Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2006 01:59:13 +0800
From: YoDawgs Bl.net <yodawgs.blnet@gmail.com>
Subject: The Search For Conscience 2

A chrome of red on his retinas awoke him from his peaceful slumber. The
room was dark, except for a thin slit of light coming through a thick oak
door, which just happened to fall upon his eyes. He roused himself and
rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Normally, he would have brushed his teeth
and freshened up before facing the world, but he didn't even have a clue of
what time it was anyway. He decided to take a good look around the room as
his pupils slowly dilated to adapt to the gloomy setting. As the world
gradually became clear to him, he became aware of a glass chandelier
dangling a few metres above his head, glistening a little due to the
reflection of light. He marveled at its architecture; each individual
crystal had been cut precisely to form a diamond shape with the letter "D"
engraved in the middle. He raised his head and surveyed the area. It never
occurred to him at first sight, that this room was absolutely humongous in
size.

Across the room, an oak mantelpiece squatted on the wall. There were many
photographs and trinkets on it, and the ghost of a fire occasionally
sparked. Cody decided to move closer for a better look. As he was about to
raise himself from the couch, he suddenly found out that a large, furry
object was lying on top of him, breathing slowly. Instinct told him to yelp
and spring away from the crouch "matrix" style, but he stayed the fear and
looked carefully at the object. A few seconds' scrutiny told him that it
was a dog, perhaps a German Shepherd, by its large frame and cocked up
ears. The room was far too dark to distinguish any colors, so Cody took in
the impression in a shade of gray. This explained why, despite the bitter
London coldness and dressed in the orthodox British School uniform, he was
not shivering, nor in any need of heating at all. His tie was beginning to
bother him, so he loosened it and unbuttoned his top collar. He very gently
slid his legs out from under the massive canine and made his way across the
room to the mantelpiece.

The carpet was smooth and warm against his feet. He looked at the first
photograph. It showed Sean and his parents dressed in very light clothing
indeed; John was wearing a white singlet and shorts, Regina was dressed in
a skimpy bikini, and Merk was clad only in knee length shorts, which were
navy blue and black. John appeared to be tousling Sean's hair, whereas
Regina was lovingly squeezing Sean's russet freckled shoulders and neck.
All of them looked very happy, except for a girl in the background, wearing
a swimsuit. She had Regina's handsome, big eyes, and John's prominent,
well-shaped nose. She was so pretty it was like seeing an angel with a
frown. Cody observed the almost spiteful grimace of irritation as she tried
to look good on camera, but inside, he knew she wasn't really enjoying
herself. The rest of the photo depicted a long beach, surrounded by tall
hotels and palm trees. Cody concluded that the location would most probably
be Miami, Florida, USA.

He couldn't go through the rest of the photographs. This image reminded him
all too well of the happy and joyful life he had experienced with his
parents, not too long ago. The same feeling of self-pity and grief returned
in an iron grip to the heart. If only there was some way to turn back time;
to stop them from leaving the house to their doom, if only, if only...

He would not yet again go through the weights, which eventually led to the
demise of his parents. Too painful to bear. Tears welled up in his eyes,
and he sank to his knees in front of the mantelpiece, gazing at the last
dying embers in the fire. He remembered the last words his parents had said
to him "We'll probably be gone for a couple of hours, stay safe and take
care of yourself. Sorry you can't come along; we needed someone to watch
over the house. Bye, trooper. Love you!"

The door slowly opened with a prolonged creak, engulfing the room in yellow
light. The silhouette of a man appeared, with a halo around him. Cody's
eyes began to water in the light, and he shut them, both to blink away the
tears and pain. The dog awoke with a yelp, scampered toward the man, and
began hugging one of the man's legs.

"Stay, boy, stay. Do you know, you do get a little irritating sometimes,
for such a big dog" The man shunted the dog away and strode across the
carpeted floor in Cody's direction. Consumed by his grief, Cody failed to
notice the approach of the man, and was duly surprised when the man gently
patted him on his hunched blazer-covered back, and lifted him to his feet.

"It's time for dinner, Cody. Come on, aren't you hungry? Follow me to the
dining room" In one smooth movement, the man turned and walked out the way
he came. Cody followed, contemplating his decision to eat. Before he could
come to a reason because of this decision, he had entered the yellow-lit
dining room. He slipped a little in his socks, on the marble floor and
managed to grab the doorframe to refrain from what would have been quite an
embarrassing fall to the floor. He looked up. In front of him, the entire
family excluding the girl in the photo was uniformly sat around the table,
surrounding a scrumptious feast, to Cody's eyes. He made his way quickly to
the table, and took a seat between Regina and Sean, who leant over and
flicked a layer a dust from Cody's blazer. He noticed that Regina, as
graceful as ever, had changed into something more comfortable; a sort of
silk evening gown, to be precise, but Sean dressed pretty much the way he
was, with the exception of an untucked shirt, and a missing tie. It was
now, that Cody noticed Sean's features. The dim light in the car, along
with the darkness in the room before had retarded him from acquiring an
imprint of Sean's features.

Short brown hair, apparently spiked up by gel, rested on Sean's head. His
scalp was barely visible through the thick shade of brown. Sean's eyes,
surprisingly, were bright green in colour, and had a faint trace of brown
in them. He had Regina's nicely angled nose, and had no trace of society's
pollution (Earrings and the like). All in all, he was a combination of two
ethnic groups; blonde and brunette, and looked pretty damn good. Across the
table, the man winked at him with a wide grin. "Hey, we've met before. You
don't need me to repeat my name again, right? I see you've already been
acquainted with my wife and son. Our daughter Sophie is college at the
moment, we won't be hearing from her much". At this, a faint trace of
sadness crossed his eyes, but he continued. "This is our first day
together. I heard of what happened to your parents and I would like to
offer the condolences that I never gave yesterday. I am so sorry that you
have lost your parents, and I know that we will never be the exact same
thing, but we will try to do our best. I can't see why all the other
families threw you out, but I assure you that this will never happen as
long as we are still a family. I hope you will finally find what you are
looking for in life, being with us, and I know that you won't hurt Sean in
any way. Please enjoy dinner, and later, we'll discuss about our future
plans." John flashed a quick grin at Regina, and looked around the table.

"Well, what're you all waiting for? Dig in!!" And so they did. Dinner was
excellent; ravioli with cheese, meat loaf, potato and leek soup, and a
whole load of other combinations which filled Cody's stomach to the very
brim. He noticed the elegant setting of the dining room, from the heavy red
curtains to the mahogany table which held the food. He pondered about what
was in store for him after dinner. He looked to his left at Regina, who was
picking at her food graciously, and looked at his right, where Sean was
shoveling food non-stop into his mouth, and chewing with his mouth closed,
fortunately. Across the table, John thoughtfully pondered each mouthful
before swallowing it, totally savouring the taste.  This family might just
be what he needed.