[IC] MONSTORY

[Dead Cruiser]

"Alright, to be specific, young miss, you'd stop just short of killing Damocles. You'd take away all of his traits and skills as a vampire, leaving just enough to keep him alive. You, Damocles, will come even closer to death than you were before. You'll be left with nothing; so shadow, no trace, no strength, not even a name. You'd become like a human mockery of a vampire-- unable to feed on a human no matter how hungry."

Riley continued, "As for you, young miss, that won't allow you to turn back into a human, either. But you'd be extremely close to one-- a vampiric mockery of a human. You'd still have some vampiric traits left over, and while you won't be able to technically call yourself human, you'd be very far from being a vampire. Meaning you'd be very close to being a human. Of course, you'd be nothing like a half-vampire. You'd be a much more half-baked, ill-conceived creature. How fitting."

He chuckled a bit at his ribbing of Izzy, but carried on. "And naturally, you wouldn't be able to eat humans if you tried, either. But regardless of what happens to you, Damocles would starve to death. And so, you would have to feed him your own blood-- the same that will have reduced him to such a vulgar state. You will have to spend the rest of your life dedicated to Damocles, and Damocles will have to spend the rest of his life dependant on you."

Trevor interrupted, "So they will stay vampires? What if--"

Riley cut him off in turn, "No hunters will be able to find them. The both of them will be so weak that they could hardly be called vampires. So we humans will have to give up on slaying them. There will still be risk, of course, that their powers could return and they would eat humans. There is always risk, but part of life is learning to live with it."

Learning to live with it. That was the plan in a nutshell. A solution that made everyone miserable. Cerasus wouldn't die. Izzy wouldn't become human. Two vampires would still be left alive. But everyone got to live. Nobody won, but nobody lost either.

"H-how dare you spew such ridiculousness!" Cerasus interjected, furiously. Bloody tears were still streaming down his face, and he dug his hands into the ground under him in rage. Izzy had already sucked out half of his blood-- he was unable to stand, this was probably the most he could do. "What do you know, boy? You've not spent a tenth of my time alive! I have had enough of your self-serving nonsense! I have no wish to go on living in such a form-- I will not abase myself and live in disgrace for all to see! This place is where I shall die! I have finally found it-- I can finally die! I will die for my servant's sake! Allow me to die for her sake! Kill me! Kill me! Hurry and kill me now! No part of me wishes to live!"

"That's what I said, Damocles." Riley seemed to be averting his eyes from the pitiful scene Cerasus was making. "You won't get what you want. You'll be miserable. But Trevor is right; this is the young miss' decision."

Cerasus turned to Izzy with tearful eyes, "Please... do not fall for this fool's cajolery." He spoke between inelegant sobs. "No part of me wishes to live. Find it in yourself... kill me and become human again. Think of it as helping me."

[Riven Wight]

Izzy met Riley’s gaze as he began the explanation of his plan, turning to look to Cerasus when Riley addressed him. She looked back to Riley slowly, glaring at him as he chuckled.
“What?” she interrupted at Cerasus starving to death. She inhaled and looked back to Cerasus when Riley elaborated, her head tilting only slightly when Trevor interrupted.
Izzy looked to the ground as Riley finished answering Trevor’s question. He had been quite serious about no one winning or losing. Her attention snapped to Cerasus. She swallowed as he begged for his death, for her sake. When all was said and done, Izzy slowly stepped in front of Cerasus, knelt down, and sat back on her feet. Her decision indeed.
If she chose Riley’s plan, Cerasus would remain alive, and she would not be a murderer. But, as Riley put it, her life would be dedicated to Cerasus, and he dependent on her. His life would forever be in her hands, and she would never be truly human. And, of course, there would be Cerasus’ ire to deal with. He had made it quite clear how he felt on the topic.
In doing as Cerasus bade, he would get what he said he wanted, and she would return to humanity in its entirety. But she would have killed him now not in defense, but ultimately for her own selfish gain, playing a part in the suicide he had wanted to commit. Could she live with herself for doing that?
Whichever she chose, she had to be certain she was willing to suffer the consequences for the rest of her life, no matter how long that ended up being.
She closed her eyes and took a deep, heaving breath. She swallowed hard, then slowly, her jaw set in her resolve.
“I’m sorry, Cerasus,” she said softly without opening her eyes. “No... no matter how noble you think it is, your way is a coward’s way out.” She looked to Riley, her eyes glistening wetly. “I’ll do it.”

