Kyralie
Written by: Aaralyn Griffin
Her name is Kyra. Dressed in an oddly simple black dress, she stood in front of a mansion in the middle of nowhere, debating on whether to face her future or not.
I wish I had never turned 18, she thought, and then the agency would never have had to let me go. They would still have me. I would still have them.
“Are you coming in, or not?” a male’s voice interrupted her thinking, shattering her train of thought. Looking around, she couldn’t see anyone. The last thoughts she had outside the mansion were: it must have been an intercom.
“Hello? Anyone here?” she called out into the silence surrounding the Victorian décor. Slowly she turned, getting a feel for where she would be working for the rest of her life. Kyra took in everything, from the paneling of the walls, to the mantle, and to the small porthole on the kitchen door.As she turned her body back towards what she faced when she first came in, the stairs, a figure suddenly loomed behind her. A piercing yelp escaped, unwilled from her lips. Standing right beside her was a man with startling green eyes. She hadn’t heard him approach, nor had she expected to be scared like that. Quickly looking him over, she noticed he was wearing clothes that matched the house, Victorian. Immediately she caught on that he was scrutinizing her, the same as she was him, if not more.
“Well,” he said, blowing his platinum hair off the perfect, porcelain skin of his forehead. “I am Nikolias; you may call me Sir Nik”
“Ha-ha ‘sir’? Nowhere near. I’m calling you Nikolias. I don’t respect you near enough to call you sir Nik and I don’t know you- refuse to know you to where I can call you Nik either.” His stare in response was cold, despite the sweet green color his eyes gave off.
“Very well then, miss….?”
“Kyra. My name is Kyralie Lance. If you use my last name, I will refuse to answer anything.” A flash of sorrow came to his eyes for a split second, almost too fast for her eyes to catch. But right as the single emotion came up she saw his eyes, at first impassive and cold, become a holder of a sadness she thought not possible. Although, as fast as it came, it was gone once again, the wall of steel was up once more.
“Of course it doesn’t matter… It never did, did it?” he mumbled,then catching himself, he said louder, for her to hear “Master is expecting you. Please follow me.” With that said, he started up the stairs, Kyra close at his heels.
Everywhere she went, she saw portraits of people through almost all generations. Glancing around, Kyra was looking for something that looked like it came from the last 50 years. Sadly, there was nothing of the sort around. Nikolias, noticing that she kept glancing around, spoke up and said, “This house was built very late in the 1400’s, in the 1800’s there was a fire here. I, I mean they, had to completely redecorate and rebuild the east wing.” At least he was trying to be nice she thought, and here I was mean to him. Trying to pick up the spirit, and make him feel less awkward about that Kyra responded in what she felt was a chipper, happy mood. “Really? That’s interesting. It feels as though everything has always been here, together.”
As they reached the top of the stairs Nikolias bowed.
“This is where I leave you,” he said, obviously avoiding her eyes. Looking baffled she cracked opened the only door on the landing, a big old fashioned one(like the rest of the house) and peeked in. There was no one in the room. Very delicately, she let out a sigh of relief, only too soon did it escape her lips. At that exact moment something -no- someone had touched her shoulder. Startled by what she hadn’t expected, she fell into the room. Immediately, she turned her head to shout some foul words even she didn’t know she knew, when she saw him. He was a tall, slim, but muscular man. Warm brown eyes shone behind reading glasses, his hair had an amber sheen that you only saw in beauty magazines, yet she knew, just knew, it was natural. Kyra was now silent with awe, a definitive contrast from before.
“I take it you’re speechless?” he spoke with a nice, easy smile to his lips. “I highly regret to tell you, Mr. Semper isn’t here at the moment. He is… out, for a while. You might call it business, I guess. Until he is back, I run this household. My name is Jonathan; I understand you aren’t much for nicknames, as Nik told me, so… I suppose you may call me Jonathan.” A blush grew on her cheeks unwanted, and a small laugh left his lips at the sight of the rosy color blossoming. Stammering, the way she did when she was nervous, she opened her lips to respond, when a big black burly dog came bounding in, knocking her from the sitting position she had managed to get into. A small smile came unto Jonathan’s lips, as Kyra struggled under the doggy kisses being forced on her.
