Kara's POV.
My slightly long nap is interrupted by a knock on the door. Well..my door.
"Yea-wh-who is it?" I say still a bit sleepy.
"Its Kristie..well we haven't met yet" A voice says and I get up and open the door. The bed was way too comfortable, I snoozed off.
"Hello" She says
"Hi. I'm Kara" I say
"Kristie. I'm the assistant chef and well care taker of the house" She said with a bright smile.
"Okay Kristie. How may I help you?"
"Well Dinner is ready" Dinner? What time is it?
"7:00pm" Did I really say that out loud?!
"Okay then..I'll be down in two" I say and then she nods and I close the door.
Kristie looked to be in her early twenties. I wonder what she's doing here. Oh well. Too early to be nosy.
I head for the elevator, too deep in thought, I don't notice the wall that I suddenly bump into.
"Ow" I mutter, the same time the wall hissed "Hey watch where your going"
"And you must be Damien" I say when realization hit me
"And you must be clumsy. Out of my way Noob" Did he seriously just say noob? I stare at the dark haired boy and walk away.
I enter the elevator and he does too.
"Aren't you going to ask my name?Y'know for when you want to talk to me" I blurt out stupidly. I have poor boy talking skills, that has been established now.
"I won't need to" He snapped and focused his attention back on his phone, the reason he bumped into me. I bet he was drooling over 'Deborah's' pic.
"What did you say?" He growled
"I..uh..I didn't.." I try to answer but fail and give up. Well, now he hates me.
I reach out my hand to tap the button for the ground floor where the dinning hall is but his manly hands beat me to it and tap the button for the home theater.
What? "Aren't you coming for dinner?" I ask in surprise.
"You ask too many questions for your own good. You know what they say about the cat.." He said boredly, his attention still on his phone.
I gulp subtly and clutch my amulet.
Ding.
He left the elevator without another word. I was desperately hungry but a part of me wanted to know what he was up to.
===
He walks up to the door. He opens it and then goes inside. I don't try to open the door cause I know he will know I followed him.
So I pressed my ears on the door gently. Wait ? What am I doing! One day in this house or even a few hours in this house, Damien already hates me and now I'm stalking him?
Now I just feel like a creep. While I battle with my inner self to go or to stay, I hear a sound.
The movie's starting. I listened carefully and tried not to make any sound.
Laughter is heard from the other side of the door. A feminine laughter. And then a masculine one. Then the female voice says "Are you hungry?"
"No I just ate. I'm fine" the male voice replied
"Just try my cake. Pweety Pweease!!" The female said
"Fine. Only because I love you" the male said. Come to think of it, this male sounds like..
"What do you think your doing?" A voice whispered in my ear.
I almost jump and scream but the person stops me. "Oh God..Mona you scared the heck outta me"
"That's besides the point, what are you doing here?" She repeats
"Well I wanted to come for dinner but then I bumped into Damien-"
"-You bumped into Damien!?" Mona said after she dragged me into the elevator for dinner.
"Yea and then I wanted to get in the elevator but then he got in too and then I tried to talk to-"
"-you tried to talk to Damien?"
"Yea I did. But then he was all mean and so I wanted to tap the ground floor button but the he tapped the home theater button so I followed him-"
"-you followed Damien?!" She interrupts once again
"Yes. I did. Now would you let me finish my story?" I snap and she gives me an apologetic smile
"Well actually that's all of it though. He was watching some movie but the voice sounded like his so much and-"
"-it is his. Its a tape. Of him and Deborah" Mona says in disgust
Wow. Okay. I did not see that coming. Dashing Damien a sad broken hearted lover? Just..wow.
Ding.
And then we both get off as Mona laughs because apparently, I said it out loud. Again. I seriously need to brush up on my social skills.
"Good evening Kara" Millie said
I smile at her "Evening Millie" Then I take a seat in between Mona and Casper on the long dining table with excess chairs.
I suddenly feel under-dressed as Millie looks elegant in a white fitted gown and her hair in a nice updo. Her make up is moderate but nice and she looks calm and collected.
Mona also looks better than I do, in her white ripped jeans and yellow tank top and a denim jacket.
If this is how they dress here, I should probably throw everything I own away.
"What are we eating?" How stupid of me to ask. Kristie and who I guess is Anna, serve us and drop white China plates in front of us.
