My Fault

Meeting everyone

                I couldn’t believe who I was staring at. He looked pretty shocked too, like now I knew a big secret of his that he intended to keep hidden. I watched as he opened the door even more and gestured us inside. The driver and I made our way through the front door, and I set my bags on the ground, taking in my surroundings. The walls were painted maroon and white. It blended well together along the mass art works on the walls, picture frames, and random signs. It seemed so homely, but I wasn’t about to jump into the idea of liking it here. I was still scared and on edge about what I was going to find in this place.

                “Welcome, welcome!” A soft voice rang out from the kitchen.

                The lady stepped through the doorway and made her way up to me. She seemed to be in her late 60s. Her hair was tinted gray, but she had dyed it blond. She was a little bit taller than me, and walked slowly over in my direction. I was embraced in a hug, so I slowly hugged her back. When she released, she put her hands on my shoulder and smiled at me. “You must be Lylah! You are a pretty young thing.” She said and nodded her head.

                When she took her hands off my shoulders, she gestured towards Johnny. “Johnny, will you be a dear and show Lylah her room?” She asked.

                Johnny nodded, then motioned for me to follow him. “Oh! Before you go, here’s the list of the rules. There aren’t many, but they are important.” She said, handing them to me with a smile.

                I smiled back, took the sheet, then grabbed my bags and followed Johnny.  We made our way silently down a long hallway. I could see white boards hung up on the door with names on them. I guessed it was certain rooms for the people who resided here. We stopped at a room that had my name printed on the white board in purple marker. Johnny opened it for me, and I stepped in. The walls were a beautiful shade of lavender, with white see through curtains that hung on the windows. The bed was a queen sized bed with a white and purple comforter, and the carpet was white. I made my way over to the bed and set my bags on it. When I looked back at Johnny, he gave me a small smile, then closed my door. I listened as his footsteps got harder and harder to hear, then started unpacking my things.

                I placed all of my clothes neatly in the dresser along the wall, then sat down on my bed to read the rules. The lady was right, there weren’t many.

                Here at Rosewood, we want to be able to make a safe environment for the occupants. These are the best ways to do so:

1)      No leaving the grounds unless given permission.

2)      No harassment of any kind.

3)      No discrimination against age, gender, race, religion, and sexual orientation.

4)      Everyone shall take turns with chores.

5)      Lights out at 10 pm on school days, and no bedtime on weekends.

6)      And most importantly, smile.

The last rule actually made me smile. It was cute how the lady added that to the list. She seemed like a wonderful person, so I didn’t mind her. I was a little on edge about meeting the rest of the teenagers who resided here. Would they accept me? Would they treat me bad? I ran my fingers through my hair and sighed.

I could hear my name being called, and then a knock on my door. “Lylah, sweetie! Come meet everyone!” It was the lady, whom hadn’t introduced herself to me yet.