Time Warp ~ 4

Family... Here? Of all places...

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          Leo followed Alexa past a path lined with dead rose bushes. He found the dry, brown roses rather sad. Why had no one bothered to take care of the roses? But Leo had no time to stop and evaluate the  desiccated plants' condition because Alexa was already walking into the building.

          "C'mon! It's inside.", Alexa held open the door and Leo walked in.

           It was a tiny room. There were little couches, and a with extremely thin, flimsy looking books on it. There was a coffee table  and a  bookcase  to one side with a selection of grimy old novels that looked as if they hadn't been touched in a while.

             To the other side was a table with a green, indented top. The top had holes. Little striped and solid colored balls sat inside baskets  that were inside the holes. There was also a strange black box in front of the couches. Despite the heat outside, the room felt very cool. Leo found out that the cool air in the room came from a round object on the ceiling. It was spinning and giving off air.

           "Um... A-Alexa? Do you live... here?" The noirette asked hoping the answer would be "no".

          "Of corse not! This is the apartment complex's lobby. Our apartment is outside. Follow me."

            Leo followed Alexa past the back door of the room. The heat hit them like a wall when they exited the cool room. That thing on the ceiling was very useful. It's so hot here too. Leo thought. They continued to walk past a deep pond with a gate around it. The aquamarine colored water looked cool and ice-like. How lovely a swim would be right now...

            Leo kept following Alexa through the courtyard. She walked up a grimy  staircase to a row of doors. She turned to door 201, took out a silver key and opened the peeling blue door.

            " Welcome home! ", Alexa motioned for Leo to walk in. The room was dark, hot, and small with a couch, another one of those black boxes and also... a piano! Leo looked at the piano. It was strange piano. It had the keyboard, but it was boxier, and connected to the wall.

           "Ugh... let me turn the air on before you die in that outfit. Do you normally dress like that when it's 100 degrees outside? No wonder you passed out...” Alexa turned on the fan and looked around for her new companion. He was at the piano looking at it and trying to play it. She couldn't help but snicker as his eyes widened at the noiseless keys.

              "Th-there's no music coming from it!", the noirette was in shock. A noiseless piano! How could this happen? He tried hitting the keys harder but the strange piano still made no noise.

            " Ha ha...", Alexa walked over to the keybord Leo kept hitting harder. She held on a button and suddenly the apartment was filled with music. Leo jumped back, in even more shock. His heart raced as Alexa smiled at him and played a random little tune. " Silly... you just had to turn it on." He could not believe it.

             " Turn... i-it on? Why do you have to turn on the piano?" Leo hit a key and the music resounded throughout the apartment. She had pushed a button. He held onto the button again, and the piano stopped making noise. Alexa snickered as she watched her new companion playing around with the piano, turning it on and off to see if it made noise. She couldn't take her eyes off the cute, childish look of wonder in his eyes and on his face as he started to play around with the sound settings. Who was this stranger? Why was he dressed the way he was? Had he really never seen an electric piano before?

             Alexa turned to the clock. It was 4:30. Her uncle would be home at five thirty. She had to start dinner and shower. She would have time. She took one more look at the stranger. He must have gotten bored with the piano and began looking through the phone book. What a weird guy... Alexa thought.

               " Hey, I'll be in the bathroom taking a shower 'kay? If you need me just knock. ", Alexa said, snapping Leo out of his stupor. He

              " Bathroom. That's where I'll be. Got that?", Alexa asked waiting for a response. Leo nodded and went back to looking through the book. Alexa sighed and went ahead to take her shower. I should make him help with dinner... But he's so disoriented he might mess everything up... Oh well... Alexa closed the bathroom door behind her hoping her companion wouldn't get in trouble with her away.