Thankfully, Kat was nowhere to be seen when Dani entered the house. In fact, all signs of the party had vanished like...well, magic. No decorations, no mess. Nothing.
Dani sighed and went to find a snack. Skipping the party meant skipping the food and cake, too. In the kitchen, she found her mother doing dishes. For a moment, she paused to take in this spectacle. She had seen her mother do the dishes many times in the past, and she had thought nothing of it. Now, the ordinariness just felt off, a blend of comfortable and creepy.
Sensing her presence, her mother glanced over. Smiling, she opened her mouth to say something but stopped. Then, she returned to her task but not before Dani caught her brief look of sadness. A stab of guilt went through her since she had said not to speak to her. Still, why could her family not understand her feelings about all this? Without breaking the silence, she grabbed a soda from the fridge and headed upstairs to her room.
Kat's door was closed. Clearly, she had already retired for the night. Good.
To Dani's surprise, she found a piece of cake on a plate carefully placed before her door. The fork had been neatly wrapped in a paper napkin the way her mother always did it. Now, she was feeling really guilty. Quickly, she picked up the cake in her free hand and went into her room.
Instantly, she felt that strong bond with her surroundings return to her. It was odd but oddly nice, too. Secure. Going over to her desk, she started putting her drink down, intending to pull out the chair to sit.
Instead, the chair slid out on its own. No, not on its own. Rather, Dani had moved it. With her mind. It had been automatic, easy, like moving her own limbs.
Dropping her dishes onto the desk, she backed away a couple steps. For a moment, she almost ran back downstairs, but she forced down the impulse.
She couldn't keep scrambling to her mother every time something new happened, and to be honest, this had not been the weirdest thing to happen today.
So, taking a breath, Dani returned to the desk and ate her cake.