imperfect by Tina Chan Read Free Book Online

shower.” Chelsa
nodded her head towards yet another door in the room Kristi failed
to observe last night.
    The bathroom, like the rest of Chelsa’s
living quarter, was small but tidy. Kristi twisted the doorknob to
the bathroom; it refused to turn.
    “ You have to press the
knob to the right a bit,” Chelsa said, watching Kristi struggle
with the bathroom door. With a reluctant creak, the door swung
inwards, permitting her to pass through.
    The shower Kristi took refreshed and drained
all the sleepiness out of her, probably because the hot water
wasn’t working. And there is no faster way to wake oneself up than
stepping underneath a jet of ice-cold water first thing in the
morning.
    Next, she slipped on the clothes Chelsa had
left for her on the counter. The V-neck shirt and jeans hugged her
body comfortably; not too tight nor too loose. Satisfied with her
new outfit, Kristi did her best to untangle and braid her hair. It
was quite a challenge since her hair seemed to rebel against all
attempts of being tamed. At last, she restored the bathroom to its
original condition and stepped back out into the main room.
    Chelsa had finished
cooking breakfast and it smelled divine. Kristi nodded thanks and
appreciatively accepted the bowl of cinnamon sugar oatmeal Chelsa
offered. Then she started to sit on the wheelie chair, but halted
when she realized the droid-leopard perching there. It takes skill not to notice a large cat sitting
in the chair you were planning on sitting in, Kristi thought to herself sheepishly.
    The leopard hissed at her, not pleased for
having almost been sat upon.
    “ Geez, no need to get all
catty on me,” Kristi said. She backed away from the chair in case
the feline decided to pounce on her.
    Chelsa cracked up. “That
was hilarious! You should have seen your face when you saw
Ghost!”
    “ I’m pretty sure the
saying is, ‘You look like you’ve seen a ghost’,” Kristi said. For
some reason, her response made Chelsa laugh again. “Now what?”
Kristi didn’t see anything funny about the situation.
    “ My leopard’s name is
Ghost. I wasn’t talking about the idiom,” said Chelsa.
    Kristi looked over to Ghost who stared
evenly back.
    “ Ghost won’t bite you
unless I command him to,” reassured Chelsa.
    “ Okay. I think I’ll eat
breakfast standing though.” Kristi scooted away from the
one-hundred-pounds-plus leopard and lifted a spoonful of oatmeal to
her lips.
    “ Pet him. He likes being
stroked.”
    “ I think I’m
fine.”
    “ You aren’t scared, are
you?”
    “ No, I’m not.”
    “ Pet him.”
    Ghost let out an annoyed huff and leapt down
from the chair. He glanced back once at Kristi then stalked out,
looking as peeved as a droid-leopard could look. Kristi seated
herself in the now-empty chair and ate the cooled oatmeal. Chelsa
came over and nursed a mug of black coffee.
    Kristi couldn’t prevent herself from
observing Chelsa. Before her eyes was another Accident that had
survived into her teens, a feat Kristi had believed only she had
accomplished. If Chelsa noticed her watching, she showed no signs
of it.
    “ Who are you exactly? Why
are you here? Where are your parents? When did you move into North
Region?” Kristi’s questions spilled out from her.
    “ Where to start…” Chelsa
said.
    “ Why don’t you start from
the beginning? That’s usually a pretty good place to start.” She
gulped down a sip of coffee so strong it could’ve passed for an
extra-concentrated caffeine pill.
    “ As I said before, I come
from the East Region. Things weren’t pretty back there. I was
constantly framed for any crimes that happened simply because I’m
an Accident. Eventually, I decided I’ve had enough and left.”
Chelsa collected the empty bowl from Kristi then continued on. “I
found this room by accident; I was searching for a place to sleep
and somehow ended up in the room behind the wall. To make a long
story short, I installed the scanner lock to keep out