[13] Settling In (Part 3)

The elevator ride from the ground floor all the way to the seventeenth floor was the most frightening feeling in the world.

My nerves seemed to rattle as Ethan and I stepped off the elevator on the seventeenth floor. My hands were sweating, and I kept sliding my fingers over the key in the pocket of my denim shorts.

What would my apartment look like?

What would the world look like from way up here?

I didn't know what I was getting myself into. I blocked out everything. I tried to be happy about this.

We walked through the corridor, passing doors of unoccupied apartments that would belong to other residents of the floor. Ethan was the one who found my room first.

I studied the off-white door, which stood in nothing but the simplicity of its number plate.

“Here we are,” Ethan sighed, “Room 1702.”

I pulled out my key and looked at it. It was silver, and like Evana had said before handing it to me, it was newly cut. I ran my finger over it a few times, familiarizing myself with it before pushing it into the keyhole and turning it slowly. I didn't know what to expect.

The first thing I noticed when I opened the door was the faint smell of the paint. I opened it more and walked around. The walls were white, there wasn't much to it. There was a TV, just like the one in Ethan's room, only it wasn't in the same place. There was a sofa set, and a coffee table standing over a plain white rug. Opposite to the entrance door was the balcony, and I smiled at the thought of having my own. To the far right corner next to the balcony doors, there was a back room I guessed was for clothes and shoes. Next to that was the bed, with plain white sheets and four pillows. Beside the bed was a side table with an unusually shaped lamp, and then the door to the bathroom. I expected the bathroom to be just as plain, and it was. There was a shower, the sink and the mirror, an empty shelf and the toilet. I looked behind the door and found the shower switch. I smirked to myself, and I walked back out into the main room. To the far left corner there was a low fridge and a small dining table, only big enough for two people. There wasn't a kitchen, and I guessed it was because of the first floor of the building being the kitchen and dining room.

The apartment was quite concise –much like Ethan’s to an extent.

I expected more. I expected a fully designed room filled with blasts of colours and inspiration. I expected to be blown away by a luxuriously pampering room like his, but then I remembered something.

We had to use this space to inspire ourselves.

All Wielders were given a blank sheet to decorate for themselves according to their liking. I marvelled at the metaphor.

This space was to be my home. It was my canvas waiting to be satisfied by the paints of my imagination.

I thought about it, I understood, and I was intrigued.

I sighed. I had forgotten Ethan was with me.

“Wow,” he sighed, “I can't remember the last time I'd been in a room this bland.”

“Because yours is fully decorated,” I replied, absentmindedly.

I looked up at the ceiling. It was completely white, and the ground was neatly put together by glossy hardwood flooring.

“So...what am I supposed to do now?” I asked, softly.

“Well if it isn’t obvious, Faye,” he said, rolling his eyes at me. “You dig deep inside. You pull out part of your soul and you share it openly with yourself. This is where you start listening to what you truly feel. This is where your heart takes control. This is where your emotions are free to run. This is where imagination is endless, and creativity is flawless. This is where you begin the journey of self discovery.”

“Damn, Eth, that was deep.” I said, clutching my heart and smirking.

He shook his head at me and shoved his hands into his pockets.

I stood in oblivion for a moment, near the centre of the room, looking out at the view of the cyan sky and a vague city in the distance. It wasn't the city I'd known all my life. It wasn't a place filled with ordinary people and broken roads and crippling buildings. It was a city filled with passion that spread throughout the land. It was the same city I'd seen the night before, except now, I was seeing it in more light. I stood awestruck at the sight for a moment.

“Remember when I said that maybe I knew the bullet was coming at me but I didn't quite understand that it would hit me?” I asked Ethan, still glued to my spot.

“Yea?” he replied, smiling.

“I think it hit me.”

Moments passed before I allowed myself to move a muscle, and then Ethan looked over at me and smiled.

“I'll bring your stuff up and then give you some time to get settled in on your own,” He told me, picking up his echoing footsteps and disappearing from the room.

I blinked a few times, forcing myself out of my daze. I walked out to the balcony; the doors slid open easily, and I stepped outside into the fresh air.

From up here, there was an abundance of fluctuating winds. I loved them both; the strong and the gentle. They reminded me of the balance in everything.

I looked out into the distance at the city, but it was too far away for me to see anything in details. The view over the land was breathtaking. I couldn't stop gazing around me for a second. The view from Ethan's room was beautiful, but it was nothing compared to this. His room was way down on the 10th floor, and there was so much more to be seen from this high up, albeit everything was condensed into smaller figures so as to fit more into my field of vision.

My eyes drifted to the surrounding land; the forest that separated the human city from this one, the many buildings that followed each other along the roads from this academy to the rest of the land. I realised that I hadn't found out its name.

So much had struck home in that moment and I realised just how blind I still was to this whole thing. I didn't know my own history. I didn't know anything about the city or the people or the power. I was just like any other newcomer; like any other student in the real world, only beginning school.

Part of me broke inside when I realised I would be less knowledgeable than everyone around me here, and I would be so for a little while... at least until I got the hang of things.

I hoped there would be more newcomers. I realised that if there were going to indeed be some, they would perhaps reside on this same floor. I could make some new friends.

A spark of encouragement overtook my system, I smiled.