Nothing

The haunted mansion –I meant mansion. Just regular mansion. Despite the fact that vines covered ninety percent of the walls, the bricks were undone in some parts, and the wooden patio gave eerie creaking sounds. Definitely, just a regular mansion.

However, the inside of it left me almost breaking my jaw from opening it too much. It was unexpectedly majestic. I half expected the inside to be broken like how it was seen from the outside. But I was wrong.

The ceramic floor glistened, the chandeliers that hung on the ceiling sparkled, the wood furniture was perfectly polished and they too shone. There was a lot of gold and cream color. With red velvet as the window curtains and the carpet that I was walking on.

It was… I don’t know how to describe it. Posh? Elegant? Very rich? Just imagine the richest house you have ever been in. Now imagine that ten times richer.

I felt like Alice in Wonderland who got sucked into a rabbit hole but discovered a whole new magical world instead. In my case, that would actually… be true. I had discovered a whole new paranormal world.

Renald guided me to sit on a sofa in the huge room directly from the door. It was the living room. I kid you not, the sofa was so soft. My butt fitted right in.

Michael just came back from what I assumed to be the kitchen, carrying a mug that was steaming. He put the mug carefully on the low table in front of me. Then he sat on the sofa across me. Renald sat beside him.

They looked just like regular normal people.

Michael’s skin tone was several shades darker than Renald’s but Michael’s eyes were the brightest blue I had ever seen in my life. While Renald exuded that boyish look, Michael had this unapproachable aura of a man.

“So, let’s talk about the rules of staying in this house," Michael said with a casual tone.

I had to blink a couple of times before the words registered in my mind.

"Stay?" I looked at him incredulously. "What?"

"Yeah, stay," he replied still with a casual tone. At this point, I was beginning to feel irritated by that tone of his. "You think you can live by yourself on your own with lots of people going after you?"

I could only blink.

"Even if Father takes care of them today does not mean they would not try to come back later on."

"Father?"

"Yep. Our Father is the most powerful supernatural creature to ever walk on Earth," Renald chimed in. As if that would help me feel better. Which obviously, had not.

"Y– you both have the same father?" I pointed my finger to both of them one by one. They looked totally different in everything. Not just looks but also personality-wise. It was just... absurd to think that they had come from the same womb.

"Yep!" Renald answered gleefully. The superstar boy seemed to look up to this father of his.

"Not our birth father," Michael argued, "Just someone that we call as Father."

"Ah, you are both... adopted?" I just had to ask. "Are you both like supernatural creatures that for some crazy reasons –which I don’t exactly care, are being raised by human parents?"

"Miss, I just told you that our Father is the most powerful being on Earth! He is not human," Renald said.

"Oh, right... And your 'Mother'?" I used two of my fingers to mimic the quotation mark as to emphasize the word Mother.

"We don't have one," Renald answered. "No one wanted us. Until he picked us up."

One. That was sad. And I felt for every child who was neglected by their birth parents.

But two. They are supernatural creatures. I did not know if they would feel as humans would and even so, I did not know what to respond to them. And should I have cared? Probably. But I did not.

So, I just stayed quiet and shut my mouth.

"Enough," Michael said in a cold tone. His voice was like a knife cutting ice. I could hear the chopping sound loud and clear in my mind. It was a weird feeling. I could tell then that Michael must have experienced being a boss. From his way of crossing his legs and putting his hands on his knee, I could tell he was used to being in an office. He was a big boss then… maybe a CEO –that assumption just popped out of my mind. It was just that he had a huge commanding aura. As if he knew everyone would pay attention to him… and that everyone shall.

“You don’t need to know our background story,” he said, “You just need to stay quiet and stay still in this house.”

“Excuse me?”

I, as an individual, hated it when someone told me to just not do anything. My doctor told me there was nothing I could have done when my mother was dying. He then told me I should just plan a good happy life for my remaining time because there was nothing else to be done about my own illness.

Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.

I despised the word.

Even Alexander never told me to stay still. He always let me do anything I wanted. So, the word ‘Nothing’ could just go to hell.

I was not born to just be a decoration on this Earth. I had two working arms and legs, also a sassy mouth and a sexy brain. Arianna Adler was never born to do ‘Nothing’.

“You talk as if I already decided to stay here.”

Michael cocked one of his eyebrows up.

“You have to,” he said coldly. His demanding aura got thicker. It filled the room with so much pressure. “Lest you want to be torn to shreds by those werewolves and vampires. Or other supernatural creatures.”

My eyes widened at those words.

“There are… others?”

“Well, Michael is an angel so there are angels,” Renald was the one answering me, “Tony is a demon so there are demons too. Then there are lycans, shapeshifters, warlocks, druids, and then there’s Father.”

When things got jumbled, I like to count. So, one, *All this time there are other creatures roaming the earth?* Two, *Do the government knows this?*

Three, *Is area 51 real then?*

Four, *If magic is real, then what of science?* I had spent a lot of hours studying science. I loved the knowledge and facts. It made me see the world in a realistic and orderly way. But right then, I had to accept that nothing is ever truly logical. Everything is an abstract concept.

*And that life always gives you surprises.*

“W– what about ‘The Lady’? I heard a she-vampire and a werewolf called me such. Is that a code or something?”

Renald and Michael looked at each other. Renald was about to answer me but Michael cut him off. “We will only tell you if you decide to stay here.”

“What?”

“I said, you will only get your answers if you decide to stay here.”

*Jerk.*

I gritted my teeth.

“You mean, I should give my consent to be your prisoner in this mansion?” Remembering how I had to give my consent to step into the gate and the mansion door, I realized that I had some sort of authority. They could not take me by force. They needed me to want to stay in the mansion.

What I wanted to know was why. But they would not tell me unless I gave my consent to –and I quote –‘stay still’ in the mansion.

“At least you will be safe,” Michael argued. “No one and nothing can touch you in this mansion.”

“What about my life?”

“What life?” Michael scoffed like it was the silliest thing ever. “You have no family left. You are not that good at making friends. Though you might have decent grades, you don’t necessarily have to go to school for that. Our library is the most resourceful bank of knowledge you can ever find in this world. You will have the privilege to go where no man has ever stepped foot. All you have to do is just stay here and have a lazy life. You can have a life like those rich wives.”

*Double jerk.*

Before I knew it, I had been standing up. I was staring down at Michael. My anger was rising fast.

“Alone as I may be, my life is comfortable. And I don’t need your ‘bank of knowledge’. In fact, I don’t need to know about this supernatural world anymore!”

My feet had walked itself to the door when I said, “I will not stay in this mansion. And I don’t want your protection.”

“We will not protect you if you go out of the premise. You can be dead the next time, Arianna,” Michael warned her.

“I don’t want a rich and lazy life!” My voice was loud but broken. “I just want a simple normal life where I can work as normal people do. And certainly, I will not be chained down to this mansion. My life is mine alone. I shall be free.”

The men stopped their track. Renald, especially, was in awe of my words.

“I will not stay. And if you don’t want to give me explanations. Then I don’t need to know this supernatural bullshit.”

I saw Michael’s eyes darkened. “Don’t be stupid, Arianna.”

“Tch.” I scoffed hard. “What do you care anyway?”

Michael looked taken aback by my words. But by then, I already turned my back and stormed out of the door. I had reached the gate when I looked back for the first time. Both Renald and Michael were not following me.

The street seemed to have been empty too. No more werewolves growling or vampires hissing at me.

Was it stupidity?

Probably.

Was sacrificing my safety for the life that I have chosen worth it?

That remained to be seen.

I took a deep breath and finally stepped into the street to find my way home.