Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2006 01:59:13 +0800 From: YoDawgs Bl.net Subject: The Search For Conscience 2 A chrome of red on his retinas awoke him from his peaceful slumber. The room was dark, except for a thin slit of light coming through a thick oak door, which just happened to fall upon his eyes. He roused himself and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Normally, he would have brushed his teeth and freshened up before facing the world, but he didn't even have a clue of what time it was anyway. He decided to take a good look around the room as his pupils slowly dilated to adapt to the gloomy setting. As the world gradually became clear to him, he became aware of a glass chandelier dangling a few metres above his head, glistening a little due to the reflection of light. He marveled at its architecture; each individual crystal had been cut precisely to form a diamond shape with the letter "D" engraved in the middle. He raised his head and surveyed the area. It never occurred to him at first sight, that this room was absolutely humongous in size. Across the room, an oak mantelpiece squatted on the wall. There were many photographs and trinkets on it, and the ghost of a fire occasionally sparked. Cody decided to move closer for a better look. As he was about to raise himself from the couch, he suddenly found out that a large, furry object was lying on top of him, breathing slowly. Instinct told him to yelp and spring away from the crouch "matrix" style, but he stayed the fear and looked carefully at the object. A few seconds' scrutiny told him that it was a dog, perhaps a German Shepherd, by its large frame and cocked up ears. The room was far too dark to distinguish any colors, so Cody took in the impression in a shade of gray. This explained why, despite the bitter London coldness and dressed in the orthodox British School uniform, he was not shivering, nor in any need of heating at all. His tie was beginning to bother him, so he loosened it and unbuttoned his top collar. He very gently slid his legs out from under the massive canine and made his way across the room to the mantelpiece. The carpet was smooth and warm against his feet. He looked at the first photograph. It showed Sean and his parents dressed in very light clothing indeed; John was wearing a white singlet and shorts, Regina was dressed in a skimpy bikini, and Merk was clad only in knee length shorts, which were navy blue and black. John appeared to be tousling Sean's hair, whereas Regina was lovingly squeezing Sean's russet freckled shoulders and neck. All of them looked very happy, except for a girl in the background, wearing a swimsuit. She had Regina's handsome, big eyes, and John's prominent, well-shaped nose. She was so pretty it was like seeing an angel with a frown. Cody observed the almost spiteful grimace of irritation as she tried to look good on camera, but inside, he knew she wasn't really enjoying herself. The rest of the photo depicted a long beach, surrounded by tall hotels and palm trees. Cody concluded that the location would most probably be Miami, Florida, USA. He couldn't go through the rest of the photographs. This image reminded him all too well of the happy and joyful life he had experienced with his parents, not too long ago. The same feeling of self-pity and grief returned in an iron grip to the heart. If only there was some way to turn back time; to stop them from leaving the house to their doom, if only, if only... He would not yet again go through the weights, which eventually led to the demise of his parents. Too painful to bear. Tears welled up in his eyes, and he sank to his knees in front of the mantelpiece, gazing at the last dying embers in the fire. He remembered the last words his parents had said to him "We'll probably be gone for a couple of hours, stay safe and take care of yourself. Sorry you can't come along; we needed someone to watch over the house. Bye, trooper. Love you!" The door slowly opened with a prolonged creak, engulfing the room in yellow light. The silhouette of a man appeared, with a halo around him. Cody's eyes began to water in the light, and he shut them, both to blink away the tears and pain. The dog awoke with a yelp, scampered toward the man, and began hugging one of the man's legs. "Stay, boy, stay. Do you know, you do get a little irritating sometimes, for such a big dog" The man shunted the dog away and strode across the carpeted floor in Cody's direction. Consumed by his grief, Cody failed to notice the approach of the man, and was duly surprised when the man gently patted him on his hunched blazer-covered back, and lifted him to his feet. "It's time for dinner, Cody. Come on, aren't you hungry? Follow me to the dining room" In one smooth movement, the man turned and walked out the way he came. Cody followed, contemplating his decision to eat. Before he could come to a reason because of this decision, he had entered the yellow-lit dining room. He slipped a little in his socks, on the marble floor and managed to grab the doorframe to refrain from what would have been quite an embarrassing fall to the floor. He looked up. In front of him, the entire family excluding the girl in the photo was uniformly sat around the table, surrounding a scrumptious feast, to Cody's eyes. He made his way quickly to the table, and took a seat between Regina and Sean, who leant over and flicked a layer a dust from Cody's blazer. He noticed that Regina, as graceful as ever, had changed into something more comfortable; a sort of silk evening gown, to be precise, but Sean dressed pretty much the way he was, with the exception of an untucked shirt, and a missing tie. It was now, that Cody noticed Sean's features. The dim light in the car, along with the darkness in the room before had retarded him from acquiring an imprint of Sean's features. Short brown hair, apparently spiked up by gel, rested on Sean's head. His scalp was barely visible through the thick shade of brown. Sean's eyes, surprisingly, were bright green in colour, and had a faint trace of brown in them. He had Regina's nicely angled nose, and had no trace of society's pollution (Earrings and the like). All in all, he was a combination of two ethnic groups; blonde and brunette, and looked pretty damn good. Across the table, the man winked at him with a wide grin. "Hey, we've met before. You don't need me to repeat my name again, right? I see you've already been acquainted with my wife and son. Our daughter Sophie is college at the moment, we won't be hearing from her much". At this, a faint trace of sadness crossed his eyes, but he continued. "This is our first day together. I heard of what happened to your parents and I would like to offer the condolences that I never gave yesterday. I am so sorry that you have lost your parents, and I know that we will never be the exact same thing, but we will try to do our best. I can't see why all the other families threw you out, but I assure you that this will never happen as long as we are still a family. I hope you will finally find what you are looking for in life, being with us, and I know that you won't hurt Sean in any way. Please enjoy dinner, and later, we'll discuss about our future plans." John flashed a quick grin at Regina, and looked around the table. "Well, what're you all waiting for? Dig in!!" And so they did. Dinner was excellent; ravioli with cheese, meat loaf, potato and leek soup, and a whole load of other combinations which filled Cody's stomach to the very brim. He noticed the elegant setting of the dining room, from the heavy red curtains to the mahogany table which held the food. He pondered about what was in store for him after dinner. He looked to his left at Regina, who was picking at her food graciously, and looked at his right, where Sean was shoveling food non-stop into his mouth, and chewing with his mouth closed, fortunately. Across the table, John thoughtfully pondered each mouthful before swallowing it, totally savouring the taste. This family might just be what he needed.