Kleo of the Trees: Episode One
by Vember Judgement

"It's eleven, Terry, get your ass out of bed already!"

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Terry sat up on his bed and stared at his little sister Cathy, who was surprisingly in full Goth mode considering it was so early. She stood in his doorway looking angry with him. Her previously cherry red hair was now a dark purple, which made him wonder how her hair hasn't fallen out yet from such misuse. The black lipstick on her thin lips and tight black miniskirt coupled with the fishnet stockings caught him off guard.

"You're too young for black lipstick and miniskirts sis, so take it off..." Cathy eyes lowered.

"Always trying to stifle me, I swear! Fine, I won't wear it, I'll just dress up like some stupid little schoolgirl my whole life!"

"You're eleven, get over yourself. You can wait a few more years if you wanna dress like that."

"Can't I be who I was destined to be? My Gothic heart bleeds for the darkness, and-"

"Goths don't have Bratz dolls all over their room, you poser."

Stomping the wood floor in a huff, Cathy stuck her tongue in his direction. The tongue piercing she secretly got behind his back reared its ugly head. With that, she left the room, slamming the door shut. Sighing to himself, Terry decided to creep back under the covers for some further sleep. However, the sudden ringing of his cell phone prevented him from doing so. Stretching over to the drawer by his bed while grumbling, he took the phone and hoped it wasn't who he thought it was.

"Terry, it's eleven! Dude, why the Hell are you still in bed?" It was.

"Wesley, leave me alone already, I like sleeping in..."

"Get your lazy ass out of bed, dammit! It's your shoe store you know, so don't you think being absent from it for a whole week is bad business? For all you know, we've been robbing the cash registers and having cake orgies on the size eight pumps!" Terry smiled sarcastically to himself.

"As if. Fine, I'll come in, but I have to bring my sister. My grandma is off somewhere playing poker with her hen house pals, so I have no one to babysit."

“ Aw man, don't bring her...She scared off all the customers with that stupid pet snake of hers last time..."

"She's leaving Beer home this time, okay?"

“ What about that nasty-looking hairless rat? Damn thing slept in the cash register!"

“ Fosters is staying put as well...Look, I'll be there in an hour, let me just go do my thing." He could hear his best friend laugh for a moment at the other end.

"What's so funny?"

“ I feel sorry for that nice ass king sized bed of yers. It's prolly thirsting for babes. When the hell are ya gonna break that thing in anyway, or do you like being a virgin?"

“ ...You are so fired when I get there."

Terry hung up the phone and flopped down onto the bed, hating how his best friend teased his lonely existence. He also hated how right Wesley was. He hadn't been on a decent date in months. The seven million dollars he and his sister inherited from his parents death insurance made dating extremely difficult. It seemed the only girls who have any interest in him were (in his opinion), vapid gold diggers and fake breasted hussies. The kind of girl he would like wouldn't care that he was rich.

"Then again, what kind of girl do I like anyway?" Terry thought to himself. Despite how much girls thought he was cute, he never managed to date, or even kiss a girl proper. It wasn't as if he never wanted to. However, things just never turned out the way he wanted to with them. He could never find the type of girl that caught his full and undivided attention. Terry wondered if he ever would.

"I'm going to end up like those forty-five year old balding loners who masturbate to soap operas, aren't I?" he asked to himself. Not wanting to think of the subject any more, Terry moaned his way out of bed and headed straight for the bathroom. He quickly splashed some water on his face and stared at himself for a moment. He noticed how long his blond hair was getting and wondered if a haircut was in order. He ran his fingers over his 'designer stubble' and figured he could go another day without a shave. He then took a gander at his arms and chest and wondered if he was starting to lose his muscular frame. He began to flex some of his muscles and felt he needed to hit the gym again.

"You're not going to start kissing your muscles and stuffing a sock in yer crotch, are you? Because if you are, I'm so running away." He looked over his shoulder at Cathy, who stood there taping her feet, now dressed in a black tee shirt and red bell bottomed jeans. Terry quickly covered his nipples and shut the bathroom door with his right leg.

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The streets of New York were particularly busy for a Tuesday afternoon, as the streets were packed with pedestrians. Terry decided to dress in a simple buttoned short-sleeved Hawaiian shirt, relax blue jeans and brown cowboy boots, of which his sister called 'god-awful'. Wanting to walk all the way to St. Marks and 2nd from their posh penthouse, they've spent the last half hour on a nice leisurely stroll through the summer winds.

"I had a dream about mom and dad again, Terry..." Cathy suddenly said out of nowhere. Terry was starting to worry about her, as those dreams have been happening at a rapid pace. They were part of the reason her recent rebelling into the Goth culture.

"Was it the same one about you three at a picnic?"

“ No... It was about the crash..." Cathy lowered her head teary eyed. He hated her having that particular dream, as it always returned her to the night a drunk driver crashed into their car two years ago. Part of the reason her recent rebelling into the Goth culture was an after effect of the dreams. He quickly reached over and held her.

"I'm sorry, I know it's been hard for ya since they left us. But hey, things have been good lately, right? I mean, you have so much more freedom then most girls your age, and mom and dad would be proud of the young woman you're growing to be." Cathy giggled sadly.

