River of Red

IX

The chicken nuggets were great. Really, really great. They came from McDonald's, but I was really craving some fast food. The moon that came in through the window casted an unearthly glow across the room.
All in all it was a very nice aura for eating chicken nuggets.
Nolan hadn't appeared since our food talk earlier. He had come, dropped off my food, and disappeared in a blink.
Just because he could.
I sighed. All my nuggets and fries were gone, such a depressing thing. I walked over to the newly discovered trash can in the corner and threw my trash in it.
Soon I got bored, so I just undressed like every other night and layed down, draped in a million heavy blankets.
My eyelids closed, and I fell into a dreamless sleep.
________________

In the morning I ate.
I had a smorgous board of food at my disposal. Apparently, Nolan had a butler. It would have been nice if he would have told me that before I made my own breakfast yesterday morning. Today, the butler had made me pancakes, strawberries, a crepe, and some good old fashioned O.J.
That morning was great.
Exept for the absence of Nolan.
And for the fact that Abraham is a very noisy drink slurper.
And that drink happened to be very thick, which was a very good opportunity for slurpers like him. I realized Nolan was probably avoiding me, l leaving me to the metaphorical wolves.
Thanks Nolan.
So then, there I sat, listening and trying to converse with Abraham.
Who I still didn't like.
"Katrina, do you prefer fish, or steak?"
I sighed, questions like these where I would answer led up to him writing it on a paper, nodding or making a thoughtful sound.
Fun.
"I actually like both equally."
He nodded, "Yes, Yes very unusual."
I groaned inwardly. Question time had been going on for well over and hour and I was pretty sick of it.
I stood up from the couch.
"Abraham, I need to go to the bathroom, if you would please excuse me."
He waved his hand, "Of course, you may go."
I practically ran from the room, finally escaping Abraham and his questions.
I approached my room, glad to be in silence for at least a minute. My room newly cleaned and had finally been dusted, I guessed Nolan had had a housekeeper clean my room during breakfast.
I tried to be mad at his absence, but found I could only be sad.
I flopped onto the bed, and decided to just have a lazy moment with no movement at all.
I noticed a small card on my nightstand.
Curiosity won over laziness, so I snatched the card from the table, flipping it over to find perfectly scrawled cursive.
It read:
Dear Katrina,
It seems I may not be back at all today. I send remorse, for as you must eat, so do I. I will try to come by your room tonight, to help you escape Abraham and his questions. Yes I know about those, he interrogated me about you last night. I must say I realize I do not know much about each other. I must apologize about this. I feel as we should, if you would have it. Please, if Abraham is too much you can escape him by going outside. He may be very old, but he's not as old as me. Sunlight still hurts him some.
Just a little trick for you, love.
Sincerely,
Nolan
I smiled, a perfect way to escape Abraham right here on this card.
Perfect.
I stuffed the card into my bra, and headed out my bedroom door. I figured it would take me a while to find a door to go outside, considering his house was endless.
I took the steps downstairs, carefully avoiding going near the living room, hoping to escape Abraham.
I must have walked through twenty halls before I found a door outside.
The halls led me to a foyer, a very big foyer. And in the middle of the foyer was a door. Giant French doors outlined with crown moulding dominated my vision. There was a large stained glass window above the doors, which depicted a scene of a grassy meadow. I stepped up to the formidable doors, and tried to open it.
It was unlocked.
Perfect.
I stepped outside.
The grass was lush and green, cut through the manicured lawn was a red brick driveway. In the middle of the driveway loop there was a fountain.
The fountain was stone, granite, and showed a mermaid in a pool spouting water out of her hand. I turned around, and looked take the house.
It took my breath away.
It was Victorian style. There were dozens of windows. The outside was stone, with millions of tiny stone details. It was three stories in most places, but there were other parts that were four, thanks to the spirals. My first impressions from the inside of the house were false.
It wasn't large.
It wasn't big.
It was enormous.
I walked into the lawn, rubbing my feet against the thick, lush green. Beautiful was an understatement. It was way more than beautiful. I laid down on the ground, soaking in the sunshine. It felt great outside, about 78 degrees. Perfect for me.
The breeze was gentle.
Caressing.
Caring.
It gently rocked the trees, creating a soft concerto on the lawn.
I breathed in the sweet scent of summer, it reminded me of the day Dalton had said that I stashed chew on the bus.
School.
I had forgotten all about school.
I shrugged it off. Everyone must think I'm dead. I may be dead now, and all these days could have been a figment of imagination. I would wake up, broken and bloody on the road, dying where my mom left me.
No.
It's real.
It has to be.
I remembered Nolan's kisses, the way they felt.
A figment of imagination could never feel that good.
I sighed, splayed out on the lawn, enjoying the nice heat.
A giggle.
I sat up, surveying the area.
A little girl stood 11 feet away from me, sitting on the edge of the mermaid fountain. The little girl looked to be about 5 years old. She had long raven black hair that fell to her knees, and had a golden mermaid necklace that sat just below the base of the throat. Her eyes were the deepest black of the deepest ocean.
She giggled again.
That was getting really, really creepy.
She pointed to something behind me.
I turned around. Slowly.
Behind me were 10 children.
Each had 10 razor sharp claws.
Each had 10 razor fangs.
10 children who looked at me like a meal.
10 children who wanted to kill me.