The Amber Witch Saga: Beginning

CHAPTER 1: Settling in the new place..

// TAKE ANOTHER LOOK BEFORE IT GOES, DAYS ARE ONLY FOOTPRINT IN THE SNOW. HOW FAR AWAY CAN I WALK TILL I’M WAY TOO FAR FROM HOME.

I WISH I KNEW I WISH I KNEW. //

-Fever Dream

Anastasia’s POV

I got out of the SUV and stood in front of those huge wooden doors. The wood was carved as deep as 3 centimetres. I wondered how heavy the doors must be. Gargoyles and fairy figures covered the huge doors. I sighed. So, this is what they planned for me? The big castle gave out a scary vibe; almost like it is the only one place where ghosts would roam freely, if there were any. I believe in the supernatural, unlike other people who call me a fanatic. I’ve been sent this far away, hell I had to change continents to come here. My parents do hate me. They only pretend to be loving in front of outsiders, but in reality, there are scary narcissists. They have sent me to a faraway business school. What more could support my claim that they hate me. Although, we are rich and never had to struggle for any luxuries (it’s a funny way to put it; not ‘struggling’ for ‘luxuries’).I get out of my deep thoughts and start taking my luggage out of the trunk. I even bought a rose plant with me on my therapist’s advice. It’d help me calm down, she said. I gladly obliged because my therapist was pretty cute, to be honest. Lani was very helpful and kind person. I had a thing for her.

When I was done taking out all my luggage, my chauffeur helped me to carry all the stuff. He was a helpful guy in his early thirties but the way he used to look at me sometimes, made me so uneasy. While picking up my laptop bag, our hands touched and a shiver ran through my spine. I sucked in a breath. We carried all the luggage to the reception. The lobby of my new school/castle was so big that it could fit half a thousand people, and all that, too easily. This school seemed really showy. Anything below this would be just too cheap as my mom would put it. They wanted to discipline me as they told me, so I was sent here. Away from all of them so I don’t disturb their lovely family. The lobby had a high dome like ceiling, the very top of which was made of iron linings and coloured glass. The whole place was covered in plants, mainly evergreens and vines. So, anyways I walked up to the reception and behind it sat a lady, who might have been in her mid-fifties as it seemed. She looked up to me and smiled, showing a set of pearly whites. We exchanged a few words and she gave me my schedule and books which only added to my already big luggage. She gave me the key to my room and gave me directions for the dormitories.

“Also, child. Leave your things here. I’ll have someone to take these to your room ASAP.”

I was so thankful to her I would have almost hugged her. I said my ‘bye’ to the chauffeur, since I have always been a polite kid and took my hand bag and took off. I went left when I was outside the lobby’s main gate. There was a narrow corridor which was covered by big portraits of old people. There was something about those portraits, almost as if they were just too regal and demanded the presence of strong confident people. Passing through them, it felt like I was being watched. I stopped abruptly and turned but there was no-one there. I carried on. After the picture gallery, there was a big garden which had a stone pavement to cross it. The garden was so beautiful that it took all my strength to convince myself to get away from there. Then there was a similar corridor like the previous one but it was just filled with plants of various kinds. No wonder people here like a lot of plants because this place was itself lodged on the mountains. As I crossed the last corridor, the dormitories finally came into view. The dormitories were basically the left wing of the castle. And this part was huge. I entered through the main gate and there were white marble and golden structures everywhere. How so very royal, I thought. I spotted the staircase which wasn’t very difficult to find because it was enormous and just in front of the main gate. Even though there weren’t many people outside the building, I spotted many students sauntering in the hall, chatting with each other. A few came to me and introduced themselves. Guess, everyone knew I was new here. I went up the stairs and after kilometres of walking, I finally reached my room.

I entered and saw that somehow magically all my luggage was here before I was. Was I THAT slow of a walker? I placed my key in the pocket of my overcoat and took it off because the room was warm enough. There was a fireplace in the hall. I don’t even know how to use one of those. Back at home, things like these were operated by our servants. I think I’ll have to learn how to use it. In front of the fireplace, there is a big couch made of black leather. Basically, every piece of furniture is either made of black leather or black wood. The rest of the room is covered in cream and golden hues. It’s pretty, I think to myself. On my left is a small kitchen since we’ll usually eat our meals in the cafeteria. On the right is the door to my room and beside it is one more door which I’m guessing is the bathroom. As I enter the room, I see a king-sized bed which is not the showiest thing there is in this room for a single person. The curtains are beige coloured with golden embroidery. And behind them and big windows reaching the ceiling and the windows even have a sitting place covered in silk cushions. The cupboards across the bed are huge as well. Although I’d have loved a walk-in closet, this works perfectly fine as well.

I stretch myself as I get ready to arrange my belongings. I’m done in a couple of hours and I am happy at my perfect work. Everything has a place and everything is in its place. I enter the bathroom and the bath-tub is just so beautiful, made of black granite. I decide to take a shower though. There’s not enough time left for dinner at the cafeteria. I turn the knob and set the water to a perfect hot. I’m not used to this cold climate. We had winters at our home as well but it snows here, which is a big discomfort for a person like me who loves summers. I get out of the bathroom, blow dry my hair and settle for a fuzzy lavender sweater and black jeans with high ankle length boots. I let my perfectly straight midnight hair down and wear those black ear-muffs I bought recently. I take out a light purple overcoat and put in on since I’d have to cross the field in order to get to the cafeteria. I looked into my watch and it’s 7:58. Almost time for the dinner to start. I climb down the slippery stairs slowly and just reach the bottom when someone taps on my shoulder.

I take a peek and a blonde boy smiles at me.

“Hey, I’m Andrew Du Ford. Nice to meet you. I assume you’re new here since I haven’t seen you around before?” This guy was 6 foot something 3 or 4 inches. He towered over me as I was just 5 foot 7 inches, excluding my footwear’s height. He had a nice build, almost like he was a soccer junkie.

“Hi. I’m Anastasia Hawthorn but you can call me Ana. Yes, I’m new, just joined today.” He motioned for us to keep walking and started introducing me to various new things around. We reached the Cafeteria in 10 minutes and Andrew took me towards the menu and we started placing various delicious items onto our plates, which according to Andrew was normal here. We sat with his friends and he introduced me to all of them. There was Perry, Alexa, Patricia, Henry, Lewis and he himself. Alexa and Lewis were together as of now and as long as anyone has ever known them, they were like glued to each other as Andrew told me. We chatted happily and surprisingly I mixed with them well enough. After we ate, we left for our rooms and I was pretty tired to be true. I only had the energy to take off my clothes, wear pyjamas and sleep peacefully in my cloud-like bed. Darkness enveloped me into a dreamless sleep.