Fallen

Chapter Fourteen

In the doorway stood a woman whose long black hair curled over her shoulders. Her eyes were bright blue like her son's. Only a few times I saw Mrs. Whitman in my life, mostly it was in the shadows of her husband with her eyes downcast. For some strange reason, I always felt sorry for her because of how silent she was.

"Alec? What are you doing here?" She looked back at us, the smile didn't falter from her face but she was curious at our appearance. She looked down at our clothes and was instantly opening the door wider. "Get in, all of you."

Alec stepped in. Audrey glanced at me, a quizzical look on her face before stepping inside. Inside the apartment was warm, both physically and socially as Mrs. Whitman grinned at me. "Mel, it is nice to see you again." She closed the door behind me and locked it.

"You too Mrs. Whitman." Though I have seen her on multiple occasions, I never had a conversation with her due to her son being mean and I never liked her husband who showed up at our door each month to collect taxes.

Mrs. Whitman swatted at the comment. "Please, call me Nora." She looked us over. Water still dripped off of our clothing onto the wooden floors. Between Audrey and I, we were having a race to see who could shiver the fastest. "First we need to get you out of these wet clothes. Then you tell me what happened."

Nora waved at us to follow her across the living room that had a sofa and a cushioned chair that both faced a lit fireplace. In the center was a coffee table that was home to newspapers, coloring sheets, and color pencils.

Unlike the foyer and hallways, the apartment walls were well painted a cream color and no decorations adorned the empty walls, but the wall to the right had six windows that touched each other, creating a wall of windows which was the masterpiece of the apartment. The view was of the bay we had just emerged from. The waves in the bay were now dangerously tossing to and fro from the angry storm off the horizon that was traveling quickly towards the city.

Back inside the apartment, a hallway was beside the fireplace stretched to reveal the rest of the apartment. There were five doors in all. Nora opened the second one for us. Before she followed us in she called down the hall, "Lena, get tea out, your brother will help you with the kettle."

From down the hall, there was a crash, a door opened, then a little body sprinted by the door. There was a squeal from the living room and a girl's voice cried, "Hey you are all wet!"

Nora closed the door, cutting off Alec's response to his younger sister.

"You are in luck," Nora walked past us to her dresser beside the bed, "I have some new clothes I haven't worn yet since the weather just turned from hot to cold." I scanned the bedroom as Nora pulled out thick wool socks, the room had the bare essentials. The dresser, bed, two night tables and that was all. There were no photos of family on the dresser, no little trinkets laid forgotten on the night table. It was just the skeleton of a bedroom.

She placed the clothes on the bed and walked into the bathroom, she returned with two towels. "When you're done, throw your clothes in the tub. I will deal with them later." She gave us each a towel and we walked out of the room.

"Is that really Alec's mom?" Audrey asked when the door closed behind Nora. Her fingers shook while she pulled off her hat and scarf.

"Yeah." I unzipped my jacket that was a struggle since my own fingers shook. Though the apartment was warm, the heat didn't seem to warm up my body at all. "I wonder why she is here. She's from the Lake Region."

I turned my back to Audrey as we both tore off our freezing wet clothes and wrapped the soft towels around our bodies. The towel was soft like how new towels are before they are washed over and over and lose their softness over time.