Chapter 7: Chapter 6 - Nat

Tuesday 1 December

~*Nat’s POV*~

I was quickly learning that the short redhead in front of me loved to talk.

It was almost like Cody’s bubbly personality couldn’t be contained in the little dynamo package she came in and talking away a mile a minute was her only avenue to convince the world that she was here, and she needed to be taken notice of.

I couldn’t decide if it was exhausting or exhilarating to be around her.

“You said Mum and Takeshi gave you a rundown of what’s in this building, yeah?” She barrelled up the stairs, taking them two at a time. “Did they tell you about the pool?”

I shook my head but realised that as she was in front of me, there was no way she would have seen it. “No.” I grasped the handrail, keeping a close eye on the concrete steps. My feet were still killing me, and I was finding it difficult to keep up with her.

“Typical. They always leave out the best part of this place,” she grumbled. “Okay, across the courtyard, there’s another building that is basically the same as this one. There’s an in-ground pool on the ground floor, along with a spa and sauna. There’s also a two-room cinema over there. I bet they forgot that, too. They use it primarily for the school that occupies a few of the floors there, but come night-time, it’s all ours, baby!” She laughed as she pumped her fist.

I pulled myself up slowly, one step at a time. “Will my bracelet let me into those places?” I asked. Takeshi might have only mentioned the places he gave me access to. He may not have spoken about the pool and cinema because they didn’t want me there. He and Auden had already given me so much; I wouldn’t blame them in the slightest if they restricted me to this building. I mean, everything that they knew about me was as much as I knew about myself.

Which really wasn’t much, let’s be honest.

“It should. If it doesn’t, I’ll ask them to add it to your access. Everyone should be able to go swimming or see a movie if they want to,” she replied. “Ah, here we are.” Cody had said that we only needed to go up two flights, so it was quicker to take the stairs than the elevator. I had a feeling that she’d forgotten about my feet.

She turned around to see me still a flight from her, still hauling myself up the steps by the railing. “What are you still doing down there?” she asked, frowning. I looked back at her with wide eyes and then shifted my gaze pointedly down to my feet.

“Oh, no! I’m so sorry, Nat!” She came darting back down the stairs to me. “I completely forgot about your feet in the excitement of telling you about everything.”

Yup. Called it. It looks like my instincts are on point. Good to know.

She careened to a stop and wrapped an arm around my waist to help me walk. Honestly, I’m not sure how much help she was going to be for me. I towered over her short but slim form. I felt like I could snap her like a twig if I lost my balance and fell on her. That’d be a great way to repay everyone’s kindness.

Regardless, she hauled me along one step at a time until we both reached the next landing. She swiped her own blue bracelet on the door leading to the main floor and grabbed my hand to pull me along.

“Home, sweet home!” She twirled around with her arms outstretched. The door had opened onto an artificially bright, yet still inviting, lobby area. Standing parallel to the wall on the left was a rather large, sleek desk with multiple computers on it. There was currently no-one behind the desk, but I could hear the whirring of the computers to indicate that someone had left them on.

Past the desk was a waiting area with uncomfortable looking seats everywhere, which were all currently unoccupied. There were two doors along the same wall as the desk, one further along than the other. The door closest to the desk was open, and when we passed it, I could see a long, dark corridor disappearing into the distance, with other doors dotted along both sides, all of which were closed.

“All of this,” Cody began, pointing at everything that I was looking at, “is the medical center and small hospital that Mum works at. She’s the head doctor here. We have a couple of other doctors and other medical staff that work part time in different capacities, but Mum controls everything. The emergency department is downstairs, but up here we have the ward, doctor’s rooms, stuff like that. It’s only a small place, but it has come in extremely handy in the past because we’re so far away from everything.”

I nodded as I looked around. There was a distinct smell of antiseptic in the air. The place screamed cleanliness. I looked down at my feet, feeling incredibly guilty. It looked like I had traipsed dirt all over the beautifully clean tiles, just like in the lobby downstairs.

Wonderful.

