She was so surprised by everything here, and she felt more suffocated and scared than excited. The skinny red-haired girl looked around the large room. In the corner of the room was a round bed with a white mosquito net tucked up overhead. Selena suddenly thought that she wanted to have a beautiful room like this when she was ten years old.
Nevertheless, now, when the things she wanted – both the princess bed and the move to a faraway place have been and are gradually being accomplished, she involuntarily feels heavy loneliness in her heart. That red-haired girl misses the little room in the old house on Sloane Street, and she misses London. Furthermore, most of all, she missed Aunt Alina.
Selena let go of the plastic handle and let the large suitcase fall to the floor. She did not bother to pack up but dragged her exhausted body back to the bed, and she dropped heavily on the soft mattress. She looked up at the ceiling, her glittering amber eyes dreamily staring at the dangling chandelier glowing with gold. Then he curled up, pulling the white blanket up around him. Little Selena is feeling lost as she cannot find any familiarity here. People kept saying that the Landcaster was where it belonged, but even the comforter could not find the warmth. This poor fifteen-and-a-half-year-old girl has always felt so lonely. Selena felt her eyelids feel heavy. The golden light from the chandelier floating in the air was slowly fading. She felt the sounds around her gradually mix, and in her head, now it was just a piece of dark space, empty and quiet. Selena quickly fell into a deep sleep to forget reality. Poor little Selena, her soul is always lonely and patchy with the pain piled up during her growing up period that no one can empathize with.
The sweet sunlight by the window of the old house on Sloane Street always brings warmth to this room gently. The purple orchid petals on the balcony seem to be shaking to greet the new day, and their scent is gentle but familiar. Underneath the street is still the image of carefree people walking. Uncles and uncles rode bicycles to deliver newspapers and milk to each house, along with the jingle of old car horns and the greetings of the elders waving to each other in the street. Selena was about to reach out her white hands to touch the cold iron balcony. Suddenly, Selena felt the shaking of the floor, and then she heard the door suddenly shake violently. Startled, she turned her head to look where the repeated pounding on the door came from a loud thud of horror. Selena can't imagine how the person behind this wooden door used so much force that the door was visibly shaken.
She took a few steps back in panic, trying her best to calm down, but her chest kept pounding. Suddenly she felt her throat being squeezed tightly by someone, choking until it was difficult to breathe. She struggled; she struggled as if she'd just slipped and fell into a deep dark blue water. Selena fumbled with her limp legs and flailing arms as if she was trying to claw at the little air left in this despair and pain.
She stumbled and fell to the tiled floor, her back feeling the chill in every fibre of her skin from the iron balcony she was leaning against. The fragile wooden door received a strong impact as if it was about to burst. The door wall shook, and the rotten wooden board seemed to be unable to bear the burden anymore with the push of the outsider.
A slit at the edge of the door revealed a void as dark as a cosmic black hole. It crawled through the aperture that night, then sprang forward, enveloping Selena's entire mind. Selena felt utter disgust and horror as if some hideous creature was about to leap out of that horrible black smoke.
In an instant, a bitter cry resounded. Was it a woman's scream or most likely a cry? Selena didn't know. She faintly felt a pain of hatred piled up from that terrible sound, which sounded both familiar and strange at the same time. From the depths of her panic, Selena was still reasonably confident that it wasn't Aunt Alina's voice.
The hissing sound in the black smoke seemed to swallow Selena's whole mind, cover its entire body, then grasp the bottom of her heart and slowly tear her heart: "SELENE!".
Little Selena startled, startled; she sat up, kicked off the thick, white cotton blanket pressing on her face, clutched her throat, and coughed. She was drenched in sweat like a bath. She was scared and hurriedly bound its knees, narrowing its body, and glanced around the room. But there was nothing but the silence in the dim yellow lights and the unfamiliarity of this brand new room. Selena was bewildered; she was shocked before she realized that she was still sitting on a large round bed in the middle of the velvet room at Uncle Gideon's house, but still remembering the anguished scream in her mind. Just now, Selena had a terrible dream, so much so that it took her several minutes to regain her vitality. Selena began to relax her stiff shoulders earlier. She sat cross-legged, reaching out her hands to wipe the sweat from her forehead and temples quickly. Little Selena tried to suck in a big breath of air so that her lungs were inflated and purified as if the black mist from a dream had really penetrated inside her. Then she puffed out her cheeks and breathed a sigh of relief, expelling all the negative aura from the aftermath of the nightmare; she reassured herself that it was because she was so tired that she had such a terrible dream. The drops of sweat had soaked the back of her shirt, making it even wet on the soft white mattress.
Knock.
Knock.
Knock.
Selena was startled again by the gentle knock on the door, her pupils dilated to the fullest extent. She felt her heart rate increase again; her dry red lips moved to ask who was outside.
"It's me, Helios. Let's go to dinner!" Helios' warm voice resounded softly. Selena sighed; she slightly closed her eyes, making her thick, curled eyelashes fall down as if she rubbed her nose and smiled to herself because she was too shy. If it stays like this for a few more years, sooner or later, it won't be strangled by some dirty force; it will already have heart failure; Selena patted her forehead a few times in thought.
"Yes!" Selena shouted loudly, "I'm coming out!"
She went to take a bath to feel comfortable and then opened the door to go out. Its handsome cousin Helios had been waiting for him at the door all this time with a friendly smile.
Helios led him upstairs. The dining room has a long table like a meeting room, giving people a suffocating sense of solemnity. Next to the large window, a series of noble red silk curtains that resembled a classical Victorian palace were neatly tied. Selena suddenly felt a bit suffocated in a place as rich as this because she had only been used to the old dining table at Aunt Alina's house for a while.
Everyone was sitting on the leather chairs with both hands tucked away from the table, exuding an air of superiority that Selena had never learned or even seen. She was even more embarrassed when her hands were frantic with the knives and forks like a cat playing with a small woollen roll.
"Just be natural!" Uncle Gideon sat at the head of the table, talking to her without even raising his eyes because he knew that she was and was under a lot of pressure under the eyes of the children next to him. The uncle with the white scarf on the front of his collar looks very sophisticated, his hands are skilful, but the operation is still slow as if he was kind enough to let Selena learn without making her awkward.
Poor little Selena looks around; the table is full of expensive dishes and looks very attractive, but her heart aches, and she worries whether Aunt Alina knows how to order fast food or is clumsy to do it. Sample of burnt black bread.
"Waiting to be invited to eat, cousin?" Helen, sitting across the table, glanced at Selena with a displeased face, clearly displeased as she looked around the table and lowered her head.
"Um… I'm sorry… I didn't mean to… Please, everyone…" Selena was really just an orphan girl on Sloane Street; she didn't know anything about the upper class even though she didn't even know the placement of utensils; she just wished there was a place for her to hide right now to avoid the eyes that were staring at herself. Selena secretly appreciates Helios when he helps her put food on the plate.
"I wonder if we can be in the same class?" Luckily for Selena, Derek started talking about something else so people wouldn't focus on her.