Solitary Confinement

The Welcoming Monroe's

 My eyes scanned the tiffany blue colored walls of the living room. Pictures laid out upon them. I grazed my fingertips along the borders of the picture frames, analyzing each one. Emberly sat giggling on her mother's lap all of them. The same cheshire smile dressed her chubby face. Envy shot through me as I looked at the happy family in front of me, all dressed in coordinating outfits.

"Did you want me to show you to your room so you can get comfortable?" Maria's voice interrupted my thoughts. I glanced toward her and saw her in the doorway. She looked happy, too happy. Nonetheless, I did want to go to my room. Not to get comfortable, but to get away from them.

"Uh. Yeah sure, that'd be great. Thanks." My reply came out short.

"Follow me," she replied, spinning on her heels in the direction of the winding staircase in the foyer. As I followed behind her, I couldn't help but glance up at the ceiling. A crystal glass chandelier hung and beamed down on the white carpet beneath my feet. This house intimidated me. I wasn't used to being in an environment that made my body uneasy. Making our way up the winding staircase, we came to an abrupt stop in front of a white wooden door. Before opening it, Mrs. Monroe spoke.

"I made sure our staff arranged your room for you. I hope you like it."

Opening the door, my eyes took in gleams of bright sunlight shining in through the glass windows placed on the opposite side of the room. Would you look at that, another chandelier. The bed looked like something out of a fairytail any normal kid would hear their parents read to them. White. That seemed to be the only color in this room. White blankets coated and neatly sat upon the bed. Wow, my old one room "apartment" I lived in at Cloverfield looked like a dumpster compared to this.

Snapping me out of the trance I couldn't seem to get out, Mrs. Monroe asked excitedly, "So, do you like it?"

"How could I not? It's beautiful."

Just then, my stomach let out a large growl causing me to clutch it in an attempt to stop the noise. There'd been so much going on today, I hadn't realized that I had forgotten to eat.

"Whew. Sounds like you're hungry. I'll head downstairs and make something to eat for you. I'm glad you like your room," Mrs. Monroe replied with that same stupid smile on her face. Good, Finally some alone time. After she'd shut the door to my new bedroom, I made my way towards the dresser and set my suitcase and bags next to it. Roaming around the room, doing a little touring of my own, I stopped in front of another closed door across the room. Opening it, my mouth hung open in shock. This is the closet? Baffled, my eyes scanned shelf after shelf of clothes and shoes, tags still attached to them.

"I figured this would be a nice surprise from us to you. I can't imagine you had much at the foster home," Maria's voice spoke, making me jump in surprise. "I didn't mean to frighten you, but I just wanted to know if you had any allergies?" My fists clenched to my chest, and my heart shook and pounded. Heat from embarrassment creeped up my neck, causing a shade of red to make it's way to my cheeks.

"No. Jesus. You shouldn't creep up on people like that," I let out defensively to cover up the guilt I felt for snooping. "These are all mine?" Stun laced my voice as I questioned Mrs. Monroe. "But, why?"

"You're a part of this family now. Now you just have the option to dress the part."

***

After Mrs. Monroe pranced out of my new bedroom, I'd sent myself on a mission to find the bathroom. I need a shower. Opening the door to what I assumed to be the bathroom, I turned the light switch on and allowed my eyes to adjust. I grabbed a towel from the towel cabinet and began my shower, needing to clear my mind of all the events of the day.

Making my way downstairs, I heard distant voices echoing as I slowly stepped down the spiral of stairs in the foyer. Walking towards the voices, found Evan and Maria in the kitchen seeming to be having an intense conversation. Awkwardness and silence filled the room when they'd realized my presence.

"Oh, Olive. I hadn't realized you were here already. How do you like your bedroom?" Mr. Monroe asked with his pearly whites glistening through his smile.

I internally rolled my eyes as I heard that God awful nickname he'd given me.

"Thank you so much. You didn't have to go through all of that trouble with the clothes and everything." Confused as to why they'd put so much money into me already, I questioned their actions. "I could have worn my regular clothes."

"Come on. Those hardly left a dent. We were happy to do that. Plus, Maria loves a good shopping spree. Don't you honey?"

"That is true. Shopping is my weakness. Maybe we could go together soon. It could be our bonding day!" Mrs. Monroe's eyes lit up in excitement and anticipation.

Just then, a stout man with a round face entered the room. A crisp black suit paired with a bow tie around his neck. The lines atop his forehead and branching around his eyes made him look as though he was in his mid sixties.

"Alfred! Meet our foster daughter. Olivia, this is our butler Alfred." Maria looked at Alfred with a weird expression on her face. Alfred's eyes opened wide with surprise and shock. Am I missing something?