The Ancient World

Chapter Four – Dreaming Shadows

Dreaming Shadows“Miss Gordon?”

Ehrien was looking at the grey sky. A dry storm commanded the city outside. But she couldn’t focus on it, not when she could hear the beating hearts of her classmates, hear their joints when they moved or even the shoes of someone two floors below her, especially when the thunders exploded like that. And yet, she did.

It wasn’t just her hearing which had heightened. Even sitting all the way in the back, Ehrien could tell that Maggie had eaten toast for breakfast. Miss Allison, the school therapist, walked past the door and Ehrien knew she had poured a bottle of perfume on herself. It left the girl beyond nauseous.

“Miss Gordon.”

A headache, a migraine was coming. She couldn’t focus. She closed her eyes and put her fingers to her temples, pressing down to push away the pain and the sounds. A new thunder and her eyes snapped open, searching for something outside the window.

Pen caps clicking, biting of nails, bracelets banging together, laughs, whispers...

“Miss Gordon!”

Silence.

Ehrien looked away from the window and at Mr. Popper, her History teacher. His scream had somehow startled her and in succeeding to claim her attention, it had subsidized all other sounds. For one second, she was thankful. Then she remembered who it was that stood before her.

Evolution, it seemed, had decided to drop all its weary, hard-earned, complex accomplishments when it decided to create Francis Popper. The man’s abilities were limited to two basic functions: yell out the subject or glare blankly at his students when they asked him something that had yet to be programmed into his system.

“Yes?” Ehrien coughed to clear her voice as she tried to look behind Mr. Popper and at whatever it was that was written in the blackboard. He, however, was strategically well-placed and Ehrien could do little more than clench her teeth in infuriation.

“Yes?” he repeated. “Do you not know why I am calling your name?”

“No, not really.” Ehrien sighed. Maybe if she confronted Mr. Popper, he would suddenly reach all his potential.

“Well, let me be very clear, then. Were you listening to my class?” Mr. Popper enquired. Ehrien nodded frigidly, as a very self-satisfied smile came to life on his face. Well, that was unexpected. He could move his facial muscles? “Then please, tell me, and all of your colleagues, what it was that I was just explaining.”

Ehrien took a deep breath, about to admit to Mr. Popper what he already knew and that she really wasn’t paying attention, which would definitely lead to detention on her first week, when an atrocious, foul noise cut Ehrien’s head into two. It took her a few seconds to realise it was the bell, releasing her from Mr. Popper’s grip and ending the second class of the day. She was mildly aware of the fact that Mr. Popper was complaining about the fact the bell was too early and that class had not finished, but the halls were already swarming, and he had no power to stop his students.

Just as she left the room, Ehrien’s phone started to ring. Laura’s excited voice came from the other side of the line. “Ehrien! Please tell me you remember our plans and that you are not standing me up again. I’m so looking forward to the fair!”

“I didn’t forget, and we’re definitely going.” Ehrien pulled the phone away from her ear as Laura’s excitement boiled into one loud squeal.

“I’m so happy! I can wear my new dress.”

“That’s all? You’re not excited over the chance to spend time with me?”

Laura’s voice grew concerned. “Oh no! Of course, I want to spend time with—oh i***t, I was actually starting to feel guilty.” The line was cut and Ehrien pushed the phone into her blazer’s pocket, smiling. It was then that a sudden emptiness took hold of her. The school was completely silent; there weren’t voices or steps, nothing at all. It was as if life had stopped.

She felt a shadow moving behind her, covering all the space until she could no longer see. The air turned cold and Ehrien grabbed her chest as all the oxygen involuntarily left her lungs. She couldn’t breathe; a rock was blocking her throat.

This isn’t real, Ehrien. Focus. This isn’t real.

But it felt real, just as her hallucinations always did. The shadow moved forward and surrounded her completely. There were no walls, no doors, no ceiling, and no floor; the night around her had swallowed them and it was about to drag her in as well.

Ehrien’s hands were sweaty and shaking; she turned on herself so many times looking for a way out that she no longer knew which way was which. Ehrien walked, then she ran, but it seemed the entire universe had faded and there was no way she could still be in school. She tripped and fell, but she wasn’t sure if there was floor there, if there was anything there. Please stop…

The shadow approached her like a wave testing the resistance of sand, slowly and then all at once. When they touched, Ehrien felt a surge of recognition and familiarity float through her as if that shadow, however dark and sick, was somehow...her. Ehrien could control it, she knew that; she owned it.

As if sensing her realisation, the shadow moved quicker, trying to prevent her from saving herself.

“STOP!” Ehrien yelled, all fear vanishing with her determination. The shadow bent and shrank, moving away and disappearing into nothingness. Light came back and pleased, Ehrien saw she was in the exact same place as she had been before, in school. Ehrien remained motionless, smiling to herself. She had blocked it; she had controlled her hallucinations. They didn’t own her, not anymore. There was a sense of realisation running through her as she had never felt before, a fire of victory burning inside her chest.

And in that moment, everything seemed more beautiful.

“Miss Gordon? Elizabeth, wake up!”

Startled, Ehrien obeyed, opening her eyes.

She was lying in the middle of the corridor, exactly as she thought, but as it turned out, she hadn’t been alone and there had been no hallucination. The dozens of faces around her and the searing pain on the back of her head told her she had fainted.

Mr. Popper knelt down next to her, his eyes wide with worry, the first genuine emotion Ehrien had ever seen him show. She was so shocked by his show of emotion that for one second, she forgot she was on the floor. “Miss Gordon, can you hear me?”

“Y-yes, yes, I’m fine.” Ehrien got up, slowly, so as to not let the light-headedness overwhelm her, but fast enough for people to step back.

“We should call your parents,” Mr. Popper continued, grabbing her arm.

“No, really, I’m fine. I skipped breakfast. It must have been my sugar levels.” Ehrien tried to step back, but Mr. Popper was oddly strong.

“You said that the other day, too.” Scott came from behind Mr. Popper, speaking quietly and in uncertainty. As soon as Mr. Popper’s expression changed from “worried about a possible aneurism” to “is this a case of anorexia?” Ehrien glared at Scott with enough intensity to send him the message Why are you still here?

Scott lowered his head and kept silent. Ehrien sighed loudly to show her annoyance with the situation and used her other arm to get away from Mr. Popper. “My classes are done today, so I’ll just go and have an early lunch.” Her classes weren’t done and Ehrien glared at Scott, making sure he would remain silent this time. Apparently, he had taken the hint this time around and said nothing more.

“You hit your head which means you might have a concussion. I think I should still—”

Ehrien smiled and thanked him kindly before turning away from the crowd. There were still some shouts behind her, but Ehrien didn’t look. Her self-control was at the seams and Ehrien was at a loss as to how not to explode. Hallucinations, memories that weren’t hers but still felt like it, senses too strong to be normal and now loss of consciousness too?

Already putting her headphones on, Ehrien ran down the stairs, music at ear blast level. But she could still hear them— the voices, the feet, the hearts, even the goddamned pencils on paper.

Just as she burst through the doors, the sky exploded in a series of thunders so loud and filled with rage, a part of her felt they were mimicking her emotions and that she was the one causing them, releasing what she couldn’t let out into a place beyond anyone’s control. The wind was blowing violently, cleaning the trees out of all their leaves. Ehrien let it wrap her as if it could comfort her. And it did. Because she was controlling it.

DON’T THINK!

Ehrien hit her cheeks with her palms four times before opening her eyes again. Her breathing calmed down, along with her heartbeats, and Ehrien finally left the school grounds. Only she didn’t notice the wind had calmed along with her breathing.

Chapter Five