Chapter Four- Cloud
Cloud stepped into the room and looked around, shutting the door behind him. There was a couch in front of him that looked as though it may once have been comfortable, a couple of chairs and a table and a broken vase. The lampshade was decrepit, the window boarded over.
The couch was dinted in the middle, as if someone had recently been lying on it, and there were disturbances in the dust. He looked a bit more closely at them. No, they weren't distubances, they were footsteps. Maybe they were his, from before he fell asleep? No... they were boot prints, but when he turned around to look at those he had just made, he saw his own were substantially larger.
So there was someone else here. He turned left, following the footsteps into the next room. There was a blanket on the couch, and another set of footsteps. The door to his left, which would lead to the hall, was closed.
"..let's see what's up the stairs"
A girls voice. His imagination maybe? He half ran to the door, opened it and stepped through swiftly, turning to the right, to the staircase. Two people were standing there, walking up to the landing.
"Hey! Wait!"
Cloud stepped into the middle of the corridor, skidding slightly on the dust. The two girls on the stairs turned around, surprised to see him. They exchanged a glance and the dark haired girls eyes focused on his sword for a moment before returning to his face.
Her legs bent slightly, her hands coming up defensively. A martial artist. The other girl, the one in the pink dress, reached her hand out automatically, grasping at shoulder height for something that was no longer there.
Green eyes locked with his, searching, calculating. Red eyes watched for the tension in a single muscle to change, anticipating attack.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?"
"Cloud... Cloud Strife... I don't know why I'm here.. I don't even know where here is..."
They seemed to relax slightly.
"damn. Neither do we."
The green eyed girl spoke then, her voice somewhat softer than the other. She moved down the stairs towards him a couple of steps and sat down.
"Well thats just great. Three of us, and no one knows where we are"
Cloud slung the massive sword over his shoulder. They seemed okay, and weren't really armed. He walked the rest of the distance down the corridor, wondering what was behind all the doors.
"If you?e looking for the exit, its there."
He gestured over his shoulder. The two girls shook their head, hair waving around their faces.
"uh-uh. If we?e in here, we might as well take a look around. Besides, there might be other people in here. I'm Tifa by the way... this is Aeris."
"Pleased to meet you."
"Yeah. I'm kinda glad I? not the only one here for some reason..."
He looked at them. He didn't recognise them, but for some reason he felt comfortable, almost familiar with them. He looked up the staircase.
" I guess... I guess we go that way."
The two girls nodded. Tifa turned and slowly walked up the remaining stairs, Aeris stood up and followed, Cloud behind her. At the top of the stairs he turned back for a moment, looking at the door to the outside world. Not yet.
The carpet on the landing was in better condition, but not much. Maybe it was newer. Well, was newer before the house was abandoned. Now it was all old. The three doors in front of them were much the same as the entrance. Double, brass handled oak, only without the leadlights. Tifa looked at the handle speculatively, Aeris hesitated, so Cloud stepped between them and pushed it open.
It was a bedroom, white linen double bed with a canopy in the centre of the left wall, a desk against the wall with the door they were entering, a cupboard next to the bed and a large bay window opposite the door. To the right the room which would have been perfectly square was walled partway down, and an open door displayed a spatious white bathroom.
There was nobody in there. The girls wandered in, enchanted by the old fashioned room. It looked like it had been a princess' chamber, pulled directly out of the pages of a fairytale. Cloud, unimpressed, sat on the desk while the girls entered into the bathroom, making comments to each other on the size of the tub, the fancy taps and towel rails and the fireplace.
Bored of watching them explore the bedroom when they started poking around in the white cupboard, Cloud shrugged to himself and left, throwing open the other doors on the landing. Boring. More bedrooms, only this time they weren't oriented in white, one was green, one was blue.
What kind of peculiar person colour oriented their rooms differently from the rest of the house and also from each other? He snorted, exasperated, and sat down on the bed in the green room. He liked this one better for some reason. There was dust on the sheets, that wasn't surprising, but he noticed that the bedrooms were in better condition than the rest of the house so far.
