Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Alaris:Tale of Isabella House ❯ Meeting ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

“Isabella House?”
I turned around to face a man that looked to be in his early twenties. He has a pair of rectangular glasses covering his blue eyes. His jet black hair stands out against his white skin. The dark circles around his eyes add to the ghostly appearance. I note the large scar just above his upper lip. It is light pale in colour. His silver police badge glitters at his belt.
“What am I doing here?” I ask him, staring at his scar. He must of noticed my curious gaze directed at it because he exhaled and shifted nervously.
“ I have to ask you some questions. So if you will please follow me we can get started.” His voice is deep, it almost echoes in the waiting room of the Melbourne Police Station. It’s a small, square room with all white walls and absolutely no touch of life to it except for the small hiccups from another woman sitting a few seats away from me and the rustle of papers at the secretaries desk, where a young male sat doing his job.
I sigh, but stand non-the-less, and wait to be directed. He motions to a door to my left.The steel door looked about one-hundred years old, with dozens of bolt locks decorating the sides. Towards the upper left-hand corner a small three-by-five Plexiglas window, covered by three bars.
“Wha-”
A loud bark from behind the door stopped me mid-sentence. I look back at the man that was supposed to be questioning me. His face was void of any emotions, as if he hadn’t heard a thing. When I looked at his eyes, they seemed amused.
“Hey, wha-”
Again, that same bark, only this time it seemed farther away. I turn around to find that everyone else in the room had left, including the secretary.
A jingle brought me back to reality. I glance at ‘Scarface’ and find him playing around with about fifty different colored keys on a huge key ring. He must of found the one he was looking for because he stuck a green-colored key into the smallest bolt lock. Without twisting it like you would a regular lock and key, he took it out, put it back onto the ring and took a step back. All of the sudden, there was a loud creeek and the door slide inside of the wall.
“The name is Andy, by the way. Andy Beck.” ‘Scarface’ states, not bothering to look back at my amazed face, and walks through the doorway into a dimly lit hallway. I just stare at his retreating form.
“What the hell was with the dog?” I ask wearily as I step through the doorway. He sighs, and shakes his head.
“Tch, figures he would do that. He’s such a jerk.” His voice was softer, making me struggle to hear him.
“Who?” This time he turned to face me when he replied, only his voice sounded strained; eager, “You’ll be filled in later, but for now just follow me. Now hurry up. I don’t think you’ll want to be lingering through these hallways in a couple of minutes when it is dawn.”
“What happens at dawn?” I question, picking up my pace to walk at his side.
When he doesn’t answer, I sigh but stay quiet, taking his silence as a “Shut up.” I look at the doors along the walls. They look the same as the one we just walked through only a few seconds ago, except these particular ones don’t have as much locks on them. Instead of twelve or more, they only have one or two; and these are made of wood. No windows or bars. The dim lighting gave the hallway a misty look.
I was relieved we stopped in front of a white door. It had no locks, just a small doorknob. When I looked towards the bottom of it, I noticed a big, rectangular piece of rubber. A doggy door perhaps? I don’t voice my curiosity, already knowing that he would not answer.
I hold my breath when his fingers grasp onto the doorknob. I picture huge monsters from other worlds. Maybe some top secret government investigation.I am disappointed when I find myself looking into an all white room. No monsters, no investigations. There isn’t even any noticeable scuff marks on the white linoleum tiles.There is a big, white sectional sofa on the opposite wall. A magazine lay forgotten on one of the cushions. In front of the sofa is a small coffee table, nothing upon it.
“Looks like they are late. Like usual.” Andy mutters, and walks across the room. Sitting down on the sofa, he sighs.
“Your so vague.” I pout. I don’t move from the doorway. Andy looks at me, then past me to the door, and his expression changes from lethargic to alarmed.
“Close the door!!” He yells, springing up from his spot on the couch. I am too taken aback to even register his words.
I almost couldn’t see him, he ran so fast across the room. Pushing me into the room and slamming the door behind me, he lets out a relieved sigh, then glares at me.
