Silent - A Batman Story

Chapter 5

   After unpacking her things, Luda decided to explore the manor. It was an unwise idea, not knowing the layout of the place, yet it seemed like one of the only ways to allow her to actually do something other than sit around and do nothing but wallow in self pity.  Of course, the long and winding hall's confused her, seemingly allowing her to go round and round in circles.

    In all honesty, Luda disliked the place. It was dark and cold and felt nothing like what she had been told a home was. She was only there because Bruce Wayne had decided to adopt another poor little orphan for the press, not because he actually cared. After all, if he actually cared, he would have met her when she turned up, not at dinner later that evening. From what Luda has heard, he already had adopted two son's, Dick Grayson and Jason Todd, a boy he had taken in a few month's prior, both of which had clearly not taken his last name despite the fact he was legally their father. If that didn't tell Luda much about Bruce, then what would. 

     Luda continued to walk through the long, barren halls of the manor, unsure of what she was actually looking for. Until she saw it. A small hatch in the ceiling, the attic. As a child, she would always go up into the crawlspace above the apartments, just to look around, and especially if her parents were working when she was younger.  This however, would be far more difficult than getting into the crawlspace in her old small apartment. The hatch was at least 8 feet off the ground, and she had no idea where she would find a ladder to reach it. So, she'd have to improvise. 

      Her next few hours were spent trying to find anything that could help her climb up to the hatch. Her suitcases where dragged along the hall and stacked on top of each other. Then, she found a set of drawers in a room just off the side of the hall and stacked her suitcases on top of the drawers. Climbing on top, she attempted to reach the hatch. She just about reached. Pulling down the hatch, a ladder slid onto the floor, almost knocking Luda off of the suitcases. 

        She smiled, jumping off the suitcases and drawers. Leaving them in the hall, she climbed up the ladder and into the attic.

         The attic was like every stereotypical old house attic that Luda had ever read about. It was dark and dusty, yet somehow, it was comfortable. She felt around for a light switch and flicked it on, lighting the crowded attic. Boxes were stacked on top of each other in mountain and there was dust almost on every surface, but it was the closest to home she had been in a while. 

        Cleaning the place out was no easy task by any means, involving moving a bunch of boxes and sweeping up any dust in the small area of the attic she had cleared for herself. It was a lovely little area, far more cosy than the cavernous room she was given.

        After cleaning up the space, she decided a break was needed. After climbing down the ladder and pushing the ladder back into the attic, she pulled the cases back off of the drawers and began pushing it back to the room she found them in. It made a scraping against the floor that she didn't quite notice when she first pushed it into the hall. It also felt so much heavier than when she had pulled it out, like how cleaning up feels way longer than it takes to make a mess.  

      It took a while, but eventually, Luda got the drawers back in the room. It took a lot of effort to get it back, so she rested a while before getting back to her bags.

    However, when she got back, there was a man standing next to her bags. He was around looked around 14 and had black hair. He was tall and, for his age, rather muscular. He just seemed to be confused as to why there was suitcases in the hall and began looking around for whoever the suitcases belonged to.  

      Luda, despite being slightly nervous to meet this man, walked out of the room and towards her bags.

       "Oh, Alfred said we'd have someone joining us here, but I didn't think you'd be here so soon."

       "I was just exploring, I didn't know I was blocking the halls. I'm sorry, I was just about to take my things back to my room." 

        "No, it's fine, let me help you with your things. I'm Dick by the way, Dick Grayson."

       "I'm Lyudmila Milov, but everyone just calls me Luda." 

       "Well, it's nice to meet you, welcome to the manor. I'll take one bad and you take the other, yeah?"

       Luda smiled, nodding before picking up one of the cases while Dick picked up the other. 

      "So, why did you bring your cases over here, isn't your room just down the hall from Jason's?" 

       "I saw the attic hatch and I wanted to take a look." Luda said quietly, looking at the floor as she continued to walk alongside Dick.

        He laughed. "Yeah, I get that. I don't think I've been up there since I was 13, and I don't think Jason's even been up there. It's pretty cool up there."

         "Yeah, I guess, I'll probably look around again. I didn't get to look around much." 

        "Wait so you climbed up on your suitcases to get into attic?"

         "My suitcases and a set of drawers."

         Dick laughed.  "You do know there's a pull down stick in the cupboard down the hall, right?"

         Luda's face flushed red, embarrassed that she hadn't thought to look in any cupboard or even outside of the room.

        "Don't worry about it Luda, everyone does dumb stuff from time to time. One time Jason was so tired when he woke up, he forgot to get a bowl to pour his milk and spilt it all over the counter. Let me tell you, it was one thing to go downstairs to see him frantically cleaning up milk, but finding out that he put milk in before cereal, absolutely heart-breaking."

    The two laughed just as they reached Luda's door. "Well, I'm going to leave you here. I've got studying to do." Dick said smiling as he put down the case. "Oh, and Alfred told me that we have to be downstairs for dinner at 6, so I'll see you there." 

      "Yeah, see you there." Luda waved, going back into her room, dragging her two cases back into the room. She took a look at the clock on the nightstand. It had only just turned 4 o'clock. What was she going to do with two hours? 

      She flopped onto the comically large bed with a groan. She already missed Gotham. The streets may have been crime riddled and dirty, but to her they were home. The manor seemed too clean and she felt that Jason and Dick were probably coddled rich boys and their only complaint in life was that their rich CEO father didn't spend enough time with them.   

      Luda sighed, turning over to lay on her back. This was going to be the worst time of her life.

Hi Guys!

Sorry I haven't posted any chapters recently, I've been stuck in a rut of sorts but now I'm back and better than ever. I'm going to try to upload at least one chapter a week for this book, but, as usual, I can't promise anything, especially now with college and work. 

Thank you so much for your support!

CJ