THE CRYSTAL HOUSE

¶Ground floor¶

Eryk

The rooms were underground.

Eryk was among the first housemates to notice it. While the others ventured to the kitchen and garden areas to figure out the facilities they would enjoy for some days at least, he went in search of the rooms. He noticed that the room they made the introductions in had a large open floor partitioned into sections by walls which looked detachable, they divided the lounge area from the dining and kitchen area. He bent down and absently rubbed his ankle, he desperately needed to rest and take his medications. The strain he exerted on his legs before the house opened had caused a swelling to form on the ankle of his right leg.

Eryk walked out of the room and paused; to his left was the narrow hallway they walked through and from what he saw there was no extra door there, to the right of him was a wall standing about five feet away from him. A dead end. Where were the rooms? He looked back into the room, the only other door inside led to a garden area, obviously made to make them feel like they had an option to go outdoors. He turned back, positively sure that the hallway consisted of only detachable green walls on either side and a figurine.

Eryk advanced into the hallway, and felt around the figurine for anything. A knob, a switch, maybe a handle that opened a door but there was nothing. The bronze sculpture stared at him until he turned away, the bear's eyes made him uneasy like he was being watched. He walked back to the wall on the right, now sure that that wall held secrets about where he would sleep for the next few nights. Eryk flipped another switch on, and watched as the bulb above where he stood flickered to life slowly growing in intensity till the luminescent white light reached across the hallway.

He looked at the wall and groaned. Sitting a little below his eye level, a brass lever handle jutted out about one inch from the wall. It was perfectly placed for anyone who needed to find it, provided the light was turned on. Eryk moved the lever handle to the opposite side and watched as the wall opened up to reveal a set of stairs leading down.

"Well, this is different." He muttered, pushing down a strong urge to call the others in the lounge. Somehow, he felt everyone had to find the stairs on their own. Eryk felt hesitant to go in with no sort of protection; placing his trust in the organizers challenged him even in their territory, but seeing no choice, he went down. The stairs went straight at first, then started winding down into the opposite direction towards the hallway upstairs. Despite being underground, light flooded the stairs from a high window, the stair railings made from crystals sparkled, and the steps were covered with a rug spreading through to the end of the wide steps. Eryk continued to go down, feeling more confident when he heard familiar voices.

He reached the end of the stairs which stopped at a bigger hallway with five doors, two on each side each opened to reveal beds and one closed door straight ahead. The doors were arranged in a U-shape, leaving a wide space at the centre where two housemates, a guy and a girl stood talking. Eryk ignored them, walked towards the first room on the right and collapsed on one of the beds. He needed to rest, he thought as his eyelids fluttered shut.

Priya

The wolf-whistler discovered the rooms first, he claimed it was easy for him to spot since his uncle had a lot of them in his offices and he was eager to share his discovery with Priya.

"We should be roommates." He whispered as he led the way down, carrying her box with him. She nodded absently, more fascinated by the sight of an underground sleeping area than with a guy who obviously wanted to get under her gown. Priya completely shut him out when he started talking about how his room was larger than the whole top floor, which only confirmed that he didn't need the money. She looked around, gears wheeling in her head. The staircase had its own mini room, with an arched window at the very top. Was it the same window she had fancied when she stood outside the house? Priya glanced back at the guy beside her, she saw his mouth was still moving and she looked away. Why did he come here? For adventure? To get girls? Certainly not to get money, he had plenty of that. He rattled on till they got to the last stair, and Priya looked around widely for a chance to escape him.