[Dead Cruiser]

One day later...

Izzy woke up in her own bed, to her usual impromptu alarm: her brothers roughhousing. Though she hated to relinquish her soft mattress and warm covers, the midmorning sun was rather irritating in her eyes, and she gradually rolled out of bed. Already, being able to endure the day was a world of difference. She went about her morning routine. She noticed in the mirror that her bite was still there. It might do her well to keep her hair down, or wear shirts with collars. Other than that, though, she seemed to have returned to normal. Her gums bled a bit less when she brushed her teeth. From what she could tell, she had returned to being human, but not without a few side effects.

On her way out the door, her brothers had a good laugh at her expense. Apparently they found her two-week camping trip to be quite a ridiculous occasion. They were absolutely right, it was, and so Izzy felt that she would allow their ridicule for now. Besides, she had somewhere to be.

The abandoned school was a surprisingly long walk from her house at normal human speeds. Perhaps she should invest in a bike if she would be making this trip frequently. The building looked very different in the daylight, far more dilapidated than she remembered. Still she continued in, under the fence and past the warning signs. Up the stairs all the way to the third floor. It didn't matter that there were holes in the ceiling, as He was no longer sensitive to sunlight. He was no longer a vampire.

Greeting her from a third-floor classroom was Riley, sprawled out on his usual bed of desks. "Hey there. You're late. I've been waiting for ages." He greeted her in a carefree tone. Somehow his posture didn't really suggest that he was waiting, but that was irrelevant. "Trevor isn't with you?"

[Riven Wight]

This morning, not even the shouts and thuds of her brothers waking here irritated Izzy as it usually would. That was a sound of normalcy, a sound she had never thought she would miss. She needed to get up, anyway, as reluctant as she was to do so. She pulled her blanket over her face for a moment, hiding it from the sun filtering in through the curtains of her window.
She peered out of covers and glanced to the clock on her bedside table. With a sigh, she forced herself to get out of bed. How she had missed sleeping in her own bed.
Quietly, she made her way to the restroom. With a shower and a fresh coat of glittery navy nail polish in place from the previous night, the world felt almost normal. But only almost. Even a long, hot shower could not wash away the last two weeks.
Deciding to find something to better hide the marks on her neck than her hair once she got back, she collected her usual walking stick which she had brought back with her, and paused with her hand on the doorknob. This would be the hard part, pretending for the world that the last two weeks really were nothing but an impromptu camping trip and not a series of life-altering events. After bracing herself and doing her best to put on her normal irritated expression at being woken before noon on summer break, she headed downstairs. She brushed her brothers off as quickly as she could, then headed outside. She hesitated for a short moment before stepping directly into the sunlight, two weeks of avoiding it quickly conditioning her against it.
Though her bike still sat in the garage, after so long of being incapable of enduring the sun, she wanted to enjoy the comfortable warmth of it on her skin, even the muggy heat of the late-June day. Her bike could wait until next time.
The walk to the school took longer than she anticipated, but she made it nonetheless. Inside, the rubber bottom of her walking staff thudded against the cracked tiles as she made her way to the third floor.
She stopped when she heard Riley call to her from one of the classrooms, and entered. “Sorry,” she offered. “The walk took longer than I expected.” She shook her head at his question. “He’s made this journey too many times already. I wasn’t going to ask him to make it again. This is my burden to bear, not his. Besides, we both know you really were trying to avoid him.” She glanced behind her to the doorway and hall beyond. She bit her lower lip, a feat she had nearly given up on. “How is he?” she asked quietly.

[Dead Cruiser]

"Hmmh..." Riley sighed as he rolled over to face Izzy. "If you don't mind me voicing my concerns... Keep an eye on that boy. He's a bit, eh, precarious. Even this time he gave everyone one of us the runaround. If there was ever an issue centered on him, I don't even know what would happen." He sat upright and retrieved his cigarette, dancing it across his fingers. "Anyway, it's not like I sold you a warranty on my services, but I'd like to see how you hold up. I'll stick around this school for a while-- I looked, and it's the comfiest place in town. Come see me if you need any help." Responding to Izzy's question, he simply said, "See for yourself."

