Fix It

Chapter 8 - The perfect plan.

The most bizarre thoughts come to you while taking a shower. One that Sophie was relieved she was having. She was submerged in the incredible feeling of the cold water flowing on her body. It was refreshing and the closest thing to showers on her planet. A place where she would soak off into the huge leaves of the butterfly trees, which easily captured the blue water from the Grey clouds. Her planet was a place filled with hues and creatures among human imagination. Like the bathing beetles that rubbed their wings together to create a thick and gooey soap, that smelled like buttercups and lavender.

The leaves connect to huge trees whose branches twist with the direction of the sun’s rotation. A planet that rotates anticlockwise on its axis. Everything about the planet was weird but it was definitely her home. The only place she felt normal and safe. She missed it dearly but she knew that she had to do this to become the next Guardian of time, just like her pops.

Scrubbing her body gently, the luscious aroma from the peach body wash had her picking it up for the third time, looking at what the scent was. The entire foam exfoliated her skin while the scent remained on it. It reminded her of her sister’s shampoo. She would always steal it as it made her skin glisten in the sun and attract the mystical creatures on her planet. The water hitting the bathroom floor was identical to the rain hitting the grass outside, like tin cans slipping through one's fingers and falling with gravity. She slowed the time reminiscing in sound. Looking at the silver faucet that slowly leaked droplets of water onto her skin and then to the rough white tiles below.

She slowly massaged her hair before taking the risk of dipping under the faucet. Immediately, the water drenched her hair, flowing with her scrubs. She reached for the daisy shampoo before scrunching her face in confusion. This one was new, one that she certainly hadn't bought and she was uncertain that Alex went shopping in the tiny timeframe that they had arrived. She looked around the room desperately searching for any other evidence of a third person inhabiting it. There beside a washrag on the shelf, to the far right of the shower that overlooked the tinted bathroom glass, was a new hairbrush and an empty spray bottle.

She froze out of fear, wondering who was spending time in here if Alex had his room and his mother wouldn't step foot inside. The items troubled her, she listed all the possible scenarios even ones involving her older self buying them but she doubted that. Her older self was careful enough to never leave remnants. Heavy sighs escaped her mouth as she tried to think about a logical explanation. She finally tried to ease her mind by turning up the pressure of the water using a spell to make the room soundproof to the outsiders. She placed the shower plug in the drain and sunk in the tub, watching as it slowly but surely filled with water. She began to picture herself in the buttercup leaves, soaking off in the bright blue water that healed the harshest bruises and replenished scars.

Her mind drifted to how she could solve Alex’s predicament. She resented his actions, wondered why he would do such things and what he gained from them. His pranks were s******c and should have cost him something other than meaningless warnings. She hated people like him. People who did whatever they wanted without consequences. She always wondered why her father gave him a second chance, it was his own fault that his mother was dying. He deserved some kind of pain for all the pain he caused. Where was the karma? Why wasn't she doing her job? Instead, she allowed Alex to receive a second chance with no suffering.

However, no matter how he tried to hate him, she found herself slowly adding him to a part of her life. She found herself smiling at his pathetic jokes and acknowledging his emotions. She felt an urge to help the prankster as if it was instinct or faith. She thinks that the relationship between them is completely platonic but her quick wit and sarcastic remarks might prove otherwise. “I can't let his mother die because he is an ass...ugh if only I wasn't such a good person.” She racked her brain, trying to find the perfect plan until an idea popped into her head. The best ideas come to us when we are relaxed, doing the things we love. Whether sleeping, watching your favourite movie, or the most common of them all, showering.

She could allow a teacher to do the work for her, alert one of the pranks younger Alex would pull and get him in trouble, the little brat deserved it after all, and Lily would be able to see again. She started laughing at the plan, glad that she had decided to take the shower. She ducked her head under the water, welcoming the pressure of the air in her lungs and the blood rushing in her head... It was exhilarating. Opening her eyes, she was captured in a blurry world, her eyes strained to take in its surroundings but soon enough she had to pull her head up for oxygen. Wiping her face free from the water she glanced at the new brush and blew out the water from her nose. She slowly picked it up. Examining it to find some leftover hair. Hearing Alex sigh on the other side she ended her bath time. Drying herself off and putting her clothes on, she walked out of the bathroom with a happy smile on her face. “Alex! I have the perfect plan!”

He looked troubled but quickly shrugged it off with an enthusiastic smile. “Well?” Sophie ran to him, her smile brighter than her eyes. “We tell a teacher...well we let a child tell the teacher, that way younger you won’t blind an innocent girl and he'll get punished.” Alex looked hurt at her statement but he knew that he deserved it and so he kept quiet. “Well, then how do we do that?”

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