Who We Are

3

Lara sat on the edge of her queen sized bed and let her eyes wander around her new bedroom which was apparently way too big for her liking. She had her own couch and a huge plasma-screen TV along with a personal fridge at the corner. There was also a huge empty shelf behind a similarly unoccupied mahogany desk and a black recliner. On one side of the room were two doors that Lara had already explored earlier. The one on the right led to a marble tiled bathroom with its own Jacuzzi while the other on the left led to a huge walk in closet with plenty of mirrors. Lara had no idea what to put in there considering that the amount of clothes she'd brought with her only fit a single medium sized suitcase. The cream colored walls of the room were quite bare except for the plain circular clock that hung quietly ticking on the opposite wall facing the bed.

It was generally about five times the size of her old room and it made Lara think of how she could possibly manage to clean the whole place up if she had to. Lara wasn't exactly a neat freak, but she made it a habit to clean her room and make it look as organized as possible whenever she had the chance to. Vaguely, she wondered if there was someone who occupied the room before she did or if it had ever been used at all. She remembered the countless number of doors she and Sam passed earlier and wondered how a house with such a small number of occupants could have so many rooms.

Sam had left her not so long ago after telling her that she'll be in her room, which was just directly across Lara's, if she ever needed anything.

Lara sighed, sitting up. She walked towards the huge sliding doors that led to the balcony and slid them open, letting the cool air of the night in. If there was one thing she liked about her new room, it was this. Zipping her jacket up, she stepped out into the balcony. She placed her hands on the cold metal railing and quietly gazed down at the cool blue waters of the pool below.

She breathed in the cool air that tasted mildly of chlorine and of something else. Lara sniffed the air once more and frowned. Was that cigarette smoke? She looked to her right and figured the answer.

About five meters away from her own was a similar looking balcony, on the railing of which precariously perched a dark haired girl, smoking a cigarette with her long legs dangling on open air. She was wearing a thin long sleeved white shirt a few sizes too big along with a pair of ripped jeans. Her head was down, a thick curtain of smooth jet black hair concealing her face. Lara watched as she put the white cigar back to her lips and drew in a long breath before putting it away again, holding it between her thumb and forefinger as if she'd done it a dozen times before, which Lara had no doubt she did, and exhaled a puff of smoke. Lara shook her head mutely, feeling a little sorry for her lungs.

Then the girl spoke up, making Lara jump. "Has anyone ever told you it's creepy to stare too long at someone when they're not looking?" Her tone was laced with mild irritation.

Lara blinked. "I wasn't sta----"

The girl chuckled humorlessly. "Right. You weren't." She reached up a hand and ran it through her hair, effectively brushing it away from her face and allowing Lara to catch a proper glimpse of a pale face with strikingly beautiful features. Even from a distance, Lara thought she could almost make out the dark shadows her thick long lashes made against her cheeks. Lara's gaze went from her pretty face to the cigar in her hand and she found herself wondering how someone could look so wasted and attractive at the same time.

"You're doing it again," the girl told her sounding annoyed. Then she looked up and stared back at Lara with storm gray eyes. She raised an eyebrow and held out the cigarette.

Lara shook her head. "I don't smoke."

The girl laughed without humor. "Great. Now Dad has brought another perfectly righteous child in the house," she sneered before dangerously swinging her legs over the railing and hopping off, her bare feet making no sound as they hit the floor of her balcony as light as a cat's. Lara then watched as she tossed the cigarette over the railing and let it fall to be extinguished by the waters of the pool below. "Stay away from me," was all she told Lara, her voice audibly laced with venom, before disappearing into the darkness of her own room, leaving Lara to stare after her in a mixture of pure shock and disbelief.