Vow of Amber
Disclaimer: I own nothing but my original characters. Sorry to disappoint everyone!
A/N: Everyone! Sorry this is such a sort chapter, but sometimes one just can't do anything about it. March 28! Everyone ready? Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Thanks to all my reviewers! I'm so sorry that I couldn't have come up with something longer in shorter time. Keep smiling; next chapter is going to be a good one. Trust me…
Song suggestion: "Lights and Sounds" by Yellowcard; on their CD with the same name (lights and sounds).
Chapter Three: Zane's Disappearance
Our hero was awoken by the storm; to be more precise, the crackle of thunder. Despite what you may think, she was now roaming the narrow halls of her orphanage probing for her brother. When her eyes first opened, she thought about looking for him. Perhaps it was because she was just a little afraid of the thunder – maybe it was because she had that feeling you get when your best friend's in trouble. Whatever it may have been, she found herself walking the halls to get to her brother's bedroom door.
The hall was filled with crayon markings, food and drink stains, and, in some places, there was even glue stuck to the floor. Of course, you really wouldn't expect much else out of an orphanage. Lei made her way past the never-ending mess and finally got to Zane's door. It was closed, like it usually was, but that was where the normality ended. Lei knocked, but no answer. If he would have been asleep, the door would have been locked – and it wasn't. Something was going on; she could feel it.
With a sad expression pasted on her face and prancing butterflies in her stomach, she proceeded to open the door to her brother's room. As it opened, the difference in it and the hall was the first thing that anyone would have noted. However many times Lei had been in this room, she would always feel like an idiot for not keeping her room this clean. There was nothing on the floor, and the bed was perfectly made. Spick and span like it always was - nothing too strange there.
After that, Lei found herself sitting on her bother's bed, thinking about what has been going on. Nothing was out of place, it seemed. That is, until Lei noticed something out of the corner of her eye. It was her brother's gloves, lying unattended on the dresser directly across the bed from which she sat. Those black leather gloves, Lei knew from experiences with her brother, were Zane's favorite pair of gloves. In fact, under the usual circumstances, excluding school, he wouldn't leave his room without them.
In that instant, Lei's near smile changed into a gloomy glare at the gloves. This was, of course, only because this meant that he was gone. Kidnapping was never a problem at the orphanage, but it would appear that it was now. Onlookers might think "Hey, what about the rest of the orphanage," or "what about outside?" but Lei knew better. He was gone. Besides, it was storming outside, remember? He wouldn't do something like that.
Lei stood up and walked over to the wooden dresser that belonged to her brother. At a glace at the mirror placed on the wall above the dresser, Lei saw a greatly frazzled young girl in a worn-out maroon tank top. Looking away rather quickly, she picked up her brother's gloves. Using her right hand, she put the left one on carefully; then she positioned the right glove. This was the only way she could make sure he would get them later. Lei knew that he would be grateful for doing this.
Lei turned around, now noticing something that was oddly out of place in the room that was nearly perfect. The window, placed above the headboard of Zane's bed, was wide open; cold wind and rain came in the room. It was a small window, but why hadn't she noticed it before? Lei walked back over to the bed and, now standing on it, closed and locked the window. She had fought the curtain being manipulated by the wind to do it, but she came out dry. Her hair was messed up more then it already was, though.
It was odd, she noticed after doing the deed, that Zane's simple gloves fit her hands so well. Maybe they were just a "one size fits all" type of thing. Still, it seemed as uncanny as the time she aced a math text by singing a song in her head. Go figure.
A crash sounded throughout the room, making Lei shutter…