Standing up, he looked around. The window wasn't broken, because there were wooden blinds outside it. He opened the window and folded them up, and light streamed into the room from outside. In the distance he could see mountains and trees, and a cool breeze wrapped around his neck, blowing through his hair and into the room beyond.
He liked this place for some reason. He could even live here. Maybe. After all, he reasoned, it wasn't like he had family waiting for him elsewhere. He continued his examination of the room. There were spiderwebs of course, spiders got everywhere, but the skirting board was intact. No mice above ground floor? That didn't make sense, but if no animals bigger than insects had got into the bedrooms that would explain why they were so clean.
Well... relatively clean. He moved on to the bathroom. The bathtub was smoky glass, the floor and benchtops greeny marble. The taps and finishings were all silver. There was a table and what looked like a wine bar, as well as the fireplace. Whoever had built this house had certainly been well able to afford luxuries.
He turned back into the bedroom then. The desktop was devoid of all but dust. The drawers contained paper, pens, a vase, a pair of spectacles and a paper fan. He closed them again fairly roughly and looked in the cupboard, mildly amused that he was as curious as the girls. There were mens clothes inside, fairly old fashioned ones, all rich looking. There were shoes, pants, shirts, hats, ties, jackets. The inside of the door was a full length mirror. Part of the closet seemed to be another closet. Like a cupboard within a cupboard. He opened the inner door and gaped.
There were more clothes, but not old like the others. If the clothes he was wearing were modern then these... these were the future. Way into the future. Hundreds of thousands of years into the future. Everything seemed to glitter or shine, reflecting the light that now brightened the room. Silver and gold shirts and pants and shoes. Bizarre fashions. He wasn't sure if they were mens or ladies, but by the cut of the shirts he would say they were mens.
There was a little key hanging from a hook on the inside of the inner door. Not quite sure why he was doing so, Cloud took it down, weighing it in his palm. He closed the inner door and locked it, slipping the key on its chain around his neck.
"Cloud... There you are"
Aeris' voice. There was a giggle. He turned around and practically fell over from shock, not believing his eyes.
Cloud stepped into the room and looked around, shutting the door behind him. There was a couch in front of him that looked as though it may once have been comfortable, a couple of chairs and a table and a broken vase. The lampshade was decrepit, the window boarded over.
The couch was dinted in the middle, as if someone had recently been lying on it, and there were disturbances in the dust. He looked a bit more closely at them. No, they weren't distubances, they were footsteps. Maybe they were his, from before he fell asleep? No... they were boot prints, but when he turned around to look at those he had just made, he saw his own were substantially larger.
So there was someone else here. He turned left, following the footsteps into the next room. There was a blanket on the couch, and another set of footsteps. The door to his left, which would lead to the hall, was closed.
"..let's see what's up the stairs"
A girls voice. His imagination maybe? He half ran to the door, opened it and stepped through swiftly, turning to the right, to the staircase. Two people were standing there, walking up to the landing.
"Hey! Wait!"
Cloud stepped into the middle of the corridor, skidding slightly on the dust. The two girls on the stairs turned around, surprised to see him. They exchanged a glance and the dark haired girls eyes focused on his sword for a moment before returning to his face.
Her legs bent slightly, her hands coming up defensively. A martial artist. The other girl, the one in the pink dress, reached her hand out automatically, grasping at shoulder height for something that was no longer there.
Green eyes locked with his, searching, calculating. Red eyes watched for the tension in a single muscle to change, anticipating attack.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?"
"Cloud... Cloud Strife... I don't know why I'm here.. I don't even know where here is..."
They seemed to relax slightly.
"damn. Neither do we."
The green eyed girl spoke then, her voice somewhat softer than the other. She moved down the stairs towards him a couple of steps and sat down.
"Well thats just great. Three of us, and no one knows where we are"
Cloud slung the massive sword over his shoulder. They seemed okay, and weren't really armed. He walked the rest of the distance down the corridor, wondering what was behind all the doors.
"If you?e looking for the exit, its there."
He gestured over his shoulder. The two girls shook their head, hair waving around their faces.
