Seraphina and Sabrina

I: The S.R.P.C.M.H

||Seraphina Mint||

The drive was long and painful and sickening. I vomited twice due to my bad carsickness, and my butt ached and my legs had no room to sketch out. Where was I going, you ask? You tell me....

When the driver pulled up to a large stone house, almost five times the size of my own, with ivy running up the exterior and cracks in the stone, you could say I was quite surprised. Why am I here? I had asked myself that question about a million times as my driver fetched my bags from the back of the limo and I made my way up the dirty, old stairs.

My converse scraped against the stone as I shuffled towards the large front doors. They were about twice my height and the white and green paint job was chipping, showing the old rotting wood underneath it. What is this place?

I turned and watched as Barrington--my driver--struggled to carry all of my suitcases towards the door. Past him and the car there was nothing I could make out besides fog, and a stone pathway down the huge mountain the house sat on. I couldn't see any farther from that.

The air was steamy as if it had just rained and the sun was nowhere to be seen.

I balled my fist and before I got to knock on the door, it opened. A small women with red hair peered out at me, I could only see the part of her face above her nose. Her striking blue eyes stared at me and she opened the door all the way, showing her small figure.

"Seraphina Mint," she grabbed my hand and shook it, "so you finally decided to show up. We've been waiting for you." Her thin lips formed a smile as she gestured for me to come in.

The house itself was even darker inside than the foggy air outside of it. I glanced up at the large, Crystal chandelier above me, noticing how instead of lightbulbs there were lit candle sticks. The interior of the house was filled with wood flooring and dark black and navy walls, and smelt slightly of mint leaves and pine. Pleasant.

The short red haired women, whose name I learned was Lilliana, showed me around. It was even larger than it looked on the inside, so big that even Lilliana, who told me has lived here since birth, often got lost.

There were marble and wood staircases in almost every room and six floors. The house, called the Taxeira Estate, was owned by Idabella Taxeira, the only child left in the Taxeira family.

Lilliana showed me where my room was, on the sixth floor, and unlike my seven story house, the Taxeira Estate had no elevator. Barrington, Lilliana, and I all took three of my suitcases each and hauled them up the six flights.

My room had black walls but large windows and a balcony to let natural light in. It came with a bathroom with no door that had a dirty old tub and a full size antique mirror. It smelled faintly of dust, cigarette smoke, and orange peels, the mahogany floors creaked with every step I took. I like it.

Lilliana and Barrington left me to unpack, closing the barley in tact door on their way out.

Instead of unpacking I spent about thirty minutes standing in the middle of the room thinking. I still wasn't quite sure what exactly this place was and why I was here. The only thing I knew was that I'd be staying here for quite a long time.

I took a deep breath and tried to shake the feeling off, I'm sure mum will explain when I call tonight.

I started with my sheets, pulling the white covers over the king sized mattress on the huge canopy bed. I pulled a bunch of pillow cases over eight of the pillows and then straitened my navy blue blankets across it. Then, I moved into the huge armoire next to the balcony doors.