The World is After Us

Chapter 9

Lydia showed me to their guestroom and allowed me to change my clothes for the time being. 

"Inside the house, you're apart of this family. On the outside, you're a prisoner. Don't make yourself too comfortable." Lydia states. I don't know how to take it, but I just nod obediently. I don't know if I should be scared, hurt, or relieved. 

As we walked down the basement hallway (which really did not look like a basement at all) I noticed that there were little indents lining the walls with small candle-lit chandeliers hanging in them. The floors are black tile, and on the other side of the hallway, there are more portraits of people I do not recognize. 

Lydia and I walk past a series of rooms, but she doesn't tell me what they are or what they're for. And I know better than to ask. 

Eventually, we come up to a room in the far back, and as Lydia pushes the door open, my eyes widen. There is a large king-sized bed with two white dressers on each side of the room. We walk in, and I look around some more, noticing a huge walk-in closet and glass doors that open up to a balcony. I had thought that we were on the lowest floor of the house, but apparently I was wrong. 

"All the clothes you need will be in those dressers," Lydia says, gesturing to the large chests in the room. "You're probably wondering why we keep girls clothes in these guest bedrooms. Well, we have a lot of family that spend the night. The other rooms have boys clothes and such. We don't usually keep prisoners in our house, but Ander has said a lot of good things about you."

"Thanks." I mumble, looking around the beautiful, large room some more. This is the most royal thing I have ever experienced in my life. Compared to my house, this place is a castle. Pure richness in every inch of the premises. 

"You can make yourself at home." Lydia says, nodding her head to the door on the opposite wall of the glass balcony doors. "There's your bathroom. You can take a shower, and the TV has all the channels available. Just don't record anything."

I hadn't really noticed the TV hanging on the wall across the bed, but under it is a large entertainment center with stacks of movies on each side. Directly under the TV and on top of the entertainment center is the newest game console, the Q-Cube. It's a console that allows you to play by moving just your body. It comes with a circular board that sits on the floor, and whoever is playing has to stand on it, and it makes them feel like they are actually inside the game. You have to wear special goggles, though. 

"There's all the holographic games in there too," Lydia says. "Do you know how to work the console?" she asks and I slightly nod. 

"You have to wave your hand in front of it to turn it on, right?" I ask, and she nods. 

"When it comes on, there will be a list of games and descriptions, and you have to tell the console which one you want to play. It'll ask for your weight, too, so the ground board can neutralize the weight bearing sensor for your sensation."

"Cool!" I mumble. Lydia smiles and places her hand on the crystal door handle, leaning her weight into the door. 

"If you need anything from us, this is the intercom. Place your whole hand on the sensor and wait for it beep. When it does, a bell will ring, and you'll hear static. That means that we picked up the call request. After you hear that, tell us what you need, and we'll most likely send Lucy your way."

I furrow my eyebrows, but stand in awe at the amazing technology that has come of this place. "Who is Lucy?" I ask, and Lydia smiles. 

"She our Holographic Auto Bot," she answers kindly. "Every home has one. It's kind of like an extra hand around the house when you really need one."

"Cool," I say with a smile. And with that, Lydia nods, then closes the door and leaves me to my wondering. 

Holographic game console, holographic robot, touchscreen television set, hand sensor activated intercom, a walk in closet the size of my old house, my very own balcony and two dressers full of clothes. Not to mention, there is a miniature refrigerator that self-supplies when the snacks and drinks get low. This is luxury. If this is how I am being treated as a servant, then I would want nothing more than to serve these people for the rest of my life. 

I walk around the room some more just to take in the amazing sights. My jaw drops when I walk into the bathroom and see that the large mirror is lined with gold, and there is both a shower and a jacuzzi bathtub. There are three sinks under the mirror, and a garbage chute  on the floor next to the toilet. There is a lever above the toilet, which I assume is how it is flushed. 

When I'm done exploring the bathroom, I exit and head for the balcony. The glass doors have gold handles and white veil curtains from the top to the floor. I open the doors, and the breeze blows the curtains and they wave beautifully against the sunset. I step out onto the balcony, which is made of chiseled white marble and smooth white tile for the floor. The railings around the whole wall is gold as well, and I walk up to it and lie my hands on it as I peer out into the distance. It is such a beautiful view. 

I take in the warm breeze and close my eyes to let this paradise sink in for a minute. The trees and flower beds and other plants on the hills in front of me look amazing against the sun, and as I glance around, I watch a pack of birds fly by. One of them swoops down and lands on the railing, making me smile. It chirps, and I turn around and find a small bird feeder with a knob in the corner. I slowly walk over to it and twist the handle, and a fair amount of bird food spills into my palm. I then walk back over to the bird, but before I can hand the food out to it, it flies away. 

"Alles klar." I mumble, pouring the food over the balcony and watching it sway down past the balcony under me. 

"So you're the German mom and dad took in." a voice says suddenly, making me jump; spinning on my heel and gasp. A girl about my age with red hair stands in front of me with her arms crossed. She's wearing a nice green jacket with maroon colored skinny jeans and white converse. "I heard you say 'okay then' so I figured you're the one that's the talk of the town."

"Hi." I mumble as my heart pounds heavily against my chest. I try to calm down, as I know that I am safe, it's just that she sneaked up on me and scared me half to death. 

"So you're Farrah? Wow, you're a lot prettier than I thought you'd be." the girl says as she uncrosses her arms. She walks over to me and stands beside me on the balcony, resting her hands on the railing and staring into the sunset as well. 

"I'm sorry if this sounds rude, but did you say mom and dad?" I ask, and the girl nods. 

"I'm Veda, nice to meet you." the girl says, holding out her hand and smiling. I shake it and nod, and jerk my hand away as quickly as possible. Veda's hands were abnormally soft, and the giant ring on her middle finger scratched me as she pulled away. "Yeah, those people up there are my parents."

"I didn't know they had a daughter." I say, trying as hard as I can to keep my eyes off of Veda. I don't want her to get a bad impression of me. Veda just shrugs her shoulders and tilts her head. 

"Sometimes they don't give confidential information to prisoners." she says, then gasps and turns to me. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have said that."

"It's okay." I shake my head, and stare at the sunset some more.

"I should probably go back upstairs," Veda says after a few moments of just listening to the outside world. She starts to back up, but I don't move. "I really hope we can be friends. Being an only child can get lonely sometimes."