Eden-South by Janelle Stalder

Elisa was laughing, which made the situation
seem less serious.
    “You should see your face,” she exclaimed,
laughing. He couldn’t help but laugh back, wiping the spot on his
cheek where the man had kissed him.
    “Let’s go,” she said, continuing on. They
finally approached a tall, square building. It was plain-looking,
made of grey stone, with numerous windows around it. “This is the
dormitory,” she said as they stopped in front of it. “Everyone who
isn’t married, and who serves in the army, lives here. A room has
been prepared for you.” She greeted the two men at the door, each
of whom gave Aiden a very disconcerting look. He could feel the
colour literally draining from his face. “Don’t let them bother
you,” she said over her shoulder. “They probably just think I’m
bringing you home from the festival, and they’re imagining what my
father might think. Ignore it.” Her reassurance only made him feel
worse. Clearly, a girl that looked like her would not come home
with a guy like him. He could only but imagine how many guys she
had after her with a face like that.
    After climbing four flights of stairs, they
walked down a long hallway, stopping in front of a closed door.
    “This is your room,” she said, motioning to
the door. “I’m right here,” she said, pointing to the door on the
other side of the hall. “If you need anything, don’t hesitate to
ask.” He was surprised at how friendly she had turned out to be.
His initial impression of her had been completely off.
    “Thank you for all your help so far,” he
said, smiling. Another door opened then, with three blonde girls
who all looked the same, and a fourth one with flaming red hair,
piling out into the hall. They were all laughing about something
when they crashed into them.
    “Goodnight,” they were saying over their
shoulder. Aiden watched them leave, and then turned to look back at
the opened door to see two boys standing there. They weren’t much
older than him, but they were much bigger and stronger-looking. Great, he thought sadly. This is who I have to train
with. His depression began to sneak back in again.
    “Well, well, Elisa, who do we have here?”
one was saying, walking closer to them. He wore only pants, his
muscular chest bare for the world to see. He had shoulder-length
hair, which was clearly messy from the company that had just left.
The other boy was also naked from the waist up. He was much darker
than the first boy, his skin tanned by the sun, and his hair a
darker shade.
    “Go to bed,” Elisa replied, trying to ignore
him. Aiden felt a pang of hope, when he noticed the clear distaste
she had for the guy. He could guess that he was popular with the
ladies, but obviously not with this one.
    “Aren’t you going to introduce us?” he
continued, not taking the hint.
    “You can meet tomorrow, when you’re sober,”
she spat back. “Just go to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she
continued, turning back to Aiden. He nodded his head and quickly
walked into the room, locking the door behind him. What had he
gotten himself into? His nerves began to increase as he realized
how real, and how difficult this was going to be. It was just like
high school, but quite possibly worse!
    The room they had given him was pretty
small, with only a tiny bed in the middle of one wall, and a small
night table beside it. A dresser sat on the other wall, and a tiny
carpet covered the wooden floors at the foot of the bed. It was
nothing special, but it would definitely do. He was exhausted, so
any surface where he could rest was welcome.
    Walking over to the window on the far wall,
he looked out at the city that didn’t seem to want to sleep.
Everything was so different there. Looking up at the sky, he saw
the two moons there, and was still amazed at how big they were
here, and how odd it was that there were two. It truly was a
different world. Climbing into bed, he closed his eyes and tried
his best not to worry over what