I blinked a few times and rubbed my eyes, trying to process seeing Mrs. Carmichael in front of me. Teleporting wasn’t as disorienting as I was expecting, though I did feel a touch off-kilter after the sudden shift. It wasn’t helped by the gorgeous large room we found ourselves standing in. A quick glance around the room told me it was nicer than anything we ever had in Shamrock, even when we had a reasonable household income from Mom and Dad.
“Are you two feeling unwell after the trip? Would you like me to get a medic to check on both of you?” Mrs. Carmichael cautiously took a step back like we were going to hurl all over her nice suit. She’d probably had to deal with that more than she’d care to remember.
“I’m all right, thank you for asking,” Shelly responded. I thought she looked completely fine. “How about you, Ethan? You okay?”
I nodded my head and really began to look around. We were standing in a living room. The thing was at least twice the size of our old one back in Oregon. It had a really expensive looking leather sofa that sat facing a massive TV that was housed in the wall itself. Oh yeah, and there was a fireplace under the television. Even though I’d spent my entire life in a cold climate, I had never had a fireplace before, so that was the coolest thing about the nice living room set up. Or maybe it was the warmest thing.
“This is…really something,” Shelly said, trying to sound less impressed than she really was. “This is all ours? Doesn’t it seem like it’s a bit much for just two people?”
“It’s the standard for every two-person living arrangement here,” Mrs. Carmichael assured us. “Of course, there are other options available for people living alone, or those with larger families. It makes them look a tad cookie cutter, but it’s easier than having people complain about a neighbor having nicer living conditions.”
“Right, that makes sense if you…” I began, before noticing something small and circular moving around on the carpet. “Oh my God…is that one of those robot vacuums? I’ve always wanted one of these!”
I walked up to it carefully, not wanting to accidentally hit it. Ever since I saw these on commercials, I was set on getting one. They’re just so tiny, cute, and helpful. It took every single bit of will power I could muster to not pick it up, look at it, and cradle it. I felt like a child in a pet store who got let loose with a bunch of puppies and kittens.
“I don’t get why you’re so obsessed with these things,” Shelly said, walking up next to me with a frown on her face. “They’re just tiny, unmanned vacuum cleaners. Why are they so special?”
“What are you saying?” I asked, offended at her poor taste. “Look at how cute it is! It helps maintain carpets too. How can you not love this little guy?”
“It’s just a machine! It’s built for a purpose. It does that purpose. Nothing more, nothing less.”
“No, it’s a part of the family.”
Mrs. Carmichael interrupted us by clapping her hands together. “Well, it’s nice to see that the two of you haven’t suffered any negative side-effects from the sudden teleportation. How about I give you a tour of your new home while Fink brings Loriana back here? Do you think you have enough in you for two more teleports?”
“For you? Always. Sometimes others may have to persuade me, though.” Fink winked and gestured toward Shelly with a grin. “I’ll go ahead and get her before Ms. Harper tears me to shreds. I don’t think I want to get on this lady’s bad side. See everyone in just a bit!”
Fink vanished with a wave and smile, leaving a frowning Shelly glaring at the location he once was, her arms crossed. I couldn’t focus on how upset she was at his antics. I was still too thrilled about my little vacuum friend. Plus, I thought that Fink was kind of fun, so I couldn’t bring myself to get worked up about him. Turning my attention back to our little robot friend, I continued to carefully step around it, just watching it do its job of keeping the floor clean. He was just such a perfect and useful little guy!
“I apologize for Fink’s behavior,” Mrs. Carmichael said, unamused with the Teleporter’s actions. “He can be a bit strange and abrasive at times, but he is generally a good man. He’s been worn down with all the teleporting he’s had to do recently. I think that has him being a little...weirder than usual. I hope that you’ll forgive him.”
“I will, but he owes me a breakfast bar,” Shelly said, relenting a bit. She wanted to change the subject. “This place is really nice, I’m not sure I’m comfortable accepting it.”
I looked up to see Mrs. Carmichael smile and shake her head. “Nonsense. This place was built for and is funded to give people with Anomalies homes. Everyone here has the same living space, but they’re free to decorate it however they want.
“Jobs are available here or you can apply for one locally. I’m sure I informed you about it before, but we do have a garage here to store everyone’s car if they have one. Even if someone is unemployed, no one will ever go hungry, but we still encourage everyone to work like they would in the normal world. We want to emphasize a tight, caring, and loving community here.”
“Right, Fink mentioned something about getting my car later,” Shelly informed Mrs. Carmichael. “I plan on working from here though. Boss let me do some of the old secretary work from my laptop, so as long as this place is quiet, everything should work out fine.”
