Rose

My clock beeps, telling me to go to the lords. Thinking about what they want from me this late, I make my way through the corridors and into the central. I did nothing wrong, right? They wouldn't have a reason to punish me, would they? But they are able to create reasons out of nowhere, which I experienced too often, well maybe I should start to pray already.

Arriving at the huge white door with too many squiggles, I knock twice, before entering the room. Inside, Tristan is sitting on a bright white arm chair.

"Good evening, sir. You called for me?"

"Yes, indeed, Rose. I have something to talk to you about.", his features are grave, as usual, as he points at an old wooden chair, forcing me to sit there with his eyes alone.

Shit, that's not how it was supposed to go along like. I slowly let my body sink in that chair, carefully not to make it break, catching an envious thought on how it would feel to sit in his huge arm chair.

I fold my hands neatly in my lab, keeping them from trembling this way.

"Rose", he exhales deeply, "I have a job for you. It includes my sister, which you were already able to meet, am I correct?"

"Yeah, I saw her in the corridor, just like a few minutes ago.", I stutter, after all these years, or because of all these years, I'm still afraid of him and his brothers. But especially Arian, I guess.

I structure the information in my head. It's no surprise they know everything that happened, they have cameras all around, but a sister is new... Would she be just like them? And what job would I have to do?

"I figured. Well, your job contains being her personal waiter, you look for her well-being, obey anything she wishes, you understand?", he asks, smiling down at me in an arrogant way.

"I do, sir. Anything else?", I smile a polite smile, wishing he'd say no and I could leave already.

"Yes, I want you to be our spy. Find out as much as you can about her. Pretend to be her friend or do anything necessary to get information. Got it?", he requests, his stare fixing me onto that uncomfortable chair.

They want me to spy on their own sister? I didn't know human beings could be that cruel.

"Of course, sir.", I stand up and step away from the chair, ready to leave.

He takes a step to me to whisper into my ear: „And don't you dare tell her anything about this, Rose. I hope your life is worthy enough for you to do as I said. Or should I pick Isabella's. Poor little girl, she's all alone. What a pity if something happened to her."

"Don't you dare take her name into your mouth.", I exclaim, shocked by my urgent confidence.

"Oh, Rose, I wouldn't speak to me like that, you know. Since I am the one holding all the power. Don't you forget? I could just stop paying her money. She would be dead in a matter of days. I wouldn't mind.", he states, like he isn't talking about my little sister but grocery shopping. No, they wouldn't even know what a grocery shop is.

"Apologizes, I don't know what run me back then, I am deeply sorry. I insist on you paying her bills, please. That is all I will ever wish for. Nothing more, just that. ", I beg.

Isabella's young innocent face crosses my mind. The last time I saw her. At that time, I didn't know anything odd would happen. I didn't know it would be the last time to see my sister. I was naïve, thinking nothing could divide us. But then I was brought here. Not voluntarily, obviously. And now I spent three years of my life inside these walls. My sister probably grew up a lot. She is attending school, probably. I wonder whether she still thinks about me. Whether she remembers me. I mean, with the age of three, one does not really recall much. I deeply wonder how she looks. Whether her appearance and mindset changed. What her favorite color is. Does she have friends? Is she dancing in the rain and wheeling in the autumn leaves? Collecting memories no one can rob her?

All I do know is the fact she gets paid food, school, clothes, all the material stuff. She even has someone paid to take care of her. That should be my job, I would do it for free obviously. But hey, I guess I should stop these naïve hopes. I am not naïve anymore, right?

"Nothing will change, but take care of your attitude or there will be consequences."

With these words, he leaves the room, and so do I.

Milan

In the huge library, I sit on one of these many arm chairs, not to read, I simply need time for myself. The library is kind of my safe haven, my home in this huge house. And with all that hectic that is supposed to come over the next weeks, I clearly enjoy the few calm times I'll have before.

From bottom to top, shelves over shelves keep tons of books. I'm in love with reading, therefore I equipped this room with every kind of book one could think of. But none of the other boys lose their selves to this part of the house, they are more into the cinema or the gaming room. I won't complain, I love being here alone. Alone with decades of literacy. Decades of love, hate, knowledge, rage, sadness, happiness. Decades of endless ideas and emotions. Millions of words, all made out of a different structure of the same letters. Coming from different cities, countries, continents. And now they are all united, under this roof.

Light footsteps pull me out of my daydream. It's rather unlikely any of the boys suddenly is into reading. The thought of Mallory reading a book makes me chuckle. Never will that happen. He'd rather use the paper to put out his cigarettes.

The employees aren't allowed to go onto the 3rd floor, so who is there? I childishly hide behind a shelf, being interested in the person that would enter the library any second. From my position, I can observe the whole entrance perfectly. James Bond over here.

