October 26th
Ace
Ace woke up feeling oddly energetic; it had nothing to do with his good performance yesterday, but everything to do with his memories.
They could no longer be called dreams, because the events really took place and now he was sure of his role in this house. He needed to speak to his assistant, the acting House head.
He quickly put on his work-out clothes along with his crocks, and made his way to the door beside the game room. He pushed the red button, and stood still as the security system asked for his name and proceeded to scan his eyes. After a few seconds, the button turned green and he entered the office.
Mr. Han looked up from the laptop on his desk and looked him over. "It's not yet time for your Q&A session, so why are you here?"
He was curt. "I remember everything now, Tihan."
The co-organizer relaxed in his chair and drew out a breath. He motioned for Ace to sit down in the identical chair opposite him, while he clicked on a few buttons in his laptop.
He turned it to Ace. "I'm happy you're back, Ace. It's been difficult trying to run things on my own. The Queen is getting agitated, and you know how unhelpful she can be at times like these. We have less than five days to get out of here before the plan falls apart. He won't be asleep for much longer."
Ace cocked a brow at the timer counting down on the screen. "That's more than two weeks in our country, Tihan. We'll get there in time, I'm sure of it. My calculations never fail me. Besides, don't judge the Queen like that; the walls have ears, you know." He warned the man, who was busying his hands by stirring a cup of coffee.
He nodded and pushed the cup to Ace's front. "I know, but it gets frustrating. However, I do hope you're right Sir."
"Enough with the 'sir', Tihan." Ace complained, "You've been with me for the most part of twenty years, as my friend. So cut it out."
Tihan laughed and gestured at him. "You should see your face right now. It's just to draw out a comment, and it works everytime." He stopped and clicked on another button on the laptop.
"Moria called to check on you. She seems to miss you."
Ace held up a hand. "I don't want to hear that name. She's dead to me."
Tihan nodded and moved to a safer topic of making a few adjustments to the final games. They did that while catching up on past events, and after a while Ace headed out of the office moving downstairs for a workout session.
As he walked across the dim hallway, he ran a calloused finger across the brass figurine on the wall feeling a quick jolt run through him. Now that he recognized the house, it seemed to come alive at his touch sparking up more memories of him building and designing it.
Ace knew his trip to Earth would alter with his brain nerves causing a temporary shutdown, and eventual loss of his memories so he designed something else. A replica of his twenty-one year old memories within the house, along with a timer to release at the right moment.
He had never been sure of the right moment, so he left it up to his Crystal House which seemed to think the moment was now, or well, two days ago (according to Earth's calendar).
Ace ran his hands through his hair, unsure of his emotions. If things had gone according to plan, he would be the one sitting in the office and making the rules while Tihan played the games. But the accident just proved the prophecy right; no matter how much they hated him, he was born for this and had to fulfill his part.
He took his time heading back to his room, feeling every single sparkle and shimmer built into the walls of the house. All that was left to do was wait for the Crystal House to select the final five so he could take them to Meissa. She had grown weary waiting for her children, and besides he couldn't wait to be back home.
Even though home was currently a mess.
Chiara
Chiara was engrossed in a Pharmacology textbook she snuck into the house, when a gentle knock sounded on her door.
"Chiara, can I come in?" She recognized the voice of her roommate, which meant he was back from his morning workout.
She sat up and quickly hefted the large book, shoving it under her bed before carrying a mirror and a pair of tweezers.
"Yes, sure you can." She answered, lifting the tweezers to her brows and pretending to pluck out a few of them.
As the door opened, she glanced at her wristwatch. Nearly two hours had passed since her roommate left the room, and she had been reading for half of that time. Her studies had been suffering these past weeks, and being in this competition wasn't helping.
"Good morning, Chiara. Did I interrupt something?" He asked when he entered, walking towards his bed.
"No, not at all." She answered hastily. "I was just removing a few unruly strands from my brows."
The last part of her answer was out of habit, but now she actually noticed her brows in the mirror and realized they looked really bushy.
How had she let it get this far?
"Really?" Ace questioned, bending over to pick something up. "While reading a Pharmacology textbook. How did you get your hands on this? It's so rare."
She snatched it out of his hand, and held it close to her chest. Apparently, in her haste, she failed to push the book further into her bed. Her roommate didn't need to know that she was a major nerd. She preferred being known as the sociable, fun-loving Chiara than the genius, nerd-brain Chiara.
"What do you mean it's hard to get? All libraries in Milan have a copy of this book, not that I've checked by the way." She said, tucking away the book under her pillow.
"Never mind." Ace said, running his hands through his hair. He stared at her as she rearranged her pillow severally to hide the massive book.