Riley gestured with his cigarette to the far, shady corner of the room. There sat a blond boy, holding his knees in his arms. A scrawny boy, who looked to be about eight. He glared at Izzy with threatening eyes. Izzy didn't know what to call him. This boy with no shadow, no trace, no strength, not even a name. The husk of a vampire. The remains of a beautiful monster. For Izzy, an unforgettable being, and a lifelong burden.

[Riven Wight]

“Would you keep them to yourself even if I did?” Izzy asked not unkindly. She looked to the floor at her feet. “I’m glad he realized what Cerasus was doing. If he hadn’t...” She shook her head, then gave a nod in thanks. At least she knew he would be lurking around, even if she would not always see him. Her gaze followed Riley’s cigarette when he used it to point, surprised when she realized she had not noticed him in the same room.
Though her night vision was scarcely a ghost of what it had been, it was still enough for her to make out what Cerasus had been reduced to. Her eyes met his for a brief moment before she had to look away.
“Is... is he stuck like that?” she asked, sparing Riley only a quick glance as she leaned her weight on the staff and ran a hand through her hair. It felt odd not having it up. “Or will he age? Will I still age, for that matter, or am I stuck as a teenager for the rest of ever? However long ‘ever’ ends up being. How often will he...” her hand moved through her hair, and her fingertips gently brushed the marks on her neck, “will he need to feed?”

[Dead Cruiser]

"Couldn't say for most of those," Riley admitted, "This isn't exactly a situation I've dealt with before. The best person to ask would probably be that child, there, but I doubt he much feels like talking." Riley rolled over, facing away from Izzy to give her some privacy. "But, uh, I think if you stop by once a week to feed him, that should keep things under control."

[Riven Wight]

Izzy gave a humorless chuckle as Riley finished. “You make it sound like I’m dog-sitting or something,” she grumbled. She glanced back toward the child’s corner. Slowly, she stepped toward him, her gaze on the floor and grip on her staff tight. She sat near him, her staff held in both hands near the end of the shaft and back bent forward slightly.
“Hey,” she began awkwardly, not entirely sure how to even try starting a conversation with him. Even if he would not speak, she had come all this way to check on him. There was no sense in leaving until she at least attempted to talk with him. “How are you feeling?”

[Dead Cruiser]

Predictably, the child said nothing to Izzy. Instead, he stared up at her with his golden eyes. Gone was the lustre that his eyes once held; their depth hinting at his ancient power. Now they were more like doll's eyes, empty and glassy, reflecting nothing. His curly hair was matted and dirty, and he wore only a man's torn, ragged dress-shirt like a nightgown. There was cold anger in his tired eyes, but behind the anger was nothing else. A void of emotion. Not fear, not hatred, barely even a soul.

"Dog-sitting, huh?" Riley mused all the while. "I guess this is human egotism. The disgust you felt over vampires eating humans is really no different from turning up your nose at a cat eating a mouse. And now, like you said, you've chosen to keep a vampire as a pet. You've filed down its fangs, plucked out its claws, crushed its throat, and castrated it. You, who were made a pet, turned around and made your master your pet. That's all there is to this story. Far from a heartwarmer."

[Riven Wight]

Izzy held her breath as she returned Cerasus’ detached gaze. No, not Cerasus, not anymore. What sat before her now was all but an empty shell of the man he had been, the anger in his dull golden eyes chilling.
“What?” she asked, looking to Riley as he began. Her face fell as he continued. She had not thought about it like that. But now, looking at the child sitting in the corner, the truth of his words hung heavily around her. “I-I didn’t... That’s not...” She gave a jittery exhale. The room around her suddenly felt like it was closing in around her and the child, the cold the walls managed to retain seeping into her bones. “I need some air,” she finished hoarsely, scrambling to her feet. She all but ran down the steps, her head bent and stomach churning.
Just outside the front door, she stepped to the side and leaned against a patch of wall not coated in ivy. She ran a hand down her face. She had turned Cerasus into the very thing she had loathed being. A pet. No. She had still had her will, her moxie. What was the once grand, proud Cerasus was now little more than a wisp of his former self, stripped even of those.
She sunk to the rocky ground with a sob, her staff clattering to the weed-caked ground beside her, and placed her head in her hands as tears spilled from the corner of her eyes.
“What have I done?” she moaned into her palms in scarcely a whisper.

