Numbers that follows

chapter 5

The Car slowed creeping to a halt in the driveway. The sun was finally setting behind the ridge. As the last few shreds of sunlight showed in the sky. We went inside the house. Arrah motions for me to follow her. Walking behind her slowly I looked at the walls. They were not crowded, but had dozens of framed photos. I looked at one; it was a portrait of a boy about eighteen. He had green and blue eyes. Brown almost black hair that hung just above his eyes. He looked like he was full of sorrow.

“That’s Caster,” Arrah Spoke pulled me from my thoughts, “That was taken about 6 years ago.”

“He looks sad.” I replied

“That was a few weeks after his dad passed, I remember my dad being Upset as well.” Arrah remembered, then continuing her thought “come on, let's get you to your room.”

I continued to follow down the hall. Just about to the end we made a left and started up a spiral staircase. We stopped at the second floor. She made a right and continued walking. We approached the last door on the right and Arrah stopped. She reached out and turned the handle. The door opened to a large room. Standing in the door facing the room there was a bed to the left in the middle of the wall. To the left there was also a couch on the same wall as the door.

“Do you like it?” Arrah asked, turning to me.

“It’s massive” I stated in amazement.

“You need space.” She giggled out.

I looked around the room some more. The far left corner had a table and chair. And on the right wall in the middle had a black mirror and a fluffy chair in front of it. On either side of the black mirror had two doors on either side. The right door led to a large bathroom. The other led to a walk-in closet. I walked out of the closet and looked at Arrah.

“Who needs this much space?” I looked around, “I would be fine with a room the size of the closet and even then it would be larger than my last room.”

“I’m sorry,” Arrah looked upset.

“Why?” I questioned.

“You had to live in that situation. The more I hear the more mad I get. No one deserves what you went through.” Arrah shook her head. She ran her hands through her hair. “I can’t imagine what you went through. You make it sound like it wasn’t that bad but clearly it was.”

“I make it seem that way because for me I knew it could be worse.” I think trying to find words, “When things like that are all you know, It truly doesn't seem bad. When I was taken I saw horrors beyond what I went through. What I went through was nothing compared to what I knew he could do.”

“The difference in perspective is all it takes I guess.” Arrah looked at me “still makes me mad.”

“I guess so.” I nodded in agreement.

“Happier note, The maids are going to bring you clothes and stuff we got you. They will put it all away for you as well. In the meantime the kitchen staff made food, after all that walking I am starving so let's eat.”

We started back down the stairs heading to the dining room. Walking into the room seeing Flint and Armin there sitting down talking. Both, noticing us, stopped talking and turned their attention to us.

“Have a nice time in town?” Armin said looking at the two of us.

“Yeah, though by the end I think both of us got tired.” Arrah laughed. “Vincent was a huge help caring for all of the bags too.”

“I bet he enjoyed that so much,” Flint laughed, “Warrior, fighter, Bag carrier.”

“He volunteered to help. Which makes him helpful unlike you.” Arrah shot back

She sat down and so did I. They continued their banter. I stayed silent not really knowing what to say. I looked out the window at the vast town below. The setting sun was just about to vanish and hide away until tomorrow. Its light reflected orange and pinks across the sky, growing darker by the second. The outside world looked calm as it settled into the night.

“Furthermore I am a Beta wolf, which means he was assisting a higher ranked wolf making him a valued member of this pack. He is also my friend so don’t make fun of him.” Arrah said in a final attempt to stop Flint's mockery.

“Whatever.” Flint said.

“If you two are finished I am sure the whole town would like to not hear you bickering at one another.” Armin commented on the situation.

They all laughed at one another, they seemed like a wonderful loving family. I sat to the side, my stomach turned and hurt. It never felt like that before. My mind slipped off into a thought. Would my family be like this if Arken never came into my life.

“You want to come with me to the Guard cup?” Arrah pulled me from my thoughts, “It is so fun to watch.”

“What's the guard cup?” answering the question with a question.

