Truth and Light

Chapter 4

I folded up the clothing I slept in and left it on the bed. I repacked my brush, lotion and my dirty clothes and hefted my duffel onto my shoulder. I made my way to the only door I hadn't explored. I was just about to open it, when the pretty girl in the picture threw it open, narrowly avoiding hitting me in the face.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hit you!" the girl exclaimed.

"No, you didn't, I was just on my way out," I replied, not knowing how to deal with this awkward situation.

The girl was incredibly beautiful. She had glossy chestnut brown hair that fell in shiny ringlets down her back. Her clothes were casual with scuffed up black chucks and a pair of jeans that she filled out way better than I did. They fit her snugly around the hips and her butt and she had on a green knit top that brought out her whiskey brown eyes. Dimples constantly peeked from both cheeks, mostly because she never stopped smiling since she walked in. She was just as short as I was at around 5'4. However, where I was awkward and clumsy, she was graceful and energetic.

Directly outside of the bedroom was an office with a sitting area. It had a greyish blue couch, matching loveseat and a solid grey wood desk. On the desk sat a corded business phone, laptop, and some pens in a wooden pen holder.

The walls had more framed photographs. There were pictures of different people, all of them happy and smiling. A few people appeared in multiple photos; an older couple, two guys who were clearly twins, Sue, the woman I had met last night at the gas station and another man around Sue's age who was probably her husband. There was also a boy in his early teens, and of course the woman standing in front of me now.

"Great! Gabe just sent me to get you for breakfast. Most everyone has eaten, but he wanted to give you time to rest," she said as she started to steer me down a long hallway, but then realized I still had my duffel bag over my shoulder. "Why don't you leave your bag here? I'm the one that brought it to you, so I know it's pretty heavy. You can come back anytime you want to get it and no one will bother it in here," she explained, reaching out her hand to take the bag. I flinched backward holding the bag to my chest like a shield.

I looked at my bag. She was right, it was heavy and I knew from experience if I put the strap crosswise over my shoulder it would bump painfully into my rib cage. Weighing my options, I finally decided to leave the bag in the room. Clearly, they weren't trying to steal my stuff or they would have already done it. I put the bag down near the door between the bedroom and sitting area.

"My name is Callista, but you can call me Callie."

"Alina."

"It's nice to meet you, Alina! I hope you're hungry. Gabe tried to save a bit of everything for you 'cause he didn't know what you liked," Callie said cheerfully as she led the way.

We passed another young woman who was our age as we left the room. She was rail thin with blonde hair, blue eyes, overly tanned skin, and red lips that would probably have been beautiful it they weren't pulled down into a scowl while she glared at me. She reminded me of Barbie, but not just any Barbie, the dreaded Malibu Barbie! I tucked my chin down and stared at my shoes. Barbie's eyes continued to follow me as we walked. I don't know why this woman disliked me so much, and I didn't want to find out. The woman had a basket filled with what looked like clean, fluffy towels and sheets.

Barbie walked past us and smiled at Callie. I could see her straight white teeth, "Good morning, Callista!" she spoke sweetly but shrilly and it grated on my nerves, like nails on a chalkboard. There was a definite twang to her voice. I wanted to reach up touch my ears and see if they were bleeding.