“Are you trying to get us killed?!” He growls. My eyes widen.“I. . . but. . . you . . .what?” My voice tumbles for the right words. He softens his glare and sighs, again.
‘He sure does sigh a lot.’ I think.
“I told you before that you didn’t want to be lingering in the hallways!” He yells. I cover my ears from the volume of it.
“What’s wrong with the hallways?” I ask meekly, uncovering my ears and then adding, ”We were just walking through them.” “I am not sure that I should be the one to tell you that. It’s a very long story.” He answers. Walking over to sit down on the sofa, I reply, “I doubt that you are going to let me go any time soon so I guess I have time.” He sits down, leaving a comfortable space between us, and runs a hand through his black hair. “We should just wait for the others-” He stopped short to a loud banging on the door. He eyes widened, and he grabbed my upper arm, pushing me into a corner furthest from the door. “What the hell?!” I growl and yank my arm out of his hard grasp. He does not answer and instead walks hesitantly towards the banging. "Who ever you are, you know that your not supposed to be in the hallway at this time! I could terminate your license and-" “HURRY UP! ANDY?! YOU BETTER FRICKING OPEN THIS DOOR! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN THERE?! ANDDDYY!”He lets out a relieved sigh, and calmly opens the door. “Why didn’t you just say it was you?” He says indifferently. I wasn’t paying attention to him any more, I am focused on the small group of people who were now walking through the doorway. Two men and one female. One of the men had dark brown hair that stopped just above his shoulders and blue eyes. He looked normal, but there was something about him that leaves me wondering. And then I look at his clothes and I know that he's not your normal early-twenties kid of dude. He is wearing a furry cloak which smells of stale crackers and month-old cream cheese. I continue my observations of his clothing down to his ankles. Nikes? 'Well that's kind of normal.' I think. Done examining him, I move onto the young girl to his right. She looks about sixteen, only a year younger than me. She has black shiny black hair that looks like she spends hours upon hours taking care of it each day. Her eyes are an odd gray, and they blend in with her gray-ish skin. She does not seem to be the type to go out often. She too is wearing a cloak, only this one looks silky to the touch and is crimson red in colour. The man behind her is about the girls height, just a inch taller. His hair is pin-straight and forest green. I wonder if this is his natural hair colour. His eyes are brown and seem to be bored; almost naive looking. He looks about eighteen or nineteen. “We put up a warning that said no one would be allowed to travel today anyways, Andy. If you would have been at the meeting an hour ago you would of known that!" The man with the funky smelling outfit counters. Getting a better look at him, I notice a plain silver ring on his thumb. "I had to take care of business, Roy." Andy states with disinterest, then glances towards me and clears his throat, "Ms. House-" I am brought back to reality. "Weren't you supposed to question me or something?" I question, tearing my gaze away from the mans hands. A fake 'ha' and then, "No sweetie. He lied to you. There won't be any questioning here today. Nope." I turn towards the mans' voice to see the one with the weird cloak on. He takes a step towards me. "Nope." I back up into the couch, and plop down. "Then why the hell am I here, Detective. Or are you even that? A detective?" I glare at him. He doesn't even seem to hear me, he only whacks Roy over the head. "Can we not give her the impression that are out to hurt her?!" He sighs for the hundredth time this morning and then mumbles, "This would be so much easier if everyone else was here. . . But I guess I should introduce everyone, no?" He chuckles for a second, a fake one to relieve the tension I think. Walking behind who I understand to be Roy, he grabs his shoulders and states, "This is Roy." Roy waves his hand enthusiastically, which I give a small, almost unnoticeable smile to. "He's an ass, if you haven't already noticed." Roy stops waving immediately and frowns, I cover my mouth to hide my grin. 