"uh-uh. If we?e in here, we might as well take a look around. Besides, there might be other people in here. I'm Tifa by the way... this is Aeris."
"Pleased to meet you."
"Yeah. I'm kinda glad I? not the only one here for some reason..."
He looked at them. He didn't recognise them, but for some reason he felt comfortable, almost familiar with them. He looked up the staircase.
" I guess... I guess we go that way."
The two girls nodded. Tifa turned and slowly walked up the remaining stairs, Aeris stood up and followed, Cloud behind her. At the top of the stairs he turned back for a moment, looking at the door to the outside world. Not yet.
The carpet on the landing was in better condition, but not much. Maybe it was newer. Well, was newer before the house was abandoned. Now it was all old. The three doors in front of them were much the same as the entrance. Double, brass handled oak, only without the leadlights. Tifa looked at the handle speculatively, Aeris hesitated, so Cloud stepped between them and pushed it open.
It was a bedroom, white linen double bed with a canopy in the centre of the left wall, a desk against the wall with the door they were entering, a cupboard next to the bed and a large bay window opposite the door. To the right the room which would have been perfectly square was walled partway down, and an open door displayed a spatious white bathroom.
There was nobody in there. The girls wandered in, enchanted by the old fashioned room. It looked like it had been a princess' chamber, pulled directly out of the pages of a fairytale. Cloud, unimpressed, sat on the desk while the girls entered into the bathroom, making comments to each other on the size of the tub, the fancy taps and towel rails and the fireplace.
Bored of watching them explore the bedroom when they started poking around in the white cupboard, Cloud shrugged to himself and left, throwing open the other doors on the landing. Boring. More bedrooms, only this time they weren't oriented in white, one was green, one was blue.
What kind of peculiar person colour oriented their rooms differently from the rest of the house and also from each other? He snorted, exasperated, and sat down on the bed in the green room. He liked this one better for some reason. There was dust on the sheets, that wasn't surprising, but he noticed that the bedrooms were in better condition than the rest of the house so far.
Standing up, he looked around. The window wasn't broken, because there were wooden blinds outside it. He opened the window and folded them up, and light streamed into the room from outside. In the distance he could see mountains and trees, and a cool breeze wrapped around his neck, blowing through his hair and into the room beyond.
He liked this place for some reason. He could even live here. Maybe. After all, he reasoned, it wasn't like he had family waiting for him elsewhere. He continued his examination of the room. There were spiderwebs of course, spiders got everywhere, but the skirting board was intact. No mice above ground floor? That didn't make sense, but if no animals bigger than insects had got into the bedrooms that would explain why they were so clean.
Well... relatively clean. He moved on to the bathroom. The bathtub was smoky glass, the floor and benchtops greeny marble. The taps and finishings were all silver. There was a table and what looked like a wine bar, as well as the fireplace. Whoever had built this house had certainly been well able to afford luxuries.
He turned back into the bedroom then. The desktop was devoid of all but dust. The drawers contained paper, pens, a vase, a pair of spectacles and a paper fan. He closed them again fairly roughly and looked in the cupboard, mildly amused that he was as curious as the girls. There were mens clothes inside, fairly old fashioned ones, all rich looking. There were shoes, pants, shirts, hats, ties, jackets. The inside of the door was a full length mirror. Part of the closet seemed to be another closet. Like a cupboard within a cupboard. He opened the inner door and gaped.
There were more clothes, but not old like the others. If the clothes he was wearing were modern then these... these were the future. Way into the future. Hundreds of thousands of years into the future. Everything seemed to glitter or shine, reflecting the light that now brightened the room. Silver and gold shirts and pants and shoes. Bizarre fashions. He wasn't sure if they were mens or ladies, but by the cut of the shirts he would say they were mens.
There was a little key hanging from a hook on the inside of the inner door. Not quite sure why he was doing so, Cloud took it down, weighing it in his palm. He closed the inner door and locked it, slipping the key on its chain around his neck.
"Cloud... There you are"
Aeris' voice. There was a giggle. He turned around and practically fell over from shock, not believing his eyes.