So was to begin the first day of the end of my life, Rene thought as she woke to a loud beeping noise which sounded almost alike to her alarm clock at home. She rolled over to the side of her pillow and realized the noise was coming from her cell phone. It was her mother calling, she just had the feeling that it was.
"Hello?" Rene asked in a weary voice still drenched with the sound of much needed sleep. She was not used to getting up at this hour and for students to do this five times a week with the hope of getting a good education in the hours to come was beyond Rene. The only hours she was used to getting up were either much earlier then this for drills or much later for a night drill back at her dads base camps. Which she noticed that she was starting to miss, it shocked her.
"Rene, hello honey, it's your mother. Yes, I changed my ring tone to that annoying beep that you hate, only to get you up at this hour for school. It is your first day and I know you are going to do great, just take a deep breath and take it one-step of a time. There is a lot of information to intake at a school that big in one day, especially when it is something that you have never experienced before. Well I must be going off to the Philippines, some sort of crisis between the locals and a U.S training facility for future spy's. Much love." Then the click sound, which made Rene feel as if her mother just landed her on a deserted island and expected her to survive on her own, just like in that movie Cast Away. Her mother did this to her all the time. She would call to explain to Rene something which most of the time she already knew the ins and outs of or to wish her luck on something. Being so used to giving commands at her status, she does not leave room for talk just orders and no time for a response.
"Yeah, love you too mom." Rene said to her phone at least a good minute after she had already hung-up. She was juggling the idea of just skipping her first day and sleeping in for another three more hours. A loud knocking on the old doors interrupted her thoughts of glorious sleep. She figured it was just her imagination trying to provoke her into actually getting up and going to school, so she turned over and placed the pillow over her ear.
"I was given strict instructions to get you out of bed and to school on time, if you do not respond then I will have no other choice but to come into your bedroom and wake you myself." Fredrick nearly screamed through the door. His voice was thickened with agitation, as if he was needed else where at the moment but had to stay true to his duty.
"Yeah Freddy, I'm getting up." She said thickening her voice with aggravation as well. First my mother, then Fredrick, this is going to very well turn into my own personal hell hole now isn't it, Rene thought to herself as she shuffled her legs out from underneath the covers and focused on standing to wake herself up completely. She then moved to the door and almost as soon as she turned the golden handle, Fredrick flew through the doors completely throwing Rene to the floor. He was ranting about something and throwing things onto the bed. It looked like clothes.
"What is this?" Rene asked intrigued.
"This is your wardrobe choice for your first day of school, as you know you were suppose to go out yesterday with the driver Josue to get some clothes. Since you seemed so weary of your travels yesterday, noted by the nap you took, I took it upon my own to send the maid out to buy you some selections. I hope that this is your style and you will find it suiting. Now breakfast will be ready in ten minutes. Please do something with your hair and find something nice to wear; the car will leave with or without you in thirty minutes. Good day miss." Fredrick bowed in a respectful manner even though his words just rang with authority. Rene half smiled at Fredrick as he glided out of the room. She turned to her choices and let out a low 'humph' at them.
Her years of training to be on time and prepped for every mission were not to go to waste on Rene's part. She immediately turned to the drawers where she packed her own clothes in and threw on a pair of low cut jeans and black T-shirt, she ran a brush threw her hair and looked in the mirror once before leaving the room. She was almost hopping down the stairway when she noticed a new development. The drapes were different; they were no longer a deep red but now a much deeper red, almost black.
It had reminded her back when she had traveled to Guatemala. She had been staying there with her mother who at the time was there to fix a glitch in some huge computer system that ran the country at that time; of course, Rene was only six at the time so she did not understand. She had befriended a boy named Malik; they would play some soccer in the dirt together. That was before the local revolutionaries decided to take charge and turn against the whole village. She only remembered bits and pieces because her mother came to grab her out of the way but that was when Rene saw her first shooting. Malik had been shot in the chest during the crossfire while pushing Rene out of the way and Rene instantly ran back to him. Pulling him out of the crossfire to safety, but the blood was flowing out of his wound uncontrollably. There was nothing to stop the bleeding and he was going to die. Rene distinctly remembered the color of the dark blood covering his shirt and her hands.
She shook her head and pushed those memories to the back of her head, and decided that since it was summer they wanted to keep it cooler by throwing darker shades over the windows to shut the heat out. The heavenly scent of bacon was flowing throughout the halls on the first floor, her stomach gargled. She was hungry and instantly remembered her conversation with Ben the night before when they shared that quite appetizing dish of ice cream together. She had not had a decent meal since she boarded the plane and was looking forward to eating.
