Lost chapter 2

2

As Joy sat in her scolding bathtub letting the heat warm her bones, she thought about what the rest of her day might be like. She was in the middle of day dreaming when there was a tap on her door. “Joy?” It was Nick.

“One moment, don’t come in.” Joy jumped out of the tub rapping her robe around her quickly. “You may come in.”

Her curly haired brother came into the room his broad shoulders making him look twice the size he really was. “Are you feeling….better?” Nick asked as if he had never talked to her before.

“Of course, I wouldn’t want to miss out on today’s wonderful festivities.” Joy smiled, because it was true. This day was one of the only days that Joy ever looked forward too. And she was very sure that it was one of the only days that Nick looked forward to also.

“Well I’ll be going then.” Nick went to turn out of the room, but Joy stopped him.

“What’s wrong?” Joy asked bluntly.

Nick looked at her, then down to the table that had suddenly become interesting. “Joy” He began “you almost died this morning, do you realize that? You are the only family I have left. And I sure as Hell know I’m the only family you have left! And if I loose you I don’t know what I’d do with my self.” Nick said now pacing the room, the way he always did when he got nervous.

“Nick, do you not think this doesn’t affect me? Because it sure does! I try to tell my self ‘put on a smile Joy and everything will turn out okay’ that’s what I tell my self everyday I have to spend in this wretched place we call home!” Now there was a word Joy didn’t know the meaning of. Home, what did home mean? Was it a place you felt safe? A place you felt warmth, heat, comfort? Because Joy felt most of that but something always seemed to be missing.

“Home” Nick said in disgust. “Does that word taste fowl in my mouth.” Joy knew perfectly what he was trying to say, so why say more? Nick was stating that the huge brick castle that they lived and slept in was just that a cold, barren, colorless mound of bricks. It was never going to be cozy and inviting. Never.

Nick left, knowing there was no more to say. Joy walked over to her bureau and began to come out her dark brown curly hair. She picked up her hand mirror and looked back at the pale face gray eyed girl. “That’s not me.” She said to her self. “I use to be pretty.” She mumbled feeling her confidence go down each second.

“Oh Miss Joy, may I help you into your dress?” Asked the made from earlier. Joy agreed and proceeded to step in to her silk green dress which had dragon fly’s coming from the bottom side of her skirt to her corset top. It seemed as though everything happening around was moving in slow motion. And every sound gave her a pounding head ace.

She was sitting on her bed when there was once again another tap on her door. “Come in.” She said listlessly. And a young, tall, blonde haired boy came into her room. She had never seen him before, but she found him quiet hansom.

The expression on her face must have explained it all because the boy laughed at her stunned face. “Hello, my name is Julian and I am here to escort you down to the dinning room.”

“Yes of course.” She should have known they always send some one to escort them down to the hall. This must have been the new guy. “So, where is Victor?”

“He had a family issue, and couldn’t make it tonight. I am his replacement.”

“I sort of figured that. So where are you from?”

“I’m actually not from Brigal; I’m from northern Met-Land.”

“I see the land of the forest. What’s it like there? Are there gypsy’s and fairies and monsters every where?” Joy only asked this because that was her interpretation of the strange land she had only heard of in stories and books.

Julian laughed. Apparently what she thought was very different from what he knew. “Oh, the gypsy’s that much is true. There everywhere you turn. You gotta keep an eye on your money. Cause they are very good at taken it. And as far as I know I haven’t seen any monsters or fairies roaming around the woods.” He said as they walked down the dimly lit hallways.

“Well” Joy didn’t know what to ask now. She felt heat slowly rising to her face. “Are there paintings good?”

They stopped walking at this question. And Julian thought long and hard about that before they started walking again. “To be honest, I think it depends on the artist or the kind of art you like. Someone may think one painting is just plain out ugly while another person would pay twenty thousand coins for it.”

Joy thought about roaming the flea-markets looking at all of the different kind of arts. Wondering how they may look to other people. And feeling the freedom she never had. “I want to go to the Met-land. I want to just escape this loathsome place.” She could hear the sadness in her voice, and she was sure Julian could hear it to. She was lucky because they were in the dinning room now and she didn’t have to talk to him anymore. She just went and sat next to her brother at the long table that sat hundreds of guest.