"It's too conspicuous. Anyone will see it. Here, let me help." Ace offered,carrying the book and pushing it under his own bed.
"Now, that's done. Why are you hiding this, anyway? You should be proud of your mental capacity."
Chiara shrugged, and dropped the tweezers. "Well, I'm not publicly proud of it. I prefer being seen as the average student, who just manages to get good grades. The university I school at make it quite tough for the genius students, and I don't want to be tied down like that."
Ace sat forward, curious about the story she was sharing with him.
"How do you mean?"
"They take tests at the beginning and end of our first year, and the top students are enrolled into a mandatory program to hone their skills, and make them better at their field of study." She explained, making air quotations at the word 'hone'.
Ace frowned. "What's so bad about that? They're trying to help their students."
She shook her head. "I don't think you understand. They're given a different curricular to follow, one more tedious with little to no free time. I entered college to study Pharmacy and also have fun, so I can't allow myself to be noticed."
"Hmm. Well, if you ask me I think it's cool that you're smart enough to understand that book. In my country, only ten people have that sort of mental capacity." Ace offered, leaving out that he was one of those ten.
"Wow. What country is that?" Chiara asked, amazed at the information. The book was not uncommon, there were millions of copies in existence which made it widely read.
Ace smiled and lay on his head, facing the ceiling. "You'll find out soon."
Priya
Priya was dressing up when she heard a small beep, signalling that someone was about to use the intercom. A soft voice, definitely not Mr. Han's, came through.
"Good day, everyone. So I wanted to do something different as today's AHOH, so I decided to cook something special for us all. It'll be ready in fifteen minutes, so get your tastebuds prepared for a blast." She heard the girl chuckle at the end, before it cut off.
At that moment, Priya's stomach grumbled causing her to hasten up. She wore her usual outfit and quickly stuffed the other clothes into a box on another bed. The perks of being alone in a room, total privacy.
She headed out, closing the door behind her and walking upstairs towards the spicy scent of food. Everyone else was there when she arrived, and she looked around walking over to an empty seat beside Eryk.
"Is this taken?" She asked, sitting down as she did so.
He raked his eyes over her and grinned, which still looked like a foreign concept to him.
"It is now. You look nice by the way." He responded, his features now reduced to a smile. Priya didn't know what to make of his enthusiasm, so she muttered a quick thanks and focused on the kitchen activities instead.
Three girls stood in the kitchen, stirring pots and dicing ingredients as they chatted and laughed inaudibly. She frowned at the sight and looked to her right where the other housemates, all guys sat huddled together discussing football. Typical.
She pushed her chair back and stood up, sauntering over to where her gender dominated.
"Hey girls. Do you need any help?" She asked, smiling brightly and... hopefully.
Only Mareike looked over her shoulder. "Hey Priya. Nah, don't worry about it. Just go sit down and look pretty, we're almost done." She responded and immediately resumed stirring her pot, so didn't notice how her friend's face fell.
Sit down and look pretty? She could do other things too, it wasn't her fault she came with the full package. She dropped her shoulders and walked back into the dining room, consciously swaying her hips as she did so but none of the guys even looked her way. They were still engrossed in the newspaper Femi held, rapidly talking over each other while continously pointing at the newspaper.
Priya swallowed a lump in her throat, and ran towards the stairs taking them two at a time till she reached the bottom. She collapsed into one of the sofas, and let out a long sigh.
She felt the tears coming in, and started blinking rapidly to contain their flow. The reasonable part of her knew there was no reason for her behaviour, there never was, but the emotional part of her just wanted to let it all out.
It wanted her to scream, to cry, to wail, or maybe to laugh. But she held it in, refusing to do none. This year, she would fight to stay strong, and keep it all in.
Filled with silence, she decided to close her eyes and think of her happiest thoughts. Her father telling her a bedtime story, Ashanti taking her to the school musical, dancing at the club, talking to Eryk, gossiping with...
"Aaarrggg!" Someone shouted, cutting off Priya's train of thoughts.
She rushed upstairs, curious to see what the noise was all about. From the lounge, she saw smoke around the kitchen area. Once again, it was filled with black soot while the housemates looked towards it, no one saying a word.
She looked on as Eryk walked forward, asking the question on everyone's mind. "What in God's name just happened?"
Priya inched closer to the scene and nearly stumbled back in shock. The eyes of both girls were glowing furiously as they stared back at the rest of the house. She could see the veins of her friends rapidly throbbing within their bodies, and instead of blood, Priya saw electricity coursing through them.
Somehow, she knew this sight was meant for her eyes only and that scared her.
*****
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS CHAPTER? LET ME KNOW IN THE COMMENT SECTION.