All Dolled Up!

Charlotte

I watched Charlie go downstairs and fall asleep. Before going though, he had handed me a vase of roses - well, they weren't real roses. He called them 'artificial' though when I probed him about it a bit further, he basically admitted that they were 'fake' roses.

Apparently real flowers are really expensive in this day and age, and this was what people made do with. I didn't particularly mind- because real flowers tended to die within a week, and it was likely I wouldn't be able to take care of them properly.

Not to mention that the roses at least looked quite nice - and they didn't have thorns in them, though as I thought about it, if they were fake, it would completely make sense for them to not have thorns in them.

They came in a nice vase which I decided to keep in my 'bedroom' so to speak, the room with the glass case. The flowers could remain like that for several years, and would only need occasional dusting, which I could do with little effort.

As I looked at them, I couldn't help but think- 'fake flowers for a fake person.'

I tried to keep thoughts like that out of my mind. They had occurred to me before - that perhaps I would have been better off departing to the afterlife along with the rest of the family. But, even in the deepest moments of despair that had gripped me after being trapped in this other body, I had always soldiered on for one reason. I knew that my family - all of them - had been beside themselves at knowing that I was dying once they knew of my diagnosis. And I knew if they had one wish in their hearts, it was that I would continue living.

True, I did not know why I had ended up like this- whether it was a blessing or a curse bestowed on me. Whatever the reason was - perhaps it was simply my mother's last wish, I was here now. And I existed. And no matter how deep my despondence went at times, I never wished that I would stop existing.

Charlie had also gotten artificial lilies for May's gravestone - I honestly would prefer he place fresh flowers there, but then again, they would wither and die there, and at least those flowers could remain for some time. I had spent most of my time within the house, so being trapped inside did not bother me too much most of the time, if anything, it reinforced in me a belief that one of my sacred duties was to guard the place from intruders, but... I still wished I could visit May one day.

My mind heavy with those thoughts, I decided to instead go back downstairs towards the main building, being careful not to make too much noise. I didn't want to wake Charlie up. I opened up the fridge and found what I was looking for- a can of beer.

I hadn't really been allowed to drink other than at communion at church, and occasionally at the few parties I had been allowed to go to when I was old enough. My mother actually had been against me going out, saying I was too young, but my father had insisted it would be good for me to learn how to talk to others - and that perhaps I might even find a suitable match at one.

I couldn't remember any of them- other than the fact that they had been very boring and that I would usually stand in a corner while May would have no difficulty being the center of attention.

Could I even get drunk in this new body? I wasn't sure - my stomach had a limited capacity, and never seemed to absorb anything that I ate. If I ate too much, I would have to purge all of it out, and when daytime came, it was as if whatever I had ate disappeared into the void and my stomach would be empty the next night. That said, I had no idea how this body would respond to alcohol.

Well, there was only one way to find out.

I took a can out, and then felt a pang of guilt. This can was not mine - it was something that Charlie had bought. This was technically stealing from him- now, I doubted that he would actually care that I had taken a can like this given how many he had, but the fact still remained that I was taking something without permission. The reason that I hadn't simply asked him to give me a can when he had been drinking one, even though that would've been the most natural thing to do - was that I was afraid of embarrassing myself in front of him.

I had already done that once when I tried smoking - much like that, it was greatly frowned upon for women to drink, and I wouldn't have been allowed to have a beer. Still, it was also possible this was for good reason, and I didn't know how I'd react to drinking it, which is why I hadn't asked at the time.

But I figured a little couldn't hurt right now. I poured it out from the can into a glass, I had seen Charles drink it directly from the can, but that looked very... 'not right' to but it plainly. I waited for the froth to settle, and then took a sip. It was very cold, and fizzed on my tongue. It didn't taste particularly good or bad, and I took half the can before deciding that was enough. I wanted to see if it would affect me in any way before I took more, and as it was, I had the feeling that a can was the maximum I could take regardless.