“It’s great, all the current guards and people who want to be in the guard compete for the position they hold on the guard. The best 5 candidates become high ranking members. They then out rank the rest of the guard. They are given the more delicate and important jobs.” Flint answered for Arrah, he took a deep breath. “However only 30 people make it on the guard, the rest stay as warriors or fighters.”

“It’s like a competition then.” I inquired further

“Yeah, it’s like a big deal. But there is also food and carnival games too.” Arrah quickly answered before being cut off again.

“Sure sounds entertaining.” I agreed.

“Great.” Arrah smiled.

The door not leading to the hall opened and a young lady brought in a large tray of food. Then close behind two more young women also had hands full of food. They began setting the meal in front of us. There was a bowl of salad, it had cucumbers, tomatoes and other assorted veggies. Then they sat a plate of steak on the table, it smelled heavenly. They sat down with some muffins and potatoes too, they looked amazing as well. Everything smelled amazing.

The youngest looking one of the three sat plates down in front of all of us. Placing forks, spoons and knives down as well. Each plate she sat down had a place mat underneath. To the top left she placed a cup. And to the right a small plate. As she finished another girl poured water into each cup. The final girl spoke to Armin.

“Anything else we can get for you?” she Asked Armin

“Everything looks good.” Armin replied.

We all sat and ate. The three women left the room. When the door closed Armin, Flint and Arrah started grabbing and sticking food on their plates. I in turn did the same, First I took a small amount of the salad. Then I dished up potatoes and steak. Seeing Arrah put the muffin on the small plate I did the same.

“Caster called while you were out and he said he would be home tomorrow night. I think the trip is what he needed given the circumstances, and everything going on.” Armin looked over at Arrah.

“What exactly did he have to get away from?” Arrah asked “Everything was fine then he came back from patrol all scatterbrained.”

“No blame but I think he was a little stressed from our guest.” Armin answered “ not putting the blame on you of course One.”

“That makes sense, it's not everyday you almost lose to a girl.” Arrah joked winking at me.

“I did have an unfair advantage,” I defended, “And you still got me.”

“Anyway thought you should know, eat your food.” Armin settled us down

We finished eating and had some occasional conversation. When we were dismissed we all left to go to our rooms. Arrah’s was just across the hall from mine and Flint’s was straight ahead after getting off the stairs. When I got to my room I walked in. The bed was made and some books sat on the table by the fluffy chair(which Aarah called a couch) . I made my way to the closet. I looked over everything, every piece of clothing we got was nicely folded and put in a proper place.

Remembering Arrah bought me night clothes I looked for them and found them in the top of the dresser. I took my old clothes off and put them in the bin in the closet. I slipped the pajamas on and walked out into the big room. The pajamas were soft and comfortable. I walked around the room looking at everything more closely than before.

I wandered into the bathroom. It was much nicer than I was used to. My old one was a large room with tiny stalls and a shower area with a thin curtain for us to shower. Across from the stalls was sinks all in a line. We had 4 breaks during the day we could use them and only 10 minutes at night to shower before taking us back to our rooms.

Our rooms were hard rock floors. We only had a burlap matt to sleep on. Compared to the room I was in now it was pathetic. We didn’t have bathrooms or fancy closets attached. We lived in a glorified cave. That Arken considered a privilege for us to have. A knock on the door pulled me from my thoughts. I wandered over and opened it up to see Armin.

“May we talk?” he spoke as the door was fully opened.

“Yeah, what can I do for you?” I answered.

“Follow me. I want to talk in the common room.” Armin motions with his hand.

We walked down the hall toward the other side of the second floor. At the end of the long hallway were two giant double doors. Walking into the room I see straight ahead three large cushy chairs and a short table. To the left was a table with balls as well as long polls and 6 holes. Armin walked to the right, this was toward a sofa and another black mirror.

I sat in the corner of the couch and Armin sat about two or three feet away. We both adjusted ourselves until we both were comfortable. I looked around the room while Armin looked like he was struggling to put together words. Finally he sighed.

“How was your first day here?” He spoke, deciding on a question.