'Oh yes, I have noticed.' I think. Andy seems to have seen my grin anyway and grins with me, patting Roy's shoulder. He walks right behind the man to the girl and messes with her hair. She seemed to enjoy the attention the man gave her, because she wore a blush along her pale cheeks, but did not look like she would try and remove the man's hands. “This, my friend, is the young but ever so mature, Rain." Her blush grew and I smile at her." She is shy when she first meets someone new. But don't be deceived, she's a fighter." I nod, signaling him to move on to the last one. “Jade. He's hyper and a silly one, but he's one of the clan." He laughs again, this time the rest laugh with him, minus me. I feel out of place, like I should not be seeing this sign of such a strong friendship. You could tell that have been through a lot together. "Hello there, Isabella. “I jump, which causes Rain to laugh. I could feel the heat rise to my face, and blush more. She sits next to me, leaving a small space in between us. I smile nervously up at her. "Did Andy let you about everything?" She asks, and I shake my head. She frowns and stands up, walking over to Andy, Roy and Jade. I couldn't hear much, she was whispering quietly to the boys in the group. I could make out a "Andy your such a. . ." and a few "Jesus Andy, you are so lazy." I don't pay much attention to their conversation, feeling rude for intruding again. Then there was a quick POP and I was staring into black eyes. I gasp, and try to sever my gaze into those gorgeous black eyes but find myself unable to do so. Then they look away, my vision is foggy and unclear. I know that those eyes did not belong to Roy, Detective, Jade, or Rain. None of them have black eyes.I hear Detective sigh again. My vision is clear again. Looking over the people in the room, I gasp. It was not just five of is anymore. There are three new bodies standing right in front of me. This time, though, there are two girls and one man. The first girl, who is closest to me looks about eighteen with blonde hair at her shoulders. Her eyes are blue with small green and brown speaks in them. She seems to be about my height. She is wearing faded jeans, a simple baby blue tank top, covered with a brown jacket and athletic sneakers. The girl to her right has red-red- not your normal redhead colour that almost looks orange but red-hair and back eyes with blue-ish speaks within them. Again, I wonder if this is her natural hair colour. She has a black long-sleeve shirt, black straight-legged jeans, and a pair of worn out converse. I look to her right and see the black eyes I was so intoxicated with only seconds ago. This man, this beautiful, charming, elegant, lovely, ample, handsome man, has loose black hair. It's short, but you would still be able to hold quite a bit in your hands. And then those amazing black eyes. They stand out against his almost pale-white skin. He is wearing a tight-fitting black-gray Led Zeppelin band tee, a pair of dark jeans with holes in the knees, matched with a pair of black converse. "Isabella, dear, your staring." His voice is deep, and velvety. I don't know if I should thank the Gods, or run away. I thank the Gods. "Isabella, your making me very uncomfortable." I laugh inside of my head, but otherwise turn to Detective with a blush aligning my cheeks. "Well, you have managed yet another admirer, Trinity." Detective states sounding bored, not even looking at him. Then he perks up glances at the new group of people. "I guess that means that everyone is here, so we should begin." Trinity nods, looking at me with a curious gaze, then walks off with the two girls to stand by Detective and the rest. “So, who wants to tell her what’s happening?” Roy asks. ‘Finally.’ I think, ‘I’m finally going to know what the hell is going on.’ “I guess I should” Detective says, and comes to sit next to me on the sofa. “Okay, Isabella. What I’m about to tell you can not get out; you can not tell anyone about it.” I nod. “It’s a long story, so you might want to get comfortable. That means you too, guys.” He says, looking at the group by the door. Rain, Roy, Jade, and the girl with the blonde hair and blue-green eyes walk over and sit down on the big sofa. The rest sit down on the floor a couple of feet away from the couch. “We should probably introduce everyone else, Andy. She doesn’t know what’s going on. And stupid Trinity has to wave around the fucking pendant every chance he gets, so she doesn’t know how they got here.” Rain says, and I offer a smile to say thank you, and she smiles back. Andy nods at her. Looking over everyone else in the room. “You already know Me, Andy, Roy and Jade.” I nod. “This is Ella.” She says, pointing to the girl with blonde hair. “This is June.” I smile at them both for a second as a ‘Hello’. “And this idiot is Trinity. He’s a bit of a show off when it comes to transportation. He used his stupid pendant instead of the regular mode of transportation that everyone else has to use.” She said this while glareing at him. He just chuckles, and I think that I have died and gone to heaven already without my knowing. "Ok. . ." Andy states awkwardly, but does not