Rene was about to push open the doors to the kitchen when the door came flying back at her and hit her in the face. Her whole body shook from the impact and force throwing her to the ground.
"Ooh my! I am so sorry, God look what I have done, I am so sorry. What an idiot I am." Ben said then began rambling under his breath. Rene made out several 'sorrys' and 'I can fix this' through the throbbing of her skull against her brain. Ben lifted her off the ground and took her down the hall; she was surprised how strong he was. Rene is a slender girl with a height of five foot five, but she also packed a lot of muscle, which weighed more than regular muscle for a girl of her age normally did not have. They approached a set of double doors at the very end of the hall. They were very tall almost reaching the ceiling and cutting through the second story. The handle had a golden trim to it, looking handmade with animal heads at the top.
The door swung open after Ben gave it a good kick, revealing the grandest room in the whole manor. It was one luxurious dining room. The grand fireplace was located at the far left wall of the room. Animal heads lined the walls all over, such exotic animals, that Rene did not even know the name of half of them. The table located in the middle was long with eighteen chairs. As Ben steadied her and sat her at the head of the table on the right, she noticed the embroidered etchings on the rim of the table. It was some sort of writing, another language perhaps. It was gorgeous and the crème color of the table with gray like lines running throughout it. The lines were staggered and almost transparent, the table was old and looked extremely valuable. It was then that Rene noticed a pair of very curious eyes on her. She remembered that Ben was still in the room and how much of a fool she must have looked like looking at the table like that.
After a clearing of the throat, Ben finally spoke, "I hope you're alright, I'm so sorry for hitting you with the door I didn't even hear you approaching from the other side. Breakfast will be brought out to you in a moment, again my sincerest apologies." A girl entered the room then looking a bit older then Ben but showed a resemblance to him genetically. This must be Ben's older sister, Rene thought to herself. "And excuse me again, because I need to get to school, I'll see you later though. Sorry again." Ben said while turning to his sister.
"You apologize too much Ben, really let's be on a friends basis here. Thank you for showing me the dining room; it is quite a remarkable room and maybe I will see you at school today. It would be nice to recognize someone there." Rene responded with a smile trying to ease the penetrating stare of his sister, but Ben only nodded and headed out the door with his sister following on his heels.
Rene returned to her thoughts and evaluation on the room at hand. The walls were loaded with portraits of people standing in boring positions. The kind of portraits you see reserved in museums, which you can predict are a sign of high importance or riches. Around them were bookshelves, not quite the size of those in the library, but they did hold books and golden plates. On each bookshelf was a name, but on the bookshelf closest to her she read Claire Beaumontè 1897. Rene's head was dizzy from the blow of the door, but she could not help but feel a strange feeling when she read that name to herself.
"Claire Beaumontè 1897" Rene said aloud even though no one was in the room to hear her. Again, that strange feeling, a feeling of curiosity and fear flowed through her blood and down to her bones, giving her a slight chill. It was then that Rene heard footsteps coming from the other side of the door and that she noticed that she had drifted towards the bookshelf. She returned to her seat and sat waiting for whoever was coming possibly with her breakfast.
A server came in with a single plate covered with a metal lid; she put the plate onto the delicate table as Rene cringed almost half expecting the table to break at the weight of the plate. The server then removed the lid in a very suave manner and exited the room again leaving Rene to herself and thoughts. She savagely dug into her pancakes and eggs; she had not realized how hungry she was until the sweet smell of the food filled her nostrils. Her thoughts then traveled from the delicious food to the name Claire Beaumontè. Rene then wondered what other names where on the bookshelves around the room. She counted seven bookshelves altogether, which seemed odd enough, almost as if one was missing. That was when she saw it. At the top of the fireplace was a grand painting, she had not taken notice of it before because she could not take in the full view of it. It was very large with a painted portrait of a woman, the only woman in the whole gallery of portraits. Her dress with dark red with intricate designs and she was sitting on a familiar chair. It was one of the chairs from the dining room, possibly the very one she was seated in now. This must be Claire, but before she had time to look on to the portrait further Fredrick arrived in the room to retrieve her plate whether she was finished or not and escort her to the car. That is when it all came rushing back to Rene. Today was to be her first day of high school and she still did not have a clue of what to expect.
"The clothes we bought were not to your likeing I see?" Fredrick asked with the hint of a rhetorical question.
"They were far from being my style." Rene responded with a short snip at the end, showing Fredrick that she was just as unpleased with his prescense as she was with his. Rene made her way to the front door and out onto the step. Taking in the front yard, the gardeners were at work, and the odd fountain was teaming with life. The car was at the end of the step. Rene climbed into the black town car with tinted windows. She aiming for something more descrete, but this was just going to have to do for the moment.