Shattered Fragments

Sleeping in Closets

Written from August 4 to August 7 in response to a challenge made by Lumi. (astrophile)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

On one of the mansion's many balconies lay an extravagant divan. On the divan rests a young girl, contentedly snoozing under the shade of many trees under the afternoon sun. In front of her lay a gigantic tiger, head resting on its crossed paws.

Suddenly, the voice of a young woman rings throughout the house. "Mistress Solaris! Where are you?!" it screams.

The young girl wakes up with a start, rolling off the divan and falling right on top of the tiger. Startled, it lets out a small roar and jumps away, looking back at her with wary eyes.

"I'm sorry, Fluffy," the young girl yawned. "Oh! I'm still so very sleepy." Using the divan as a support, she hoists herself up and staggers back indoors, with Fluffy the tiger padding alongside her.

"Mistress Solaris!" the voice shouts again. Solaris ignores the calls. She heads in the opposite direction, towards the bedrooms. At the entrance, a bout of drowsiness hits her and she stumbles on the thick carpet covering the hallway. "Oh!" she exclaims. Fluffy, quick as a cat, leaps in front and catches her.

"Thank you, Fluffy," she says. "Now... take me to my bedchamber, there's a good boy."

The tiger growls in affirmation. With her on his back, he pads along the hallway, stopping in front of a set of double doors. He nudges one with his head, and it swings open.

He steps inside. He deposits his indisposed master at the foot of the bed before slumping down next to her.

Solaris lets out a gigantic yawn and curls up into a ball. Through hazy eyes she could make out a bookshelf, a desk, and a suit of armor. This was surely not her bedchamber. But she was so drowsy, and getting up would be too much effort...

She spots the open door. "Oh! What if Janette finds me in here? That would be so unfortunate..." she thinks. Poking at the tiger, she says: "Fluffy, be a dear and shut the door, would you?"

Fluffy growls in annoyance, but he gets up anyway and pushes the door shut with a big furry paw.

Satisfied, Solaris begins to fall into a dream when she remembers something. "Oh! What if Janette opens the door and finds me in here? I'm certain she will force me to get up..." she thinks.

"Where can I hide?" She forces herself to sit up. The only thing aside from the bookshelf, the desk, and the armor was the large bed which she was leaning on. There was nowhere she could hide.

Scanning the room again, her eyes fall upon a small door at the far end of the room. It was partly hidden by a curtain drawn across it. Going up to the door, she opens it. The room inside was lined with shelves full of clothes and other garments. There was still lots of room inside. It would make for a nice hiding place. "I've never slept in a closet before. I wonder what it will be like?" she muses.

She turns back to the tiger. "Fluffy, wake up," she says, shaking him by the paw. He yawns, sending a blast of foul-smelling breath towards her. She exclaims in disgust, pinching her nose and fanning herself with her hands as Fluffy stared at her with an unamused look in his eyes.

"Oh, you stupid tiger, just come in here." She grabs him by the scruff on his neck and leads him towards the closet. Once inside, she pulls the door closed.

It is surprisingly comfortable inside, and the darkness is soothing...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Mistress Solaris?" calls Amanda as she checks various rooms in the mansion's east wing. "Oh where could the young mistress have gone?"

Amanda is new at this job. Solaris's usual lady-in-waiting, Janette, is delirious from a high fever and has to say in bed. So, Amanda was summoned to take over the job until Janette gets better.

At first, Amanda thought it would be easy. Lady Solaris is known to be a laid-back person who did not care much for day-to-day affairs. But nobody told her of the lady's strange quirk...

Amanda climbs up a flight of stairs to the second floor. Upon reaching the landing, she goes right, to Solaris's bedchamber. Opening the door, she looks inside. Everything seems to be in order, except there was no Solaris.

She closes the door. "Mistress?" she repeats as she checks every other room in the east wing's second floor. No luck.

Just then, she hears the sound of hooves. She goes to the balcony and looks out to see several horsemen galloping towards the house. She rushes downstairs, where several maids were busy with their jobs.

"There are horsemen outside. What is that all about?" she asks the nearest maid.

"Lady Amanda," the maid bows. "It is Master Justin, returning from his hunting trip."

"Master Justin? Mistress Solaris's brother? Perhaps I can ask him to help me!" Throwing a quick thank-you to the maid, she quickly heads over to the stables, where she finds several young men tending to the horses. One of them is cleaner than the others, which Amanda assumes to be Justin.

She approaches him. She bows. "M-master Justin, i-if I may s-s-speak to you for a m-m-moment..." she stammers.

Justin blinks. "Yes, what is it?" he demands.

"I c-cannot f-find the Lady Solaris anywhere... I have searched the entire east wing and sh-she is n-nowhere to be found!" Amanda hurriedly speaks.

"What? You say my sister is missing?" Justin asks.

Amanda closes her eyes and bows even lower. "Y-yes... my Lord."

"When was she last seen?" he questions her.

"T-this morning, when I brought her breakfast to her bedchamber."

Justin thinks. "I am certain she is merely asleep somewhere. To be on the safe side, gather up all the servants and tell them to search the entire house and the surroundings areas," he orders.

Amanda looks up, surprised. "B-but my Lord, prep-" Justin turns his back on her and begins shouting something to the men in the stables.

"Why are you still here?" he says. "Go!"

Amada quickly bows and runs back into the house. "Oh, what was I thinking? This is turning into such a mess..."

~ ~ FIVE HOURS LATER ~ ~

With some difficulty, Solaris opens her eyes. Yawning, she looks around. She can't tell whether it's night or day; the closet is still as dark as ever, but it has gotten hot and stuffy in the last few hours. She attempts to stand, but steps on something hard and furry. A loud roar echoes through the closet, deafening her ears.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Solaris apologizes profusely. Feeling for the doorknob, she finds it and turns it clockwise. Fresh air hits her sweating form as she steps out of the closet into the spacious bedchamber. A quick glance at the large windows tells her that it was nighttime. With Fluffy just behind her, Solaris exits the bedchamber.

As soon as she sets foot in the hallways, she is greeted by joyous shouts. Confused, she looks around to see her brother running down the hallways towards her, followed by several maids.

"In the Seraph's name, Solaris, where have you been?!" Justin demands. "We have been looking for you everywhere!"

Solaris stares at him in bewilderment. "Eh?" Rubbing her eyes, she looks behind her. "I think... I was sleeping in there... maybe..."

Everyone turns to where she was looking. "You were in... my bedchamber?" Justin asks. "Why were you in there?"

"Oh! I don't know!" Solaris waves a hand in Fluffy's direction. "Ask him."

As everyone stares in confusion, a loud, growling sound echoes down the hall.

"I'm hungry." Solaris remarks.