'Vanille?' I hear. I mumble something. I wanna sleep.. I place my arms around my pillow. 'Vanille.' I hear again. I sigh and open my eyes.
'Wha--' I say while I look into the eyes of a strange woman. I swallow, frown and jump off the bed. I look around. Oh right, I'm not at home. And the woman is Charlotte. 'Yes?' I say while I stretch out.
'We're all waiting for you downstairs, to start breakfast.' She explains while she walks to the wooden closet. 'You can take some clothes out of here if you want to. I'm going downstairs again now, we'll see you in about ten minutes?'
'Eh, of course.' I say while I walk to the closet. She nods, walks out of the room and closes the door. I open the closet. My mouth falls open. So much and all so beautiful. My hand feels the cloth. It's silk. I take out a dress. It's a long, purple dress with beautiful golden patterns on the sleeves. I keep my head tilted. This is nothing for me. I look at all the clothes very well. Some are just overdone. Others are just ugly. But then, there's that one dress. It's a white dress. I immediately try it on.
I look into the old, wooden with gold decorated mirror. It fits perfect. The top is tight and the part under my waist a bit wrinkled. Different layers which overlay each other. It looks so magical. There are even some sparkles on it. I put my hair on a knot and wash my face. I look into the mirror again. My knot is in some way prettier than usual. There's one piece of hair not in the knot but at the right side of my face. It fits me.
When I walk into the dining room, I see Timothy first. He's at the top of the long table. Next to him, at his right sits Charlotte. They are talking. Next to Charlotte are Verena and the girl with the doll of yesterday. My heart freezes for a second. I shake my head and look further. At the opposite of that girl and Verena sits Jennifer. And next to her Bacchus. I see them looking at me with open mouth. I blink and walk towards the table. 'Good morning.' I say awkward. All faces turn to me. There's a silence.
'Good morning Vanille.' Timothy says smiling. 'You can sit at the top of the table, right in front of me.' I nod and sit down on the chair he means. Everybody still looks at me. Do I have something on my face, or what?
'Vanille,' Verena says. I turn my head to her. 'we forgot to introduce you to Maggie yesterday.' she continues. She points at the little, black haired doll girl. Maggie... Maggie looks down and the silence is back.
'Let's start eating.' Timothy says, probably to let this awkward silence go away. When he says that, Wynter and Delilah enter the room with plates on their hands. They put them all on the table. I look at Verena who shines. She probably made it or something. 'Nice work Verena.' Timothy says. 'Finally something which isn't burned.' Everybody laughs except Verena. Her cheeks become red. Poor her.
'It looks delicious Verena.' I say winking. Luckily enough she smiles now. When the table is full with plates with all different meals on it, Timothy gives the sign that Wynter and Delilah can sit down. We all start eating. It's so delicious, I never had this back home. We always ate bread with jam and milk. Here is some sort of... Ehm. It looks like wine. But I don't know exactly what it is but it doesn't taste like wine. I take a piece of everything. Chicken, salad, bread, eggs, strawberries, other berries and some sort of pudding. It's a pretty weird breakfast, but I like it.
After the breakfast, I help Verena bringing the plates back into the kitchen. I want to know some stuff about this house and the people who live here. I also help her washing everything. She's got several plates piled up.
'Is that going to work?' I ask her, pulling up one eyebrow. I bite my lip when I see her moving her head really awkward.
'Yeah, I think so.' She replies while she nods. Oh-oh.. I see her arms tremble and out of nowhere they suddenly move really quickly upwards. All the plates fall onto the ground and shatter in millions of tiny pieces. I cover my eyes because the sound is terrible.
'Verena? Did it happen again?' I hear Timothy say with a mocking voice. She blushes and moves very awkward and slowly to the door.
'Uhm. Yes.' She says while she bites her lip.
'The dustpan and brush lay on the kitchen table.' Timothy says laughing. 'And while you're busy already, also do the living room please!' I hear a lot of laughing from the dining room. I frown as I see Verena looking very disappointed. I feel a bit sorry for her and put an arm around her neck.
'You okay?' I ask. 'Is he always that.. Uh.. Mocking?' I continue staring at the floor.
'Oh well...' She says, while she makes fists. 'Nobody understands.' She turns around and thumbs to the sink. I frown and follow her.
'What's wrong then?' I ask curious. It looks like she ignores it and she starts washing the dishes again. Maybe she'll be laughed at all the time, because she's clumsy. Maybe she's got some issues... I have no idea. She remains silent and I start washing the dishes as well.