[Dead Cruiser]

"You tried to sacrifice your life for a vampire," Riley answered, standing in the door. Without her vampiric senses, he was practically impossible for her to track. "Then a vampire tried to sacrifice its life for you. Blood begets blood. The least you can do now is take responsibility. See this through to the end." He leaned in the doorway lazily, his cigarette hanging from his mouth. In this relaxed pose, in an utterly casual tone, he said, "I don't want to get too involved, since this is just work for me, but Izzy... if you ever start to hate yourself over this... let me know. I'll do something about it."

With that, he turned and disappeared back into the depths of the school, though she could hear him wandering the ground floor. A signal that he would give her some privacy with the forsaken child on the top floor.

[Riven Wight]

Izzy gasped and scrambled further from the door, her hands on the gravel and pieces of crumbling bricks behind her, when Riley’s voice came from the doorway. She gave an exasperated exhale at being startled by his sudden appearance.
“I had no other intention,” she muttered, reaching for her staff and using it to help her back to her feet as Riley continued speaking. Though she knew he had heard it when Trevor used it, she looked at him in surprise when he called her by her name. Unsure what to say to his offer, she watched him return to the school, sure the noise he made on the main floor was for her benefit.
She stood there for another few minutes, her gaze distant in thought, before she took a breath then entered, heading once more to the top floor. In the room where the child sat, unmoving, she leaned her staff in the corner opposite him. She spared him a quick glance, wondering if he had even slept, then went to sit beside him, leaving only a few inches between their sides, and mimicking his position.
She sat there for a couple minutes, letting the silence fill the room, her gaze on the far wall.
“You have every reason to hate me,” she finally said without looking to him, unsure if the child was even listening, if enough of who he once was remained for him to so much as lend her a thought. “But the choice I made was not to turn you into...” her lips curled down as she snorted, “into my pet. It was just... the better option. You said you’d made your choice when your first thrall killed himself.” She paused, her head bending to look at the tops of her bent knees. “Like I told you, I know what it’s like to lose someone you care for. I... I lost my best friend because I was too stupid to suggest turning back. Our parents were friends before we were born, so we practically shared the same cradle. We were more like sisters than anything.” She tried to swallow past a lump in her throat, her voice heavy with emotion, and eyes watery. “In the blink of an eye, she was gone. Fourteen years of friendship severed in the matter of seconds.” She exhaled shakily. “It’s been almost four years. It didn’t take the town long to forget about her, but not a day goes by where I don’t miss her.” She crossed her arms atop her knees, and rested her forehead on them. “That might not seem like a long time to an immortal, but to us humans, it may as well be an eternity.
“I’ve been where you are, wanting to follow in her footsteps so I wouldn’t have to wrestle with the pain of it anymore. I...” she swallowed, her voice growing softer, “I tried. But at the last second, I couldn’t. But it’s a good thing. If everyone else in this wretched town wanted to forget her, then I was the only one left here to keep her memory alive. There wouldn’t have been any poetic justice in it, just a cowardice and insult to her memory. And I wasn’t going to take part in you making that mistake.”
Izzy straightened and wiped away a tear with the back of her hand. “So. Hate me all you want, Cerasus. Spend the rest of however long our lives last now giving me the silent treatment.” She turned her head to look at him, her gaze boring into him. “But no matter what happens, I will not give up on you, and I won’t let you give in.”

[Dead Cruiser]

The child said nothing, as expected. Izzy couldn't tell if he could even hear her, or if he was simply choosing not to speak to her. Regardless, there was nothing left to do but what she had come here to do. She sat down beside the boy and uneasily took him into her arms. The child's body seemed so small, so fragile, that even human arms might crush him. Perhaps as a way of sulking even more, the child struggled against her embrace, but eventually settled as he found her neck. Finding a satisfactory place to nurse blood from her, he clamped his mouth down on her neck. There was a small, sharp pain, followed by an intoxicating sensation. Feeling awkward and unsure of what else to do, Izzy rubbed his back in something like a soothing manner.

Izzy decided that she would not start to hate herself for this. She did this because she wanted to. If this boy could live for today, then so could she. They had left a scar on each other. Having wounded each other, they licked each other's wounds. Damaged goods both, they sought each other out. So started the story of the scarred ones. A story of blood, spattered red and dried up black. A story of their never-to-fade, precious scars.

