Dust Collectors

It smelled like honey and flowers.

I lay on the hammock, knitted from the softest of fabrics the mind could conceive, this perfect, harmonious blend of sunset-dyed cloud and sheep's wool. Turning myself over, my fingertips drifted to play with the strands of grass I lay above. The grass was soft and fuzzy like a baby mouse, the birds cheeped like church pianos, the bees hummed.

I tumbled off the hammock and onto that perfect grass. It didn't hurt at all, the kindness of the buttercups and poppies cushioned my fall. I couldn't help but hold a smile, this place was sublime, model, the best. I wiped the stray petals from my hoodie, and shook them from the scruffy fluff of my hat. The sky shined at me, proud. It brought me rain as a gift. The rain made the air smell like a bakery, fresh victoria sponge cake and warm apple crumble.

I rolled down the hill, each select stem of soft flora tickling me as I spun down. The bees followed me, they bounced down the hill like tennis balls, they couldn't fly because of the rain, each time they hit the floor they buzzed, it sounded like a crowd of cats were purring behind me.

The cats followed me.

The purring grew louder.

And louder.

And louder.

The cats screamed purrs into my ears.

The buzzing shook the ground, encased the land. The buzzing trapped me.

Until

Bailey clicked her pen repeatedly. Eighteen radios. They were all playing static. This had been going on for the three days... Although, yesterday she only had three radios, somehow she was dedicated enough to her project to amass fifteen new radios in a single day.

There was a neat variety to the flock of chaotic static, the make-and-model of them were all from a similar decade, you could tell by the way they were designed.

"Baileyyy..." She jolted to me, jumping upward and bashing her head on her desk. "Thea! Mph.. Ow. Were you not sleeping-?"

I rubbed the sleepy from my eyes with the back of my hands, Bailey rubbed the top of her head, "I wuh-" I yawned, it turned into a burp as my mouth closed "-I was". "Gross. You should go back to sleep, I am busy" Bailey rested her elbows on the hoard of blankets on my bed.

"What time is it?" I spoke slowly, still tired out of my mind.

"I don't know, late I presume."

(Why does it smell like coffee?) I tried to look around for what was causing the smell, entirely given up on returning to sleep for the time being. The static of the radios continued to be a complete and utter earache, if it wasn't for the fact our bedroom was in the basement I'm sure her parents would have a word or two to say to her. Behind a table leg on Bailey's desk was a poorly hidden mug of coffee.

"Are you allowed... Allowed to like um, drink that?"

I begrudgingly forced my sleepy finger to point at the mug

Bailey sat down on the floor, leaning her head against her desk, one leg behind her and one leg in front of her. "No, I am not permitted. I have been drinking coffee behind Mum and Dad's back for two years now. I trust in that you won't tell them, as you are quite cool and awesome." 

I gulped. "Sure", I squeaked, my thumb up reluctantly.

"Splenderful." To this day... Um, night...- I still don't know if this is a real word, but at this point Bailey has been using it for so long that it may as well be. Maybe we could get her to coin it? She could be famous!

She took a short sip from her cup, "have you considered cuddling with Felix? Research shows that cuddling with pets can improve sleep."

Felix is Bailey's pet cat. -As lovely as Felix is, he's a bit big, and kind of... Sort of... Takes up the entire bed? Steals it from me? I don't know, I'm too tired to think. Nonetheless, I didn't want Bailey to think I didn't like Felix, so in my tired, brain-dead state

"Pspsps, here Felix..."

...

"Never mind, I don't believe he's home currently."

"Where did he go?"

She fiddled with the knob on one of the radios, "felix is an adventurous spirit, he gets it from me."

"Radios..." I drooled onto my pillow. "Excellent observation Thea!"

Bailey, despite everything about her, had that classic sarcastic humour you would expect from a brit. She was too interesting for me to ever manage to be mad at her, no matter how little sleep it rewarded me. 

"Project..." Bailey nodded, "yes Thea, this is for my project."

"Why..."

She replied with haste, like her life depended on it. "Mum informed over breakfast about a paranormal object she found whilst scouting." The clicking of her pen blended with the overlayed static. "A radio that could translate zombies. I've been dedicated to the search for it ever since, I knew zombie speech was more than concept but I just needed to prove it.

She spoke of how she brought it home, but then stated that it simply disappeared one day. She reckons it returned to where it was, but when I went to investigate, there was nothing there. These are all the radios I found within the oh-ridge proximity."

(Oh-ridge? Oh. Original, just contorted into something cooler.) "I don't think your parents want you to... Um, go out investigating things like that and stuff until you're older."

Bailey clinked her fingernails on the side of her mug, which I'm now realizing is probably her Dad's... It says 'I hate being sexy but I'm a truck driver so I can't help it' on the side. 

"That's why I should be perusing my investigations. God, Thea don't you know anything about being a teenager?"

"Eleven... Is that technically a teenager?" Bailey stopped clinking the ugly mug, "Two more years, sucka! Got to prepare, got to train."

"Can you turn a couple of them down?"

Bailey changed sitting positions to lay on her stomach, her feet forward to rest on the carpet next to either side of her head. "No."