Darren rolled his eyes, surpressing a groan.
He did that a lot, really. Or rather, he did it at least three thousand times every Saturday afternoon; while his father was out playing his customary round of golf before his customary round of beer. Which inevitably meant he was home, watching his six year old sister. Ten years and a different assortment of chromosomes had created quite a gap between them, at least in terms of interests.
In this particular case this gap was illustrated in Emily's joyous squeal contrasting with Darren's frustration. The insipid, hamfistedly educational ending of the mass produced, child friendly, cartoon would be pretty easy to tune out...if he hadn't had to sit through a half dozen like it already. It wasn't that he disliked his sister. And it certainly wasn't that he thought she'd be fine on her own. Someone had to watch out for her. But still...did she have to watch so many DVDs with pink covers featuring phrases like "heartwarming", "charming" and "true love" on the back of the box?
Fortunately, the phone rang, interrupting the saccharine song played over the credits. A month ago Emily would be shrieking for the next one by now, but ever since she'd learned to work the DVD player on her own, all Darren had to do was gather a pile of her favorites and leave her to it.
He smiled, seeing the name on the caller ID. "Deirdre..."
Ok, the name was a bit overwrought, but he liked it. Much as he liked the person it was attached to. But his father didn't. Which led to the only reason Saturday afternoons were bearable: he was free to talk to her. They'd...well, 'met' over the internet. Fortunately, she actually lived in the same state, only a couple of hours drive away. But she was older than him, newly turned nineteen and a freshman in college, and his father seemed to share the view of some of his (and her) friends, that it was creepy. Never mind that when he was thirty she'd be thirty two, which no one would blink at, but...
"Deirdre, hi!" He had to grin when she laughed. Their first live conversation had begun in the same way...but then the nervous crack in his voice and nauseating, puppy like enthusiasm hadn't been feigned.
He missed her greeting, though, thanks to a sudden, static like shriek. Darren's gaze leapt towards the TV, certain that this time Emily had somehow managed to break it, but was greeted only with a menu screen in an oddly...comforting rose pink?
He was vaguely aware that his girlfriend was asking him questions, wondering if they'd been disconnected. The screech drove through his head again. He winced, and yet...Emily simply sat on the floor, fiddling with the remote, poorly developed motor skills struggling to hit the play button. She couldn't hear it.
The screech intensified. He shut his eyes against the pain. "God..." he moaned. Darren was losing consciousness. He was having a stroke or an aneurysm or something, he had to be! His vision tunneled, black turning red at the ages, the red expanding and lightening until all he could see was...pink?
