“And finally,” Seven said as he pushed the door open, “we come to the main event. Your room.”

            I was braced for pink. Ruffles or quilting, or maybe even applique. Which was kind of unfair, but then again, I didn’t know my sister anymore, much less her decorating style. With total strangers, it had always been my policy to expect the worst. Usually they- and those that you knew best, for that matter- did not disappoint.

            Instead, the first thing I saw was green. A large, high window, on the other side of which were tall trees separating the huge backyard from that of the house that backed up to it. Everything was bug about where my sister and her husband, Seven, lived- from the homes to the cars to the stone fence you saw first thing when you pulled into the neighborhood itself, made up of boulders that looked too enormous to ever be moved. It was like Stonehenge, but suburban. So weird.

            It was only as I thought this that I realized we were all still standing there in the hallway, backed up like a traffic jam. At some point Seven, who had been leading this little tour, had stepped aside, leaving me in the doorway. Clearly, they wanted me to step in first. So I did.

            The room was, yes, big, with white-colored walls. There were three other windows beneath the big one I’d first seen, although they each were covered with thin venetian blinds. To the right, I saw a king sized bed with an apple green comforter and matching pillows, and a white fluffy blanket folded over the foot. There was a glass desk with a chair tucked under it. The ceiling slanted on either side, meeting in a flat strip in the middle, where there was a square skylight, also covered with a venetian blind- a little square one, clearly custom made to fit. It was so matchy-matchy and odd that for a moment, I found myself staring up at it, as if this was the weirdest thing about that day.

            “So you’ve got your own bathroom,” Seven said, stepping around me, his feet making soft thuds on the black wooden floor. The house smelled like paint, just like the rest of the house. I wondered, how long ago they had moved in- a month, six months? “Right through this door. And the closet is in here, too. Weird, right? Ours is the same way. When we were building, Byul claimed it meant she would get ready faster. A theory that has yet to be proved out, I might add.”

            Then he smiled at me, and again I tried to force a smiled back. Who was this odd creature, my brother-in-law- a term that seemed oddly fitting, considering the circumstances- in his mountain bike T-shirt, jeans, and funky expensive sneakers, cracking joked in an obvious effort to ease the tension of an incredibly awkward situation? I had no idea, other than he had to be the very last person I would have expected to end up with my sister, who was so uptight she wasn’t even pretending to smile at his attempts. At least I was trying.

            Not Byul. She was just standing in the doorway, barely over the threshold, arms crossed over her chest. She had on a sleeveless sweater- even though it was mid-October, the house was beyond cozy, almost hot-and I could see the definition of her biceps and triceps, every muscle seemingly tensed, the same way they had been when she came over to claim me downtown two hours earlier. Then too, it seemed like Seven had done all the talking, to me while Byul remained quiet. Every now and again, I could feel her eyes on me, steady, as if she was studying my features, committing me to memory, or maybe just trying to figure out if there was any part of me she recognized at all.

            So Byul had a husband, I’d thought, while they were giving me a tour of their huge mansion. I wondered if they’d had a fancy wedding, with her in a big white dress, or if they’d just eloped after she’s told him she had no family to speak of. Left to her own devices, this was the story I was sure she preferred- that she’d just sprouted, all on her own, neither connected nor indebted to anyone else at all.

            “Thermostat’s out in the hallway if you need to adjust it,” Seven was saying now. “Personally, I like a bit of a chill to the air, but your sister prefers it to be sweltering. So even if you turn it down, she’ll most likely jack it back up within moment.”

            Again he smiled, and I did the same. God, this was exhausting. I felt Byul shift in the doorway, but again she didn’t say anything.

            “Oh!” Seven said, clapping his hands. “Almost forgot.”

“The best part.” He walked over to the window in the center of the wall, reaching down beneath the blind. It wasn’t until he was stepping back and it was opening that I realized it was in fact, a door. Within moments, I smelled cold air. “Come check this out.”

            I fought the urge to look back at Byul again as I took a step, then one more, following him over the threshold onto a small balcony. He was standing by the railing, and I joined him, both of us looking down at the backyard. When I’d first seen it from the kitchen, I’d noticed just the basics: grass, a shed, the big patio with a grill at one end. Now, though, I could see there were rocks laid out in the grass in an oval shape, obviously deliberately, and again, I thought of Stonehenge. What was it with these rich people, a druid fixation?

            “It’s gonna be a pond,” Seven told me as if I’d said this out loud.

            “A pond?” I said.

            “Total ecosystem,” he said. “Thirty-by-twenty and lined all natural, with a waterfall. And fish. Cool, huh?”

Again, I felt him look at me, expectant. “Yeah,” I said, because I was a guest here. “Sounds great.”

He laughed. “Hear that, B?” She doesn’t think I’m crazy.”

I looked down at the circle again, then back at my sister. She’d come into the room, although not that far, and still had her arms crossed over her chest as she stood there, watching us. For a moment, our eyes met, and I wondered how on earth I’d ended up here, the last place I knew either one of us wanted me to be. The she opened to speak for the first time since we’d pulled up in the driveway and all this, whatever it was, began.

“It’s cold,” she said. “You should come inside.”

            After the tour, the pond reveal, and a few more awkward moments, Seven and Byul finally left me alone to go downstairs and start dinner. It was barely five thirty, but already it was getting dark outside, the last of the light sinking behind the trees. I imagined the phone ringing in the empty, old apartment. With the cracked walls and the moldy smell. I wondered if they already had new occupants. I laid on the pretty, neat bed thinking.

***********

            By the time Seven called up the stairs that dinner was ready, I’d decided to leave that night. It just made sense- there was no need to contaminate their pristine home any further, or the pretty bed in my room. Once everyone was asleep, I’d just grab my stuff, slip out the back door, and be on the main road within a few minutes. The first pay phone I found, I’d call one of my friends to come get me. I knew I couldn’t stay at the apartment- it would be the obvious place anyone would come looking- but at least if I got there, I could pick up through my stuff for the things I needed. I wasn’t stupid. I knew things had already changes, irrevocably and totally. But at least I could walk through rooms and say goodbye, as well as try to leave some message behind, in case anyone came looking for me.

            Then it was just a matter of laying low. After a few days of searching and paperwork, Seven and Byul would write me off as unsaveable, getting their brownie points for trying and escaping relatively unscathed. That was what most people wanted anyway.

            Now, I walked into the bathroom, my hairbrush in hand. I knew I looked rough, the result of two pretty much sleepless nights and then this long day, but the lighting in the bathroom, clearly designed to be flattering, made me look better than I knew I actually did, which was unsettling. Mirrors, if nothing else, were supposed to be honest. I turned off the lights and brushed my hair in the dark.

            Just before I left my room, I glanced down at my watch, noting the time: 5:45. If Byul and Seven we asleep by, say, midnight at the latest, that meant I only had to endure six hours and fifteen minutes more. Knowing this gave me a sense of calm, of control, as well as the fortitude I needed to go downstairs to dinner and whatever else was waiting for me.

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Sorry for the delay guys, my computer was being weird so I couldn't post it. Anyways, I hope you like this chapter. I'm currently working on the second one and it will be up in a few. ^.^