Torren's Magic Palace

Chapter One: Cocoa Deprived

Chapter One

 A sigh escaped my lips as I watched the droplets of rain splash against the outside my apartment window. I had been living alone for the first time in my life for almost four months, and now, living alone didn't seem as exciting as I had imagined it to be. Sure, the first month and a half I enjoyed it. I stayed up late. I ate nothing but things that were bad for me. I did everything that I could think of that my mother and father would never allow me to do under their roof. It was like I was a kid all over again.

But now I was already tired of being on my own. Not that I couldn't take care of myself. I have enough money to get me through about two years of rent with food and spoils included, courtesy of my Grandma Fou. I have a car,  so I never have to worry about transportation. My apartment is large-three bedrooms and two bathrooms- and that is more than enough room for me to live comfortably, especially since these are the nicest apartments in this district so the rooms are quite a bit larger than what a normal apartment's might be.

 The only thing wrong with living alone, is the loneliness. Ironic, I know, but I've never once been on my own before. All my life I was either out spending time with father, painting with mother, or staying weekends at my Grandma Fou's estate two districts over. I was actually quite against moving out at first, but Grandma Fou had convinced me that being independent of the family was a good thing, and that she would be very proud of me if I went to live on my own. And me being the people pleaser I am foolishly agreed and sent for a moving truck on my graduation day. Its like an entirely different world when you live on your own after being babied for nearly nineteen years of your life.

 I let out another sigh before getting up off of the love seat in front of the window and heading into the kitchen. Normally rain would make me drowsy, but I was restless today and couldn't sit still long enough to even consider taking a nap. I open the fridge lazily and pull out the two gallon jug of milk that is sitting in the door then pull out a small black mug from the wall cabinet beside the fridge. I carefully pour myself some milk and fumble around in my cabinet for the cocoa mix.

 "You've got to be kidding me..." I groan to myself. I must have used the last pack sometime last week. It may be the beginning of spring now, but damnit it was still cold so I wanted my hot cocoa. I glanced back and forth between the window and my ever pitiful mug of milk that was just begging to be warmed up and mixed with the rich chocolate.

 "Dangit!" I yelled before pulling my navy blue coat on over my kitten pajamas, grabbing my car keys from the counter, and dashing out of the apartment. I want my hot cocoa, and when I want my hot cocoa, nothing will stop me from having my hot cocoa, I thought to myself determindly.

 I ran out to my small silver sedan at full speed, not wanting to get soaked. I figure I can just stop by the general store on the corner nearby my place considering its close and open late. I haven't been in there before, but hey what better reason could there be than to get hot cocoa? Come to think of I hadn't been much of any where since I had moved to this district. My family's idea of being of independent was living far enough to not be able to fall on them if something bad happens, just to 'make sure that I try my best,' as they put it. So I ended up living four districts away from them, and two away from my grandmother. In other words, my closest relative lives over two hours away. I'm not all that comfortable with unfamiliar places, so I normally just end up driving to my grandmother's district once a month and stock up on whatever I need to keep me breathing. Unkownst to her of course. She would be disappointed in me if she saw how timid I was being after all the years of trying to pound fear and shyness out of my emotion spectrum.

 You see, my family was well known to be very outgoing and successful in business, so they of course had their reputation and image to uphold in their districts. To anyone not in their class, they appeared to be power hungry and cash starved, even though they were far more than a bit well off when it came to money matters. Actually, they were exactly that. My father was constantly working in his younger years and trying desperately to climb to the top of his business, and when he did, he tried desperately to take over other businesses. My mother took a different route by working for social status not power in business. Before she settled down and married my father, she would run from man to man, each one with more power than the last. If anything, I think they fell in love with each other's greed first, and didn't actually see each other as anything other than a money ticket until after their marriage and my birth.