Checkers

Chapter 8 - The Brother

I sat on my bed in my room with my knees against my chest. The fact that I had to compete in a challenge was not in the letter I received. I did not come here for this and I was seriously thinking about going home, where ever that was. More than anything though, I wanted to just call Dell and hear her voice. My only problem right now was that I refused to leave my room on the off chance someone wanted me to do something else. 

Someone came to tell me dinner was served but when I didn't come out, that person brought a platter to the outside of my room. I made no move to get the food as I had lost my appetite. Later, I heard someone get the food and take it away. Luckily no one pressured me to come out or bothered trying to enter my room. I just laid on my bed and soon fell asleep. 

I opened my eyes only to see darkness around me. Sitting upright on me bed I caught a glimpse of the alarm clock. 12:09 A.M. I sighed and got up to turn on a light. After finding a light switch, I blinked my eyes a few times until they adjusted. 

I sighed at the realization of how awake I was and at the same time, how hungry I was. Trying to weigh my options, I wondered if I could remember my way back to the kitchen. I tried to mentally map it out inside my head and was pleased to discover that I remembered the general path there. 

I walked to my bedroom door and slowly opened it to peek outside. There wasn't a single person or sound nearby. I bravely took the first step outside and started my way to the kitchen. I took a few wrong turns but finally found my way to the metal doors. I looked around to make sure no one was around then I pulled open the door. 

It was dark and I quietly closed the door behind me. I searched for a light switch and accidently bumped into a few pots. I cursed silently as the clamor of metal and tile commenced. I quickly located the switch and illuminated the empty kitchen. Light reflected off the multiple metal objects as I walked around. I noticed how much more space there was here without all the chefs cooking and working. 

I spotted a wall that had a long line of refrigerators with labels. There were cabinets along every wall with labels as well. The problem with the labels was that they lacked words and only contained numbers. They didn't help me much. 

I hadn't really thought this far ahead and came to the conclusion that I had no idea what to do next. I sighed as I pulled the door of the closest fridge and examined the interior. It was filled with dairy products. I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to eat or even what I could prepare for myself. 

"What are you doing in here?" a curious and amused voice asked. I quickly shut the fridge and held up my hands in surrender as I faced the owner of the voice. It was a guy, not too much older than me, with his arms crossed and a smug smile on his lips. 

"I could ask you the same thing," I retorted lowering my hands. Noticing his age, I began to feel more confident and leaned on a nearby counter only to knock over some pots and make a lot of additional noise. The stranger laughed as I failed miserably in catching all the appliances before they hit the ground. 

I huffed and looked at the guy who was still laughing at me, "Can I help you with something?" 

The stranger's amused smile didn't waver, "I was just going to ask you the same thing." 

I was about to shake my head when I found myself saying, "I'm hungry," 

"I assumed so since you were in the kitchen after all," he replied smartly as he joined me in leaning on the counter. He towered over me at probably over six feet tall. He had dark brown, almost black, hair and brown eyes. He smiled a straight white smile and I couldn't help but feel intimidated as he stood next to me. 

"I didn't catch your name," I supplied taking a small to put distance between us. 

"That's because I didn't throw it," he joked smiling wide. He walked over to the dairy fridge and looked inside as I had done before. "How does a hamburger sound?"