Satiness

Chapter 10: Breeze's Room

Chapter 10: Breeze's Room

The clean up, as it turned out, was a complete disaster.

It soon became evident that Ally, Minah, and Satiness were not the kind of people used to cleaning up after themselves. They started out alright, but somehow, they ended up getting into a tussle.

I looked up from my cleaning to find that they were hitting each other, aided by such deathly weapons as brooms and rags. Ally saw me looking and seemed to decide that I should not feel left out of such mature things as broom fights, so she hit me hard with the cleaning rag that was in her left hand. So, naturally, I joined in.

It was a battlefield where brooms replaced swords, rags replaced whips, and friends replaced shields. The afternoon could not have been less productive, nor could it have been more fun. It was an odd feeling to realise that I hadn't laughed this much in long time.

In that moment, even though we were doing nothing but hitting each other with cleaning supplies, I felt like I belonged there, with those girls. There they were - not laughing at me, but with me. For the first time in my life, I had friends. I felt free.

But, of course, nothing good lasts forever. I had a feeling that my life was about to get harder than ever before, but I did not realise how right I was.

We did, eventually, got some cleaning done. Hours later found the four of us standing in a sparkling clean room, sweating and panting, with our hair a mess and bits of scraps stuck in it.

"Phew! Glad we got that over with," Ally said, leaning on a broomstick with one hand and wiping the sweat on her forehead with the back of the other.

"Tell me about it! Never before have I had to clean up like that," cried Satiness. "It's exhausting work."

"It wouldn't have been this tiring if you hadn't decided to smack Ally with your rag. We could have finished hours ago if not for that silly fight," Minah said.

Satiness just smiled innocently at Minah.

"I can see beneath that smile, you know," Minah said. Satiness just grinned wider.

"Oh,come on, Minah. Don't act as though you didn't enjoy it," said Ally, grinning playfully.

Minah looked indignant but didn't say anything. I stiffled a yawn.

"Whoops," said Ally, "somebody's sleepy." Then she, too, yawned widely.

"Come on. It's time for bed." Minah said. "It's nearly dawn. And not everyone is a night person." Minah looked pointedly at Satiness, who just smiled in return. I wondered vaguely what Minah meant by that, but I was too groggy to contemplate it further. "We have to be well rested before we got looking for Breeze in the morning."

"Right. Come on Lulu, I'll show you where you can sleep." Satiness said to me. She then turned to Ally and Minah, "you both know where your rooms are. 'Night, all. See you in the morning, fresh and rested."

"Yes, ma'am," said Ally and Minah together, before turning around and walking through the door we had entered earlier. Satiness then walked out of the door where she had hidden the microphone, with me following in her wake.

I followed Satiness through several hallways, trying to keep track of the way. Left, right, left, left, right, right... I soon realised it was a hopeless attempt. I couldn't find my way through this place if my life depended on it. Satiness paused in front of a set of stairs leading farther down into the house, turned to check that I was keeping up, then started descending. We reached the bottom landing, and Satiness began walking down another corridor.

My tired mind was just beginning to wonder whether she was about to kill me when Satiness said, "You can stay in Breeze's room. I made it just for her. After all, she was the first friend I ever had. I made it a bit farther away from the rest of the house because she always liked to have her own space. But, she has never used it."

"So," I said, voicing my thoughts, "Breeze, Ally, and Minah have their own rooms here at your house?"

"Yes, they do indeed," said Satiness. "The four of us are more alike than anyone can imagine. Minah and Ally occasionally come to stay here, when they need to get away from their lives. You see, we are all just a bunch of outcasts in our own respective communities. We don't fit in. Here, they can be themselves without having to worry about anything. They are my closest friends. I don't know what I would do without them."

I did not know how to respond to that, so I said, "I don want to intrude on Breeze's privacy. I can sleep on the couch."

"Nonsense," exclaimed Satiness. "Breeze wouldn't mind. Besides, she doesn't even know this room is here for her. Like I said in my story, she left before I could even say thank you."

"So you haven't seen her in... how long?

"Hmm, let's see. I was about 9, so that would make it... about two hundred and seven years ago."

I stopped in my tracks, and my jaw hit the floor. Satiness turned to look at me, and giggled when she saw the look on my face.

"Don't panic so much! Time," she said, "runs differently here than it does in your world. In Earth years we would be roughly the same age. You are sixteen, right?"

"Yes I am" I said, still a little shocked.

Saitness just nodded. She then stopped at a blue door. It was a midnight blue, just like Breeze's dress. On it, her name was engraved in silver. Satiness opened the door.

The room was simple but I liked it. The walls were painted the same midnight blue as the door, but the roof was black with stars painted, making it look like the night sky. There was a double bed in the room with two bedside tables on either side. There was a dresser on one wall and a door on the other. I was guessing either a bathroom or a walk-in wardrobe.

Satiness pointed to the roof. "Breeze always loved the sky. I'm not sure about the reason. But the sky always seemed to settle with her moods. And she really loved the night time. So I painted the roof to look like it. But there's one thing she would have liked most of all - one thing I can say you both have in common."

Satiness walked to the door that I thought was a walk-in wardrobe. I didn't understand what she meant; I didn't like fashion at all. Satiness opened the door and gestured for me to come over and have a look.

When I did so, I realised it wasn't a wardrobe, after all. Instead, the door opened to a huge library that seemed to buzz with the magic it held. My eyes widened at the sight. Rows and rows of bookshelves stretched in front of me. It was much bigger than my home library and local library combined.

Satiness gave a small chuckle. I realized my jaw was hanging open, and shut it quickly.

"Breeze loved books just like you do," Satiness said, in a fondly exasperated tone. "In the short time I knew her, I never saw her without one, even while she was working. It was as if those books were glued to her hands. She said it was somewhat an addiction. She would tell me all about these adventures she went on with the characters. Each book was a new adventure for her. And she would have a different book each day. She stayed her for 30 days, and had 30 adventures." Satiness pointed at the books, "You can take whatever you like."

"Oh, no. I couldn't do that!" I said, even though I was barely resisting the urge to lay my hands on one of the leather-bound spines in front of me.

"Oh but, you can; you must," exclaimed Satiness. "They don't get out much. They need, and deserve, a night out. Or in your case, a few days. They need to be read, to be able to express themselves to the reader."

I turned to Satiness, a grin on my face. "You speak as though they are alive."

"But, they are," Satiness insisted. Everything is alive, as Breeze would say. Even the simplest inanimate things are alive as long as we give them the power to be. A pen won't work unless you pick it up and start to write. A door will be left shut and the potentially exciting things that lie behind it will remain hidden unless you push it open. Above all, the adventures that lie between the pages of a book will remain unexplored if you don't pick it up and start reading."

She walked towards the door, then turned to look at me again. "Don't ever forget that, Lulu. Goodnight," she said with a smile, "and sweet dreams."