Astor's Place

Chapter one (sorry it's short)

"Good Morning, Lavender" said my sister, Sage. "Is it really?" I responded, as I hadn't had my morning coffee yet ."Yes, it is a good morning. Do you know why?" Sage questioned, ignoring my rudeness as per usual. "No. Why's it a good morning?" I asked. "We're moving to the Void. Today. At 4:00PM." "Oh yeah!" I checked my phone and saw that it's currently 10:07AM. "We'll have an hour or two to do stuff at the airport if we move fast enough," I estimated. "Alrighty. Let's go then," I let the dog, Cuddles, go into the backyard as the coffee brewed. After Cuddles had finished his business, I let him in and put a bowl of food into his crate to lure him in. By the time I was done with that, my coffee had finished brewing and was ready for me to drink. I drank my coffee as quickly as possible and put my phone in my bag, my bag at the door, and went to take a ten minute shower. After those ten minutes, I washed my face, brushed my hair, got dressed, ate breakfast, brushed my teeth, and put my hair into two messy space buns. Finally, I was finished with everything I had to do. Sage, however, had just started eating. I decided that while I waited for her, I would try to move Cuddle's crate to the car. This would be a difficult task to do alone, as Cuddles is a massive Doberman Pinscher with some extra chubbiness who is also very stubborn and hates the car (until he gets inside). I dragged him over near the door. It would be hard to get him down the steps and into the car so that was about as far as I could push my lovely baby. Just then Sage finished eating. "I'll help," she sighed. She carried one side of the dog crate while I carried the other. We placed him in the car, but he was starting to get rowdy, so Sage had to close the door. "Just sit in there with him and wait while I finish getting ready and grab the last of our stuff, okay?" she offered. "Okayyyy," I muttered reluctantly. I sat in the shotgun and thought about things. Poor Sage, she has to drive for about four hours straight.. I wish I could drive. Then I could go practically anywhere! Suddenly, Cuddles barked at something outside the car. I snapped my head around in fear that it could be something dangerous he was barking at, but it was just Sage with our stuff. As she was loading our stuff into the car, I was questioning her, "Where's Cuddle's crate? We need that so that we can take him on the ship. Did you remember our diplomas? We'll need those to verify ourselves to our new boss. Where's my bag? Most of my little knick-knacks are in there. Did you take our toothbrushes? We'll need those to brush-" "SSSSSHHHHHHH" Sage cut me off before I could continue talking. "I remembered everything. Here's your bag." She threw my bag at me and got into the driver's seat.

When we drive places, we blast music, leave the window down for Cuddles, and say nothing. We just think and drive and listen to music. I wonder what it's gonna be like there... I've done research and the people there look really strange. Will all the buildings be different to accommodate the people inside? I wonder how people in the void will treat us.. So many thoughts whirled around in my head. I decided to go to my phone for answers. Though it's not the best source of information, it's the best I can get right now. After about ten minutes of surfing the internet, I came up with a few little rules. Don't stare (It's rude, no matter where you are), don't be a pain, don't ask questions that may come off as offensive, and be very kind to everyone because it's the right thing to do. There's also another reason. People in the Void tend to be more psychotic and kinda..... violent. It's actually kind of convenient for us in a twisted way, since Sage and I have degrees in psychology and are being assigned a job at a mental hospital (Not as psychologists or anything, just to monitor the people). "Hey Sage," She glanced over at me. "I think we should treat the people in the Void as normal people." "Well, obviously. We're in their home," Sage said in a condescending tone. "Also, you know how we're the first people to move there full time as a test?" I asked Sage. "Yeah?" Sage replied. "Well, you know how you get really worried really easily?" "Yeah..?" Sage stared at me with skepticism in her eyes. "Well remember how the scientists pulled me aside to talk to me privately?" "What are you getting at?" Sage snapped at me. I hesitantly said, "Well, don't be worried or anything, but they said that the longer we stay there, the more our bodies will deform and we'll look like the people in the Void." WHAT? WHY WOULDN'T THEY TELL ME THAT?" My sister wasn't paying attention and almost swerved into the wrong lane. Cuddles was barking like a madman. "WATCH WHERE YOU'RE GOING!" I yelled at her. She pulled over to the side of the highway. "I'm calling them and cancelling the trip!" "No! We've already gotten this far! That's like being one easy step from achieving all of your childhood dreams and then deciding that you changed your mind because of one little thing!" "Our bodies changing us into something we're not isn't just 'one little thing'!" I watched as my twin walked out of the car and pulled out her phone. "Please, Sage! We've worked for this our whole lives!" I walked over to her, grabbed her wrist, looked directly into her eyes, mine tearing up, and begged in a quiet tone, "Please.." She looked back at me and sighed, clicking off her phone. "Fine." We both hopped back into the car and continued with our usual actions of blasting music and being quiet for the next four hours.