The children in the cellar

Sanya was about to bake herself waffles for breakfast, when she noticed that someone just recently had made waffles! She decided to grab a plate of those instead, ’cause she was already getting in a hurry to go to school.

The one who must have made the waffles was Dennis, since Dennis just finished eating when Sanya started.

Sanya had hardly started on her portion, when she heard the honking of the schoolbus. Maybe she shoudln’t have wasted her morning on horror movies…

Sanya’s household literally lived far away from everything – before getting to the bus stop Sanya had to run a long way on a path through the woods. That was definitely a downside of  living in the middle of nowhere – running through a forest was highly unpleasant for Sanya, who hated outdoors.

Even if Sanya ran as fast as she could, leaving the breakfast and catching the bus took her an HOUR. Still, the bus was patiently waiting for her. It seemed that she was the only one that this particular bus should pick up…

Of course Sanya wasn’t registered to her school with her real name – she and the Sastiras had all fake ID:s. But they thought that it might draw too much attention if the neighbours noticed a teenager who didn’t go to school, so Sanya should study even if she didn’t see any real point in it. Well, at least she could just slack out at school.

The schoolyard looked pretty worn out – probably the whole school was from the times before the destruction in Emerald Harbour. It looked empty too – Sanya almost got a creepy feeling that she’s the only student in this school, until she remembered how late she was.

Meanwhile the Sastira siblings decided to visit Skeezix McGruber. Diamanda was the first one to go, as usually, and the others followed far behind.

Finally even Dave reached the taxi.

Diamanda rang the doorbell at the Mcgrubers’ house, and a pale little boy called Mick came to open the door. He seemingly didn’t care much about school…

After waving to Diamanda Mick gave the guests a hateful glare. Considering Diamandas later actions, she didn’t leave it un-noticed.

The Sastiras entered the house… or rather so called “house” – it seemed to be just an empty little booth!

But as they followed Mick they realized, that the actual house was deep down under the ground!

Besides Mick there was only a girl named Anisia at home. For some reason, seeing those two kids skipping school in a weedfilled cellar made Dave feel heartbroken.

They decided to wait a while for Skeezix to come home. Anisia started to chat with Dave about flowers and houses (this house was one with loads of flowers indeed!) and they came along quite well.

Diamanda for one spent her time picking a fight with Mick. She started by scaring him, and then they argued about the right way to make sushi.

Dave chose to watch TV, and Dennis joined him when Anisia needed to go to the bathroom.

Diamanda didn’t quit arguing and insulting each other with Mick until she got so hungry that she had to snatch an instant meal from the fridge.

Mick went over to the sofa where the guys sat and complained, that he didn’t have enough space for himself (even if there was a free seat left). Dave gave up and rose from the couch, but he felt like he could flip any moment.

Apparently the toilet was out of order, ’cause Anisia decided to go and pee in the bushes instead.

Diamanda’s and Mick’s fight kept going on…

Sanya had decided to jump off the bus and hang around on a random neighbour’s yard. She called her schoolmate Meezletoe and told her excitingly about her new home. She wished that she and Meezletoe could be best friends forever.

Dave and Dennis had become tired of waiting and were heading home in separate taxis – well, why not enjoy it when cabs were free in Emerald Harbour?

Diamanda still insisted to stay on McGrubers’ yard, waiting for Skeezix to show up.

And soon someone DID show up – but it was ms Hannigan, the leader of the orphanage, who came to talk with Anisa. She pointed out that it’s already sleeping time for little girls, and maybe considered calling the social workers to get that little rascal into her orphanage.

Then she got into an argument with Diamanda about their remarkably different ideas of how to raise kids.

Eventually all Diamanda’s waiting was rewarded – Skeezix arrived!

Diamanda was already badly in need of a shover, but when Skeezix finally was there, she insisted to get to know him first.

Right from the moment when they shook hands Diamanda could see in Skeezixes eyes, that he was rich. When they got inside, Diamanda started to tell him about her skills with computers, and he seemed interested.

When Diamanda asked him about his job, he answered vaguely, that he ran businesses. Diamanda persistently started to discuss business closer, and finally got what she  wanted – a hint about a building on the edge of the town, that should look kind of like an abandoned warehouse.

When Diamanda got home, both of her brothers had decently gone to sleep in good time. The only one who was still up was Sanya – she had been watching horror TV (again…) and then eating some waffle leftovers.

Diamanda decided to take waffles too, and while she ate even Sanya finally went to bed.

When Diamanda had taken a shower and eventually had time to go to sleep, it was almost 5 AM already.

Diamanda noticed, that her roommate Sanya was sleeping peacefully, for once. Hopefully Sanya would soon get over her constant nightmares.