Red

8.

I kept silent as I trudged behind Luca.

"That's the west wing where all our staff stay of they don't have their own houses, if they do they are welcome to stay here if they want to or not. The south wing has all our offices. But never, and I mean never go into the office at the end of the south wing. That is Javan's and he hates when people come and go as the please. East wing is business or conference rooms. But the east wing upstairs has a movie theater, 2 game rooms, music room, and an art room. The nor-"

"Did you say an art room?"

I perked up after hearing that come out of a god awful mouth. I mean everyone is acting as if they didn't ignore for the few years they had me here.

"Uh, yes. No one uses it. To to knowledge at least. Now the north wing has our 3 garages, 2 kitchens, the dining room, and the tea room. But upstairs the west wing just has more rooms for our staff, south wing is storage, and the north wing is where all the bedrooms are. That includes where our cousins, aunt, and uncle sleep, and our guest bedrooms. And finally, never go near the basement. That is none of your concern or your right to be down there."

Luca got all serous at the end of his big explanation of the house layout. I just nodded. We were now at the kitchen. Luca spoke to some of the cooks in Italian. Immediately I was handed a plate of eggs, bacon, and a hashbrown.. is this McDonald's or somethin? I said a small thank you to the cooks then Luca lead me to what I'm assuming is the dining room. I sat then he sat. I ate in complete silence but Luca was there the entire time with me. What the hell? I stood once I was done eating and went to go back to the kitchen.

"Is that all you're eating?"

Luca asked me. He was right. I didn't eat a lot, but I didn't really have an appetite after losing my father figure, being forced to move, and being home sick in less than 24 hours.

"Yeah...I'm not that hungry right now. I'll eat more at lunch."

Which is a huge lie. I brought my dishes back to the kitchen and thanked the cooks again. Then I went to find that storge area for all my baby stuff. My thoughts started to wander as I did too. In this past week my past had been brought up more than once and it's been haunting me. Jack always starved me and said I'd look better if I wasn't so fat. I never thought I was fat but society is harsh so you can never really know. Even after everything that's happened this past week that's made me upset and lose my appetite, the memories also play a bug role in that. And it hate every ounce of this all.

I found my way upstairs again, to the south wing, and rummaging through cardboard boxes until I found a few that said Victoria on them in black sharpie. I put it on the floor and sat in a chair as I opened one at a time. There was only 5 boxes. One with old kid and baby clothes, another with bedding and a disassembled crip. Did I really sleep in a crib when I was 4? Maybe I did. This family is a bit weird. The third box was of old toys and stuffed animals. The finally box was all the photos with me in them. I noticed around the house they barely have photos hanging, if they do they don't have me in them. All they have is paintings and tapestries on the walls. I looked through some photos until I found one of me as an infant, holding the stuffed animal I still carry around with me everywhere. It's a small lion, but now it's all beat up and looks disgusting. In the photo it looks brand new. I look at some more photos, there was one of mom handing me the lion. My face had a huge smile on it. I don't think I've seen myself with that big of a smile in forever.

"Why in the world is this door open?"

I heard someone mumbled, snapping me out if my trance. I instantly stood up and saw Javan looking at me.