[Riven Wight]

Izzy nodded and sighed at his anticipated silence. Slowly, she straightened one of her legs on the floor from where she sat, reached into her pocket, and removed a hair tie. Pulling back her hair, she quickly tied it up, exposing her neck. Without a word, she scooted closer to him and reached to wrap an arm around the child’s frail form. She refused to let her hold on him falter, careful for fear of hurting him as she tried to turn his attention from his struggles to her throat. She almost sighed in relief when her efforts worked, and he calmed down. She inhaled sharply when she felt his fangs pierce her skin, but it faded quickly, replaced by the sensation of him drawing her blood.
Confident he would not try to pull away, she loosened her grip on him, one hand awkwardly rubbing small circles on his back, trying to convey that, no matter how things felt today, they could only get better.
She took a slow breath and closed her eyes.
Her last statement to him was more than just a promise, it was a vow. She was not here out of obligation, but because she wanted to be. Fate had dealt out her cards, but she was the one who had chosen to play them in this way. No matter what the future had to dish out, they were in it together, bound by invisible threads they had unknowingly been weaving together from the night they met, threads strengthened by the scars they now shared.
This, Izzy felt, was only the beginning of their story, a story of two wounded, fractured souls.

[Dead Cruiser]

I don't know everything. I just know what I know.

ACT II: DOG STORY (BLACK)

TREVOR'S FAMILY

Trevor Hansen. Seventeen years old. Male. Junior-year student representative. Honor student. Black hair. Glasses. Serious, sometimes to a fault. Goodness personified. Very bright. Equally kind to everyone. Even when expressing information in a simple manner like this, it was hopeless to try and convey the idea of that exceptional young man. If you hadn't been in his presence, you wouldn't understand. It was something that could perhaps only be expressed by the tongue of a god. Or a devil.

To contrast him was Izzy Caldwell, who considered herself to be weak, inept and frail by comparison. Who wouldn't cross the street before looking both left and right, as well as behind her. A person with only one friend in the world. There was a reason that Trevor Hansen was by her side, that they were lumped together. There was a point in common between them, that they shared with no one else. An identical piece inside the heart. This was the reason that Trevor called out to her. That he met with her. That he saved her.

Such things become clear with retrospect, as do regrets. Regrets gather plentifully when one possesses an immortal body that will not die. And so many things would become clear after the week of August 21st. After those nine glittering, golden days.

Izzy happened to be reflecting on similar thoughts that very morning, as she laid comfortably in her bed. Her pillow draped across her face to block out the morning sun, she nestled further into her mattress, pondering dreamy nothings in a half-awake state. With the summer nearly over, she took all the time she could to enjoy these small, carefree moments.

Fate seemed to have different plans, however, and its agent was Blake Caldwell. Though she heard her door open, and vaguely anticipated her brothers rousing her in their usual raucous fashion, she hadn't anticipated Blake immediately diverting to drastic measures to wake her. That was to say, elbow-dropping her in the gut.

"WAKE UP IZZY!" He shouted as his wrestling move made contact.

Rising like an animated corpse, Izzy was greeted by the sight of her youngest brother sitting on her legs, waiting patiently. Already dressed, brushed and ready for the day, Blake apparently paid no mind to the well-being of his sister after his unprovoked attack. Nor before, Izzy would expect.

"I'm hungry and Zach is out, when's breakfast?"

[Riven Wight]

Izzy laid contently in the caress of her bed and welcome coziness of her puffy comforter. It was suspiciously quiet outside her door for a Sunday morning, but she was not about to complain. She would take all the relaxation she could get. For a couple minutes, she listened to the sound of her heartbeat, focusing on its calm, steady rhythm. The thu-thump of near-humanity.
In her partial consciousness, her thoughts wandered lazily, swinging from one topic to the next: Trevor and the relationship the two of them had, despite their many differences, how things would be without him, and everything he had done and was still doing for her, unsure if she could ever repay him for his kindness and sacrifice; what she and Cerasus--or, at least, what remained of him--had become, and the pains they shared; Riley, staying at the abandoned school, doing who-knew-what to pass the time until he decided to leave for his next adventure, and that she might bring him a deck of playing cards for in the meantime; that it was rather stuffy beneath the pillow she had over her face, and she should seriously think about looking into finding black-out curtains for her bedroom.
She groaned inwardly when she heard her door squeak softly open. She could not get a break, it seemed, even with the days of the glorious summer vacation coming to an end. Though she had dreaded it when it began, now, she wished it did not have to end, that she would not have to add school on top of everything else she had on her mind. She waited for whichever of the two little demons that called themselves her brothers to make their presence known, wanting to prolong her time in bed as much as possible.
Alas, her efforts were rewarded with Blake’s newest attempt at being an alarm clock.
She gave a gasping moan in pain as his elbow dug into her stomach, knocking the wind from her, and her upper body sprung up, arms reaching to try shoving him away.
“You little brat!” she growled once she could breathe again, strands of her hair sticking up in odd angles as it settled around her face. Her gaze focused on Blake sitting on her legs, her gaze murderous. Her glare only darkened at his question. “When you grow up.” She moved her legs in an attempt at pushing him off her bed. “Get outta my room, or I’ll make your bacon extra blackened for the next year.”

