Shatter

I got outside the doors and let out a sigh of relief.

Thank God. No one was coming after me.

Although, after I gave my little performance in there, I didn’t really expect them to follow me out.

I looked around the hall, and, seeing no one, I let my barriers drop. I left my mind open, a habit I’ve started since the whole “mind” incident.

I looked around for Milana, and huffed.

How am I supposed to get back to my room? I don’t even know where I’m at now!

“Oh, real nice job, Milana. Just leave me here to find my own way back.” I spoke irritably. “Well, while I’m out here, I might as well take a look around.”

I went down the hall to my right, and peeked into a couple of rooms. One was a bathroom, and I took full advantage of that opportunity, knowing that I hadn’t had a shower or... erm, other things... in three days. When I was done in there, I discovered a pair of huge doors next to the bathroom. To my delighted surprise, it was a library. I let myself in, assuming it was open to the public.

It was gianormus.

Shelves lined the entire room, and those were filled to the brim with assorted books. I gaped at the sight, then rifled through the shelves for something interesting. I eventually settled on A Brief History of Vampires.

The book was dark red, leather bound, and had gold trimming around the edges. It had to have been at least 500 plus pages.

Brief, my butt.

I had to admit, though; it was pretty.

I grabbed it off the shelf and left the room, silently promising I’d bring it back when I was finished. Shutting the library door quietly, I noticed glass doors that lead outdoors. And, being my natural, curious self, I decided to investigate. Opening the doors, I stepped outside and onto a slab of stone.

I guess you could call this a “porch.”

There were magnificent wooden railings, about as thick as my waist, flowing down and out, over some stone stairs. I glanced around to see if anyone was here, letting my mind do a brief sweep of the area. I came to the conclusion that there were no life forms within a two-mile radius.

Talk about having a vast garden.

I started down the steps, and pretty soon I could see a waterfall with a pool of water directly underneath in front of me. A river flowed to my right and left, going through the small pond, with bridges over both sides of the river.

Snaps to whoever had done the landscaping around here, ‘cause they did a pretty awesome job.

I reached the end of the stairs and contemplated which bridge I should go on. Choosing the left, I walked and stood on the middle, marveling at the beauty. Soon, I was daydreaming about open meadows and tall, waving grass.

The sound of a door slamming brought me back to reality.

My eyes shot to where the stairs were, and I immediately went into fight-or-flight mode. Choosing flight, I quickly did a 360, looking for a place to hide.

My brain came to a complete stop, halting all other thought processes.

Wait, what? I’m a tele. There’s no way someone was going to scare me off.

I braced myself for a fight.

A single figure descended down the stairs.

Upon recognizing who it was, I breathed a sigh of relief.