this took me ages lmao

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•Chapter 2•
•Quotation Marks•

the man across from me fell asleep. i fell asleep earlier too, but i just woke up. i don't think the man in front of me knows i'm awake.
i wish i knew how long we've been moving. it feels like i've been here for 448922402426345034 years.
the man in front of me asked if i slept well. he probably heard me get out my diary.
i asked him what their names were, he said his name is Dull and that the other man's is Wet. weird names.
i wish i could draw, but everything is too shaky.
Dull said we'll be there in a few minutes.
i wonder what it'll be like there.
i wonder why the kids going there are so specifically chosen.
i'm bored.



The girl sighed and slouched in her seat.
She balanced the open journal on her chest.
Then blew a raspberry, which caused the journal to fall over her face.
She sat up, ignoring the book as it fell to the ground, then turned to look outside the glass.
Everything whoosed by, they were really moving fast.
Her warm breath fogged up the glass, so she drew a smiley with her finger.
After a few seconds it faded away.
So she exhaled onto the glass again and drew a stick figure, which faded away as well.
Then, deciding to draw a large tree, she took a deep breath, and exhaled over a large portion of the glass.
She brushed her finger vertically against the glass for the trunk, making a loud squeaking sound.

Dul then said to please stop smudging his car's window.
Her eyes widened in having learned the name of the machine, so she sat back down in respect to the car.
Just then, the car stopped shaking so harshly.
The girl, wondering what had happened, sat up again and looked through the glass.
They were no longer moving along the bumpy, dirt-covered path, but on a stone-like terrain.
She asked Dul if the ride suddenly felt so smooth because of the new terrain, he said it was.

In the distance the girl could see the large four-leveled manor.
It was made of stone and cement, the windows were framed with a clean, white, metal.
Through the windows she could see curtains that were a bright shade of light blue.
Along the walls young vines were beginning to grow out of the ground, as if the manor had been built a recently.
In the surrounding area was a widely spread field, with a forest of trees hiding a darkness in the distance.
To the left side of the manor was a very long, tall, hedge.
The girl guessed there may be a garden behind it, so she decided she would find out as soon as she had a chance.
To the right was a large lake, it was so far and wide across that she could barely see the trees past it.
This definitely was a very richly built manor, and she wondered who could've invested so much into a simple orphans home.

The vehicle drove up to the front of the manor, just a few feet away from the entrance.
Dul turned off the vehicle, then pushed the steering wheel, causing the vehicle to produce a loud sound that made the girl think of a goose.
Whet awoke with a start, and turned to Dul, questioning his methods of awakening.
Dul laughed and gave his companion a slap on the back, as if slapping away the sleep from Whet.
Both of the men then stepped out of the car, and shut the doors.
Dul turned to the door the girl entered the car from, opened it and told the child to come out.
She asked if she could bring her suitcase along, to which he nodded a yes.
Quickly she opened the little blue powdered suitcase, and put the journal inside, then snapped it shut.
Lifting if up, she hopped out of the vehicle.

Whet was already at the large double doors, knocking.
The girl followed Dul as he walked up behind Whet.
They waited for a response from inside, hoping someone had acknowledged their presence.
The girl shuffled her feet side-to-side awkwardly.
Then the door made a clicking sound, as if someone had unlocked it.
The three turned to the door with attention as the wide double doors swiftly opened up.

A small young woman, who was quite plump, was standing at the doors.
She wore a plain white, knee-length skirt and a collared black shirt that was tucked into her skirt.
She also wore a white tie and dark brown combat boots.
Her blonde hair was in a pixie cut, with extremely short bangs.
Dul walked up to her and took a folded piece of paper from a pocket inside his coat.
The woman took it, unfolded it, and read it.

She took a while.

After reading, she beckoned for the three to enter the manor, said that someone would be with them shortly, then left the room.
Dul gestured towards the small parlour area near the window and told the girl to sit.
So she walked over and sat.
The two men followed and sat in the seats across from her.

The entrance area of the manor was enourmous.
Beige marble tile covered the floor with a golden grout, & a large golden chandelier to match hung above the entrance.
The windows were large and let in much light, the curtains were very elegant, and were being held back by luxurious tassels.
Past the massive double doors, was an imperial staircase with carefully designed rails.

To the left of the staircase was the parlour, where the girl sat.
Antique-looking chairs padded with a violet-coloured velvet.
A few bookcases covered the walls, filled with worn spiraled books.
The single coffee table in the center of the ring of chairs was very polished, it gave off a wonderful gleem & was covered in amazingly painted floral designs.
There were no walls dividing the parlour from the entrance, so it felt very large.
To the right of the staircase, was an arch entrance to what she assumed was a hallway.

The girl was in awe.
Who would have had the time to plan out something this intrucate and unique?
It barely made sense.
But she was quite glad that someone cared enough to give a few simple orphans such a rich home.

Suddenly the girl remembered the heavy box Guardian had given her.
She put the suitcase down on the cusion next to her and clicked it open.
Lying on top of all the clothes was the little wooden box.
She took it out and closed the suitcase.
Looking carefully now, she realized that the box had no hinges, thus, no obvious way to open the box.
But, she did see a small gap encircling the box vertically, so she could tell it did open somehow.
She tried pulling it apart, but nothing happened.

This box was strange.
She was quite confused.
She shook it and heard something moving.
Looking it over she noticed a set of 6 numbers scribbled onto the bottom.
She guessed they were written in pencil since the last number was smudged.
She muttered the number aloud, 126804, which is what she could make out of the smudges.
She decided to try again later, then put the box back into her suitcase and waited.

After around 15 minutes of waiting, a middle-aged woman entered through the hallway arch, followed by two boys that looked to be around the girl's age.
The woman wore a similar outfit to the younger one-- except the colours were reversed, and her black hair was in a loose ponytail that laid on her left shoulder.

Dul and Whet stood up as the woman and boys walked up to them.
They shook hands with her with a smile.
The woman then told the two boys to go introduce themselves to the girl.
Then she invited the two men to follow her into her office.
The children then stood in silence as the adults left the room.

The girl quickly stood up as soon as they did.
She held out her hand as she wanted to shake their hands.
Why? She didn't know.
For respect, or simply because it was polite, who knew.
But they each took a turn shaking her hand.

She asked them what their names were.

The boy on the left, the taller one with dirty blonde hair and tanned skin bodly spoke up first.
His name was Samuel.
The smaller boy on the right had dark brown hair and very thick eyebrows.
He was a lot quieter, and sounded surprisingly young.
His name was Andrew.

She acknowledged their names by repeating them aloud, and said it was quite nice to meet them.

The feeling was mutual.

Then Andrew asked the girl what her name was.

This question caught her by surprise.
It had actually been years since she had last been referred to by her name, that she was surprised she remembered.

She laughed awkwardly then looked down at her feet.
Her hand instinctively went up to her neck to rub it shyly.
She then replied,

"My name is Marie Evend."

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