The Rogue World Of Dostira

The Foggy Window

Audrey Calora Larson was small, rather slim and had long brown hair that seemed to curl outward no matter the style or weather. She would find it an insult for people to acknowledge her strange middle name, the wrinkled old women in her little town of Ferdigton being the only ones exempt from a glare for doing so. If you could manage to call her 'Audrey' or 'Little Larson', then she was pleasant enough for a young girl of only seventeen.

Lightly tapping her fingers on the wooden kitchen bench, she stared at the toaster in front of her. With her stomach making an awful gurgling noise, her fingers drummed against the bench a little harder than before.

"Audrey please remember to look out for the post man today!" her mother called out from the other room.

Elizabeth Larson, or Lizzie as she prefers, was just as short as her daughter. Her dark brown hair made her skin appear pale and drained, an her usual hairstyle of an untidy bun aged her. She had a thin nose that stretched out in a shape that was more alike to the snout of a greyhound than a human, and large brown eyes that were always covered by foggy glasses. It has always been just the two of them. Of course Audrey had a father once but if you asked Lizzie her response was always something along the lines of,

"That man was strange and sublime but no father at all".

His death was ruled a heart attack and with Audrey being only five at the time, it was an occurrence she could hardly comprehend and so barely remembers.

Audrey was used to seeing her mother a mess every morning, leaving the house with a groan at five past seven each day. She owned a small store called The Sunspot and it sold the sort of clothing you only see old or odd women wearing; the kind that looked common and comfortable yet somewhat unappealing. You could easily assume that she wasn't a busy woman, and you'd be correct. Her mind being constantly preoccupied with useless ideas, would leave little room for something as significant as cleverness.

With her mother hurriedly scrambling around the house, Audrey rolled her eyes before responding in an uninterested and monotone voice;

"I will keep an eye out for the post man, okay? Don't worry".

"That doesn't sound very convincing" she replied as she walked towards Audrey, giving her a quick and frigid kiss on the cheek.

Her phone began to ring a familiar tune and with the click of a button, she had the phone pressed against her ear before walking towards the door and swiftly shutting it behind her.

The silence that surrounded Audrey was soon extinguished by the sound of two pieces of toast suddenly springing up from the toaster. She stumbled back startled, as two pieces of blackened toast faced her. If she could remember the exact function of each of the buttons on the toaster, then perhaps she could spare herself the stress and shame that accompanied her culinary efforts each morning. She stood in the kitchen alone, with the smell of burnt toast and an empty stomach.

"Stupid machine with stupid buttons that I'm too stupid to understand" she muttered to herself as she picked up the pieces of burnt toast and dropped them in the bin.

The only thing that proved to be successful was the kettle that bubbled on the kitchen stove, as she concluded that her breakfast would have to consist of several cups of tea and nothing else. While waiting for the water to boil, she looked outside her window admiring the colourful flowers she had planted a few weeks ago. As her eyes focused on the brightly coloured flowers, with every blink she began to see light flares growing in the corners of her vision. She blinked hard, hoping they would fade, yet the flares grew more intense. Her heartbeat quickened and she staggered towards the window, feeling a rapid pounding in her throat. Her eyes slowly widened as she saw the glass window fogging up at the touch of her fingertips. She watched the fog grow until it covered the entire window and the outside world had become blurry. She took a step back, her eyes scanning the window in disbelief until they shut tightly in response to the sudden pain in her throat. The taste of smoke and coal poisoned the saliva that ran down her throat as she mewled while scratching at her neck. She fell to her knees, sweating and suffocating, while tears streamed down her cheeks.