Chapter 4: Dimitri

Alexis almost jumps at the sudden slamming of the gate, but she manages to keep her cool. She needs to stay strong for her father, so that he can stay strong for the rest of the family. She waves and continues the long walk up to the mansion.

It's a rather large, but old looking building, painted a slightly dingy white with round columns surrounding the front entrance. Truth be told, it was rather intimidating in the fading light. As Alexis walks up the steps, the nerves begin to set in and questions start to run through her head. What kind people live here? What kind of work would she required to do? How would she be treated? These questions and more kept coming up like a looping video. When she reaches the large front door, her mind immediately goes blank. She takes a deep breath, opens the door, and peeks in the door.

 

"Hello? Is anyone here?" She continues insides, getting more nervous as time goes on. She glances around coming up to a large curved staircase, and decides to try calling out once more. "Hello?"

 

"I cannot believe someone was actually willing to take that man's place."

Alexis jumps at the smooth, masculine voice. Whoever was speaking didn't sound particularly happy. She whips her head around, trying to find the speakers. She hears an annoyed sigh.

 

"Turn around, Einstein..."

 

She spins around and finds the owner of the voice standing in an open doorway. She drops everything and stares once she catches sight of him leaning against the doorway.

 

From a distance, he would probably look like a young blonde human male wearing a nice pair of dark pants and a silky black button-up shirt. But up close, she could tell he was anything but human. What is visible of his legs appear to look like wood and, instead of feet, his legs end with tendrils that reminded Alexis of the roots of a tree. His arms look reminiscent of branches, the ends of which split out into his fingers. The appearance of his neck and head were strange and almost creepy. It looks as if someone had taken a normal human head, hair and all, and replaced the skin with cloth. There are a few spots that seem to have been hastily stitched back up with black thread. His hair, which at least looks like real human hair, is a golden blonde and neatly combed back away from his face. His eyes, however, are the most unnerving part of him. They look fairly human, except that they were a deep, unnatural violet and almost seem like they emanate a very dim light.

 

Aforementioned eyes narrow at Alexis, who is still just standing there staring at him, her mouth hanging slightly open. She just cannot believe what she's seeing.  He chooses that moment to speak up again, obviously annoyed.

 

"You realize that it is rather rude to stare, right?" This knocks Alexis out of her stupor and she sheepishly apologizes.

 

"Sorry about that. I've just never seen anyth-uh-one that looks quite like you." He raises an eyebrow at the correction. Alexis chuckles nervously and offers her hand.

 

"Um, I'm Alexis." He ignores the proffered hand and walks past her, which annoys Alexis, but she tries to ignore it.

 

"I'm Dimitri. I protect the garden in the back." Alexis raises an eyebrow at that statement.

 

"You protect a garden. From what exactly?" Dimitri ignores her and continues to walk forward. He turns to her boredly and motions for her to follow.

 

"Come on, I'm supposed to show you the things in here that you need to know about. You know, the kitchen, the bathroom, etcetera, etcetera."

Alexis clenches her fist as she follows him through the first floor of the mansion. He was starting to annoy the crap out of her. He answered most of her questions as bluntly and with as few words as he could. And that was when he actually answered her questions. It was like he was doing his best to pay her no more mind than he absolutely had to. After a while, she decided to try speaking to him again.

 

"So, is there anyone else besides the two of us here?" Dimitri lets out an annoyed sigh and snapped at her.

 

"No. In fact, before you came along, I was the only one here, and I liked it that way." He takes a few deep breaths and rubs his head as if he was warding off a headache. He sighs lightly before continuing. "Look, it's getting rather late. Go find a room upstairs, any room, and go to bed. Tomorrow I'll tell you about what kind of work you'll be doing. Goodnight." At that, he rushes off, leaving a flustered and rather annoyed Alexis standing next to the staircase that they had returned to without her realizing it. She groans, gathers up her bags, and stomps up the stairs.

 

#

 

Alexis glances into several rooms before she finds one she likes. It's a large but simple room, with a bed, dresser, closet, desk, and small bookshelf. The walls are painted very pale lavender and the carpet is a pale blue. The queen bed is already made, with deep purple and white blankets. All of the furniture is made from a dark wood and have delicate floral carvings engraved upon them. Alexis drops her bags just inside of the room and takes a closer look at the pattern on the desk. She finds that the carvings aren't simply floral; everything is engraved with very detailed roses. Alexis groans.

 

"What the heck is with me and fricken' roses all of the sudden?"

 

She shakes her head and pulls her cell phone out of the pocket of her jeans. She checked it and there wasn't any service. She wasn't really surprised Alexis had asked Dimitri about phones and he informed that there were none in the entire building. He also told her she wouldn't have any phone service or Internet. No TV, either, for that matter. She just sighs and starts putting the clothes she had brought with her away, finding some clothes that would fit her already in the closet and the dresser. She puts on a pair of pajamas and goes into the adjacent bathroom to finish getting ready for bed. As she lies down, she begins to think about everything that has happened in the past week. As she falls asleep, one final thought floats through her mind.

 

What in the world have I gotten myself into?

Author's Note

Rough first draft