Chapter 6 (Inside the Lair)
It had been raining for over a week. The sun would present itself daily for a glorious ten minutes and then vanish behind, thick, brooding clouds. It would rain again, sending the hopeful students back indoors.
They were becoming frustrated with the weather. The lodge was permanently crowded and many students had started to spend their free time in the cafeteria to escape the claustrophobic environment. The councillors soon ran out of paper work and joined the students in a perpetual boredom.
The weather soon turned cold and a fire was constantly burning in every available fireplace. The wood shed was almost depleted and no one was cruel enough to send students out to gather more. Peter tried his best to remain optimistic. He saw Helen sitting on the couch in the reception. "I know what you're thinking," he said and sat down across from her. "If you had known what the weather would be like you would never have applied…"
"No, I wasn't actually thinking. I'm too bored to think. I am ahead with my work? In what kind of a world does that actually happen?"
"I know. I have done every possible indoor activity there is to offer." He stood up. "I'm worried that the students are feeling the same way."
"I can guarantee that they are."
"Could you go to the lodge and keep an eye on them for me? They might start acting up."
Helen got up. "Of course."
The Cliffhangers had managed to get a place close to the fire. For a moment Helen paused. Daisy was reading, the firelight put a glow on her pale skin. Helen knew that if she were to touch her face it would be hot. Her eyes were dark, and skimmed over the lines; she turned the page, her slender fingers running down the new page.
Helen wondered how long she could stand there without anyone noticing her. It was unlikely she could be there for long, because every seat and corner was occupied. Councillors stood out like a hippy amongst nuns. She swallowed and stepped forward. Daisy looked up. "Look who's here." She said as cheerfully as Daisy could possibly be.
She sat down across from Daisy, her back to the wall. "You guys are bored aren't you?"
They all agreed.
They had started to warm up to her, especially since the weather had driven the indoors. Sophie had insisted on group every day, in case the rain dampened their spirits. Helen's theory was too much depressive talk would soak their spirits, but she wasn't being paid for her theories. She felt guilt about her feelings for Daisy and didn't dare resist orders. She realised that she was slowly becoming a passive worker, but rather that that a workless worker.
"Even monopoly would be fun right now." Scott said.
"I'm a scrabble girl myself," Daisy said.
David interrupted. "I think a few rounds of strip poker would liven this dump up a bit. I'm sure the girls from the Trackers would be more than happy to join in."
"David," Helen warned.
"What? There is no rule against nudity. It could be used as an exercise. Getting rid of our inhibitions"
Shelby snuggled deeper into Scott's arms. "Some of us don't know how to play your Vegas porn star games."
"That's a great idea," Helen said.
"What?" Shelby looked at her, shocked. She hadn't intended to give any input into their day's activities.
She shifted to settle her excitement. "We all play poker. Just normal poker, I think there are marbles here somewhere, we can use them as chips."
"We have enough problems already, you can't be thinking of adding gambling to the list." Daisy said lightly.
"No, it wouldn't be like that at all. It would be an exercise to learn how to read people."
"Isn't that part of advanced psychology 3? We're here to learn how to read ourselves. Besides, we don't have a deck of cards."
"That's why you are going to fetch them." Helen said and threw her keys at Daisy, she caught them neatly. "When you enter the Cabin, straight across the room is book shelf, in a little red box are two decks."
"You're being serious, aren't you?" Daisy asked, standing up.
Helen smiled, making Daisy's heart jump. "Deadly."
"Poker it is." She said and left the lodge. "Come hell or high water." She jogged through the rain, struggling to keep her footing several times. She slid down a pathway, wetting her legs. "The things we do for love." She said to herself. "Or, to see how they live." Her expedition through the rain would bare some fruits, after all.
She lowered her raincoats hood as she approached the cabin and stomped her feet to loosen the mud. "Leave no trace." She said, feeling like a spy, a very excited spy.
She struggled with the door and fell into the cabin when the door opened suddenly. She straightened herself to pass her eyes over Helen's domain, Helen's nest, Helen's lair. Daisy had begun to amuse herself by imagining Helen as a demon or vampire, there to lure her into the underworld. The fact that it had become easier and easier for her to follow Helen no longer frightened her. She no longer cared.
Helen's cabin fascinated her. There were books everywhere. She wished she had more time to browse through them, see what occupied Helen's mind. There was no television, but a CD player stood on the coffee table along with a laptop. As she walked past she glanced down at the CD's scattered around it. Pirated music without labels. Mt. Horizon was definitely not a goldmine, she thought before tripping over a woollen quilt that lay on the floor. She regained her balance and headed to the bookshelf. She had to get out of there. She felt as though it might be a trap.
When the door slammed shut, she spun around, expecting to see Helen clad in skintight leather, with a whip in her one hand and handcuffs in the other. "Come in peace, or you'll leave in pieces."
Fortunately, it had only been the wind. But honestly, fortunately? Perhaps the leather and whip was a stupid image to conjure up. Daisy sighed. She knew she had wanted Helen at the door, in her faded jeans and hiking boots, locking it, and then what?
"Would you allow her to take you to bed?" Daisy asked the walls. She shrugged. Now was not the time or the place to think things along those lines. She found the box and opened it, putting the two decks in her pockets.
She could see into Helen's bedroom from where she stood. The bed was unmade and the harsh fluorescent lighting from the bathroom cast a mystifying glow over the room. A towel la crumpled on the floor along with a bathrobe and, ugh, teddy bear slippers.
Daisy couldn't move. She had the overwhelming urge to quickly, just quickly; go into the bathroom to see what kind of soap Helen used, what type of shampoo, her brand of toothpaste. Finally she managed to turn around and leave. It was getting weird. Just a little bit too weird. But then again, she was allowing it to.
Authors Note: I suspect this might be an unconventional fanfic. I hope you will continue reading it. next time I post, I will try and have it finished. Thanks for the support thus far. Please R&R.