With a rusty crunch, the door is opened. I should really tell someone to oil it, but maybe that just adds to the vibe. Expectantly, I blink over to the entrance, just to see a young girl, she is about my age I'd guess, wearing a blue dress falling smoothly around her body.

Why the fuck is she wearing that dress? Every female in this house has to wear the exact same dress, which is clearly different. So, what's the matter? Who is that girl?

Wait, she has to be the younger sister of Arian, Mallory and Tristan.

What's her name again? Lola? No, that can't be. Uhm, right, it was Nora.

They barely ever talked about her, well, if they did it wasn't that positive... And don't you dare ask about her. I collected way too many blue eyes for that.

I mean I kinda kidnapped her today, not just kind of, I actually did, but beyond that, I don't know anything about her. Just that confused look in her face, before her sight became blurry.

Don't ask me why they wanted to kidnap the person they seem to hate that much, their own sister. I don't have an answer. I barely know anything about her obviously. But I guess I can change that in the coming days.

Her big blue eyes scan the room, seeming to look for something, expecting something special or dark. Probably just someone like me hiding behind a shelf of books. She slightly relaxes after seeing nothing treacherous.

I focus on her some more, her eyes look overwatered, maybe she cried? Did she already meet them? Probably. At least that would be an explanation.

Did they do anything to her? Or is she just an overemotional girl seeking for attention? I will find out early enough though, so I go right back to my exploration.

Her skin is almost fully covered by the dress, but the parts you can see are rather pale, it doesn't seem like she has seen the sun too often. And she looks underweight, by a lot. I know what I talk about. Unfortunately.

After looking around the library once more, she walks to one of the shelves, my favorite one. Her body looks like an angel, the dress falling behind every step she takes.

With closed eyes, her fingers move along the shelves, touching the backs of the books smoothly. Suddenly her movement stops, everything standing still for a second. She grabs the bible.

Is she religious?

The ghost of a smile crosses her face, while she opens the first page. It's a smile far away from every joy. Rather a tragic irony.

While the pages turn between her small fingers, tears stream down her face, too many to be stopped by her desperate attempt to wish them away. And after some more pages, she gives up trying to hold the tears back, not caring anymore about the bible being watered by salty tears.

I should be upset about the stains that would be on my bible, an original of course, but I couldn't care less. It's way more interesting to watch her, study her like some part of an exhibition. Also, I don't want to leave my hideout yet. Bond on a mission, I can't give that dream up yet.

She disappeared in her own world, in the world of books, my favorite place to be. Her eyes, now red from crying, scan over words and sentences, pages and chapters, she frantically seeks in the information she gets.

What a crazy relationship to books she has. Well, mine would probably look rather similar.

Time changes equally as rapidly as she turns the pages, but I don't care. The meetings could wait, they could wait. This is more interesting now. By far.

Only the soft pages moving dive the library into a peaceful melody. Then my mobile beeps, making me and Nora flinch. Her eyes dart to mine, being totally afraid. Afraid of me. As she should.

She immediately takes steps backwards, her legs being unable to function properly, until her back meets the door. With one last blink at me, she leaves the library, leaves me. Or should I call it an escape? Her footsteps spoil her hastily running.

Disappointed by that rather rapid and unexpected end of our time together, I give my attention to the mobile. A call from Arian. I accept it.

"Hey, what's up?", I try my best not to sound pissed.

"Have you seen Nora? We lost her.", he admits, sounding regretful. Arian and regret? You usually won't find that in a sentence. But right now, nothing is usual. I mean we just kidnapped their sister. I kidnapped her.

Should I tell them where Nora is? Don't they have cameras all around anyway?

"Nora, who was that again? The girl I got a new skin color for?", I chuckle, smirking my accuse.

"Oh Milan, this isn't the right time to be resentful. You're making me feel extremely bad, I feel like someone ribbed out my heart, leaving blood all over my body and an empty space where it used to be. But jokes besides, where is she? Spill it.", he demands.

"Don't you have cameras all around? Well, she was in the library, but you idiot just frightened her with your phone call.", I complain.

"We do have cameras, but not in the 3rd floor, remember? How did she even get there? Whatever, thanks for that information. And sorry for interrupting you. See us in the control room in 10 minutes?"

"Yes, I'll be there.", I agree.

"Bye little idiot." With that, the line's death again.

Next days are going to be interesting, I am living together with their little rebel kidnapped sister. Who they hate. But still, they seem to care about her, she wouldn't be here if I was lying. Well, I'm going to get a lot of entertaining for free, in the next few days.

I won't be too sad about that. Distraction is always welcome.