Prism of Equilibrium

Chapter 14: An Imaginary Cousin

"I'll be right back with the others, okay?" Natasha ran up the stairs without waiting for my response. That's good, because I don't have anything to say. I've never been so far away from home, and here I am, at a big, old house, full of humans. And to be very honest, I am already starting to feel nervous. What if something bad happened again? What if I can't adapt to the new environment? I let myself immersed in those thoughts as I put my bag on the sofa. I was snapped back to reality when someone knocked at the door. My heart started to thumped frantically. All the memories of the giant spider came back to me.

But this can't be it. Not now. I was frozen on the spot. What should I do? No one is downstairs. My heart banged even louder in my chest as the knocks continued. But then, I heard a voice. "Selena, are you there?" said the voice.

As soon as I realized it's not a spider but a human, I exhaled and let go of the fear. I opened the door and it appears to be Calixto, a yellow box tied with a white, silky ribbon on his hands. "Hey, again." he said. "So how's the house and team?"

"Hey." I greeted. "I haven't met the others."

"Me, too. Anyway, this is yours." He handled the box onto my hands.

"Thank you." Why is he giving me this? We just knew each other.

He smiled widely. "No, thank you. I get to see you by delivering this. It's... not from me."

"Really?" I scanned the box again, hoping for a clue that this is from Branson. There it is. A tag, hid under the ribbon's loop. I opened it with my index finger by pushing it in the middle. The letters BM are easy to spot in the middle of the white tag since it's written in black.

"Yeah, it's from your cousin. I bet you are really close. I hardly ever met my cousins." he explained.

"Um, yeah. It is." I lied. Don't blame me for lying---it's Branson's fault. He put me in this situation by lying to Calixto.

"Okay, then. I gotta go right now. My team will be mad at me if I came late." he shoved his hands in his pocket. "See you, Selena."

"See you," I said, and he was starting to turn and walked away. "Soon!" I said, half-shouting.

I heard him laughed. "Okay, see you soon!"

I closed the door with a stupid, big smile on my face. This is literally the first time I've ever been so nice to somebody, except Dad, of course. Plus, this relieves me a lot--- a proof that Branson doesn't disappear and left me here to survive alone. I held the box in my hands, walking slowly to put it on the sofa. Footsteps were heard again, this time getting louder, closer to me. I looked up and saw two boys, Natasha, and I know there must be another person because there are some footsteps catching up behind them.

I slowly walked towards them, them towards me, and we stopped when the distance is close enough to talk with each other. I took a deep breath, and smiled. I don't understand why human did so whenever they met another human. I mean, a smile could give a thousand meanings, but they perceived it as one---gladness, happiness, joy, so I guess I'll just follow.

The boy between Natasha and another boy is the one who offered his hand first. I grabbed his and shook it as I examined him. He wears a light blue t-shirt, its sleeves rolled up and a pair of skinny black jeans. He's tall and skinny, and he's got perfect white teeth, dark, curly locks, and dark brown eyes. "Hi, welcome to the family, I'm Sean Hawthorne." he smiled, showing his rows of super-white teeth. His voice is loud, and that really shows his confidence. "Hi, I'm Selena Autumn, nice to meet you." he let go of my hand as I pulled it back gently. The other boy offered his hand, too. "I'm Simon Ariston Castello. Welcome to the family." he smiled warmly as we shook our hands together. I looked up, and realized how he's slightly taller than that boy---Sean. "I'm Selena Autumn, nice to meet you." He wore a pair of black thick framed glasses which behind those, his warm eyes shine, casting warm thoughts to me as I looked closely. We stepped back; he adjusted his glasses and I continued examining. He wears a long sleeve shirt which sleeves he rolled up messily and a pair of loose jeans.

"So now you've known each other," Nat began in all of a sudden. Her voice rose up when she spoke for the second time. "But where is Raziel?"

"Sorry," someone came from behind Sean and Simon. For a second, my heart sank and came up too fast I almost squealed. It's somebody I've been dying to see again, the angelic boy. We matched our eyes and he offered his hand. I took it, almost unable to believe it at the same time. "I'm Raziel Skyes," he smiled dazzlingly and continued, "Very nice to meet you."

I gulped the warm feeling that's beginning to form in my stomach. "I'm Selena Autumn, and I'm glad I met you." He smiled in return. But wait, did I just say I'm glad that I met him? Ugh. I hope he didn't realize it. Why did I keep embarrassing myself at the least moment I want to?

He stepped back from us and clapped his hand. "Alright. Good morning everyone. As you know, we're in the top three groups, third grade, and the rules have changed."

Whoa, wait. Third grade? This explains a lot about how much older they looked---Natasha, Raziel, Sean, Simon, Calixto. That explains the difference in height, too. And what rules? I know nothing! Oh, Branson, you owe me a clear, long explanation for this.

There has to be a clue in that box, or else I'll tell them that I don't belong here. But maybe I shouldn't. If I skipped two grades, it means I'm two years faster to graduation, right? Great, I won't tell and will carry on with this thing. I'm sure I'll survive.

"But it's okay, we're going through this together as a team." I wonder if he said that because he saw my frustrated face upon hearing first sentence. "And yes, I am the leader, so I hope we will all work well together. If there's anything, you can speak to me. Have fun." He shrugged one of his shoulder.

I saw his eyebrows knitted together and found out why. Sean raised his hand and waved it enthusiastically. "Oh! Oh! May I know who---"

"Shut up." he frowned. "Only important questions, please." So he's not the type to smile all the time. But he still looked really, really good. He's a guy you would think of when your parents read a story where the princess lived happily ever after with the prince.

Sean sighed and Raziel continued to speak, indifferent to Sean's response. "Choose the room upstairs. I have mine ready on the third floor. Yours are on the second. Tidy up. Change your clothes." he paused to look at his watch. "In an hour we're going out for...shopping." Natasha squealed so loud instantly, and Sean covered his left ear.

"So please remember to make a list of what you want to buy. Get ready in 20 minutes, we still have to clean the house. Sean, Simon, you will share a room. Now, go." In a second, the two boys, Sean and Simon, were halfway up the stairs pushing each other playfully. Natasha jogged up the stairs, giggling. I turned back, and knew Raziel is looking at me, probably curious why I am not upstairs yet. I picked up my bag and the box, and head upstairs, Raziel's footsteps are softly heard behind me.

When I reached the second floor, I looked inside the first room. The room is very spacey. On the left corner beside the door there's a big L-shaped table, then the bed and a nightstand, and a small wardrobe on the right corner across where I stood. Simon and Sean are inside, arranging their stuffs. I only took a step to peer in the second as the door is side by side. It's Nat's. She's inside, surrounded by three opened suitcases, all full of clothes. I swear she can open a shop with that.

I moved on and opened the last room's door without hesitation. An enormous amount of light shone in through the glass across where I stood, where the wall should have been. Excitement flooded me; I have a balcony!