Chosen For Life

Chapter 28

Leila

The rest of the night was spent talking and laughing amongst everyone. I was finally starting to feel relaxed, though I couldn't shake the obvious absence of my friends. Or, more importantly, Makari.

It was getting late, and some of the other kids had left already. Elysia, Fauna, and Lo remained. Lo was still sitting across from the girls and I, extremely focused on the game he was playing with Fauna. They had explained the rules to me plenty of times and I still had no clue how to play.

"Damn Lo, you suck at this game!" Fauna chuckled, slamming her cards on the table. I watched as Lo let out a cry, throwing his head back dramatically as he let his cards fall on the table. He lost, I'm assuming.

"I give up." Lo cried, "I'm never gonna be good at this game." He said, gathering the cards in front of him as he sulked. Fauna chuckled in response, "You're never gonna be good at this game against me, correct."

I took a deep breath in as I yawned, letting out a loud sigh. "I'm actually really tired." I said, looking at Elysia, who had her head down on the table. She nodded lazily, "Me too."

"Did you guys see how Ren walked in here today?" Fauna asked, a look of disgust on her face, "Didn't say hi to any of us or anything."

I watched as Lo shrugged, "You know him. Always in some weird mood." He said, shaking his head.

"Who's Ren?" I asked, looking at Fauna. "The one who walked in here earlier?" She nodded as she closed the container that held all the cards. "Yeah, he used to hang out with us in here more often. But, I don't know, he just randomly stopped coming one of those days. Hasn't come back since." She said, shrugging.

I nodded once. Though he was nice to look at, I could feel the coldness they were talking about. He had no expression on his face at all, which was weird to me. Not that it was my business, anyway.

"Have you talked to him at all?" Elysia asked, cautiously. She had lifted her head up off the table with a caring look on her face as she faced Lo.

Lo hesitated almost, keeping his focus on the table in front of him. "Not really." He almost whispered. I couldn't help the look of concern I felt growing on my face. The sudden shift in Lo's mood was pretty obvious. I couldn't help but be curious as to why he seemed so sad.

Before I could look away, he looked up at me, catching my look of concern. He smiled quickly, shaking his head. "Nothing to worry about, Princess," he said calmly. "Ren and I used to be close when we were younger. But like Fauna said, he just started to distance himself from all of us, including me."

I nodded slowly, "I'm sorry." I said, not knowing what much else I could say.

It was silent after that, but only for a moment. Fauna let out a sigh as she stood up from the table. "Well, I'm probably gonna go to bed. What about you guys?"

I nodded, standing up next to her, as Lo and Elysia did the same. "Yeah, I'm falling asleep as we speak." Elysia yawned, stretching her arms above her head.

We said our goodbyes as we left the room. I found myself wandering the halls of the castle before I realized I didn't actually know where I was going. I let my feet guide me as I ran my fingers along the walls, taking in the small designs and details of them. Truthfully, the castle was beautiful, as dark and sometimes scary as it was. The decorations along the walls were beautiful too; pictures, lamps. I think I knew now where Makari found his interest in such fancy room decorations.