She rubs the back of her hands against her eyes again and then, confused, she looks around. She was still going to... What was she still going to do? There was something, she knows there was, but no matter how hard she tries to remember, she cannot recall what it was supposed to be.
When a voice from behind her says, "Sorry, I'm late," she turns quickly to find the source of the sound.
She takes in the girl's tall frame, her round cheeks, her long, straight black hair and her piercing blue eyes.
"Hey! You can't just come in uninvited," she says a little too loudly. "This is my house... Isn't it?"
She looks around the small room, trying to see out of the crooked window behind the red chequered curtains, trying to remember if this is indeed her home.
"I should have been here when you arrived, but we had a situation at the Town Hall."
"I've always been here. Is this not my house?" She asks confused. "No. This is my home," she insists. "Why would I have arrived? From where? If this is where I am supposed to be?"
"I haven't even had time to change," the girl says, with a friendly smile. "Come. Sit."
She could not understand why this girl stormed into her house, apologising to be late when she was not even supposed to be here in the first place. It occurred to her that she was not even expecting her arrival, so how could she be late. Late for what?
The girl says, "I'm Emily. Welcome to Strangely, Jenny."
Jenny takes a step closer to the crooked table in the centre of the room, and slowly she sits down on a wonky chair. It dips down to one side as her weight settles on it. She asks softly, "Strangely?"
"Yeah. Your new home away from home. I'm sure you're a bit confused at the moment, but it will only take a little while for you to remember, and then it will be as if this has always been your home. There's just a few minutes' adjustment time." Emily looks at Jenny with a curious expression on her face. "Can you remember anything from before you woke up here?"
Jenny shakes her head from side to side.
"Pity. I'm on the Welcoming Committee and have to welcome newcomers constantly, but I'm not exactly sure from where you are all arriving."
Another girl storms into the room, and the crooked door bangs on the wall behind it. Her blonde, tousled hair hides her face until she twirls around to face the two girls sitting at the wooden table in the middle of the room. The shape of her face is angular and her green eyes glitter with excitement.
"Was Chris here?"
Emily looks across the room at the blonde girl. "This is Abby," she explains to Jenny.
Abby looks at Jenny as if she only now notices her. "Oh. Hi. Welcome to Strangely." She looks back at Emily. "So, was he here?"
"No, but he had some roses and a package delivered for you," Emily says, pointing to the items on a cabinet beside the door.
Suddenly, as if Jenny has always been here in Strangely, as if she has always lived in the crooked house with Abby and Emily, she asks Emily, "What was the situation at the Town Hall? The reason why you said you were late?"
"This guy arrived, and he was not happy about being here. Sometimes new arrivals go a little mental, but soon enough they settle in. You can usually see it in their eyes, the moment they realise they have always been here, just like you just did."
"It's sad when that happens. I wonder where we think we were before we got here." Looking up at Abby, who has her face buried in a bouquet of roses, Jenny exclaims, "Chris sent you roses? Nice to have a boyfriend."
"Oh, my goodness." Emily gasps as she leaps up from the chair and leaves it rocking a little from side to side. "I don't believe it. Tell me that's not the Book of Eudemon."
Abby smiles. "Chris found it, but he wouldn't say where."
Emily traces her fingers across the leather-bound cover. "There's an inscription."
Jenny steps closer to have a look. "What does it say?"
Emily reads the words out loud, "As four girls decompose, they find a crux nestled in a rose. Water, fire, wind and earth; together they all live in a crooked little house."
"I wonder what it means," Abby says.
"We live in a crooked little house." Jenny chuckles nervously.
"Well, you better hide that book. There must be a reason it was hidden away in the first place," Emily insists.
"Don't you two have to be at the Town Hall for Meet and Greet?" Abby says, diverting their attention away from the large, heavy book.
"Yes. Late again. I'll be late for my own funeral; I just know it. Come, Jenny. You ready?"
Jenny and Emily rush out the crooked door and onto a winding pathway leading them down the hill on which their house is perched. Flowers of every colour imaginable blossom on the slight hills surrounding them and sway with the green grass in the barely-there breeze. On the horizon, all around them, mushrooms of clouds billow in brilliant white splendour.
"I'm nervous starting my duties tomorrow at the Chambers. I wonder why they re-assigned me?" Jenny ponders.
Emily replies, "Not sure, but I know it sounds boring. I love doing meet and greets, it makes me feel happy."
Jenny laughs as she twirls in a small circle. "I like the way it looks like we are on an island, surrounded by clouds. All this green grass, with colourful flowers and with a backdrop of cloud, no matter which way I turn."
As they reach the Town Hall, Jason calls out to them, from where he is standing in the doorway, "I cannot believe you're late again, Emily. Second day in a row."
"What's the rush?" Jenny asks perturbed to be so rudely interrupted from enjoying her surroundings.
"We have three new arrivals and we need your help."
They hurry into the building, with Jason leading the way along the long, white corridor to the reception area.
When they reach the reception room, Emily scans the room and then pulls Jenny by the hand as they walk across the room to a girl with dark hair, a dark complexion, and big brown eyes full of fear.
