Divided We Stand, United We Fall

Chapter 30

The house was more of a palace to be honest. About one-hundred stairs of white marble partially covered with a red carpet. There was a golden silk canopy over the stairs. Above the grand steps, there was a great palace made entirely out of crystals. They glinted every colour, from bright lavender to faded champagne, from vibrant, leaf green to the colour of a fresh orange split open. The stone was opal, delivered all the way from Australia from one of the most scorching outbacks in the island continent, deep underground.

They began to climb the stairs, each step they took made the sound of pinging glass, similar to the old iPhones' sound. The couple were more than impressed. They were astounded. Grandeur such as that was never seen from where they were from.

Noah knocked on the mighty, golden door and they waited. The door silently opened. A woman around thirty opened it. She had ash-blonde hair tied in a messy bun and was wearing a black maid outfit with a white front. She was very beautiful but her face was sullen and sad. She pulled an almost white lock of hair from her eyes.

"Welcome strangers. I didn't know that our master was having guests round today. Or maybe you are travellers? Long trip, huh?"she mumbled. "Well, I guess you can come inside."

Her voice sounded so miserable but the way she said it seemed so joyful and talkative, it was weird.

As soon as they glimpsed the entrance hall, they gasped in wonder at the splendour of it all. Diamond chandelier held up with a platinum/gold alloy chain. The way the light shone from the chandelier made light scatter and rainbows fall all around the mighty hallway.

There was an ancient tapestry displaying a medieval war on one wall and a concave displaying a marble statue of Venus on the other. On the floor were arabesque rugs for all the furniture. The floor itself was polished mahogany. There was the sweet smell of vanilla and sugared cream in the air and it was quite warm which began to dry their soaking clothes.

"Maid!"called the woman. Another woman rushed to her side. She was wearing the same uniform as the person who had answered the door except her uniform was all black. She looked at the wet, gaping couple. "Show this couple to the guest rooms and get them a few towels.

"Yes Ma'am!"she looked at Lauren and Noah. "Please, follow me."

The maid lead them through spectacular hallways until she opened a door and led them in. The room looked similar to Asmodeus'. Lauren shivered and sat on the velvet and silk bed.

"This will be your room for the time being, I will get another maid to bring you up tea. She pulled out towels from a chest nearby. She tossed the towels to them. "There are dry clothes in the draw."she walked out of the room.

Noah closed the door before sitting down on the bed sighing. He wondered what horrible surprise this house had in store for him. He began to rub his neck in groups of five, quickly.

"I'm going to take a shower, okay?" Lauren grumbled. Noah's head shot up wildly, he didn't want to be on his own, even for two minutes.

"I-err- can I come with you?"he asked, awkwardly. He did feel filthy and he didn't want to be left on his own so why not?

"Mmm...sure, I guess." Lauren replied, feeling a bit of unease.

They entered their private bathroom and began to strip. Lauren was pretty sure that Noah was gawking at her. This used to be a daily occurrence for her. Her lesbian friend used to look at her the same way. She began to feel guilt and sadness well up inside. She soon brushed it aside. She would never return to that place, even if she wanted to.

Noah took a glimpse of Lauren's beautiful body. It was so much different to his. He looked away before something drastic happened and he would embarrass himself. He wondered why women were so hairless. Noah shrugged it off and stepped into the shower that had steamed up the entire room. Lauren soon joined him.

Standing back to back, they washed themselves, because washing each other would be weird. Lauren wondered why Noah didn't shave his legs or under his arms. It was socially unacceptable for girls not to do it, so why not boys.

"Noah?"

"Mhm?"

"Why don't you shave?"

"I do, if I didn't, I would have facial hair."

"No, I mean your legs."

"Men don't do it. Well, some might do, but I was socially conditioned not to."

"But you told me you didn't have a social life."

"Before my OCD was revealed, I did."he chuckled at the memories.

"You had friends?"

"You betcha."

"We're they nice?"

"I guess. Now tell me, how is it that you are so much more beautiful with your clothes off?"he averted the subject of friends with something that he'd been trying to get off of his chest for ages. She giggled, cutely.

"I think it's time to get out of the shower now." Lauren laughed.

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This chapter, yuck!

Kinda sucks but I'll probably improve it one day...............

Hoot!

Toot!