Of Soul And Spirit

Chapter 3: House of Questions

"Urrgh..." Briar grumbled as she slowly woke up . "Whattimeisit...." Her eyes opened and she realized she didn't recognize her surroundings.

Now fully awake, she sat up and looked around, wincing when her head began to pound.

It was a small room, with unadorned grey walls and a skylight in the ceiling that let in streams of sunlight. It almost seemed like a jail cell, but it had nice furniture. There was a dresser and desk across the room, and Briar was sitting on the only bed.

She stood up, wanting to investigate the room further, but sat back down when she was was hit with a head rush.

Once it passed, she stood back up and noticed her clothes had been changed. Briar was now wearing a white t-shirt and loose black pants that came up to just above her ankles.

She walked across the room to investigate the dresser. As she snooped through the drawers, and finding all her belongings neatly placed inside, the events of before Briar had passed out came back to her and set her mind spinning. Briar wished she knew what had happened. It was all so bizarre, she couldn't think of any explanations, nor any ways to find answers.

Briar knew she was too curious for her own good, and in the past it had gotten her in trouble several times; eavesdropping on her parents, sneaking into the teacher's lounge because "she'd never seen it", trying to sneak peaks at test grades, but she just couldn't help herself. When she wanted answers, she needed answers.

But at this point, there was so little to go off of, Briar could only hope she would stumble upon clues eventually.

Next, she checked the door, and found it unlocked. Briar was glad she wasn't in a real jail cell. She then set out to find her mother and Thania.

Briar had initially assumed that this was some new hotel. But what sort of hotel had an infinite amount of unlabeled doors in a single corridor that was slowly spiraling it's way down? Every door she passed looked the same, and any room she looked into was the same as hers, except there were no people or belongings in any of them. She was about to give up hope when Briar finally came across something different.

Instead of a small door leading to a room like all the doors prior had been, these were larger double doors with weird symbols and wave like designs in blue. Not willing to continue wandering aimlessly, and the ever present curiosity nagging at her, Briar went inside.

The room was large and dimly lit. The only light was coming from the pool in the center or the room, which was glowing. Briar thanked whatever God existed when she spotted two people swimming and messing around with each other. They hadn't noticed Briar entering over the noise of the splashing. "Hello? It appears I'm quite lost, could you help me out?" She called out to them, trying to get their attention.

They both looked over at the sound of her voice. "Sure," the one girl said, and climbed out of the pool. As the girl wrung her hair out and dried off, the other girl snapped her fingers, flooding the room with light. Briar immediately noticed both of the girls had strange eyes, the first girl's iridescent like a rainbow melted into water and the other girl's were golden. The one girl had hair that looked to be dyed pink, and the clothing she pulled on seemed strange. She then walked over to Briar.

"I'll help you out, it's a pretty big place, so I'm not surprised you got lost. My name is Opal," the girl said.

"Because of the eyes?" Briar guessed, taking Opal's outstretched hand and shaking it.

"Yeah, it's a nickname." Her eyes really were strange, as was the pink hair, but it suited her somehow. Briar had to admit she was kind of pretty.

"Ah. I'm Briar," she responded.

"I figured it was you," Opal said," We don't get newcomers very often. And though I don't understand why'd they'd leave you to wake up on your own, I knew you'd find me."

A puzzled look crossed over Briar's face, though Opal didn't seem to notice it. Knew Briar would find her... a hotel with few newcomers.... Where in the world was she? None of this seemed to be adding up.

Briar couldn't mull over it yet, and brought herself back to the present. Opal was checking with her companion. "You ok, Lydia?" she asked as the other girl climbed out of the pool and dried off. Lydia nodded, and Opal grabbed Briar's arm and began to drag her out of the room. "Come on, I know where your family is."

Briar followed her out the door and down some more hallways. When they reached a particular door, Opal stopped and Briar almost ran into her. She couldn't tell why this door was any different than the past seventeen thousand they had already gone by, but she hoped she'd learn the system soon.
"Through there is your family." Opal said, "I'd love to tag along, but I have other things to do right now.... See you later!" She gave a litte wave, and then dashed off in the other direction.

What a strange person, Briar thought, but couldn't help smiling.

Briar brought herself to the situation at hand. Her grandmother clearly knew something, and Briar would do a lot to get the answers she wanted.

She quietly opened the door, slipping into the room to find her mother and Thania engaged in a quiet argument. Her mother's face was painted with concern and slight anger, and her hands were moving vividly as she spoke.

"-just can't believe you kept this from me all of my life!" Marie had been saying.