Stray

Chapter 9

"I'm deafened by the silence

Is it something that I've done?

I know that there are millions

I can't be the only one who's so disconnected..."

-Simple Plan (Astronaut)

Sun shone in through the two massive French doors, letting in much too much light for this early in the morning. Scrunching up my eyes, I attempted to block out the light, possibly falling back asleep, ultimately waking up in my own bed realizing this was all just a really terrible dream. Unfortunately, the gods weren't that generous.

I groaned then rubbed my eyes ridding them of sleep, leaving a black layer in my vision for few seconds and pulsing in my head. Pushing myself up in the bed, I could feel my morning beauty radiating around the room. I looked around it in the light for the first time. I must admit that the night didn't do it justice. The sun, although painful to my tired eyes, made the room even more dazzling, making the chandelier sparkle its crystal across the purple room. It looked just like the beams that had come from a shirt I had when I was younger. It had sequins all across the front and on sunny days in the car, my mother and I couldn't find anything quite so entertaining. Of course this was from an elegant glass chandelier, not a five dollar bargain shirt from Wal-Mart.

Eventually, the small clock on the bed stand reading 8:11am, so pulled myself out of the plush bed and into the pristine bathroom. Looking in the mirror I realized how out of place I was here. My hair was all matted on the side of my head I had been sleeping on and my makeup was smeared down my face, leaving black smudges where the tears had fell. I felt bad for the pillowcases... they'd be stained black forever. Still though, my tear smudged face and knotted hair wasn't the picture of perfection this house was. I was as far from a princess as anyone could be. I didn't think I'd ever fit in in this place. It just wasn't home.

I pushed myself away from the mirror over the sink and looked around the bathroom for a towel. It wasn't hard to find as the bathroom was stocked full of plush white and purple towels, hanging and folded where it looked nice. I grabbed the softest looking one from a chair next to the huge claw foot tub and brought it over to the glass shower stall. There was no privacy in the stall though, the back three walls were made of white subway tiles and there was just a small glass wall to keep the water from running out. Anyone who walked in would be able to see anything and everything. I puffed out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding and threw the towel over the top of the glass, hanging it there so I could grab it quickly if said happened.

I stripped down and quickly shuffled to the stall, playing with the hundreds of buttons on the control panel until the water was an okay heat. There were about a hundred different soaps and shampoos on the ledge to try in the shower and every single one of them looked like the expensive bottles in the salon display cases that you can never afford. All I wanted was my cheap drug store stuff from home. Still though I plucked one from the hundreds that said something about taming my natural curls. It smelt heavenly nonetheless and I probably used way more than I needed.

When I finished lathering my body in expensive soaps, I quickly turned off the stream of hot water and pulled the towel tight around me, tucking it tight. I wrung out my hair quickly deciding to let my tight curls dry, maybe the shampoo would help tame them. Although it's probably just a sales pitch like every other shampoo ever. Wandering out of the bathroom, I jumped probably ten feet high when I saw Rhyet standing in the middle of it.

"What the hell!" I screeched, pulling my towel even tighter around me.

He looked just as shocked "Oh. Princess, I'm so sorry! I was bringing your bags in for you. I shouldn't of just walked in, my apologizes." He put my suitcase and bag he had been carrying down on the floor.