Seconds in Time

Page 26

"You can shower first." Alexander announced and took my empty cup.

"Oh, but I'll take longer than you and..." His sharp gaze told me to shut up. Once I did and pressed my lips together he spoke again.

"Just go Lillian." He ordered before turning his back on me and walking into the kitchen. His bitterness didn't bother me for the moment, but getting up from my lazy warmth did. It always did, but now wasn't the time for it to get to me.

I walked upstairs and picked out some comfortable clothes for the day. It was just jeans and a nice shirt that showed off my shoulders. I turned on the water in the bathroom and waited for it to get hot enough. In the meantime I closed the door, but didn't lock it. If anyone needed to get in they could and the warmth and steam would stay trapped in the room.

I undressed and got into the shower. The hot water poured over me and massaged my shoulders and back. My eyes stayed closed and I breathed shallowly, like I always did when I took showers. I like the water too hot so by the time I get out the air is so hard to breathe I'm light headed. That doesn't stop me from doing it.

I washed my hair with expensive shampoo that smelled like vanilla and rubbed away all the pain and sorrow with a soft cloth. I kept telling myself that this life wouldn't be all that bad, and perhaps it wouldn't. Alexander would never love me, or like me for that matter, but what else about this situation was really bad? They even have a significant amount of electricity here.

You see, we only use solar in our kingdoms and not many people can afford them. We know from our studies of the "modern cities" that you can use other means, but it has negative effects on the environment. We don't adopt many of their customs because they lead to war and harm more than they help. We have easily reminded hidden from the "modern" society with ease.

They don't know about us and we don't know much about them. Anyone from our three kingdoms that goes there never comes back. No one is sure why, but there are plenty of theories. Some say they love it so much there at they don't want to come back, so they simply stay. Others say they don't remember the way back and die trying to find the entrance to our kingdom. Well, any of the three kingdoms really.

When I opened my eyes I noticed something strange. The beautiful marbled walls of the shower seemed to be covered in a layer of water. I reached out and touched it, my fingertips only touching water. I pressed my fingers to the marble. The bubble of water on the walls was around half an inch thick. I found it strange, but it was interesting enough to make me smile.

I sighed and turned off the water. All that was bubbled up on the walls streamed down into the drain. I dried off with a fluffy towel and got dressed slowly, examining myself in the mirror as I did. I had to make sure I was still the same person. I was, but I looked more like a woman and felt it too. I'm only sixteen, but people will forget that soon enough if they haven't already.