Emily greets her in a warm and friendly manner. "Hi, Zara. Welcome to Strangely."
"I'm supposed to be in New York," Zara says in a high-pitched, frightened voice.
"Not any-more," Emily says in a soothing voice.
"What? I've left New York?"
"Yeah, you've come to be with us now," Jenny says in a calm, reassuring voice. She whispers softly, close to Emily's ear. "Where's this New York place?"
Emily glances at Jenny quickly, with her brows arching into a brief, small frown. This is the first time since she can remember anyone mentioning they have been somewhere else, but she cannot contemplate the weirdness of it now. Zara needs to remember that she has always been here in Strangely. She has never, ever been anywhere, but here. Just like the rest of them. She says to Zara, "We're so excited you're going to be staying with us."
"You've got to be kidding?" Zara looks from Emily to Jenny, her eyes darting from one to the other frantically. She has pushed herself all the way into a corner and when she kicks her heels against the carpeting again, she finds her back pressed up against the wall behind her.
"Well, we can hardly say no," Jenny says, as she gives her a big smile. "It's your house too."
A sudden look of acceptance washes across Zara's features and the fear in her eyes melt away like mist on a sunny day.
"There you go." Emily smiles. "Now you remember us. Welcome home, Zara."
As Jenny sits down on the floor beside Zara, Emily stands up straight. "I'm going to see if Jason needs help."
After Emily walks away, Jenny turns to face Zara. "That inscription on the Book of..." Jenny stops speaking abruptly, not sure if she should mention that the Book of Eudemon is currently in their house. Jenny decides it is probably best not to mention it in public, so she rephrases her words. "The book Chris sent to Abby is a little strange, don't you think?" She asks Zara.
"What book?"
Jenny laughs softly. "Oh, yeah, you were here at the Town Hall when we got it. It said something about there being four girls living in a crooked house, and now we are four girls who live in a crooked house. Don't you find that strange? It feels like fate."
"What else did it say?" Zara asked, with an inquisitive tone in her voice.
"I remember it also mentioned the four elements of nature: earth, fire, water and air."
"You're just making me curious. What book is it?"
"The Book of Eudemon," Jenny whispers as she leans closer to Zara.
"Well, you should know that Eudemonism is the philosophy that the value of an action is its ability to make us feel happy, so I doubt it is supposed to make us feel bad or afraid, that is, if it has anything to do with us at all," Zara quips.
"You've always used such big words to explain things, but I suppose you're right. I still have this funny feeling of doom."
Emily interrupts their conversation, "Okay, girls, the newcomers are all settled, and you've been of absolutely no help whatsoever."
Jenny looks around the large, spacious room which is bare of any furniture. Its roof spires high up into the sky and the walls are reflective white to match the white carpeting on the floor. She asks, "All done?"
"Yeah. Let's go home. I'd like to just sit back and put my feet up. Jason says it's going to be hectic tomorrow."
Together, they walk along the long, white corridor to the exterior door, and then into the bright sunshine. The sunlight reflecting off the surrounding white clouds make the air around them shimmer with light.
When they arrive back at the crooked house, Abby is sitting on a wooden stool at the table, reading the Book of Eudemon.
Emily says, "I thought we agreed you'll hide that book away. What if someone sees you with it?"
"No-one will see me," Abby insists, without lifting her eyes from the page she is reading.
"So, what were you doing all day?" Jenny asks Abby as she sits down on a wing-backed chair near the open hearth.
"Reading," Abby mumbles.
"You could have started a fire, there's a chill," Zara says as she starts to gather firewood from the corner in the room.
"Mm-mm," Abby murmurs.
Emily starts to pack the firewood Zara hands to her, in the fireplace to start a fire.
Abby puts her hand on the book to keep her place and says, "Did you know, according to the Book of Eudemon, one of the Changeless was a demon named Gorgon, and she is said to be wise and mysterious, a protector, creator of life and bringer of death."
"A demon would never be one of the Changeless!" Jenny exclaims.
Abby continues, ignoring Jenny, "She practised powers. Three powers to be exact. She could move objects with her mind, see the future, and stop time."
"No-one can stop time," Emily says dismissively, as she blows softly on the glowing embers to ignite the fire in the fireplace.
"Before Gorgon was banished to The OtherWorld, she vowed that each generation of girls who lived in the crooked house would become stronger and stronger, until the arrival of four sisters."
"We aren't sisters, though," Zara clarifies.
Abby insists, "We are, in the sense that we all have a common interest. We all live in the crooked house. These sisters would be powerful, and I genuinely think we're those sisters."
"Look, I'm tired and it's been a long day. Some of us have duties to fulfil instead of sitting around all day reading and looking pretty," Emily says with a sigh as she settles down on a chair next to Jenny.
"It says, we're the protectors of the innocent," Abby insists, trying to convince them.
"Abby, this is insane. You shouldn't believe everything you read, even if it is in the Book of Eudemon. I told you there's a reason why it was hidden, and it was so that girls like you don't start getting silly ideas. I hardly slept a wink last night because the sounds of constant moaning and Chris' incessant grunts coming from your room all night long gives me nightmares, so I'm exhausted," Emily huffs.