show any intentions of elaborating. I clear my throat and play with my shirt sleeve, hoping to finally be in the loop with what is happening around here. "Maybe it would be easier to just show her? And then explain when we do?" June questions. Andy nods."Seeing is believing." I reply. Jumping up from my spot on the sofa, I follow the group of people who are now leaving through the door we came from. "Are we going out of town? I can't leave without asking my parents." Andy laughs, "I guess you could say that. But I don't think that you need to ask your parents for permission." I don't reply, just find myself in the dark hallway once more. "This hallway is more than a thousand years old-" Andy starts, but I interrupt him. "What?!" Andy lets out a frustrated sigh, "I think that it would be best if you kept your comments to yourself until I get done explaining. I may, and I probably will, say things that you will not believe, but you must remember that I am telling the truth and that this is no joke. Very far from a joke." I nod, eager to find out where we are going. "As I was saying, this hallway is more than a thousand years old." He stops to look at me, wondering if I would interrupt him again. "There are seven doors in it, as you might of noticed when we walked through here earlier."Just like any other door, these ones are used as a mean of transportation to another room. In this case. . ." He trails off, opening a door closest to the one we just came out of and I find myself choking on my spit. "It's a way to travel to other realms." I don't comment, knowing that Andy would get frustrated and most likely stop explaining.On the other side of the doorway, huge, snow-covered mountains touched the sky. It was not snowing, it was just so cold that every thing stayed frozen. There are no trees or grass. . .or anything for that matter. The temperature felt as though it was below zero. No one Is around there- wherever there is- as far as I could see. "This is Alaris. It's almost one-hundred percent like Antarctica. It's too cold for the normal human being to stay here for that long, but some come here for vacation and such." Closing the door to block out the frosty weather (with no complaint from me! God, it is freezing!) he turned around to face me. Like some other alternate universe wasn't behind him past the wooden door. My mouth opens and closes like a fish gasping for breath outside of it's home, trying to form some words to ask just what is going on."Come on, Isabella." I hear Rain mutter under her breath, but I don't listen to her. I figure that this is all a dream; that Trinity is just someone my mind made up to show me what my dream man would look like; and that this Alaris place is just a figure of my imagination. This couldn't possibly be real. How do different worlds lay behind closed doors? Does the outside world no about this place? They couldn't possibly not notice the old door dressed with lock upon lock that we came through earlier. But what if this place was real. What then? Would I be forced to keep this all a secret from my friends and family? Would I even be able to return to them after today? I try to block out the images of the 'room'. The snow-covered mountains and the frosty breeze. The miles among miles of snow. All behind some freaking rinky-dink door. "Isabella." Rain grumbles again, this time more urgently. "We could only stop transportation for an hour. They are going to be using this hallway again in the next few minutes." Jade whispers. He sounds anxious, almost. . .afraid. But of what? "Isabella, dear, I know that this is a lot to take in in such a short time, but we really need to be leaving." Trinity says. He sounds more collected than Jade, but I can tell that he's just as afraid.
“Why are you showing me this?” I ask, ignoring Trinity. I need answers and I intend on getting them. Turning to face Andy I repeat, “Why are you showing me this? What do I have to do with anything going on behind that door? I could tell people! I could bring someone here and all of you would be questioned. Why?”
Andy sighs, obviously at a loss for words.
“I promise we will explain. Just as soon as we get out of here, Isabella.” Trinity explains for Andy. His frantic edge hasn’t disappeared; it looks worse now.
“Why do we have to leave? What’s wrong?” I am surprised at the hysteric edge to my voice. I need to breathe.
“Nothing’s wrong, Isabella. It’s just that the doors are going to be in use and if they see you, well, I don’t think that would be very wise. Please, just trust us.” This time it is Jade speaking. I nod, because for some odd reason, I do trust them. People I have never met in my entire life. I have a feeling I could trust them with my life.
