Roses for Rachel

Chapter 2

I could still hear the crowd cheering, some even continuing to call out my number, as I was dragged away roughly. We walked a little ways before I was hit with a gust of warmer air and the gravel beneath my feet turned into something smooth and even. I jumped a little when I heard the door close behind me, but we kept moving forward and I could hear the sniffles of other girls near me. We stopped and I could hear a dinging coming from in front of me before a whooshing sound and then I was being pushed forward again a couple of steps and then stopped and another whooshing sound.  

As soon as the sound stopped, it felt like the ground was moving beneath me. I recognized the sensation as being on an elevator. I was always terrified of them as a child, so my momma would let me use an escalator or just take stairs. Even now the thought of being on one made my skin crawl. After a couple of minutes though, I begin to wonder if it is an elevator at all. If it was it must be the tallest building in the entire universe because it had been moving for what felt like forever now. The elevator started to ding and slow down and I realized we weren't going up at all, but down.

The sound of the doors opening again broke the tense silence and a man cleared his throat. "We're home, girls." He said happily.

"Where are we?" I asked nervously, my voice wavering slightly. "What's going on?"

I heard a small gasp to my left. "Rachel?" I heard Greer's familiar voice.

"Oh my god, Greer? Are you ok?" I tried to pull toward the direction of her voice, but whoever was behind me pulled me the opposite direction.

"Rachel!" She screamed and I heard her feet kicking against the ground. "What's happening?"

"I don't know, Greer." I shouted back as I was continuously shoved away.

Big hands landed on my shoulder, directing me for another minute while before we got onto another elevator. I groaned quietly at the thought. At least Drighten didn't have elevators. I almost wanted to laugh despite everything else when I realized that I was actually missing Drighten right now.

This elevator ride was much shorter, and it actually went up what felt like at least one floor. When the doors opened I was led a little more gently around a few turns before we stopped and I heard a key in a lock, and then a door open. The man behind me gently pushed my back so that I'd step inside and I heard the door click shut behind me ominously. My hands shook as the man undid the restraints on my hands.

"Are you ready for a new life?" He asked and I felt a hand on the top of my head. "I'm going to pull the bag off now." He informed me and I felt the bag lift off of my face and the light hit my eyes, but I kept them squeezed shut. I was terrified to open my eyes and find myself in some kind of cage or creepy chambers. I imagined bugs crawling around me and an evil master of some sort waiting for me. "Open your eyes, Rachel." The man demanded and I popped them open on reflex from hearing my name come out of a stranger's mouth.

Once they were open though, I didn't even dare to blink. It was...beautiful. There were no words in my vocabulary to describe the specter in front of me.

The ceilings were high and painted a glittering gold, with a huge chandelier that looks like it's made out of billions of diamonds hanging from the center. The walls were all draped with dark pink silk that cascaded down from the ceiling. Beneath my feet was plush tan carpeting, and underneath the large four-poster bed to the left of the room was a large dark pink rug that matched the walls. I turned to the right and saw a large gold vanity with a pink bench perched in front of it, and all sorts of brushes and pretty little things displayed across the top. In the back of the room there were three long empty racks, and a door that was opened and seems to go into a washroom.