ASCENDER

Chapter 2

Sunlight seeped into the penthouse that morning, the sounds of birds chirping in the woods echoed around the property with the morning sun slowly rising above. Amaria came downstairs from her room and headed for the living room, she was dressed in a red plaid shirt with a white t-shirt underneath with black cargo pants, she wore a black converse shoes. Her hair was also in a loose ponytail.

She reached the living room and saw the boy still fast asleep on the couch with the blanket draped over him, she watched him with a neutral expression before heading for the kitchen. She turned on the coffee machine and waited for the coffee to be brewed. Once it was finished, she poured the coffee into a mug and then she added sugar to it before taking a small sip of it. She sensed a presence behind her and she quickly turned to see her daughter staring at her from the kitchen doorway, she was in her pajamas and looked like she was still exhausted.

"Hi, angel. How'd you sleep?" Amaria asked as she walked up to her.

"Mom. There is a boy in the house?" Vanessa spoke up.

"I know. Don't worry about him," she said before hugging her daughter, "Are you hungry?"

Vanessa nodded.

Amaria headed for the fridge and pulled out some eggs, she grabbed a pan and turned the stove on. She poured some oil into the pan before cracking the eggs and let the yolks slide into it and then started to fry them. She seasoned the eggs for some flavor before turning the stove off and pouring some orange juice for the girl, then she placed the scrambled eggs onto a plate and headed them to her daughter.

Then she noticed the boy walk into the kitchen as well, Vanessa turned to him and gave him a slight frown and the boy was a bit embarrassed and shuffled around.

"Come sit down, Daniel," Amaria reasurred him, "There's more than enough scrambled eggs to go around."

Daniel nervously made his way into the kitchen and sat adjacent to Vanessa, she gave him a smile and the child returned the smile as well but it was strained.

"I'm Vanessa," the girl said as she munched on her scrambled eggs.

"I'm Daniel," the boy replied.

Amaria stared at the two before heading for the doorway.

"Finish your breakfast and get freshened up," she said,"We have to go into town and do a bit of shopping".

The young woman headed out of the kitchen before heading for the front door, she went outside and made her way toward the shed that was next to the house. She decided to chop some wood for the day, it was mostly to get ready for winter and made sure there was enough wood for the fireplace. The other reason was that it helped her think and relax, it was for her benefit to blow off some steam. She unlocked the shed and walked inside, she grabbed an axe that was mounted on the wall and headed outside again.

She walked up to a pile of logs and grabbed one, she placed it on a chopping block and took a swing before splitting it in half. She grabbed another and placed it on the chopping block before splitting it in half with her axe, she did this three more times before placing two logs on top of each other. She took a swing and perfectly split them down the middle.

When she was about to grab more logs, she heard the sound of a vehicle approaching. She ignored the sound and resumed her chopping. The sound got closer and she stopped for a minute and saw a grey SUV drive up the trail, she twirled the axe between her fingers as she watched the vehicle come to a stop.

"What now?" she muttered in annoyance.

She saw the driver seat door open and she watched as a man stepped out of it, he looked like he was in his late thirties and he was dressed in a blue denim jacket with khaki cargo pants and brown combat boots. He had blonde hair and brown eyes, his hair was in a emo bang style which covered his left eye. His skin was fair and flawless, though the designer stubble he sported was even more flawless.