Chapter 9- Settling In
Wrote this awhile ago. Had a bit of free time in school with no other homework so I just uploaded this. Enjoy!
“...And over there is the house that Steve said that we could have, which is right next to the- Are you paying attention?”
I abruptly snapped back into reality, almost tripping over nothing in the process. After I had gotten over the original shock, I coughed and straightened. “No.” I admitted truthfully. “You lost me a few minutes ago.”
Kriste rolled her eyes. “Do you see the big obvious building right in front of you?”
“Yeah.”
“This is the spare house that Steve allowed us to use.”
“Right. I knew that.”
Kristie smiled but didn’t reply, opening the door and looking inside. I followed as she went inside. It was a simple building, made of wood and stone with windows lining most of the walls. There was wood flooring with carpet in some areas, and a few nice sized rooms on the first floor. A staircase was positioned at the far corner of what I assumed to be the living room, left of the kitchen. There was a fireplace sitting across from a few small chairs, and a painting hanging above it. The fireplace wasn’t lit, but that’s actually a good thing. Gareth’s a bit of a pyromaniac.
Kristie stepped inside. “It’s nice here!” She remarked, walking into the kitchen. “Plenty of room.”
I nodded in reply, sitting down on one of the chairs. Seeing as I’d spent most of my life in a carved out hole in a mountainside, this was definitely a step up. I glanced out of the window, seeing the fabulous view of the three feet in between the house and the wall. From what I’d gathered from Kristie’s talking, Jared was helping with patrol beyond it for the next few minutes. The others were helping out elsewhere, but I wasn’t sure about their whereabouts.
Speaking of the others...
“HI!”
I jumped, leaping from the chair and staggering back, promptly falling over the table a few feet behind. Gareth erupted into laughter above me, trying to smirk but failing in favor of a cheesy grin. “What’s up?”
“Down, rather.” I mumbled, upside down.
“Same difference.” He laughed, hopping into one of the chairs and making himself at home. “Anyway, I got bored of you two and came here. Already explored. No secret doors or anything, unfortunately. Don’t know what’s gotten into the architectural classes these days. Good job I’m not one of them.”
“Oh, shame.” I said sarcastically, sitting up the proper way. “D’you know where the others went?”
Gareth shrugged. “Off gallivanting in the village. Dunno where they went exactly.”
“Not paying attention?”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
I laughed, trying to forget the whole “phase 3” thing that currently haunted my mind. I can be a good actor if I need to be, and as far as situations go, this seems to be one that called for it.
Kristie came into the room, smiling. “Alright, it looks like we’re all hungry so I’m going to make some food for everyone. What do you guys want?”
“CAKE!” Shouted Gareth immediately.
I covered my ears and frowned. “I have no idea,” I said. I didn’t feel like eating whatsoever, but I could tell that I was hungry. I ignored it and sighed. Agh.
There was a shout from outside, making Kristie jump with surprise. “What in the Nether...?” She mumbled, walking to the window with Gareth and I following.
Steve was standing at the center of a large circle of people, on top of a few pieces of wood. He had a joyous look on his face as he started to address the crowd.
I walked outside, stopping one of the guards as they passed by. “What’s going on?” I asked.
The guard turned around. I recognised her as the guard from the castle gates. “Oh,” She said. “Steve’s announcing your return. And a party or something later. I never got your name,” She added.
“Herobrine.” I responded, hesitantly extending a hand. “And yours?”
She took off her helmet and smiled grimly. “Alexia.” She had brown hair that was pulled back into a haphazard ponytail as well as the usual guard armor. Chain and iron, I think.
“Nice to meet you,” I said, being polite only because I knew that Kristie would kill me if I mouthed off.
“Same to you,” She said, replacing her helmet. We were silent for a moment before she spoke again. “Some of the guards would really like to meet you,” She said, a bit of hope in her blue eyes. “Maybe at the feast you could pop by and say ‘hi?’”
I shrugged. “Maybe,” I said. At her kind of disappointed expression, I added “I’ll try to find you.”
She grinned. “Great! I have to go. Patrol again.” She rolled your eyes. “Your brother’s really serious about keeping mobs out.” She took a glance at Gareth. “I suppose he made an exception.”
“Hey!” Gareth shouted, adjusting his cap. “I’m a zombie, but at least I’ve got some self control.”
Alexia seemed surprised. “You... Talk?” She asked, confused.
Gareth huffed. “Well, yeah. Don’t expect me to recite Blockspear or anything, but I can talk.”
Alexia stepped closer to Gareth. “I think Silver or Enderlord might want to talk to you at the feast.” She said to him.
“And they are...?” Gareth and I said at the same time.
“JINX!” He shouted. I rolled my eyes in response.
“A few of the other guards in my regiment,” She clarified. There was a shout from one of the other guards that had diamond armor instead. She sighed and started walking away. “Commander Calhoun calls,” She said. “I’ll see you later!”
“Bye,” I said, waving and walking towards Kristie.
“BYE!” Gareth shouted, waving his arms around. “SEE YOU LA-”
I smacked him in the back of the head. “C’mon, Casanova.” I said, leading him away.
He said I few insults that I promptly ignored. “What did Steve say?” I asked Kristie.
“I only heard a little,” She admitted. “But the main thing is that to celebrate you coming back, they’re having a feast!” Kristie looked excited, so I pretended to be too.
“Great!” I said, false enthusiasm in my voice. “When?”
“In an hour or two,” She replied. “I’m going to go and round up the others. It’s a potluck, so we should all bring something.” With that, she rushed off to do just that. Gareth followed her, chattering incessantly.
I sighed, walking back into the house with a halfhearted push at the door. I’m not a social person, so I don’t know what I’m supposed to do at a banquet with me as its main attraction. The only comfort for me right now seemed to be the fact that Kristie and the rest were finally safe. If they’d gotten hurt, I wouldn’t have forgiven myself.
As cheesy as it appears.
I rolled my eyes at my own monologue and walked upstairs. I ignored pretty much everything besides the door at the end of a long hallway, which I hoped to be a bedroom. I opened the door and stepped inside. Lo and behold, it was. It was a small room, with hardly anything but a bed and a few chests. There was a painting above the bed and a closet that I really didn’t care about. Ignoring practically everything else in the room, I flopped down onto the bed. I rolled over staring at the ceiling.
The first and last thing I noticed about said ceiling was that it was slowly turning to red pixels.
In shock, I bolted upright to see that the entire room was suffering the same fate. I gasped, looking down at my hands. Oddly, they weren’t the source of the pixels at all. Instead, they were slowly fading away. I stood up, trying to run out of the room but the door was pixels too. Staggering backwards, I pressed myself against the wall in vain attempt at escape, but as it turned to pixels I fell backwards, screaming.
I never hit the ground.
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