from the ashes (she will rise) ➸ octaven

chapter 2

"The girls are in school. They'll be back in an hour or so. I told them to be expecting a new guest when they got home."

The wooden door creaks open and Octavia takes a few hesitant steps forward. From the outside, her new home sticks out like a sore thumb. It's an old victorian, painted in muted greens and yellows, circled by a huge wrap-around porch. It'd been a long car ride from the train station to the middle-of-nowhere, California, and her legs are still wobbly.

"Your room is this way," Indra, the house advisor, walks in beside her. The home smells of stained wood and pumpkin candles. Octavia's eyes scan her surroundings, the stain glass windows, the large brick fireplace, the knitted blankets thrown over the back of a olive green couch. It's got personality, she'll give it that much. Indra reaches out to help her carry her suitcase, but she shakes her head and tightens her grip on her things.

Her room is the first one at the top of the stairs. Octavia wanders inside and lets her bags slump to the ground at her feet. It's pretty plain. The wall's got the slightest tint of blue to it, but it might as well be white. There's one window across the room, covered in wooden shutters. Octavia notes the two twin sized beds and glances back to Indra.

"Usually we have roommates," she explains. "The house can fit 6 girls, but we've only got 4 right now. You included."

"Got it," Octavia nods, shrugging a bag off of her shoulder. It thumps to the ground beside her and she nudges it toward the wall with her foot. She sighs. This is home now.

"Would you like to see the rest of the house?" Indra stands in the doorway. Octavia just shakes her head and sits down on the bed, defeated.

"I just want to be alone," she runs a hand through her hair.

"Long day?"

Octavia nods. Indra gives her a sad smile. "Bathrooms are down the hallway. Doors aren't allowed to be closed all the way during the day, standard practice." She glances down to Octavia's things. "The girls will be home in around an hour."

"Thanks," Octavia sighs. She sits on the edge of the bed, counting the footsteps that echo as Indra makes her way back downstairs. Exhaling slowly, Octavia walks over to her window and struggles to pry it open with her good hand. Eventually, though, the sound of the outdoors echos through her room and she feels a little bit more at ease.

For the next hour, she sits on her bed across from the open dresser and tosses her clothes in one by one. Indra passes by her door once, holding a laundry basket, and raises an amused eyebrow at her little game. But besides that, she's left by herself for a while. After shoving her suitcase under her bed, she digs through her backpack and pulls out a worn leather journal. She tries to write something, tries to get her feelings down, but she just ends up drawing trees sprouting from the corners of the page.

An hour passes quicker than she thought, and she's startled by the sound of the front door opening. The creak seems to rush through the entire house, and she bites her lip when she hears a stampede of footsteps barrel into the foyer.

"Oh, Lexa, another package came. It's in the kitchen." Indra.

Octavia hears a pair of footsteps scurry excitedly across the floor beneath her. At the same time, she hears the sound of someone trudging up the stairs. She untucks her hair from behind her ear, letting it fall in front of her face in hopes she'll be invisible.

The first person that trudges past her door is a blonde. Her hair is thrown up in a half-assed bun and her sweatpants seem two sizes too big for her. She doesn't even look in Octavia's direction, and Octavia can hear her heavy footsteps enter one of the bedrooms, and something -- a backpack, she supposes -- is thrown onto a bed.