THE CRYSTAL HOUSE

¶Settling In¶

October 17th, 2021

Mareike

Mareike could feel the stares of the other people inside the bus she just got down from. They probably wondered what a young girl was doing alone in such a remote location. She couldn't blame them, she would be staring at herself as well if she had the chance.

A few feet away from her, a cream coloured building sat. She wasn't sure it was cream, but whatever was used to make the walls bounced back the rays of the scorching mid-day sun making it hard to look at for a long time so she couldn't be sure. She looked around, it was the only nice looking building here, as every other place she turned to either had dilapidated fences or closed up shops. Only two shops sitting side-by-side looked alive, the only indication being the flip sign showing 'open' on their doors. She turned back to the reflecting building, the words 'Crystal House' were written boldly across the top part. This was her stop all right. She stared at the house, feeling a cold shiver run through her; it felt like an unseen force was pulling her along towards the house.

"Well here goes nothing." Mareike muttered, trying to ignore the sound of the departing bus as she dragged her bags forward. It sounded like it was trying to warn her of a last chance. As she got closer, she counted five people hovering around the house. She released a shaky breath, a part of her had been scared she would be kidnapped; it was easy to imagine the horror of going willingly to her own abductors. Her mother would pay quite a hefty sum to get her released, and she in turn would pay a heftier sum. She would never be let out of her mother's sight.

"Hey, are you part of the contest?", A petite girl with unevenly cut hair asked her immediately she got near them.

"Yes, I am. And I'm sure you all are too." Mareike replied, adjusting her glasses and pulling her blue leather coat more tightly around herself.

"Yep. I think we will have to wait here until everyone comes."

"Ugh, that's just annoying. I need to sit somewhere, I didn't come all this way to stand." Someone else blurted.

Mareike glanced at her and couldn't look away. She was shocked by the different colours on the lady's head, so many colours. Unfortunately, the lady decided to turn and caught her looking. "What? You haven't seen dyed hair before?"

Surprised, she turned away. No one had snapped at her like that before, at least not to her face. Back at home, the girl would be instantly detained in her mother's cells for at least a day.

Mareike looked around, desperate to find something that would not cause her to look back at the fiery girl. She noticed a blond guy who seemed to be searching for something. He directly faced where she stood, so she had a good look at him. He had very pale skin and silver eyes that danced around furtively. She looked further down, unlike her, he didn't appear to feel the cold as he just wore blue polo and jeans. He looked Scandivanian, but his slightly crooked nose didn't sit well with that image. She tried to remember a series she had watched where most of them looked like him, but she couldn't place the name.

"He's been looking for somewhere to sit for quite a while now." The nice girl explained. "I'm Ingrid anyway. What's your name?"

Mareike felt her cheeks turn red. Had she been staring? Is that why the girl felt the need to explain what he had been doing? She turned to the girl and replied automatically. "I'm Mareike, nice to meet you."

Eryk

For a house whose walls were made from pure crystals, the lack of chairs outside was disappointing. Eryk was just about to give up when the front door of the building opened.