The Lotus House

Chapter one- The Night it All Began

Meika walked around the large, 18 bedroom, 4 floor house. The small girl avoided the last red door on the second floor and hurriedly turned the next corner. She didn't know what was in there, but what she did know was that Father would surely have her head if she even took a step towards it. Her navy blue and white shirt got caught on a piece of the broken metal railing on the stairs. Sighing and pulling it off, it caused a small tear in the fabric. It was already tattered and dirty enough as it is, and there were a few patches of dark red blood splattered on the matching pair of blue jeans as well. "Meika!" Jamie, another child who lived in The House, called for her. She cringed at the sound of his voice, raspy and high pitched. Meika smoothed her shirt and fixed the light colored bow attached to her shiny, jet black hair which was long and far past her shoulders.
She hated her name. Loathed it even. She didn't have one when she was brought into The Home, so they called her Meika, which means, "the end of life". She remembered Father and Mataya were Japanese, so maybe that's why they chose a name in that language. Neither of them really took a liking to her. The other kids said they both looked at her in disgust the day they took her from the Replacement Building and brought her here, and they supposedly knew her future. So she was stuck with her name."What is it now?" She yelled as she ran down the stairs and shoved the door to his room open with remarkable force for a small girl like her. She was exactly 4'5, and didn't show signs of growing anytime soon."You're getting paler and paler by the day." He spoke to her softly as she sat down on the bed. He was 13 years of age, Meika was about a year younger. She was stolen the day she was born, so she was different from the others. "And you just keep getting more annoying." She rolled her eyes as she stood up. "Hey now, no need for the attitude." He smiled. She blushed slightly and looked away. Dimples, blue eyes, dirty blond hair, and a splash of freckles spreading from his right cheek over his nose and to his left cheek. He was a perfect boy with a broken past. She was a broken girl with a past that's unknown. "Listen, I know you're sick and all, but I'm busy too." She looked at him once again. "So what is it that you need?" She asked, trying her best to sound absolutely, positively, annoyed. It wasn't working out. She couldn't help but let a smile play on her thin, pale lips. "That's what I like to see!" He said this as loud as his voice would allow him, and started coughing up a storm that could've caused earthquakes all the way in Antarctica. "That sounds real good, Jamie," Meika said and put the back of her hand on her forehead. "I'll get you a wet cloth, I'm guessing that's what you wanted." He grinned weakly. Jamie had managed to keep his teeth sparkling and pearly white, even with his bad cold. "You know me so well." He croaked. Meika's cheeks were as bright as a flame surrounded by white snow. "Y-yeah, whatever." Her crystal eyes looked the sickly boy up and down one more time before a small snicker escaped her lips, and she turned on the heel of her bare foot and walked out of the old room. Several children suddenly dashed out from the kitchen, chasing each other as if playing tag, causing 12 year old Meika to holler at them. "Everyone is going to get in trouble if you fools break something!" There were three girls and three boys in that group. Each bedroom could only contain three girls, three boys exactly. No room could be empty. And there where eighteen bedrooms. That means fifty-four children. Meika bunked in Jamie's room, along with her other best friends, Kyle, James, Seri, and Mina. They were all best friends, actually. The tiny, easily angered, yet shy girl finished her chores of mopping, sweeping, dusting, and cooking dinner with the help of Seri and Kyle. Dinner was a disaster. Let's just say little Meika had to scrub the walls.
* * *
A few days later, Jamie had recovered from his cold, and Seri cooked up a plan to sneak out before Mataya and Father returned from their trip. "But.. We'll get in trouble!" Mina cried, causing her to get a glare thrown her way from everyone else. She looked down at her lap and shrunk away, keeping quiet. "Aw, c'mon Min! You know we love ya' to pieces," James smiled. "So get back here." He would pull her into his arms, causing her to squeal and crawl away, pushing herself into a corner. "Now you've gone and made her uncomfortable!" Meika whined, punching James in the shoulder so hard he fell over and laughed it off. They were all sitting in a circle on the wooden floor in the middle of the room. Mina had been the newest girl brought into The House. "So you're up for it, right Mina?" James smiled as he sat up and offered her his hand. She took it and he gently pulled her next to him.
Seri was already climbing out the window, pausing a moment to look back and ask, "Aren't you guys coming? Or all you all scared of walking the dark streets of Lotus this late at night?"