Chapter one
The sky is clear; not a single cloud presents itself. The illustrious sun has taken this opportunity to shine its brightest. As I slowly reach the highest point of the small mountain, I can't help but smirk to myself. The view is astonishing: I'm surrounded by several mountains, ones far bigger than this one, with a valley in the middle. Plenty of trees and other greens are growing widely there, living among a few, but rare animal species.
Unexpectedly, I hear a whistling cry coming from above me. I look up and see a Red-tailed Hawk soar above me with its beautiful brown broad, rounded wings fully spread open.
It's majestic.
Nature's beauty always has a way of surprising me and taking my breath away.
I close my eyes and inhale deeply, taking in the refreshing scent of the pine trees below.
All of the sudden, the hard soil underneath me starts to shake and crack as a result of it. The cracks become so big, that the earth manages to swallow me whole. I fall several yards, until an ocean breaks my descent. Once I come to the surface, I look around. A shade of midnight blue, almost pitch-black, stretches as far as one can see. In my confusion, I start to feel a slight tugging at my feet. The force becomes stronger and stronger with each passing moment as I desperately fight back. Before I know it, it hauls my whole body. It slowly but surely starts to suck me in in a circular motion, draining my energy. The whirlwind's grip is too strong for me and I give up.
Suddenly, I sit straight up, exhaling deeply and awaken from my dream. It doesn't take long for me to realize that I'm completely drenched. I touch my face. It's cold and.. wet. I slightly rub it with my t-shirt to get the liquid off of me and I manage to get some off. I look up and see the perpetrator staring at me, giggling like a little schoolgirl.
"You!", I hiss, quickly starting to remove the sodden sheet from my body as I notice how my attacker makes a run for it, "Get back here, James!".
It takes me a little while to untangle myself from the piece of fabric, but eventually, I break completely free and start to run after my roommate. I can hear him laughing, the bastard. I put my chase to a brusque halt and listen closely to its origin.
It's coming from the bathroom.
I make my way over there and try the handle, but it is in vain. I should've known better - he locked the damn thing.
"What the hell," I shout from across, "What was that for?!"
I can hear him gasp for air, if he's not to busy laughing for his little prank was a grand success.
"Have you. Looked. At the. Time?", he barely manages to ask.
"No, why would I-", my voice trails off as I turn my back to the door and direct my gaze on the timer of the oven. 5:00pm. My eyes grow wide.
"Oh, sweet baby Jesus!"
I run back towards my room and quickly start to go through my closet, in search for my uniform.
"Why didn't you wake me any sooner?!"
A small click is heard. Footsteps are approaching.
"I've tried. You're not exactly a light sleeper", James says, his head poking through the doorway of my bedroom. I glance over at him, realizing how much this guy infuriates me with his unique, yet utterly stupid solutions. "Don't be such a grump", he teases me. I roll my eyes in response as I go through my underwear drawer.
James turns round and walks away while I silently and quickly dress myself.
"Secretly, you think I'm amazing", James says when I finally exit my bedroom, thirty minutes later. I raise an eyebrow, but quickly shake it off.
"Yes, oh mighty Mr. Davies. If I didn't have you, I wouldn't know what to do. I'd be so lost", I say dramatically as I grab the car keys from a tray beside the front door and toss them towards my male counterpart. I nod towards the door, gesturing him to get up and make a move. A wide, cheeky grin appears on his face as he follows me to the car.
After a fifteen minute drive, James parks the car right on the doorstep of our destination. "See you in a bit", he says, waving at me as I get out. I simply nod back in comprehension, slightly confused. I choose to let it slide and turn round, to face the monstrous building now in front of me. I take a deep breath as I enter the hotel, dreading.
I'm greeted by an enormous and open hallway, with a simple staircase in the middle, yet don't let its looks deceive you - it's made of the finest wood, with its railing painted in licorice and the stairs itself russet. The hallway is decorated in an old-fashion way, fairly Victorian with a minor modern pinch. Several shades of yellow have been used to paint the walls. A very deftly Chandelier hangs from the wall. Several well-crafted paintings hang upon the walls. But its greatest, and my personal favorite, masterpiece is the Spanish Macael grey and white marble tiles.
It screams elegance, luxury and royalty, yet it has a bit of a grim touch to it. It invites, it welcomes, yet there's something holding me back, creating some sort of distance. I've often wondered why - I recently came to the conclusion that it probably misses the warm touch of a woman.
"Hey!", a voice abruptly yells from my right, quickly ending my daydream.
"Oh, God, no. Oh God, no. Please, I can't deal with this right now", I silently mumble to myself, closing my eyes.
All of the sudden, I feel someone placing their arm around my shoulder. Fuck! In an instant, I open my eyes, look to my right and fake the most biggest smile ever. I should get a fucking gold medal for achieving and maintaining the perfect hypocrisy. If that ever would become an Olympic Sport. Which it should.
"Hey," I manage to say through gritted teeth, not meaning a damn thing of what I'm saying, "I'm so happy to see you".
"I'm happy to see you as well, Liz", she says as she embraces me tightly.
Feeling as if all the life is slowly being drained from my body with each passing second, I smile at her, what I assume should be, loving gesture. I never really got to understand the purpose of these deadly motions, was it something completely British? I mentally shake my head. Whatever it was, they seemed to be appropriate with every assembly, making it a daily occurrence. And boy, did I loathe it.
"Oh, get a room, you two", a voice from behind suddenly says. She immediately lets go off me and I can't help but let out a sigh of relief.
Thank God, ehr - James. Thank James.
"James!", she suddenly squeals as she walks up to him to give him a big hug as well, but before she can do so, he raises his hand and places a finger on her nose, tapping it lightly, "Girlfriend, no. I just got this baby back from the dry cleaner's. I'd like to keep it intact". He gestures at his outfit as he's dressed as sharp as ever, with a white shirt, a roman silver tie, a onyx-colored vest, a jet black jacket - with matching pants and leather shoes, and of course, a very classy black leather belt.
"Y-you actually look handsome", I say, taken aback and stuttering.
"Bitch, I always look fabulous", he says and straightens his tie.
I intentionally raise an eyebrow, but can't stop the smirk from creeping up and tugging at the corners of my lips as I stare into James' eyes. An awkward silence lurks around the corner and I feel assigned to not let it get that far.
I break eye-contact, "We, eh, need to get to work, right?".
"Yes", my colleagues say in unison, having felt the tension build up as well. The holy trinity breaks up as we all go our own, separate ways.
I fear you're either going to love my main character or you'll think she's a bitch. Just like James does.
No, but really, I'm trying to put some depth (I didn't think I was also going to do this with symbolism, but what the heck) into this story as I'm planning to have it run long. That's why I did a shitload of research for this story (which I never do). I also blame my interest in drama, psychology and philosophy. I fear that's going to be in this story. Probably. And Seth should appear somewhere soon (hint: next chapter).
Note: I am not a native English speaker. I try to hide this with using fancy, confusing words. Which - I'm sure - you've noticed by now.
Note two: If you don't really like visual writing, I advice you to click away - right this instant. I focus heavily on slow pacing, apparently drama and visual writing. Also very noticeable.
Annnyywaayss.
Any of you noticed the hints I've been giving? If so, give me your thoughts in a review, I'm curious! Like, what's your take on where you think this is taking place? Where is the main character from (hint: symbolism)? What can you say about the characters thus far? Who do you think will have the biggest reaction to Seth, out of all three?