Riley!
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“Ms. Riley. Ms. Riley, please wake up. It’s already noon.”
I glanced at the clock. Though sleep blurred my vision, I could make out that it was indeed twelve o’clock already. I groaned and buried my head into the tremendous pile of blankets and stuffed animals that covered me.
“I shall NEVER leave this cocoon of pure unfiltered comfort and warmth! NOTHING CAN CONVINCE ME TO DO OTHERWISE, CHARLES. NOTHING!”
I peeked outside of my fluffy mountain of joy and noticed Charles with a thoughtful look on his face. He was looking gentlemanly as usual. I had to commend him on his excellent use of bow ties. They are truly the epitome of fanciness, not to mention AWESOMENESS. Nonetheless, he was interrupting my precious sleep time for indeterminable reasons. Although I loved Charles, he was really harshing my mellow at the moment.
“Ms. Riley, I know you’re awake. Just get up,” Charles commanded, attempting to pull the blankets off me. I pulled them closer to me, refusing to let go. Charles sighed. His old man arms were no match for my awesome strength. I laughed evilly internally.
“Ms. Riley, GET OUT OF BED THIS INSTANT.” In response to that exclamation, I stuck my tongue out at the white-haired butler. He removed his glasses and massaged the bridge of his crooked nose, sighing. Then his head snapped up, as if he had suddenly remembered something that would aid him in his quest to pry my from the loving embrace of my cozy bed.
“Alright, I understand. Go ahead and continue sleeping, Ms. Riley. I’m sure the rest of the help will have no trouble finishing off the bacon that was meant for you,” Charles said, a devilish smirk playing across his wrinkled features, making his eyes nearly invisible. I sat up straight.
“Did you say bacon?” I questioned, skeptical. To test the truth of this statement, I sniffed the air. Bacon. The most delicious of all kinds of meat. The food of the gods. Even vegetarians had trouble resisting the greasy, fatty, crunchy goodness that is BACON. I threw my blankets off, sending plushies flying across the room, and rushed past Charles. I hopped on the railing of the enormous spiral staircase and slid down, all nine of my tails flailing behind me, whooping all the way.
As soon as I made it to the kitchen, I grabbed a handful of bacon and stuffed as much as I could in my mouth. Oh my goodness. BACON. Then, just as I thought this heaven on Earth could not get any better, I detected a yellow bowl. Now, this was no ordinary bowl. This bowl was filled with the only edible substance tastier than bacon.
BLUEBERRIES.
I immediately abandoned my heaping plateful of meaty deliciousness in favor of the tiny blue spheres of pure perfection.
“Oh, blueberries. I love you so,” I whispered, petting the bowl. Muriel, the chef, was giving me an odd look, so I immediately stopped and decided to just eat the fruit instead. Just as I was about to put the first ball of heaven into my mouth, the doorbell rang. My ears perked up. Curious, I ran to hide behind the staircase and see who was at the door. Charles opened it and began talking to someone.
“Hello, sir. How may I help you?” Charles questioned the stranger.
“I’m here to see Riley. Is she home?” Mr. Stranger replied.
“What are your purposes?” Good ol’ Charles, being protective as usual. I decided I had better get into my real clothes in case the stranger saw me. The last thing I needed was to be discovered. I climbed the staircase quietly, scurrying to my room as quickly as I dared.
Less than a minute later, I was fully dressed and tying my bowtie. All that was left was to tie a black ribbon around my trusty silver top hat and my outfit would be complete. Charles called to me through the intercom and told me that our guest was waiting. He seemed like he’d have a good sense of humor, so I decided to use one of my fake mustaches. Hopefully he wouldn’t turn out like those boring plumbers who came when I clogged the shower drain with fur during shedding season. Grumpy old men.
I made my way downstairs, stomping my heels on the staircase dramatically so that all would know I was arriving. As I made it to the foyer I noticed our guest was quite young looking, much to my surprise. I looked our guest over while stroking my mustache like a sir.
I noticed his eyes were an abnormally bright shade of lime green. Strange. I decided to be extra fancy and speak the native language of my home.
“Salut, mon ami! Comment ca va?” I questioned, still stroking my mustache.
“Ca va tres bien, merci. Et toi?” he replied. My hand paused, resting on my cheap fake stache. HE SPOKE FRENCH TOO. What a glorious day this was! I wondered if he spoke English too.
“Bien, merci beaucoup, Monsieur. Parlez-vous Anglais?”
“Yes, of course. I’m here to make a proposal,” the stranger said.
“Well this is sudden. I mean, I don’t even know your name...but you’re pretty cute, so why the heck not? OF COURSE I’LL MARRY YOU!” I cried, attacking the stranger with a hug.
“Er...I..uh, wasn’t proposing marriage, sorry to disappoint you,” the stranger said. “I’m here to invite you to join a sort of club.”
“A club? Ooh, sounds fun! I’m in,” I responded immediately. He looked shocked.
“Don’t you even want to know what it is?” he questioned.
“Hmm. You have a good point. Is it a club about blueberries? I like blueberries!”
He raised an eyebrow, then shook his head and replied, “No. It’s a club for all those like us in the world.”
“Like us? What do you mean?” I was worried that I knew where this was going, and I didn’t like it at all.
“You know what I mean. Different people. I’m a vampire. What are you?” he said. I stared into his eyes for a moment, trying to judge his trustworthiness. When he opened his mouth slightly, showing his fangs, I decided I could trust him. I lifted my hat and curtsied, showing the tips of my tails and exposing my twitching ears.
“Pleased to meet you, Mr. Stranger. I am Riley Carmella, kitsune. And you are...?”
“I’m Sebastian Lefevre. So, what do you say? Will you join the club?” Sebastian questioned.
“Of course, silly! Let’s go! I wanna meet all the other weirdos like me!” I squealed, bouncing on my toes. “Wait. Where are we going? Is it far? Will we be gone for a long time? I’ll be right back, I have to pack!”
With that, I sprinted up the stairs, threw my favorite outfits, my sewing kit, and a picture of Grandpa and I in a suitcase, along with my wallet and fake mustaches, and ran back downstairs.
“We’ll be gone for quite a while, to answer your earlier question, and we have a plane to catch if that’s any indication of how far we have to go,” Sebastian said. I hadn’t given him time to answer before I ran upstairs to pack. I bounced on my toes. Adventure! Woo!
After kissing Charles on the cheek and yelling goodbye to everyone, I ran towards the front door, tugging Sebastian by the elbow behind me. As we were about to leave, I heard Charles call my name. When I turned around, he tossed me a lunchbox. I smelled it and grinned. BLUEBERRIES.
“Thank you, Charlie!”
And with that, we were on our way.
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Oh my, this is quite long, I apologize.. ^u^" Well, I hope you all like it :D
