They look like people

11

I went around the big, soft sofa in the middle of the room, past the multiple plants swelling from every possible corner, my steps leading me to the kitchen corner.

Even in my cooking school in Vancouver, the counter space hadn't been this big, or the cooking devices this modern... A chuckle left my lips, as I caressed the smooth surface of the wooden counter, opened every dark blue cabinet to look inside, an uncontrollable squeaking, giggle coming from my mouth.

Gosh, I had never been this happy about something since a long time ago.

Biting my lip to contain any other sounds, I went back to my suitcase in front of the door as I saw something lying on the sofa.

Hesitantly nearing myself, I recognized that it was a satchel. It was a... special satchel. I would not be the first person to volunteer to wear that... thing.

Old, with holes and its brown leather wrinkled and discolored in various tones of greenish brown or ugly yellow, the satchel surely looked more like someone had just throw up onto it.

But by the presence of this bag I knew that the turma, the group of Venantis Marvin had talked about, had been here. Or at least, someone had been in the apartment and left that satchel behind.

I took my suitcase and entered a narrow corridor on my right, where six doors seemed to lead to different rooms. I opened every single one of them, almost afraid to see a person sleeping in one of the rooms. All of them were empty, but I could see personal objects lying around here and there. In one room, I noticed a huge pile of chocolates and sweets laying on the bed, in another I saw some pictures hanging on the wall, or in another room, the complete space was... a mess. But an artistic one, if I could say it like that.

In the four rooms I had already visited, I had seen that they were owned by one of the four boys. The fifth room was a big bathroom, so I figured out that the last room had to be mine.

The tiredness was starting to kick in, so I quickly took a shower, prepared myself and directly went to bed in my new room. I was too exhausted to make myself to eat, so I figured out that the meal I had in the plane would be enough to hold till the next day. As I started to sink into the fluffy mattress of the bed, I let out a sigh of contentment, the dull light of the bedside table immersing the chamber in a cozy atmosphere.

Beside the faint city sounds, I heard nothing. I guess the turma was out for the night.

My eyelids were getting heavier and heavier, and all the thoughts that were racing through my mind were slowly falling apart...

I didn't know when I fell asleep, but as I heard the sounds, I knew for sure that it had waken me up. My body was still too much into sleep to move, be it just to open my eyes that seemed to be glued close, but my mind was starting to leave the heavy sleep it had been into.

Pressing my cheek deeper into the pillow and curling myself up to a ball under the warm sheets, I tried to concentrate on the noises with closed eyes. I could recognize a few voices and further away, the faint sound of the squeaking stairs, followed by the noise of opening and closing the door. Did I hear steps?

"Goddamned... Lee!"

Muffled voices seeped through the thin walls, and especially one voice was louder than the rest, like this someone was lecturing someone else.

"You don't just... alone, especially if... offers sweets! You're... little kid!"

Another voice tried to defend itself, and I could hear one, no, two other people trying to contain their laughters.

It sounded like there were four boys, from what I could hear. It was the turma Marvin had talked about, right? I wiggled under my blanket to sink further in the soft mattress. I could talk to them tomorrow, there was no hurry...