And the fact that she never met her father made her curious to poke and prod around this whole larger-than-life semi-reality.
Amber walked up to her front door. Pausing pensively, she stopped and turned around. Heading towards her backyard, she ran over to the sixteenth brick. She turned it over. The key was gone. Frowning, Amber looked around. She felt someone watching her. She pulled her coat tight around her, and headed for the front door, dialed the keycode, covering her fingers so any observer wouldn't witness it. The door opened, and Amber was swept into the warmth of her house. Even through the walls, she felt watched.
"Shut up!" Amber hissed to her mind. She kicked off her shoes, put her bag down, and hung up her coat. She froze.
There was blood on the top of the stairs. A smear. Amber gasped, and backed into the coat closet. She fumbled for her phone. Who would she call? Without thinking, she called out loud, "Mom!" she waited a moment. She was shaking involuntarily. "MOM!" She called louder.
Sara came out from the downstairs laundry room, and spotted Amber. "Hey, hun! How was school?" she asked. Amber didn't immediately answer, so Sara looked up. "Amber? What's up?" she asked with a hint of concern. Amber felt her adrenaline die and she relaxed.
"I'm fine, sorry… school was fine. Mom? What happened? There's blood." Amber said, emerging from the coat closet, and approaching the blood. Sara looked mystified.
"Blood?" She asked. She put down a towel she was folding and climbed up the stairs to see. Both her and Amber were thinking the same thing at different levels. Amber kneeled down to examine it further. "Hey!" Sara warned, "don't touch." Amber wordlessly aborted her harmless plan.
"You've been home all day?" Amber asked.
"No, no… I went to the PD today for a bit." Sara said vaguely.
"Today's your day off, Mom." Amber said pointedly. Sara's reaction, or in that case, a lack of one, confirmed Amber's fear. She had homework to do. Pretending everything was alright, she met her eyes with her mom's, and tried to tell her how terrified she was without opening her mouth.
Seemed somewhat successful.
The phone was ringing. Amber jumped from her coma of quadratic equations. When Sara answered, Amber scampered from her desk to the balcony where she listened to half the conversation. Seemed like business. Disappointed, and still fearful, Amber returned to her math. She glanced at her clock. Holy pants!
Ten O'clock. Amber wondered if time flew faster when you were scared. She finished the last two questions, threw her textbook under her bed, and turned off the lights. The Wallflowers still sang softly in the dark. Amber this time, hoping to avoid any creepy dreams, fell asleep rather quickly, and left Sixth Avenue Heartache singing to no one.
The suddenness of her consciousness scared her. She didn't remember waking up, but for some reason she was. She realized her mom was in her room, sitting on her bed. Amber looked at her clock. 3 am.
"MOM!" Amber hissed groggily. Sara leaned towards her daughter, and stroked her hair.
"Sorry hunny. I have to go in to work, it's an emergency. I'll be back in time to make you breakfast okay?" Sara whispered. Amber nodded, just wanting sleep. She heard her mom leave the room, and heard the car start and drive away into the dead night. She fell asleep, again.
Amber woke up to sun in her face. She lay in bed a moment, and heard nothing. Well, maybe her mom had finished breakfast and was waiting on her. Amber quickly got out of bed, and dressed. She headed downstairs to the kitchen.
It was empty. Amber noted the time on the microwave. 8:30! She did a double take. She slept in, and was now late for school. Furthermore, her mother wasn't home.
The phone rang.