Senseless

overwhelmed

My head thumped as I woke up. I looked around tiredly. Looked like they fixed my room. I rose and walked over to a desk, but it wasn't there. My mirror wasn't there.

Then, I remembered the previous day's events; I was free. My eyes widened, my brain buzzing. I was still trying to comprehend the fact that there wasn't a guard outside my door when it opened. I heard no yells when I walked down the hall. My feet padded down the stairs nervously while my eyes darted to each passing guard. But they made no move to stop me.

In fact, many of them turned and tilted their heads in greeting. A few would say, "Hello," or "How are you?"

I didn't respond. What did they expect me to say? "Oh, I'm just absolutely dandy in this house full of people who I am sure have killed a bunch of people." No. They seemed to scary to be insulted like that. Instead, I looked at them with wide eyes and hoped the widened state conveyed my greeting.

I wasn't sure they did, but that didn't concern me too much. My wobbly, thin legs finally touched the bottom floor. There were people moving about, but they all seemed to successfully avoid me. It almost seemed deliberate. I didn't mind that, either. I'd rather not have been knocked over, or examined by curious onlookers. I knew my wild hair was probably quite a sight, as were my pajamas. My bare feet pattered on the wood below me. My cat was silent in my arms.

"Sabine!" Elena's voice came shortly before I was hit with the weight of a fourteen-year-old girl. My legs buckled underneath me and I cried out in alarm. "How do you like the house?"

I frowned at her and scooted away, examining my bare knees for injury. One was skinned. "Oh," I murmured. "The house. It's pretty." I stood back up and looked around, cradling my cat gingerly and making sure she was okay.

"Where were you headed?" I didn't know. I'd just been walking, happy to not be confined to that room. "Well, let's go get breakfast. The rest of them are being served as we speak. It's already ten."

Already ten? I'd been waking up past lunch for a while. I didn't know who "them" was, but I continued after her as she led me into the large dining hall. Inside the room, the table had around fifteen people sitting there. I didn't know very many of them. Just Nash, his little sister, his father, and Amber.

Amber? What was she doing here? I walked closer in confusion, my eyes wide. She was talking animatedly with a girl next to her, obviously excited about something. When I saw my name on her lips, I knew why. Her eyes, detecting movement, landed on me and a mixture of shock, happiness, and anger appeared on her face.

But all seemed to be forgotten as she got up and launched herself at me. I took a step back to avoid tumbling over and her arms came around me, tight and fierce. The hug felt strange, something I was no longer used to as I awkwardly patted her back.

"Sabine Maris, why aren't you giving me a proper hug?" she asked, glaring at me. I couldn't tell if it was real or fake, so I took a step back apologetically. "You were up so late, I just wanted to go into the room and see you! You've been gone for so long. Nash wouldn't tell me everything, but he said enough." I could hear the underlying tones of sadness, but she was too filled with an overwhelming excitement that the sadness could hardly show itself. "Are you okay now?"

I knew she'd added the "now" because she knew I would get irritated if she just asked if I was okay. She meant that as in, "Aren't you so happy to be out?"

Biting my lip, I nodded. The food looked delicious, and I sat down across from Nash with my cat to eat. It was sausage, biscuits and gravy, eggs, bacon, pancakes, and some weird looking mix between mashed potatoes and some unknown grainy substance. It looked quite cheesy.