“Okay, where are we going now? But don’t think that you guys are off the hook. I still want my answers.”
“We’ll explain everything as soon as we get back to the room. Now come on. We only have about a minute.” Jade tells me, grasping my upper arm in his firm grip. I let him lead me back to the all-white room. Once everyone is back in and Andy checks the locks twice, Trinity and Roy motion for me to join them on the couch.
“Answers, please.” I say, looking between the two of them.
“Well how do we know what to answer if you don’t ask a question?” Of course, Roy has to add in a little humor in a less than humorous situation.
“Okay, why did we have to leave so early? Why couldn’t you show me the other doors?
I notice Andy hesitate, and then look to Trinity, who sighs and comes to kneel in front of me. Grasping my knees he says, “ There are people- creatures- who don’t like you. Or any of us for that matter. It was for your own safety.”
Me? People don’t like me? Then it hits me like a ton of bricks.
“Wait, creatures? Just as I think I’m getting used to the fact that there are other realms, he throws something else in my face.
“Yes. Creatures. You have to know that these are entirely different worlds you are dealing with. The. . . things that inhabit them are bound to be different as well.”
I nod. That makes enough sense. “Okay. So why do they not like me? They’ve never even met me before.”
Trinity lets out a breath. “It’s not you they dislike, it’s your blood.”
This isn’t making any sense again. “My blood? What’s wrong with my blood?”
Trinity stands up and motions for Roy to scoot over so he can sit next to me.
“Your heritage. You’re a half-blood. Your mother, Aldale, fell in love with a human. Someone from Earth. It’s forbidden for anyone to marry a human.”
I feel like I am about to throw up. I’m not human. What does that make me? A demon?
“My parent’s both live on. . . Earth. Did they change their names and move or something?”
“Those aren’t your real parents. Those are Aldale’s and Peter’s best friends. You have to understand that your real parents had no choice but to let them take care of you. If they hadn’t, you probably wouldn’t be standing here, or doing anything.”
This is too much way too fast. Do they expect me to believe everything they are telling me? Believe that my parents- my biological parents- gave me up because I’d be killed? I can’t believe anything. But what if they are speaking the truth? What if my mom really isn’t human? And Alaris is real? I did see it myself. Why not?
“I-I believe you.” I say. I try to form a smile but it must have looked fake because Trintity sighs, stands up, and says, “ Can someone take over from here? She doesn’t really believe me.” I see a flash of something in his eyes, but the second I see it, it’s gone.
“No, Trinity, I do believe you. It’s just that, well, this is a lot to take in. You’re telling me that everything I’ve ever known, or thought I’ve known, has been a lie. What do you expect me to do? Thank you? Look, this is all just so fast and all. But I do believe you. I really do. Please continue. When can I see my parents? My biological parents.
Now that I’m thinking about it, it all makes sense. I don’t look anything like my parents. My mom, Jen, she has such red hair and Jack has red hair too. My dark brown hair is nothing like theirs. And I have blue eyes. They both have brown. Why have I never seen this before? Why didn’t Jen and Jack ever tell me about my real parents?
What would my real parents be like? Are they going to like me? I hope they do. What if they are disappointed with how I’ve turned out? Trinity breaks me out of my thoughts.
“You can’t see them. No one can.” He exhales, “Your parents are missing. At first it was just your mother but then your dad, being the courageous idiot that he is, tried to find her. That was last year around this time. We think that Altair kidnapped them and is holding them hostage. We think, maybe he’s waiting for you to come and find them; that their daughter that they haven’t seen since she was two would help. But that’s not the reason we had to meet you. Jack and Jen are our friends too. They thought it would be a good time for you to re-appear. Go back to where you belong. In Aldale. It was named after you great-great-great-grandmother. And your mom was named after her. Your family has been ruling Aldale from the start. You were, and you still are, the next in line. Isabella, you are a ruler of an entire realm.
A ruler? How can I rule a country? How did my mom? They can’t really expect me to jump right in, can they?
But by the grins they all wear, I know they think I will. And by the grin I give them back, so do I.