Personal Message

[Aé.]

"I can't believe you did this to me!" The cry was shrill, anger and fear clear in the young woman's voice. As she turned to face the man she was talking to, her long blond hair flipped over her shoulder, coming to rest against her gold necklace at the base of her long elegant neck. Taking a deep breath, the woman bit her trembling lip, blue eyes huge in her flawless face. A tear began to form in her left eye as she whispered, "I thought we were friends."

The man, tall and dark in an imposing, dreadfully handsome way, covered the distance between them in two steps. "We are friends," he assured her, gripping her shoulders with his tanned, manicured hands. "And I'd hoped," his voice trailed off, the look in his eyes was pained and uncertain. "I'd hoped we might----"

"And you'll save not ten, not twenty, not forty, but up to fifty percent!" cried an enthusiastic male voice, happy, cheerful and excited. "But only if you get here before----"

"Now I'm adding three eggs and a pinch of thyme," the chirpy brunette explained, looking straight down the camera barrel. "And I mix them in... like this..." As she spoke, the eggs disappeared into her bowl, becoming a smooth yellow paste flecked with green. He bracelets jangled as she briskly mixed. "Now it's simply a matter of----"

With the press of a button, Hope changed channel again. There was nothing on tv this time of day - but then, she hadn't really expected there to be, anyway. Sprawled as she was on the couch, and with no intention of moving any time soon, the 17 year old didn't care, either. Booted feet resting on one armrest, arm extended out against the other, Hope's body took up the whole couch rather than the third it was supposed to, but there was no one else around, so didn't care. She probably wouldn't have cared if there was someone else around either, but that didn't matter. Besides, there were plenty of other places to sit if someone did come this way.

In one pale hand, Hope held the tv remote, aimed directly at the screen against the opposite wall. Her index finger rested against the "P>" button, which was getting pressed about once every ten seconds. Other than that, the only part of her body that moved was her eye lids, and them only to blink occasionally. Perfectly still, she was perfectly relaxed, and even her boredom failed to bother her.

[Caleb Hunter]

Caleb was up in his room looking through some school books. He was so bored it was the last resort. After flicking through the last of the books in his bags he pt them away and buckled it up and threw it in the corner, out of sight.

He walked through the school whisteling as he went along. It was wierdly quiet, as his whistle echoed down the hallways. After about five minutes of unconcience walking he arrived at the student lounge. He opened the large wodden doors and peeped inside. The t.v was flicking channells on its own as there was no-one else inside. "Humph" he sighed and walked in.

He walked over to one of the comfortable lounge chairs and jumped with fright as he saw a girl lieing motionless on the couch. She was so pale he thought she was dead. It was only when he saw her eyes blink did he relax. "Oh sorry2 he mumbled and sat down again.

[Aé.]

Hope registered the entry of the other person, but didn't really care one way or the other. She didn't need to turn and look - her excellent ears had picked up on his or her soft footsteps before they had even entered the room. She had simply continued to lie motionless, letting the tv talk at her.

"And you'll never guess where I am!" the gleeful, bikini-clad woman was telling her audience. "Beautiful warm sun, turquoise oceans, pristine beaches and not a cloud in site! And I'm not even very far from civilization! That's right! I'm on the Gold Coast!" Hope didn't care about the Gold Coast, and as the camera panned over dozens more bikini-clad tourists, the picture was replaced with an ad for carpet cleaner.

"Oh sorry"

Having known the person was nearby for some time, Hope wasn't concerned, or even of the opionion that he should be apologising to her. It wasn't someone she recognised immediately - probably someone she had little to do with. Accordingly, her only response was, "Don't worry about it," said with the least movement the words would allow. "You can stay if you want, whatever," she added as an afterthough. Her attention was still for all intensive purposes on the television screen, and it looked as if that wouldn't be changing any time soon.

"Before I tried UltraWhite, my whites were dull after only a few washes. But now, thanks to the scientifically proven UltraOxygen technology only found in---"