“Good morning,” Becky said quietly from the door, looking in atthe men clothed in varying shades of black. She had just musteredup the courage to come downstairs, lured by the delicious aroma offreshly brewed coffee, something that had been severely lackingduring her stay at the dorm, when she’d overheard them talking. Infact, she couldn’t have avoided it since Crispin’s melodious voicecarried through the house like that of an opera singer.
Her first planhad been to turn around and go back upstairs, but what would be thepoint in that? To pretend she hadn’t heard him would be a fruitlessendeavour. She may as well face the music.
“Well done, Crisp,” Dorian said sarcastically.
“Always the charmer, Crispin,” Kell muttered, leaning forwardon the table, digging his hands through his hair in an effort tokeep from strangling his insensitive housemate.
“Good morning, indeed,” Crispin said, ignoring the grumblingsfrom around the table, turning his attention instead, to the verycause of his early morning rant.
He couldn’thelp but flinch at the very sight of her. Granted, she did appearless-than-worthy of so much strife and upheaval, being so slightand puny in stature.
Look at her, standing there in her pink pyjamas.How dare she appear so… so vulnerable? That mousyshoulder length hair all tousled about. Eyes downturned, looking assad as ever, lips all aquiver.
“Ready for your trial, little dormouse?” he hissed, snappingout of his unsettling thoughts.
“Trial?” Becky repeated, taken aback by the hostility in hisvoice.
“Come on, give the girl a break,” Dorian said, looking quiteembarrassed. “At least, let her wake up properly before you attackher.”
“I’ll give her a break, all right,” Crisping spat. “Across myknee, I will!”
“That’s enough!” Kell shouted, shooting straight up from hischair. His abrupt reaction caused everyone to flinch, especiallyBecky who had to force herself from bolting from the room. She didnot manage, though, to stop an involuntary whimper from escapingher throat.
“Shit,” he said with a frown, looking from her flustered faceto his housemates. “Are you happy now, Crispin?”
“Don’t look at me. You’re the one who lost it!” Crispin saidindignantly.
“Aw, come here, love,” Kell said, going to her side. “Let’s getyou some coffee.”
Becky couldonly nod. After all, it was why she had come downstairs in thefirst place. She stood by as Kell reached into a cupboard and tookout a mug, filling it to the brim with the heavenly scented brew.It had been so long since she’d had a good cup of coffee. The stuffback at the dorm couldn’t really be considered real coffee byanyone’s standards.
“There’s cream and sugar on the table.” He encouraged her tosit in the chair nearest his.
“I’ll get her some toast,” Dorian offered, needing to provethat he had nothing against her.
“Oh, here we go…” grumbled Crispin.
“Becky… my name is Becky,” she said with a tentative smile.“Thanks, that would be nice.”
“Of course, it is, Becky,” Dorian said with a playfulwink.
“It’s raining awfully heavy,” she said absently, looking outthrough the window which faced the backyard.
“Let’s just hope you have an umbrella in that suitcase ofyours,” Crispin said, pretending to read the newspaper.
“Quit being such a total dick,” Dorian scoffed, placing twoslices of toast in front of Becky.
What had shedone, she wondered, as she buttered her toast and took a bite. Whatcould she have possibly done to upset Crispin so? Strangely,though, it didn’t bother her as much as it should. Any attention,even his ill-tempered kind was a welcome change from none at all.Sad really, no wonder there were so many cases of people with lowself-esteem being suckered into joining cults and gangs.
“All I want is to rent the spare room,” she said after taking asoothing sip of coffee.
“All you want?” Crispin mocked, snapping his newspaper in half.“What about what I want? Which is you, gone from here! Doesn’t that count foranything?”
“I…” Becky gasped at a loss for words.
“Right then,” Kell said, squaring his shoulders, sitting backin his chair. “Since we’re getting nowhere here, why don’t we goahead and vote on the matter?”
“Vote?” she repeated warily.
“Sounds like a plan,” Dorian agreed, pushing away from thetable.
“Fine… let’s,” Crispin said, getting up and stalking into theliving room.
Taking pity onthe poor confused girl, Kell dropped a hand over hers. “Finish yourtoast first.”
“I couldn’t possibly now,” she said with a nervousfrown.
The Trial
“Now then,shall we begin?” Kell said with a resolute sigh, taking a seat onthe couch between his housemates, facing a very nervous Becky.
“What’s this all about?” she asked, sinking back into theoversized armchair.
The threepensive Goths sat staring at her with very different expressions ontheir handsome, gaunt faces. Expressions ranging from that of pity,guilt, and undeniable disdain. The latter belonging to Crispin, ofcourse.
“It’s nothing really,” Dorian said, shuffling uncomfortably inhis corner of the couch. “Think of it as an interview ofsorts.”
“An interview,” she repeated. Well, that didn’t sound sounreasonable
“It’s a trial, Becky, on whether you’ll be allowed to move inhere,” Kell explained softly.
“Yes, and it must come down to a unanimous vote,” Crispin pipedin, crossing his arms defiantly. “You see, you’ve lost the battlealready. Since I’ll never agree to let you stay. So you may as wellpack up and leave.”
Just as he’dvoiced his opinion, a loud crack of thunder literally shook theentire house. Relentless rain drops pelted the windows, and if thatweren’t bad enough the lights flickered threateningly.
“Oh, my…” she gasped, cowering further into the chair. “Okay,how do we start?”
Kell clearedhis throat and sat forward in his seat, resting his elbows on hisknees, lacing his fingers together. “Why don’t we start by havingyou tell us a little about yourself?”
With anindifferent shrug from Crispin and an encouraging smile fromDorian, Becky began. “Well, okay… my name is Rebecca Sparks, butyou may call me Becky. I’m a first year Fine Arts student at theUniversity of Kingston. I’m new to this town, and I don’t reallyknow my way around yet. I haven’t made any friends other thanKelley.” She paused, losing her nerve, realizing how utterlypathetic she must sound. “I don’t know what else