Jenny laughs loudly. "We don't do nightmares."
Emily nudges Jenny playfully. "Do you want to make a bet? We'll swap rooms and you can do nightmares all night long."
Zara sits down at the table next to Abby. "Let me see, maybe we can figure it out together."
Abby turns the page.
Zara says, her eyes wide as she takes in the pictures on the pages, "Are the girls in these images... Us?"
In shades of black, burgundy, orange and brown, images of four girls, one with long black hair, one with a dark complexion, one with blonde tumbling locks and a petite girl with fiery red hair cover the two large facing pages. All the terrifying images depict the girls battling different incarnations of evil.
Zara reads the inscription at the bottom of the page out loud, "A bad Demon has but one goal, to kill a Eudemon and obtain their powers."
Emily and Jenny both turn in their chairs, away from staring into the fire, to look at Zara and Abby at the table.
Jenny is the first to speak, "Are you saying we're supposed to be Eudemon?"
"What powers?" Abby asks.
Zara turns the page in the book and reads a few lines. "I think as long as we were in the dark about our powers, we were safe."
"You mean we're not safe anymore?" Jenny asks nervously.
Abby smiles. "Why be normal when we can be special?"
"I want to be normal," Jenny says softly.
"We can't change destiny," Zara says before she leans her head down to continue reading.
Emily gets up hurriedly from her chair. "You should stop reading that book! It's making you believe we might have special powers. Powers which could unleash all forms of evil."
Zara shakes her head. "Not might have, we are definitely supposed to have powers."
Jenny says, her eyes are filled with a look of fright, "Is this evil going to come looking for us?"
Emily replies with a hint of annoyance in her voice, "Stop! We're not Eudemon. We don't have special powers. What makes you all think the four girls in the book is even us?"
The girls yell as one when there is a sudden loud knock at the door.
Looking at each other, neither one wants to be the one who opens the door.
Emily huffs impatiently and storms toward the door, pulling on the handle to open it. A cold wind rushes in, lifting wisps of her hair away from her face.
"Stephen? What are you doing here?" She asks.
"I've waited a long time for the four of you to come together as it's been foretold," he sneers as his face contorts into a demonic mask.
Quickly Emily pushes both her hands against his chest, catching him off guard. She exerts enough force to push him backwards and away from her until he falls backwards, landing on the ground on his back. She turns quickly, back into the crooked house, slamming the door shut and yelling at the top of her voice. "Jenny! Check the windows! Abby, Zara, did the book say how to get rid of a... Demon?"
Jenny rushes to the window and pulls aside the red chequered curtains. "The windows don't open."
"Check the ones in the rooms too," Emily suggests with an urgent tone.
Zara frantically turns the pages in the ancient book, searching for something which might help them. "I can't find anything," she chokes out, terror making her voice quake.
"Let me in, ladies," Stephen taunts from the other side of the door.
"Put as many things against the door as you can!" Emily instructs them while keeping her bodyweight wedged against the door.
The sound of moving furniture scraping along the wooden flooring, makes Stephen laugh. "You can't keep me out, ladies," his voice mocks them. "My powers are stronger than yours."
"What do we do?" Jenny wails. "We're trapped!"
"Come on, we'll face him together," Abby says with confidence.
"I've found something," Zara says in a rush, as she leans forward over the big book. "Say it with me."
They chant together, the sound of Zara's voice a little ahead of the rest, "If demons threaten to take my soul, fight with earth, air, fire, and water. Banish their souls through time and space, to The OtherWorld whence they came."
The sound of the wind above the house start to whisper faster and faster.
Flashes of light pulse quicker and quicker in the room. Bright. Dim. Bright. Dim.
The crooked door rattles in its hinges, louder and louder.
Outside, they can hear Stephen scream in pain, until the sound is choked off mid moan.
Then, just as sudden as the noise started, it is quiet.
Unable to say a word, they stand in a circle facing each other with bewildered and surprised expressions on their faces.
Abby yelps when there is another knock at the door.
Jenny shakes her head and mouths, "Don't you dare open that door."
"Abby?" The voice on the other side of the door asks, "I can hear you in there. What's going on?"
Emily sighs with relief. "It's just Chris."
They pull the items of furniture they had pushed against the door away to let him in.
"Hey," he greets them when he steps into the house.
Abby wraps her arms around him tightly. "I am so, so happy to see you."
"I feel really guilty about not seeing you all day," he says, as he holds her close to his chest.
Jenny and Zara move away from the door to go and sit down by the fire, followed by Emily.
Zara says, in a soft whisper so it is only Jenny and Emily who can hear her, "What a strange day."
Emily agrees, "I cannot believe how in mere seconds our lives became a lot more complicated."
Deep in thought, Jenny looks back over her shoulder to where Chris and Abby are still standing in a loving embrace beside the closed front door. She asks, "Do you think a Eudemon can date?"
"Believe me, everything will be different now," Emily says. "I still can't believe it really, really happened."
Zara laughs. "Well, at least we won't be bored."
"This is going to be interesting," Emily agrees.
© Rosaline Saul
Delivery 2 - 3 weeks.