“Wonderful, Ms. Harper. I’m glad you came so prepared, and I’m sure you’ll find the level of noise acceptable for your work.” Mrs. Carmichael looked genuinely relieved. Shelly always tried her best to be as prepared as one could be. “Now, would you two like a tour of your new home? As you can tell, this is your living room. You are permitted to host events in your living quarters freely, so I encourage you both to mingle and socialize. One never knows when or where they might find a lifelong friend or romantic partner.”
Walking forward, Mrs. Carmichael turned our attention to the dining space we had. It was connected to the living room area, but instead of the carpet extending, it had lovely, dark hard flooring. There was an impressive bar that partially obscured the kitchen and its appliances, with five comfy looking chairs in front of it. It would absolutely work well for anyone hosting a party. The top was so clean and shiny that I was afraid to touch it and dirty the surface with my fingers. Finishing it off was a white arch that connected the ends of the bar to the ceiling of the room.
“The bar has a long refrigerator built into it. Of course, you have to buy your own drinks for it.” Mrs. Carmichael turned to face me. “While we do obey the laws of underage drinking, we consider what stays behind closed doors to be none of our business. You won’t be able to buy any alcohol here, however, so that’ll fall upon your sister. We’ve managed to avoid messy incidents so far, and I’d like to keep it that way, so I trust you two will do your part to keep everything civil and reasonable.”
“I’m not much of the party type, so you won’t have much to worry about,” I said, feeling a little embarrassed. No alcohol had ever touched my lips before, so I took what Mrs. Carmichael said as a bit of an accusation. “I’ll be on my best behavior, promise.”
“Good to know. I doubt you’ll need much of a tour of the kitchen, so how about I just show you your rooms and let you get accustomed on your own?”
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“Trying to get rid of us already?” Shelly asked. “If you’re busy, I think we’ll be able to figure it out. Unless you guys have some weird high-tech stuff in here that the common folk might not know about, that is. You don’t have any weird high-tech stuff, right?”
Laughing, Mrs. Carmichael sat in one of the chairs in front of the bar. “No, we don’t have anything like that. At least, not in the normal residences. We have some people here with tech-based Anomalies, so if you spend time with them, who knows just what you might find.”
“That’s kind of creepy,” Shelly said, already checking out the kitchen’s amenities. Our living room was an improvement, our kitchen was an improvement, and I was starting to sense a theme for the other areas we hadn’t seen yet. “What kind of secrets are you talking about?”
“They wouldn’t be very good secrets if I just told you, now would they?” Mrs. Carmichael waited for a reaction, and when none came, she just sighed. “I said that in jest. There are no secrets like that here, you have my word. Please don’t heckle any others because of that.”
“We won’t, I promise,” I said, trying to ignore the awkward situation. “We can take it from here, Mrs. Carmichael. If there’s anything we can’t figure out, I’ll make sure to let you know.”
She nodded curtly and made a hasty exit through our front door. I caught a glimpse of a hallway, which was an off-white wall with no discernable features. It was only a quick look, but I couldn’t see a single blemish or imperfection. The lack of decorations was a little disappointing. Would it really have been too much to ask for a painting or a picture to be put up out there?
“All right, think us country bumpkins can figure out how to unpack and get set up in this fancy new home?” I asked in my worst Southern accent, getting a small chuckle from Shelly. “I’m not sure if we’re smart enough to do this one, Shelly.”
“Very funny.” She pointed toward the hallway that fed into the living room. “You take that one. If it’s the master bedroom, then that’s great. If it’s not, are you going to be heartbroken over it?”
Eager to just get into my new room, I shook my head. I didn’t need the master bedroom. I hardly had enough stuff to fill a small bedroom as it was, and since we had to decorate all this space, the less room the better. It was a good thing no one ever needed me to be their interior decorator. Everything would be drab and featureless. There might be a painting or picture here and there. Too much clutter made me worry I’d forget where I’d set something, so I kept everything as neat as I could manage.
I took my luggage and went down the hallway that Shelly told me to go down. I checked the first door I saw, which was just an empty storage room with a few shelves. It was spacious, which was going to be a good thing if we ever got more stuff, but it wasn’t my bedroom, so I made my way to the only other door in the hallway. Excited, I opened the door into a wide-open room containing a massive bed, soft carpet, large TV, and my own personal bathroom.
“Oh man, this is way too much,” I said, scanning the room. My eyes fell upon a sliding door that ran the length of the wall adjacent to the room’s entrance. “Is this a closet? I’ve never had a closet this big before.”
Sliding the door open, I was convinced the closet was bigger than my old bedroom. It was bigger than Mom and Dad’s when we still had our house in Oregon. It was so big I was sure I would never be able to fill entirely, even if I tried. I spent a few moments just sliding the door open and closed, still amazed at the size of it.
