Wednesday, November 03, 2004

Urban Space Chapter 2

At the same time Jord was stirring from his sleep behind the dumpster in the alley, Kat was stirring from her sleep in her bed. She lived in a 5 bedroom brick house in a wooded suburb of the city, in a fairly affluential area. Her parents had 2 cars, plus her car garaged in the 4 car garage, her brother had a dirt bike and there were 2 jet skis on trailers in a shed. She had her own room with a wide screen TV, sound system and her own computer. Her parents employed a cleaner, a gardener and a pool man to help with the maintenance of the property. Dad was a lawyer and Mum worked on charity events as an organiser and fundraiser. They were not socialites, but were fairly well known around town.
Kat was in her second year of university and at 19 had pretty much had life handed to her on a plate. However she was far from the model student and daughter she appeared to be on the surface and in public.
As she came awake to the dappled sunlight filtering through the blinds she could hear the noise of the leaf blower and guessed that the gardener was here.
She rolled to her side and reached for her organiser on the bedside table. Thumbing through to the entry for the day she remembered that she had to be at Uni early today for a tutorial before her lecture. The upside was that she had an optional afternoon session and had decided to go to the beach with some friends. Rising she showered and dressed in her bikini before heading downstairs. She would get the rest of her clothes later but for now she was hungry.
Opening the stainless steel double door fridge to get some breakfast she had a sudden sense of being watched and quickly looked around. Maybe the gardener was peering in the window at her. He was a tribesman and as much as her mother complained to her father about them, nothing would sway his decision to employ the man. No one was there however and she turned back to the fridge a little uneasy. She had never liked the gardener but she did get on well with Amy the cleaner. She was a robust woman, loud and cheerful and her presence made the usually cheerless house seem full of sunshine and laughter. Today it appeared that Amy was not here, but as usual she had left the house spotless. Her parents had obviously eaten out last night as the only plates on the bench were hers from last night. Settling onto a barstool at the bench Kat spooned the yoghurt into her mouth morosely as she glumly considered the upcoming tutorial. She had not studied for it but that shouldn't matter too much. No the reason for her glumness stemmed from her dislike of a class mate who had been assigned to work with her on the tutorial by the lecturer. Reaching for a banana she peeled it and bit into the top. Rising from the chair she put her bowl on the sink edge and turned to leave the room. A wave of goose bumps swept over her as she once gain felt as if she was being watched. There was no noise from the garden and looking out the window she could see the gardener just disappearing out the side gate dragging his equipment with him. What was causing her to feel like this? Silly girl she told her self - there's nothing to be afraid of. Yet despite her forced courage, there was uneasiness at the back of her mind. Walking back upstairs she paused by her younger brother's room. Chris was sprawled on top of his bed fast asleep. He was younger than her by 18 months and as immature as a baby still in her opinion. He had dropped out of school in the last year and spent most of his time hanging out with his mates playing basketball, skating and surfing. He was growing his hair long and was turning into a right brat. Not that I am all that much of a goody two shoes she thought. While Chris was open in his defiance of his parents, refusing to attend school, look for or a job or stop bumming around as his Dad put it Kat was more secretive. Chris appeared to live to party with his mates and she was sure he was taking money from her room to augment his allowance. She could smell cigarette smoke, unwashed sweaty clothes and worse and wrinkled her nose as she headed back to her room. Slipping on a denim mini, fashion-t and low heeled slides she headed for the bathroom to complete her makeup routine.
Looking into the mirror she spent a moment contemplating herself before busying herself with the routine of skincare and cosmetics. Looking back at her in the large mirror was a thin face surrounded by straight sun bleached blond hair. Her eyes were the only pretty thing she decided and she spent a moment making sure that she used mascara to enhance her eyelashes. Pleased with the final look her mind switched back to the upcoming tutorial and her unease returned. Maybe that was why she had felt as if she was being watched. She was sure that Martin had a crush on her. The way he looked at her when he thought she wasn't looking. She really disliked the smooth faced teen with the charming Italian looks. He had shoulder length black hair in bangs and deep brown eyes and a way of charming the ladies that made her feel sick. The other girls in the class thought he was wonderful and he was always surrounded by a bevy of them giggling and hanging on his every word. But he seemed to only have eyes for her and that disquieted her. She had never had a serious boyfriend and was not sure that this smooth Italian stallion was the type she wanted. She certainly was not going to fall in love with him she told herself sternly. Concentrating on the tutorial would be hard with him there but she just had to do it.
Completing her self analysis Kat grabbed her keys, her hand bag, her book bag and her personal communicator before heading downstairs. Passing the linen cupboard she grabbed a beach towel for the afternoon. Heading for the garage she once again had the uneasy feeling but this time convinced herself that it was nothing but the thought of today's tutorial. Her mood brightened momentarily by thoughts of the beach and her friends returned back to the gloom that the upcoming tutorial caused.
Once in the garage she opened her car door and hopped in as she thumbed the remote door opener for the garage.
As the sunlight flooded into the darkened garage, she flipped her sunglasses down and looked over her shoulder as she reversed out. Hitting the street she thumbed the remote again. Kat never saw the dim figure standing in the corner of the garage watching her leave.


Posted by: Jethro | 1:11 AM |