On Porcelain - Part 2

(This is the second entry to “On Porcelain” the first can be found not far down the screen)

The Landlord was kind enough to come to the residence and show me the place around in person. I was desperate for a place to stay, considering the other many students coming in this intake. Before I actually saw the house, I’ve already made up my mind to take up the residence. Hey, beggars can’t be choosers.

But speaking of choice, I must’ve had better ones when it comes to selecting a new home in a new environment, but because of my inherent laziness I really couldn’t be bothered –a decision I regretted I made in my death “bed”.

I completely forgot to ask the landlord, who were the two other people living in the house. I took it for granted they were female but the morning I moved in, my two housemates were out I did not see them until late evening when I was in my room. I heard the knob turn and heavy footsteps marching in through the corridor.

I quickly rushed to my room door, and tried very hard to appear as if I have left my room at my own accord and not because I was desperate to see who my new housemates were.

What I saw completely stunned me.

There they stood… two very tall, well built and must I say handsome looking men were at my door step. My sudden appearance seemed to have disrupted their conversation. Both of them were caught in a still frame, intact with frozen hand gestures. They looked at me, as stunned as I looked at them (hopefully) and I said a silent wish they would think that I am beautiful as they are handsome to me.

One had jet black hair, with an unidentifiable hairstyle but sexy nonetheless. Tender brown hazel eyes –those a women can stare into and get lost in them for a long time, and if you’re lucky –forever. The eyes were the main features one of them had, I am sure there are other physical beauties I cannot access now, perhaps later. My inspection will have to end here and move on to this next bloke.

The second man had blonde hair. I reckon his eyes were pretty normal. What made his face so appealing were his lips, fairly difficult to describe. It’s like, as a girl, you want to eat him up, starting from the lips. There is that detailed enough? *wink*

From first glance I couldn’t tell where they were from, but in a conversation later they told me their parents were from Prague. I have no idea where that is so I just nodded. But they lived in Tasmania ever since they can remember, so their accent was pretty Australian.

The little but not so innocent girl that I am, blushed, of course… at the sight of two gladiator candidates from Athens and Sparta. They were we’re just so hot! If you get what I mean. I can’t wait to take pictures of them and send it back to all my girlfriends.

“Hi” I said, I then raised my hand to the level of my face, palm showing outwards to mimic a wave once I noticed my gesture was lagging behind my speech. “Damn you Annabelle, be natural, and don’t scare these handsome blokes away”. Oops that was my alter-ego speaking, but she is right sometimes. So I loosened up and just take it as it comes.

They took turns to say “hi” in return.

An awkward pause of silence.

“My name is Annabelle, I just moved in this morning, nice to meet you.”

“Alex” said the black haired stud.

“I’m sorry?”

“Alex, my name is Alexi but people just call me Alex”

Alexi eh? That’s a name I don’t see everyday. Alexi rhymes with Sexy, that that was good enough for me. I looked to the blonde haired one hoping he would get the message I would like to know his name.

“Karl” he said, as he reached out with one hand to shake mine he continued “pleased to meet you”.

I shook his hand and felt the manliness in him, at one point I almost fainted.

The three of us talked about each other and one another, had laughs and jokes all in that tidy corridor separating the three rooms, then all of a sudden Karl reminded Alex, or Alexi they were about to make dinner.

“Hey why not join us?”

“ummn I don’t know” it was weird to have dinner with two complete, well not exactly complete strangers as they were very easy to get acquainted with.

“It’s not dangerous I assure you” reassured Karl.

How cheap can the cost of living in Tasmania be? I was only here for less than a day and my dinner was going to be free! Not to mention I will be living with two hot blokes, I couldn’t help but snicker at my own good luck streak.

So off to the kitchen they went and within minutes puffs and puffs of delicious fragrances filled the house. From the smell of it they were excellent cooks. I constantly poked my head through the kitchen counter and asked if they needed help. Being the gentlemen that they are they refused my offer and went on cooking.

I waited in the dining area and almost within no time, the two came busting through the door, with white porcelain plates in both hands. 3 meats and 1 veggie.

I couldn’t wait to taste their cooking and to my great surprise the dishes were actually very nice. The meat was succulent and tasted like no meat my palettes had ever tasted. I couldn’t help but ask…

“What meat is this?”

“Oh dear, you can eat pork can you?” Karl asked in a worrying voice.

“Of course I can! I can eat everything under the sky” I answered proudly.

They tossed their heads back and laughed simultaneously and hysterically. I never knew I was such a good joker. I lowered my head as I blushed, being content of myself.