Cody saw me grimacing at my feet. “Oh, don’t worry about that. This place has seen much worse. It’ll be cleaned before you know it. We have incredible cleaning staff that keep on top of things quicker than a speeding locomotive.”

I raised a worried eyebrow at her, unconvinced.

“Trust me,” she held her right hand over her heart. “I promise it’s nothing you need to worry about.”

She grabbed my waist and turned me around to face the wall opposite the desk. “On this side, there’s the elevator.” She pointed at a burnished mirror-finished wall that held two large sliding doors.

“And over here, we have the door to our place.” She led me over to a door nestled between the elevator doors and the entrance to the stairs that we had just come through. It looked like a door to a utility cupboard. I looked at Cody, wondering what she meant. “Don’t let it fool you,” Cody said with a giggle. “It’s designed to look like that.”

Cody paused. “One more thing,” she said, facing the door, her head drooping slightly. “Dad’s probably still asleep, so we’ll have to be quiet, okay?”

“Sure.” I was finding that I didn’t need to say a lot when I was around Cody anyways, so that should be a straightforward thing to achieve.

She nodded once, braced herself, then waved her bracelet-clad wrist at the sensor above the door handle and a soft click sounded. She turned the handle and led me into her apartment.

“Here we are,” Cody said quietly, but with a huge smile on her face. “It’s not as grand as some other places, but it’s home. Oh, there’s a toilet here if you need it as soon as you come in.” She pointed at a door hidden in the wall to our right. She pulled me down a short corridor before it suddenly spread out to a beautifully sunny lounge area.

I looked around curiously. There was a massive couch in the centre of the room facing away from us, that looked towards an equally massive flat screen TV attached to the wall. To either side of the TV, there were bookcases filled with books, DVDs and other paraphernalia that made the space look incredibly comfortable and well lived in. To the right, floor to ceiling windows had replaced the wall, through which I could see the tops of the trees that marked the start of the forest this building was nestled in.

Turning left, I found myself in the small galley kitchen. “There’s a butler’s pantry behind the kitchen, through those doors,” Cody said as she pointed to a couple of doors behind us. Further to our left, a dining table and chairs sat before another expanse of floor to ceiling windows. Natural light flooded the entire area.

“Cody, this is magnificent,” I whispered in awe. She giggled in delight.

“Down this corridor is Mum and Dad’s room.” She pointed to a door next to the bookcase left of the TV.

She led me through the kitchen area. “And down this corridor is my room, one of the spare bedrooms, and the main bathroom.” She motioned to a door that looked remarkably like the door to her parent’s room. I couldn’t help but wonder how big her parent’s room was if this space held two bedrooms and a bathroom.

Cody turned me around again to face the way we had come in, even though we were now in the dining area. She pointed at yet another door. “Through that door is the fourth bedroom and another small bathroom. We use that room for guests, as it’s got its own entryway and is basically self-contained. I’ll pop you in there while you stay with us, okay?”

I suddenly realised that I was feeling a tad overwhelmed.

She nudged me towards the door. “Go on, the room is all made up. We have it ready just in case family drops by. They have a terrible habit of coming around unannounced.”

I stopped and turned to look at her, my eyes wide with alarm. What if her extended family dropped by while I was there?

She laughed. “Don’t worry. Uncle Logan is our worst culprit, and he left just a couple of days ago. There’s usually at least a month between visits.” I breathed a sigh of relief.

Cody nudged me again. “There’ll be towels in the bathroom. Go. Have a good, long shower. I’ll see if I can scrounge up some clean clothes that could fit you when you get out. I’ll leave them on the bed for you. Mum should be back by the time you finish, but if not, there’s a small TV in your room. We can watch things while we wait for her.” She paused, inhaling some much-needed air after her excited speech. “I’ll be sitting here. There’s this fantastic book I’m reading at the moment… I’ll tell you about it when you get out.”

I nodded, as I nervously headed towards the door. I heard the door to Cody’s room open and close, telling me she had already disappeared, leaving me alone with my thoughts.