the Miss Angorian lookalike on the cheek. Sophie tried to keep her cool, but she charged the couple three times what she would have normally and amused herself by watching the roses in a nearby arrangement slowly wither and die.
After five and a half hours, Sophie's anger turned to worry, and the amusement of Calcifer and Micheal began to fade.
" Howl, Howl, come out, it's lunchtime." Sophie crooned.
" I'm not hungry" Howl's voice pouted back.
" But you missed breakfast! Come out and eat with Micheal, Calcifer and I. Micheal bought a quiche for each of us."
" I don't want to. Please leave me alone." Sophie's worry turned back to anger.
" Well if you won't come out, I'll bring food in too you." She hissed, and reached for the knob.
" Ah! Don't come in, I'm not decent." Howl's voice shouted. This made Sophie freeze. To see a young man while not decent was Not Proper. But then, the old lady in Sophie began to whisper in her ear.
" I don't care. I'm coming in." She said, and shut her eyes, turned the knob and pushed. The door was locked of course, which made her even more angry.
" Howl, Unlock this door right now! HOWL!"
Suffice it to say, the door did not open. So, Sophie left Micheal in charge of the shop, picked up one of Howl's dusty spell books and then started flipping.
At 2:30 PM, Sophie found the appropriate unlocking spell.
At 2:32, Sophie used this spell on the bathroom door, much to the chagrin of the voice of Howl.
At 2:32 and thirty seconds, Howl heard the scream of rage that let him know that Sophie had finally discovered that he had not been in the bathroom all day as had been previously assumed.
At 2:33, Howl began to walk faster.
The rest of this chapter just will not get itself written.I looked at the next paragraph that I wrote after this point and... well, It wasn't where I wanted to go, and wasn't what I wanted to write. I had intended to finish the whole thing with this chapter, with an epilogue coming after, but I've been making you wait so long... If I didn'tpost this now, I never would. so, probably only one more chapter, but I think you all know how good I am at predicting these things.
Did I mention that I love you guys to death? No, well I do, and I really appreciate your comments and criticisms. Probably need someone to kick my butt anyway. Quitting work and starting school has proven to be more stressful than I thought, especially since I think my manager has gotten angry that I gave her my letter of 2 week notice, and has thus been punishing me with all the really bad shifts, opening (at 6:00 AM) and closing (till 10:15). What am I saying, there is no excuse! None Bad girl!
On the bright side, some of the great authors in the first fandom I was ever overly obsessed with (DBZ) have mysteriously started to post again. This is awesome, but far too distracting.
So Yes, please come yell at me, I'd love to hear from you .
Love, Min