The three meat dishes were so delicious there is no vocabulary in the English dictionary that can describe it. Maybe there is in Prague-ian or whatever language they speak. I kept complimenting them on the meal well-done and even asked if they could teach me how to cook. Karl just said it was Alexi’s secret recipe that even he himself didn’t know how to prepare some of the dishes Alexi had made.

I offered to wash the dishes and clean the kitchen but they strongly refused me in my proposal.

“Ah such gentlemen,” I thought.

A week passed by like that, with me eating freely out of the two gentlemen, and already I was beginning to gain weight. It was a nightmare in the longest sweetest dream I’ve had. Being able to have good food had a price, a price that all women dread –weight.

On one night I kindly refused dinner and went to bed early because of this headache I’ve contracted from the buzzing noises in my Journalism lecture. Again the two master chefs went to work and made amazing dishes out of meat and poultry. This time, they were arguing about something, with raised voices. The walls were thin enough to alert me of the presence of such tension but too thick for me to eavesdrop.

Bah, problems in the men’s world is none of my business. I fell asleep shortly.

Going into the subconscious realm of my head, I dreamt. i thought i could escape to my inner-sanctum and be oblivious to the problems in real-life, but the dreams were not pleasant either, infact, they were much worse than the ones in real-life. I began to see memories which do not belong to me. Talking to people I have no idea who they were, doing things that were so alien to me it almost felt like I was dreaming someone else’s dreams.

These familiar yet alien feelings transcended to the waking realm as well. As I walked to the uni in the morning I suddenly changed my route to one I haven’t took before. Which was rather peculiar? Looking at some seniors and having the impression that I know them. I did not have the audacity to speak to them though, that would make me look like a freak.

And freak I was… everyone in the Uni started to look, sound and feel familiar to me. I’ve even started to like the celery in my salads. Did I mention that I hate celery? No?

“I hate celery”.

A week was up and I had to do my laundry. I collected all my filthed clothes in a basket and headed out to the shed behind the house. I opened the white shed door with broken windows and the glass on the floor, had a resonance with me. It felt as if I was dealing with some guilt of breaking the window.

I shook my head in denial, this is the 1st time I’ve entered the shed thus it is impossible that I have broken the window.

Inside there was a large sink, bigger than the one in the kitchen and directly opposite of it was a white top-load washing machine. Next to the washer, was a large freezer which opens like a trapdoor, those used to store massive amounts of ice-cubes in seven-eleven.

I loaded my clothes in and set the machine to full cycle.

Amidst the sound of the churning washer I heard the back door open. Peering out of the broken window I saw Karl walking down the short flight of stairs to his car. I jumped out and said hello

He froze there for 2 full seconds before realizing it was me.

“Hehe I didn’t scare you did I?” tucking in my fringe behind the ear with my forefinger. I’ve made quite a mess of my uncombed hair in that trivial attempt to scare Karl.

“No no”, he replied, then laughed a little but choked with several pauses. He continued “what were you doing in the shed?”

“My laundry” I replied instantaneously.

“Oh…” like he had just discovered something that was really obvious, and obvious it was because the only washer available to us three tenants was the in the shed. He then continued “I’ve got to go, my lecture starts in 15 minutes”.

“Okay then hush hush! Don’t want to be late for your class.” I shooed him away, we exchanged smiles before he turned away to his car. i then went back inside my room to finish off my assignments.

I heard the ignition of his car and the sound of tires crushing the pebbles on the gravel as he reversed out of the car porch. Five minutes later I heard the same sound. This time the car was coming in. Only Karl had a car so it must be him, he must’ve forgotten his lecture notes. I heard the car door slammed shut and out it went again. This time it didn’t return.

An hour later my clothes were done and out I went to collect them. I ignored the same feelings I had when I first entered the shed and took out all my clothes then hung them out to dry.

Throughout the whole day I felt disturbed, like there were voices crawling out of my head wherever I went, whatever I did.

The headache was becoming more and more persistent, what wasn’t helping me even more was the weight I was gaining. I even hid the weighing scale behind my wardrobe –where the sun doesn’t shine.

I loved the blokes cooking and at the same time I couldn’t deal with the rate at which I was gaining weight… I was puzzled. The dishes were all lean meat, and there wasn’t a lot of fat… maybe it was Alexi’s secret recipe, I am not used to a Russian diet maybe. So many questions leading to even more that needed answers.

However, not in the distant future I had it all revealed to me. The truth was so grotesque I wished I hadn’t wished for the truth.