"You're so corny...But you're right. I just wish, you know...That you weren't such a dork of a guardian."

“ You could live with grandma...You know, a place where you're bedtime would be 8PM, and all the music you'd be allowed to hear is Radio Disney and gospel?" Cathy shuddered before jumping up and hugging her brother tightly. With that, they continued on their way. But before they made it a few feet, there was an unusually large crowd blocking their way. They could hear what sounded like singing, which caught Terry's interest. He took his sister's hand and rushed into the crowd, which immediately became a massive mistake.

"Once again, we laugh at the sea., we scratch our heads because of the fleas, oh we all wish to float like a dove, and all we wish is some money and love!"

Standing in the middle of the crowd was a shabbily dressed Asian girl, whose bad singing drew protests and laughter from the crowd. Despite the chaos around the girl, she gleefully continued to sing without a care in the world. Though the horrible singing hurt his ears, Terry was immediately entranced by her liveliness and vigor. He never was attracted Asian girls in the past, but her face was the cutest he had ever seen. He wished though he could have a better look at her body, but the baggy hooded jacket and ripped clothing she wore obscured her figure. As he stared dumbfounded, his sister put her hands over her ears and glowered.

"Oh gawd, she sounds like a Courtney Love drag queen! Someone shut her up!" After Cathy's very loud rant, the homeless Asian girl turned around from her song and dance and looked devastated. Terry stared into her light brown eyes and could see his sister's snide remark hurt her deeply. The crowd, whom most had themselves taunted and teased the girl stopped, looking in Terry and Cathy's way. An uncomfortable silence filled the air.

"Cathy, why'd you have to say something like that, huh? Jesus, you can be so insensitive."

“ Just stating the obvious, Terry, she sucks! Even the whole crowd knows it! She's like the worst singer in the world!" The homeless Asian girl could take no more of the abuse and ran in their direction. Just as she pushed past Terry and his sister, the girl's hood pulled back revealing her whole head. He caught the scent of her long raven hair, which in no way smelled unwashed. It had the fragrance of mums.

"Hey kid, why did you have to be like that, she was just singing for her meal!" one angry person in the crowd has said.

"Yeah, who made you the queen of NY! She has a right to sing on the sidewalk ya know!" Another one said. Terry put on a ridiculous smile, rubbed his head, grabbed Cathy by the back of her shirt, and began to walk backward.

"I'm sorry folks, my bratty sister has a big mouth, you know? Sorry," he said. His sister was about to say something, when he quickly put a hand on her mouth. The crowd had started to taunt and tease the both of them, when a loud screeching of tires caught everyone off guard. Terry looked over his shoulder and saw the homeless Asian girl in the middle of the street, having fallen flat on her face. Roaring in her direction was a taxicab.

"Crap."

Terry quickly sprang forward and ran into the street, hoping he would have enough time to save the girl. Once he reached her, he bent down and picked her up in his arms. He found her to be especially light. The fall somehow knocked her out a bit, her sleeping face entrancing him.

"Hey you...Are you okay?" The girl started to wake up, looking back at him weakly.

"Do you...have any...salami?"

“ Terry, lookout!" He took his face away from hers and found that he had forgotten to leave the middle of the street. He turned and stared into the taxi, whose driver looked to be having some sort of seizure. The last thing he saw before the darkness overtook him was it heading fast in his and the girl's direction.

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Terry slowly rose out of bed, his head aching badly. He stared at the clock and wondered where the time has gone. It was already Six-o-clock, and he knew he wasn't going to make it to the shoe store. He so hated over sleeping. He got off his bed, grabbed his cell phone, and walked zombie-like out of his bedroom. He yawned loudly as he passed by his sister's room, of which loud and whiny Goth music pounded against the closed door. He headed to the kitchen to get a snack, dialing the number to his shoe store in the process.

"Hey Wesley, sorry I didn't come in like I said..." Terry said once the call went through. There was silence at the other end.

"Terry? Hey man, you okay?" He said at the other end, his voice sounding a bit worried.

"Yeah yeah, just over slept. Man, I gotta tell ya a dream I was having, about a really cute Asian girl who was homeless, and how she and I got hit by a taxi, and-"

"Dude, what are you saying? That stuff wasn't a dream, yer sister called a few hours ago about all that!" Terry started to really wake up.

"What?"

“ Yeah, how you rescued that girl, and how you fainted like a pussy before that taxi missed you two and hit a parked car. It wasn't a damn dream!"

Before Terry could let that sink in, he found himself at the kitchen doorway, with a very pretty smile waiting for him inside. Leaning against the dinner table in nothing but a dripping bath towel wrapped around her supple body and head was the homeless Asian girl. The entire kitchen was littered in trash, and the stove looked like a bomb had detonated over it.

"Hi Terry! Sorry about the mess, but I just HAD to make you some dinner! Oh yeah, you don't know my name, right? Well it's Kleo, nice to meetcha!" Unable to utter another word, all Terry could do was staring blankly, dropping his cell phone on floor.