After my fun with the closet, I dragged my few suitcases into the room and began to unpack. Shelly taught me how to pack clothes efficiently, so I was able to bring plenty of outfits without giving up too much space. Unfortunately, getting clothes hangers slipped my mind, so I sighed and placed all the folded clothes onto some low-lying shelves in the closet. The rest of my stuff was little things like a few pictures and some sentimental belongings from home. I was really disappointed with how little unpacking I actually had to do. It made the move feel a little less special, and it reminded me just how little I owned.
After putting the freshly empited suitcases in the closet, I climbed onto the massive bed, and it was the most comfortable thing I’d ever rested on. I sank into it slightly, but it was firm enough to give a restful night of sleep. It lent the room a wonderful cozy feeling. The only thing that kind of broke that cozy feeling was the lack of a window. To help with that, there was a window-sized screen that was operated by a remote. I could cycle it through morning, afternoon, dusk, and evening displays to make it feel more like a proper bedroom.
The walls needed a bit of personal touch. I didn’t have much on my walls back in Shamrock, but adding something me in the new place would make it feel like home. Thinking about all that home decorating stuff, however, was a tomorrow problem for tomorrow Ethan. Today Ethan wanted to rest in the comfy bed for a little bit longer, so I closed my eyes and felt myself begin to doze off.
I heard a couple gentle knocks before Shelly appeared in the doorway. “Dang, you got a nice room too. Looks like both of ours have a bathroom as well.” She gestured toward the back corner of the room to a small door that I hadn’t noticed when I entered.
“That’s awesome!” I exclaimed, springing to a sitting position. “I mean, I guess the guest bathroom back in Oregon was pretty much mine anyway, but it’s nice to have one in my own room.”
“Yep, it sure is,” Shelly agreed, “but now you get to learn how to clean a bathroom. Have fun with that one, little brother.”
I was going to respond to her bathroom comment by reminding her I was the one who cleaned it, but I noticed that Shelly had changed into a tank top and shorts, an outfit she usually wore when she was going to do something physical. “What’re you about to do?”
“Going to start unpacking and putting stuff away,” she responded with a confused look on her face. “Something I recommend you do too.”
“You’re not going to try and meet anyone here?”
“Not yet. Why would I?” I couldn’t read her mind, so I just shrugged. “Look, unless they’re going to help us unpack and get everything put up, I’m not worrying about them. I’m also not about to let strangers near my personal belongings, thanks.”
“Do you care if I go explore a bit?”
She shrugged and shook her head. “You’re eighteen now, you can pretty much do what you want within reason. You’ll learn best by doing, anyway. If you make a mistake, it’s best to experience it firsthand.
“I think this should be a place for you to learn and grow. I did all I could with helping to raise you, and I think I did a good job at it, but now it’s time for you to experience the world a bit. You’re here because of what you can do, so it’s up to you to find your place.”
“Not to sound mean,” I said , a little nervously, “but why did you end up coming with me then?”
“I don’t think…” she began before stopping herself with a sigh. “I’m not sure I’m ready to live alone. I can’t quite imagine myself in a home by myself yet.”
Before I could question her about that, she shook her head. “Anyway, it’s time for me to get to work and for you to decide what’s your next step. I am still here for you, obviously, but the reigns are mostly off now. Go out, explore, have fun, bring get a bunch of girls together to start a harem. Enjoy being an adult.” She gave a small wave and gently closed my door, leaving me with a few thoughts.
I thought about what kind of world might be waiting outside of this little space and whether I should go face it. I knew that I had to eventually, but the bed was so comfortable, and my stuff needed to be unpacked. Meeting new people was something that could wait a few more hours or until the next day.
I quickly shook my head and tried to push those thoughts aside. I was always content with not being especially social. Coasting by without making any real friends never bothered me any, yet that didn’t mean it had to stay that way forever. It’s not like I was incapable of making friends or was fundamentally unlikeable. At least, I didn’t think that I was.
Sighing, I hopped off the bed, deciding that I wasn’t really helping myself by getting in my own head. Nothing in the room was getting done, and I wasn’t working toward meeting anyone new. I knew that the more I thought about it, the less I’d want to do anything at all, so I made the choice to out and explore a bit.
I walked down the hall and back into the living room where I heard Shelly moving stuff around in her new room. I noticed a pen and small notepad on the countertop in the kitchen, and not wanting to bother her while she worked, I wrote her a note telling her that I was going to walk around a bit. I put it down in a spot I thought she’d see it and quickly made my way to the front door before I could talk myself out of leaving.
With a shaky hand, I turned the handle and stuck my head out. To my left, there was just a wall a little way down, so it looked like we didn’t have any neighbors that way. To my right, the hallway went down for a while. There were about half a dozen doors spaced evenly along the sides, before forking into two more hallways at the end. I wondered if Lori was living in any of the housing units near ours. I made a mental note to try and find out where she lived. And where I lived, actually, since I still didn’t know where I was.
Suddenly feeling a little excited and adventurous, I took a deep breath, closed my door, and started to wander about the Luna complex.