While I was contemplating what to do next, I was startled by a noise - that strange pocket television that Charlie carried around was making it. He had left it on the kitchen table, and it was making noise. Charlie had told me that they weren't actually pocket televisions per se but something called 'smartyphones' and that everyone outside carried one. I didn't really get how they were phones though as they had no way to dial numbers that I could see, and if I didn't know what they were I would've thought that they were pocket mirrors of some sort at first glance. They just did not look like actual phones.

There was text on the screen that depicted a phone call - I think that was what was happening. It said that a 'Suzy' was calling, and my heart skipped a beat as I saw that name. It was a woman's name - just who was she?

Based on the fact that he had handed me that engagement ring earlier and what I had spoken to him - I had pieced together that he had once been engaged and it had fallen apart somehow. It didn't make sense to me that he still had the ring though - in my time the lady would've still kept it, but perhaps these times were different? With that said, I had no idea regarding his current status- if he was engaged to someone else, or was even talking with another lady.

Ideas began going through my head, and I decided that I would try to answer the phone for him. After all, I wouldn't want to wake him up, right? He clearly worked very hard. And if I got to know who it was on the other end, that was just a bonus.

The only thing was that I couldn't figure out how to answer it. Picking it up off the table didn't pick the call up, and the text on the screen said 'slide to answer.' I tried sliding the 'phone' across the table, but that didn't do anything, but then I remembered that the few times I had seen Charlie use it, he had used his finger to touch things on the screen.

Hesitantly, I slid my finger across the lower part of the screen, and it changed and a timer flashed on. Success! I also heard a voice- "Hello?"

I then immediately felt a sinking feeling in my stomach as I realized that I didn't actually want to speak to the person on the other side despite my curiosity. How was I going to answer? What was I even going to say?

I had seen Charlie make phone calls with it, he held it up to his ear like a normal earpiece, though phones didn't have a separate part to speak into anymore- it was all done by the same piece.

"Hello," I answered. "Good evening."

There was a pause. "Wait - is this Charlie Padwick?" It was a woman's voice.

"Ah, no, he's uh, sleeping at the moment," I said.

"Oh-kay, ah, may I know who I'm speaking to then?" the voice asked.

"Ah, yes, this is Charlotte," I said before I instantly regretted it - why did I tell her my actual name? I didn't even want to talk to her in the first place and I could've used any other name!

"Oh, well this is Suzy, his sister," the voice on the other end said.

"Oh, he has a sister?" I asked. I hadn't known that about him and I heard a loud 'humph' coming from the other end.

"You cannot be serious- he didn't even tell you about me? The nerve of that guy!" she sounded rather angry, which I didn't understand as to why. After a bit more complaining, she said, "Well, your voice sounds pretty cute, I'll say."

"Ah... thank you?" I said, not sure how to respond but deciding to take that as a compliment.

"So he's asleep? I mean, I know that it's two in the morning, but I thought with him doing the night shift he would be awake right now, which is why I called at this time," Suzy said.

"No, he decided to take a nap before doing things in the morning," I said. "Uh, but I'd be glad to take a message." Again, I didn't know why I was saying that, why was I volunteering to be his secretary again?

"Oh, nothing, I just wanted to catch up and ask if he was coming to the Fourth of July cookout - you can ask him to call me later about that," she said.

"Alright."

"I appreciate it," she said. "So, how is he doing? Mentally, I mean. He says he's alright but... I wanted to check up on him."

"Well he was a bit stressed out last week," I said, not adding that the major source of stress for him was stuff I was doing. "But he has calmed down and was doing fine today."

"Alright then, thanks, I'd talk longer but I have something to do in the morning too, but I'd love to catch up later," she said.

"Farewell," I said and I thought I heard the line disconnect. I wasn't sure, but the screen was showing the time again instead of the caller screen, so I guessed that was how it worked.