Aerith [Original Story] [On Hold]

Chapter 5: In Which I Settle In....and Question My Sanity

My bags were at the foot of the porch stairs where I left them, except one of them had tipped over. Yeah, I had stuffed that one a bit too much. Oops.

I was feeling pissed at the entire world, even though I had no right to be. I was just frustrated. I couldn't tell whether or not Tom and the others were all joking or completely serious. The thought of an alternate universe was ridiculous. But I didn't think that anyone would build an entire sword arena in their house just because they liked stabbing things.

And if they were telling the truth, then why wouldn't they believe me when I mentioned that giant dog? They probably thought that I was teasing them, but I wouldn't joke about something that could potentially kill me. If I had told that to anyone else, I would have sounded delusional to both them and myself. But these people had just finished talking about dragons and unicorns. I could at least sound partially sane by mentioning a massive killer hound.

But maybe I was delusional? Maybe this entire ordeal was just a hallucination or a dream? Well, there was no way of knowing for now.

And if they were telling the truth, the thought of such a place as this frustrated me. Was my whole life a lie? How much did I not know about? What all was there in Aerith? How could I not have known that an entirely different world has been right at my fingertips since I was born? I had every right to leave, to say that I wanted nothing to do with this, to go home and demand why my parents never told me about Aerith before.

My parents. If I went home, would they send me right back here? I knew that they loved me. It was a fact. Not a hope, not a vague idea. A fact. And they had sent me here in the first place, which meant that I had to benefit from being here somehow.

So I would stay. For now, at least.

I gripped the handles on my suitcases tightly and, with much effort, pulled them up the stairs and to the front door. I had no idea if everyone was still in the living room, or if they had all dispersed.

Upon going back inside, they were all in the same spots that I had left them in. Anthony, Nicole, and Xavier all still looked incredibly uncomfortable, fidgeting on the couch. Renee was glancing back and forth from Anthony to the floor. Tom hadn't sat down; he was as still as a statue as he stared out the window.

Why the heck wasn't anyone talking? These people were so awkward. I had been sure that they would all have been muttering about me when I entered, saying that I was a psycho with anger management problems. But I was starting to calm down now, and I was determined to make myself look better.

"So, do I get a room, or am I camping out on the couch?" I asked jokingly, trying to ease the tension and break the silence. Everyone on the couch jumped when I entered; apparently they hadn't noticed my entry. Renee and Tom didn't seem surprised, even though neither of them had looked in my direction when I walked in the room.

"There are plenty of spare rooms upstairs. Renee, can you show her where they are?" Tom asked, still not looking in my direction. Ah, crap. I would definitely need to do something to get on his good side. I was glad that he had chosen Renee, though, instead of Nicole. Although Nicole was cordial towards me, I had a vague feeling that our personalities weren't going to be compatible in the long run. I would do my best to be nice to her, but I could already tell that she was the snobby, sorority-type girl.

Renee nodded and took one of my suitcases. I followed her out of the room silently. I was starting to notice that a lot of awkward silences took place in this home.

"You can take whichever spare bedroom you'd like," Renee told me once we were out of earshot of the den. She took me up a back staircase to the uppermost floor of the house and began pointing out who slept where.

"There's Xavier's room, and across from his is Anthony's. Mine is next to Anthony's, and Nicole's is next to Xavier's. Tom's is next to Nicole's."

I figured that it would be awkward if I chose a room at the other end of the hallway, so I decided to take the one next to Renee's. Instead of a window, it had one wall that was completely made of glass and looked out onto the back lawn. There was also a circular skylight in the ceiling.

The king-sized bed was positioned on the right wall so that if I rolled on my right side, I would be able to look out the glass wall. Directly across the room from the bed was a flat-screen TV. On either side of the TV were a bookshelf and desk. Near the bookshelf, on the wall perpendicular to the TV, was the door. Next to the door was a wardrobe, and on the other side of the wardrobe was the door that led to the bathroom. A lamp occupied each of the two nightstands, which were each on one side of the bed.

Although there was a lot of furniture, the room was rather large, so there was still a lot of space. It was designed in the same color scheme and materials as the living room, which made me wonder if all of the other bedrooms were, too.

I peeked in the bathroom to see if another door connected to it, which would mean that I shared it with someone else. There weren't any other doors, but the bathroom was rather large. I really didn't need all of this space to myself, but I wasn't going to complain.

Renee told me that I could do whatever I wanted until it was time for dinner. I was thankful for that; she could probably tell that I wanted some alone time. I needed a chance to soak this all in. However, I knew that if I dwelt on it for too long, I would probably get frustrated again, so I decided to unpack to keep myself occupied.

It usually didn't take me long to unpack when I traveled, but I didn't want to run out of stuff to do, so I deliberately took a long time organizing my clothes and books in their proper places. When that was over with, I decided to take a bath. I needed to relax, and I was probably dirty, anyway.

There were about a billion different scents of bubble bath in the cabinet, but I eventually chose on the citrus scent, which smelled like pink lemonade. I turned the tap on, and the bathtub was soon filled with fuschia-colored bubbles. The moment I climbed in, I immediately felt soothed by the warm water.

I could have sat in the tub forever, but after an hour, I realized that I probably needed to get out. Since the bath was filled with soap, I quickly hopped into the shower to wash my hair out.

The bathrobe that I found on the towel rack was extremely soft and fluffy. If I had been back at home, I probably would have stayed in it for the rest of the day. My parents wouldn't have minded. However, I remembered that I was in a house with five other teenagers, so I grudgingly pulled on a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt.

It took a while for me to brush my hair out, since it was rather thick and long, so by the time I was done with that and settling down in bed with a book, I was ready to be lazy. I opened the novel to the spot I had left off at and began reading, but I soon found my eyes drooping, even though it was barely 6:00 in the evening. I knew that everyone would probably be eating dinner soon, but I didn't want to re-join them. I still needed time to myself.

Curling up in my blankets, I thought about what tomorrow might bring. Today had been a really odd day. 

Relax, Cosette. You need rest. Falling asleep would give me an excuse to get out of dinner, so I closed my eyes and tried to drift off. It wasn't hard, either. Soon after my eyes shut, I was asleep.

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A/N: I know that this chapter was short and kind of just a filler, but the plot will continue to develop from here on out. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter anyway. :)