College Vamp

Routine [Part 1] (EDITED)

2019

Wednesday, 7:30 am

The leaves rustled in the cool, morning breeze. It wasn't enough to whisk them off their stems, but a clear sign of the changing season. A small cul-de-sac sat nestled in an open patch of woods in southern Indiana. The entrance was crowned by an old, rusted gate that hung together by a thread. Around the semi-circle, each house had a light maroon stained color palette. They each had a rectangle front room, a smaller square bedroom attached to the back right, and a hallway connecting both. The lawns weren't completely shabby but were far from maintained and featureless. Broken windows, chipping paint, and weather decay.

All except one. It had a simple mailbox at the edge of the lawn, its flag hung limply downward. The dark oakwood door held an address plaque, reading "004" in black lettering. Inside the bedroom, it was clean as a whistle had it not been for the overturned laundry basket - the contents poured out on the floor. The sheets of the bed were pulled from under their corners while a pair of slender legs poked out from underneath the blanket. A pale arm drooped over the side of the mattress. The person's face was buried in the pillow as a comforter covered most of its head - giving only a small glimpse of the brown tuft of hair underneath.

*BEEP* *BEEP*

"Uh...wha...huh?!" a feminine voice yelped.

The woman's head shot up from the pillow. She frantically shook the blanket off, revealing her short hair. The bangs hung over her scarlet eyes which stung from the loud awakening. Her head snapped to the nightstand where her phone sat roaring away at the highest volume the tiny speaker could muster. The woman sighed - laying her face back in the pillow and giving the mattress a firm smack. She pushed herself back up - letting her prodigious chest finally breath after its nightly job as pillows for her torso. Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, she tossed the blanket off and rubbed her groggy eyes - blindly reaching for her phone. Silencing it, she dug a finger into her ears, trying to get the excruciating ring out.

She stood up and rubbed her eyes, dragging her hands down her freckle bedecked cheeks. Yawning, she went to the closet and threw the sliding doors open. She pulled out a white backless sweater, tossing it over her forearm. At the dresser, she retrieved a dark skirt and undergarments. She shut the drawer with a gentle kick and walked out of the room with the assortment of clothes.

She dragged herself to the bathroom at the end of the hallway just before the kitchen. Stepping in, she threw her clothes onto the sink counter before flipping the tub faucet on. Water gushed out as the plumbing groaned to life. Adjusting the temperature and plugging the drain, the woman retreated out, continuing into the living room and kitchen. She stopped at the single counter space at the foot of the hallway next to the fridge, fiddling with the radio on it

"Okay, Tony, what do you got for me?" she muttered, scrolling precisely through the frequencies. Through the crashing waves of static, the local oldies station emerged, broadcasting its 80's drenched tones.

"-ooooooood morning, everybody and get ready to c-c-c-c-catch the wave!" Tony Bell's voice happily greeted.

As a mishmash collage of 80's movie quotes and music snippets played under the station ID, the short woman shuffled back to the bathroom. This sound she quickly lost herself in, running her fingers along the wall, stopping just before the door.

"Let's blast through this morning with another early 80's hit! You know it from the British rock group known for its love of fat bottom girls."

A smile crossed the woman's face. "Perfect."