“This is Rufus, our dog,” he said with a great amount of pride laced in his voice. Kyra, wanting to please him as much as possible, smiled and tried to hide her fear of the big animal on top of her.
“Well, should you like to see your room?” he asked her, with a great deal of happiness shining on his face.
“Of course I shall,” she stated with a perfect mimicry of his happiness upon her face.
“Rufus! Out. Now.” The burly dog obediently, but sadly, got up and walked out of the door he had bounded through, just a few minutes ago.
As Jonathan took her to her room, Kyra was looking around, memorizing everything along the way. Of course Jonathan being who he was- or what he was- noticed exactly what she was doing and said to her, “Don’t worry I made sure your room would be relatively easy to get to, simply follow the main staircase take the first three lefts you see, the last hall you see is part of your, shall I call it your quarters?” His voice was followed by the small chuckle that was already familiar to her, and a faint smile tugging at the corners of his lips. Honestly, Kyra thought it was getting kinda creepy. Lucky for her that was the exact moment they arrived at ‘her’ hall. Sweeping his arm widely Jonathan said, “these are your quarters.” Gasping, she tried to close her mouth, and counted the doors down the hall… seventeen doors! How could I have gotten all this, were her immediate thoughts. As Kyra turned to thank him for all this, he was gone. She turned a full circle and all she saw was a small boy down the hall playing with a yo-yo. Not even sparing a second to be curious about the child, she turned and started exploring her rooms.
The first step into one of her rooms left her breathless. What was around her wasn’t the same Victorian style as she had seen in the rest of the house, but a chic modern design. Or a pristine contemporary layout. Looking around in awe, Kyra wondered how they knew. Speaking out loud, so the words wouldn’t leave her mind, she spoke, “I’ve loved designs like this since I was old enough to sneak magazines into school!” then catching herself, she added “not that I would do that, of course, I’m a good girl.” A small laugh escaped her lips at what she had said, and she brought her attention back to the room. Walking slowly she allowed herself to take in all the sights surrounding her. Turning back towards the door to see the other rooms, there was the little boy she had seen earlier. He was eerily calm for a child.
“Hello Ms Kyra. I’m Jimmy,” he exclaimed with the whole-heartedness only the innocent can possibly have anymore. Visibly relaxing, Kyra spoke to the little boy softly saying, “Oh, did Jonathan tell you who I was? Or perhaps Nikolias?” Once more the strangely calm demeanor was back and he said slowly, “Neither. I just know things.”
Kyra stood there. She didn’t quite know what to say to Jimmy after his comment. Sure, she had met several psychics before, but never had she even imagined a young child as one. Never.
“What’s wrong Ms Kyra? Did I scare you? I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry I forgot that he told me not to talk about it.”
“No, no, sweetie. It’s okay. I’m just not used to it. Just don’t tel
l whoever it is that you told me. You’ll be fine, right?” she spoke with another forced happiness in her voice. Ugh, why do I have to keep forcing this happiness? I wish people could just not be affected by others’ emotions. Jimmy stood there as though he was listening, then, choosing his words carefully he began to speak.
“Ms Kyra, I feel I must tell you two things. The first, there is no use hiding my telling you from him. He… his… powers, they are very strong he knows so much more than I ever will. And the second thing, Ms Kyra? If we weren’t affected so much by others’, we wouldn’t be who we are right now, so please, don’t fake your emotions around me.” Someway, she didn’t know how, Jimmy’s words opened something in her. Jimmy, feeling he had just unlocked something deep within her heart, reached up, and hugged her waist (which was as high as he could reach). Sniffling, trying to hold back tears, Kyra wrapped her arms around the small boy and began to bawl. As her body collapsed, the tears were collapsing too. Down her face. When she was on floor, Jimmy stayed just hugging her, holding her the way he wished he could be held.
Once Kyra had cried