[Dead Cruiser]

Izzy's springing upwards caused Blake to roll backwards off of her bed, landing with a thud on the floor. He stood up uneasily, rubbing the back of his head and glaring at his sister.

"Jeeze, what, do you have PMS or something?" Where did he pick that smarmy line up? "Maybe if you made some friends you wouldn't be so moody all the time."

This kid... Little did he know, Izzy did indeed have friends. Well, one friend. Sort of. She knew he considered her to be a friend, but in regards to her feelings toward him... Well, she was confused to say the least. Having never had a boyfriend, or really felt a romantic attachment to a boy before (aside from silly crushes on celebrities or such), she couldn't quite describe what her feelings were. She was attracted to Trevor physically, and she definitely felt some kind of connection with him. She even found herself acting and thinking differently when he was around. But was this love? Izzy had no idea.

Looking back at her uncouth little brother, she remembered that both he and Zach had girlfriends they went to school with. Izzy couldn't remember their names, as she had never met them, but she could recall hearing the boys talk about them a couple of times. Given that, as well as the sad fact that the effeminate Blake was the closest thing to a girlfriend Izzy currently had, she grudgingly considered asking her little brother for advice on this puzzling topic.

[Riven Wight]

“I’ll give you PMS,” Izzy grumbled under her breath. She rolled her eyes as her brother’s friend comment, and slowly pulled her feet under her, sitting cross-legged on the mattress. She had friends. One, anyway. But the connection their trials had initiated, and the attraction toward him she had felt grow over nearly the last two months, left her, in the very least, confused.
She looked to Blake, and sighed. Trying to turn her thoughts into a question as nonchalantly as she could, she leaned back on her arms.
“Speaking of friends,” she began, a mildly taunting tone in her voice, “How’s the girlfriend doing? You never did tell me how you two met.” She leaned forward, resting her chin in her hand. “How’d you figure out you liked her as more than just a friend?”

[Dead Cruiser]

Blake seated himself in Izzy's desk chair, as he seemed hell-bent on pestering her that morning. Rather than swing it around and sit in it backwards like Zach might, he set it gently to face Izzy and sat properly. He even crossed his legs. Despite his prim posture, his expression held nothing but disdain for Izzy's inquiry.

"Ugh," he groaned, "Can't you bother Zach when he gets back? He has a girlfriend too, you know." An expression of realization crossed his face, and a mischievous grin replaced his previous, pained demeanor. "Wait a minute... Do you like someone?" It was truly unfortunate how closely their sibling minds worked sometimes. "My big sister, too proud to have a single friend, has a crush on somebody. Somebody check the temperature in Hell, fast!"

[Riven Wight]

Between Blake’s familiar posture in her chair, and the contempt displayed almost satisfyingly on his face at her questions, Izzy tried to suppress a grin, resulting in a rather tight-lipped smirk.
“Sure he does, but I’m asking you, not him.” She cocked her head slightly in her hand, then her face fell as Blake’s expression changed.
“Of course not!” she answered too hastily. She felt her cheeks growing hot, and looked to her covers, letting her hair fall over her face and hoping it would hide the blush.
She scowled at his final comment. “Fine. If you’re going to be that way about it, forget I even asked.” With her glower plastered on her face, Izzy tossed her blanket from her and stood. “I’ll be down to make breakfast in a few minutes.” She stepped toward her bedroom door to head to the bathroom and complete her usual morning routine.