Kristie gives everyone a nice serving of Mac and cheese. Looks reeeal cheesy. And it looks waaay better than the Mac and cheese back at the foster agency.
I dig in immediately and I feel eyes on me. I look up to see everyone staring at me eating like a pig.
"Oh I'm sorry" I say and swallow what's left in my mouth and clean my mouth with the serviette.
I smile awkwardly and Millie prays. "Dear lord, bless Kristie and Anna for preparing our meal. It shall digest in one piece and come out in one piece"
"Amen" we all chorus and then I proceed with my eating. I finished before everyone. Of course. I had an extra serving and then it was time for dessert.
"So Kara..we have some shopping to do! School is in two weeks!" Millie said
Gulp. What? "Oh" I say
"Kara's been homeschooled her whole life so she's a little shy" Mona inputs for me
Millie smiles "I see you two have been bonding" she says and I look down at my wrist and smile. Then I nod.
"Oh and before I forget, meet in me in my room after dinner. I trust Mona has given you a tour" Millie said
I nod. Kristie placed the dessert- chocolate chipped cookies - in front of me and I decided to take them to go.
This formal setting is getting to choking for me.
I grab a bunch of cookies and hurry to my room.
===
I get to my room after mixing up the rooms a little then slump on the bed with a sigh.
New home, new family, new food, new air.
I start to unpack, realising I should have done so since.
I put my trousers and my shorts in a drawer. I close it then put my t-shirts in another drawer. I close that one too and when I want to put the very few dresses I have on hangers, I notice that the first drawer is open.
That's weird, I thought I closed it. I close it back then get back to unpacking. I start arranging my scanty collection of shoes and the second drawer opened. By itself and I'm not kidding.
Holy cow! What just happened?
I stomp over there and close the drawer. I close the first one too cause it was open. Again.
What the hell?
I sit down on the couch close to me and stare at it. I blink once, nothing happened. I blinked twice. Nothing. I blinked slowly the last time and I swear I saw the drawer open.
"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!" I yell angrily and I swear I heard a chuckle.
No no no. Its all in my head. It has to be!
Or maybe its not, I leave the drawer that way and try to ignore the many paranoid thoughts flowing through my head.
I grab my nook from where I placed it on my dresser and start to read Wuthering heights though I've read it a million times.
The nook was a thoughtful gift from Lenny. She saved all year just to get me this. I almost didn't accept it, it was just too Much.
Lenny.
I have to call her. Or at least communicate with her.
I read a line three times and it still doesn't sink in as I see one of my vans being flicked across the room.
Okay that's it. I'm leaving here!
===
I don't know where I'm going, but I just keep running up the stairs, careful not to disturb anyone and finally stop to take a breath.
I close my eyes and start to think happy thoughts. Lenny's voice...
Grandma...
My hand reaches out for my amulet and I suddenly feel safe and normal and secure.
I suddenly feel aware of my surroundings. I snap my eyes open to what seems like the..attic?
A lot of old stuff here.
Hmm...maybe just a little snooping would take my mind off that stupid voice I heard.
I get up and look around. Its all dusty and old.
I move around. There's a table with loads of junk.
On the table, there were old books, an old pen that probably doesn't work anymore, something that looks like a flask, and a key.
Hmm..what's this flask thingy? Its shaped like an egg and it looks golden.
I pick it up. It has some writings on it that look ..I don't know..Egyptian? Like hyrogliphics maybe...
I run my fingers around it and dust it a bit.
It has some readable words on it.
"Harukni Shimantu an ya bu shi?" Well that's definitely not English.
But they sound familiar.
Grandma always sang this song...
"Harukni Shimantu an ya bu shi. The answer is within you. Bai na tomon to. You just unlock it"
I wonder...
There's an oval shaped key hole? And its empty.
My hand suddenly touched my amulet. And I gasped.
"The answer is within you, you just unlock it!" I say to myself.
I quickly remove my amulet and place it in the key hole and it started glowing.
Hunh?
Then the egg shaped thingy floated out of my hands and the writings became bolder. The gold suddenly became more evident and then it stopped floating and almost fell on the ground. But I caught it.
What. The. Heck!
I try to remove my amulet but it won't budge.
What now?
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