Love, Films, and Theater

Toby was dashing towards the school the school building. Once again, he had slept through that damn alarm. The loud beeping had instead awoken his mother, who had charged into the room and angrily pulled the silly thing from the wall. That was the noise that Toby had jolted up in bed disheveled to at ten to nine. His first exam was in ten short minutes, and the school was a fifteen-minute drive down the road. There was one word, and one word only coursing through his mind. ‘Fuck!’ He had dressed like a mad man, pulling on the nearest pair of basket ball shorts and clean under armor before ramming his feet into old tennis shoes and making a mad dash out the door to his car.
Toby had become a name that only his family seemed to use now. Since he was the school basketball star, he was mostly referred to as T-Boy, T, or sometimes, even as Tobias. It all just depended on who was shouting at him.
He quietly as he could opened the door to the speech and drama room and poked his head in, most all of his other class mates were bowed over their papers, pens flying over the snowy pale blue lined papers. Mrs. Cunningham waved him over and handed him one of the papers with the caution to ‘read the directions carefully.’ What teacher didn’t say that about a final? He slipped into a chair at one of the tables near the back and pulled a pen from behind his ear. He wrote his name and carefully read the instructions as she had warned him to. He grinned a little and chuckled it was a joke... One big joke. He stood and handed his paper back to Mrs. Cunningham who smiled a little and nodded that he could go ahead and leave. He smiled and put his pen back behind his ear and headed for the cafeteria. He’d be able to grab some food and brush over his Biology 3 notes before he started the final.

Sarah awoke abruptly as she felt something cold wash over her hand, she had managed to fall back asleep, however it had been in her kitchen rather than her bed. She sighed and shook her head a little shaking the cold liquid from her hand. She glanced at her watch, “nine thirty..Humn..” She said as she stood and stretched, she had a rather unpleasant crick in her neck. She gently rubbed the offending area as she set the coffee pot on to boil. “I think I’ll grab a quick shower.. Yes, a shower sounds lovely..”
And shower she did, though, not until she finished her fifth cup of coffee. She did need to wake up after all. She wandered back down the stairs in her favorite Hello Kitty bathrobe and her hair wrapped up in an impressively bright green towel. She couldn’t help but sigh a bit as she poured her sixth cup of coffee to finish off the pot. She sat down at her kitchen table again and looked at the ceiling. What to do, what to do..
Though, the idea wasn’t her favorite she knew that it had to be done. She needed food, and her cupboards were more than bare, they were moth ridden. She was going to have to brave the grocery store. It didn’t take her long to compile a list of things she needed to get, and in what seemed like no time at all, there she was staring down the long and terrifying isles of Claries’ Grocery store.
She moved slowly through the aisles tossing in a few things here and there, cookies, pasta, a case of soda, a few little things here and there just the essentials for her lifestyle as an eccentric writer. She was a little bored by the time she was done, so she had sadly submitted to picking up one of the cheesy romance novels that all the house wives she knew seemed to devour like candy. Maybe there was some sort of feasible idea for a movie laced into the sickeningly sweet plot. Her idea was doubtful, but it would give her something to do while she waited for Toby to be out of class.
Back at Sarah’s home, Toby having finished his finals was beginning his first afternoon of freedom by veg-ing on his sister’s couch. He had put in a Strokes CD, and had just settled down for a nice relaxing nap. However, when a surprisingly heavy purse was blindly dropped over the back of the couch landing on his exposed stomach, it interrupted that nap and caused him, to make a soft, ‘oof’ noise. His sister was completely oblivious to the fact that her little brother had decided to take a nap on her extremely comfy couch.
“Why thanks sis, I always loved this purse on me.” He sat up and held it next to his face, “matches my eyes to a T.” He said with a chuckle as he dropped the bag next to him and stood to help her with her groceries.
“Toby, what on earth are you doing out of school so early? Aren’t you missing your finals?” She asked as she walked into the kitchen to set down the heavy canvas bags. She turned to look at her brother as she blew a loose strand of hair from her eyes.
“I’m not missing anything, my Biology final was easy enough, I studied pretty well for it.” He said with a little yawn, “Buy enough Junk food Sarah? Or were you planning on feeding an army with this?” He teased as he unloaded the fourth bag of potato chips. “I don’t think junk food is going to help your writers block Sarah. Maybe you should try eating a little healthier? Just a suggestion of course.. But, you might still want to consider it, we could do a full body De-tox together? Might do the both of us good.” He suggested with a little grin, “you look so tired lately Sarah-Bear, I’m worried about you.” He said turning to face his sister.
She shook her head and sighed, “I am fine Toby, don’t worry about me. It’s just been a few odd dreams. Nothing to worry about.” She said though the chill bumps rising on her skin, and the tingling on her lips reminded her that the dreams were something.. “Haven’t you ever had strange dreams about what happened to you when you were a baby?” She asked looking back at him, “or do you not remember it at all?”
Toby had never really remembered anything from his trip to the Castle beyond the goblin city… And he had never really cared to know. Sarah had told him the story countless times, but he never remembered anything, he had begun to assume it was just a tale of fancy she told her little brother. “Sarah, my answer is always the same, I can’t remember anything, and you know, I don’t even know if it’s true.” He said shaking his head, “It was just a fairy tale Sarah.. How can you still think it was true.” He sighed and shook his head, “how about you come over to the house for dinner?” He asked, “mom and dad would love to see you. They’re worried too you know..” He said putting away some canned goods.
She sighed, he was such a skeptic, but he loved her… “I’ll come to dinner… So long as this isn’t some sort of crazy family intervention thing...” She said shaking her head, “I’ll never forgive you if that’s what this is Tobias.” She said with a chuckle.
Her brother laughed, “of course it’s not Sarah, you’re a writer, they pay you to dream in Technicolor.” He said with a laugh, “Sometimes I guess you just get lost in your work.” He said smiling, “I’ll see you at home tonight then, alright?” He asked hugging her lightly, “I love you Sarah.”
She nodded, “see you tonight Toby.”