Graced

Chapter Seven

Lia blearily opened one eye. A glance at the plainness of the room caused her to shut it again. The events of the last day flooded back to her and she groaned, wishing it had all just been a dream. But no, they were stuck in this place with no idea about anything. She wanted to just lay around and try to pretend nothing unusual had happened, but her mind wouldn't let her forget. There was also the nagging feeling that they were there for a reason yet unknown. She slowly opened both eyes, rolled over… and fell out of the bed.

“Ouch,” she muttered, angry at nothing in particular.

She stood stiffly, stretched and yawned, and headed across the hall to the nearest bathroom to have a quick shower. Standing under the steaming hot water, she perused their current situation but came up with nothing. She needed to know more about this place, outside their new home.

After heading quickly back to her room, wrapped in a towel since she hadn't brought any other clothes, she suddenly realized that she had no other clothes, except the ones she was wearing before, but they were dirty, and a little torn from the scuffle with the others when she’d threatened to kick them out. They'd definitely weren't suitable for appearing in public. She sighed in defeat.

“Well, this sucks. Now what?” 

Lia looked around the room. There was a dresser for each person in the room, but she doubted there'd be anything in it, much less anything that would actually fit her. Nevertheless, she walked over and opened a random drawer. She stared in amazement for a few seconds, before reaching in and pulling something out and checking the size. Incredibly, everything in it was exactly her size. She began to rummage through the other drawers, pulling out clothes and examining them, before putting them back neatly. She chose an outfit and changed quickly. It was a simple, long sleeve shirt in purple, one of the few colours she felt like she looked good wearing. Dark jeans, not quite black, and, after checking the closet, navy blue converse.

She was about to walk out the door, when she finally realized the other strange feeling she’d had, about something that was amiss. She had been too sleepy before to realize it, but it was immensely strange that her room had plenty of clothes that fit her perfectly. Maybe it was a coincidence. Everyone else probably had a bunch of clothes, but not all of them would fit. The rooms probably just had a bunch of random clothing stored in them. 

Her curiosity now piqued, she stepped back into the bathroom, and began to rummage through cupboards and drawers. She found a bunch more of the of cute little shampoos and soaps like those that you'd get from hotels. There'd been some sitting out that she’d used for her shower, but there were even more stashed everywhere. There were also five drawers in a row, with… numbers on them? She had to think about that one for a moment, before realizing that they were room numbers. Her room had its own, as did the other surrounding rooms. Each bathroom must have had drawers for each of the surrounding rooms, so everyone had one. She opened the one with her number and found makeup, perfume, hair accessories, and a few other things. She wondered if everyone had the same stuff. Her curiosity got the better of her, and she opened the one that belonged the a pair of boys that were a few rooms down. They didn’t have as much stuff, no makeup or perfume or anything. 

The strangeness of this place made her suspicious. Who would have gone through and prepared every room to have exactly what each person would want or need? But she had no idea, so she added it to her mental list of things she needed to figure out about this place.

Since there was nothing she could do about it, and the stuff was here so she might as well make use of it, she pulled out some of the makeup. Concealer and powder (exactly the right shade of course), eyeliner, and mascara. She dabbed a little concealer on a few spots (she was extremely self conscious about her appearance) brushed the powder on gently, outlined her  eyes with royal purple eyeliner, making them seem an even brighter green, and applied a few coats of mascara.

Lia headed out into the hall. It was empty. She strolled down to the foyer to see if there was anybody there. The foyer was also empty, so she decided to try the arcade, theatre, and gym. No one in the arcade, but she could hear voices coming from the gym. She stood in the doorway, watching everyone else. They were all clustered around the small door in the corner that led to the weapons room. Concerned, she approached. One person looked back and saw her coming, so they nudged the person next to them, and they moved out of her way. Soon, everyone noticed her, and the crowd went silent, parting to create a path, acting like she was dangerous. In the centre of the group stood Bree and Braeden, each holding their set of keys and puzzling over the locked door. Lia attempted to slow her pace so as not to seem suspicious. They both looked up at the exact same time as she approached, but Braeden met her gaze and dropped his eyes to the floor, while Bree brightened and stepped towards her, opening her arms for a hug, as was their usual greeting. Once she was released from Bree’s embrace, Lia finally spoke.

“What’s happening here?” Lia asked, gesturing to the crowd surrounding them, who were perfectly still and silent, eyeing her warily.

“Well…” Bree began, and Lia knew this would be a long, drawn out story.

“Short version,” she interrupted. Bree smiled at her. 

“Okay, well, everyone found a bunch of stuff in their rooms that was perfect for them, and after getting over the strangeness of it all, Justin decided he wanted to put some of the athletic stuff to good use, since he now had good clothing to wear to the gym. So he came here and began testing stuff out, and discovered this door hidden away back here. He came to see if we had the key to the room, since it’s locked, and we attracted a huge crowd.” She shrugged. “That’s pretty much it. But we can’t open it with any of our keys.”

She wasn't surprised at the turn of events, however. At least one of her questions, about whether everyone had exactly perfect clothes and other items, had been answered. Although the answer wasn't the one she’d been hoping for. And of course it was Justin who'd decided it might be worth investigating. He was, after all, the most athletic, most troublesome guy in their grade. Lia arranged her face so as not to give anything away. They didn't need to know what was in that room. It would only destroy their almost non-existent sense of security, and completely freak them out. She would keep that, along with the ghostly girl from the other locked room, secret as long as humanly possible. Everyone was watching her expectantly, so she shrugged.

“I’ve no clue either. If you guys don't have the right key, neither do I. We do have exactly the same ones, after all.”

Her answer seemed to satisfy everyone, they all looked as though they hadn't expected anything else. The crowd began to disperse until only she, Bree, and Braeden were left. Those that had been working out in the gym just scattered themselves throughout the room. Braeden still hadn't met her eyes, which she was perfectly fine with. If he wanted to avoid her, so be it. Bree was the first to speak. 

“Well, I guess there’s nothing we can do about that. This place seems to have a lot of secrets. So what’s up?”

“Well,” began Lia slowly. “I was thinking… about going outside.”

She received shocked looks from both of them, Braeden finally meeting her eyes. They looked at her, then back at each other, then back at her. Bree opened her mouth as though to say something, but no words came out so she closed it again. They continued staring at her in disbelief for some minutes, Lia slowly getting more and more annoyed as the seconds ticked by.

After watching as they attempted to form a reply to her statement, but fail, Lia gave up. She spun on her heel and stalked away, leaving them staring after her with twin expressions of astonishment. She didn't even give them another glance, slamming the door forcefully behind her, so that it rattled the whole wall.

They glanced at each other after the door slammed, and could tell exactly what the other was thinking. They mirrored each other's hurried pace, trying to catch her before she did something rash and dangerous.

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A/N: I have nothing to say haha. I don't even know why I'm writing an author's note for this chapter, except....

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