Save Me From the Dark

Chapter 3: The Uni Welcome Party

6:00 am

Andrea slowly opened her eyelids, checked the alarm that was standing on a nightstand and then gave a lazy yawn. Checked that she had plenty of time, she gazed at the ceiling, thinking about what she is going to do today. Then she yawned, reaching her arms up and stretching her muscles after a night of sleep. 

'I need to write a poem for tomorrow's class. And what else do I have today? Today I am going to a party.' Andrea tightly closed her eyes with her hands, while in thoughts desperately screaming 'NOOO'. 

Then she got up from her bed and headed to the bathroom with her tracksuit. When she left her bathroom, she was fresh and ready to go out for jogging or occasional walking. Andrea checked upon her friend Sasha, who was peacefully sneezing on a couch in the living room. Andrea put her key from her apartment into one of the pockets of her warm hoodie and fastened her phone to her arm with a training armband. Near Andrea's apartment, there was a lovely beach with the sea and a trackway where she could run near the sea. 

She went outside; the chilly breeze gently caressed her chicks. Andrea inhaled the crisp and freezing wind; it was usually cold in the morning during the fall. To not get cold, she started to lightly jog with wireless headphones plugged in her ears. It took her 10 minutes to get to the trackway where she usually ran. The area near the beach was almost devoid of people. Andrea saw only three or four people jogging.  She jogged for about 45 minutes back and forth on the long trackway that elongated a few kilometres by the side of the sea. When Adrea started to pant from fatigue, she resolved to give herself some time to rest. She approached close to the sea and sat gingerly on the sand. Andrea starred at sea with a pensive look; her thoughts were carried away with serene waves of the sea: for a couple of minutes, she was gone. A sudden shriek of a seagull brought her back to the sand on which she was sitting. Realising that she was back and it was a perfect time to reflect on her experience, she drew out her phone from the training armband and began to type in Notes the first lines of her poem.

 'Not bad', mused Andrea. Weirdly enough, what she wrote did not resemble the sea or nature which surrounded her at all. However, sitting on the beach, near the water, helped her to concentrate and express what she felt. It was definitely cathartic. Andrea suddenly started to feel much better like a heavy lead was removed from her frail shoulders.  'It is all nice and lovely. But I need to think about how to finish it. I will finish it in the car.' She instantly rose to her feet, shaking off the sand with her hands from her sweatpants. 'I need to go home; it's 7:45, Sasha has probably woken up." 

8:00 am

'Good morning, Andre,' Sasha said cheerfully. 

'Heyy,' responded Andrea. 'I hope you slept well. And I went jogging. It was lovely. You should try it sometime.'

'You know that I hate waking up in the morning. Besides, I have been talking with Chuck till 3:00 am, so I needed my sleeep.'

Every time Andrea heard the word Chuck, she wanted to throw up. She hated that guy.

'Do you want some plain yoghurt with muesli for breakfast?' asked Andrea, rummaging through her refrigerator. 

'Yeah. Sounds good, sis,' responded Sasha.

'Great, then, I am having that as well.'

After they had finished their breakfast, they went to change and then headed to Sasha's Mercedes that was parked near Andrea's place.  On the way to uni, they were listening to some loud music, sometimes Sasha would singing along while Andrea was finishing writing her poem. 

10:45 am

Andrea entered the auditorium with Sasha. ‘Hey, let’s sit on the second row,’ pronounced Sasha confidently. ‘Alright, but I hope that our professor won’t choose one of us to read a poem. ‘Relax’, said Sasha, ‘professor Graham said that it’s just a draft and that we can edit it before we gonna submit it. In a nutshell, he wants us to learn how to write good stuff.’

‘I guess so, but I still don’t want to be picked,’ thought Andrea.

‘Hey girls, waved Alec from behind.’ Andrea and Sasha turned their heads backwards when Sasha noticed Ralph Patterson that Sasha claimed had a crush on her according to secret rumours. He was not in that class last time. However, it was a drop& add week, so he must have decided for some reason to switch his section or maybe he arrived late from summer travelling. Anyhow, he was there, and Andrea, for some reason, did not feel like she did not care. 

Ralph Patterson was a junior and the President of The University of St. Alexander; he was an outstanding student. He was always serious, and everyone respected him. Some even were afraid of him because of his powerful and ancient family. Ralph Patterson was also handsome: he had jet black hair,  marble grey and profound looking eyes; elegant almost like a Victorian profile and walk. 

‘Good morning, everyone,’ greeted Professor Neil Graham enthusiastically. ‘I hope you all wrote your first draft of your poem. Today, I will choose who gonna read their poems.’

‘Hmmm. Let me see who is here.’ Professor Graham went over the roster of student’s names. 

‘ Whoever I will choose, please don’t be shy to read their poem,’ he paused for a second then looked through his glasses at Andrea, who felt like she is would rather run 10 kilometres instead of reading in front of the whole class. ‘Andrea Nowak, please, could you delight us with your work.’

‘Mmm. Yeah, sure,’ said Andrea then took a deep breath. While in her mind, she was thinking ’I gonna read this poem with all emotions which I had when I was composing it.’ ‘Here it comes.’ 

‘My poem called  "LOVE of the THEATERS,’ Andrea said with such confidence and oomph that even she did not expect. Then she began to recite eloquently her poem:

(...)

When she finished reading, everyone to Andrea’s astonishment started to applaud, except Professor Graham. He was just standing with a warm smile on his face. Then he said cheerfully, ‘that’s what I call when the writer knows his or her job. Good job, Andrea. I would like to speak to you after class.’ 

Andrea started to blush; she did not expect people to react this way to her reading and her poem. She meekly noticed that Ralph was looking at her unblinkingly. Then she hastily turned her head back not to make it awkward or like she cared. 

‘Andrea, wow. You read amazingly. I felt even goosebumps running. See, you did not have to worry,’ winked Sasha at her.

‘Thank you,’ responded Andrea vaguely smiling. ‘She still could not believe what happened. Now, professor Graham wants to speak to her! What will she tell him? Is gonna mention that she wanted to become a writer and pursue her career in literature instead of politics? ’

      An hour passed swiftly. Professor Neil Graham carried on talking about various writing technics and styles in poetry and literature in general. When the lecture was over, Andrea approached Professor.

'Your poem was quite interesting today. Very ambitious, young lady. I just wanted to tell you to need help with your writings, or if you have ideas, you can reach during my office during hours in building C room 430. You are always welcome in my office. Or you can write an email, either works for me,’ said he, with a thoughtful and at the same time serious expression on his face.

‘Thank you, professor,’ responded Andrea, ‘I will definitely do that when I have something decent to share with.’ 

‘Have a good day, sir.’ 

‘You too, Andrea,’ returned Professor. 

     When all Andrea’s classes were over, she went home to change for the party at 8:00 pm.

6:30 pm

Andrea was running pell-mell in her apartment - she was looking for her makeup set. 

When she finally detected it, she first got into the new dress that she bought yesterday with Sasha. Then she started applying her make-up,  she went for a somewhat natural while at the same luminous look. She resolved to use a bit of shading at the exterior corner of her eyes, pitch-black mascara, and the smallest drop of sculpting under her high cheekbones, and a bit of lip balm. She wanted to accentuate by makeup on her beautiful wide hazel eye, while the dress highlighted her willowy and elegant stature.  For her hair, this time, she decided to let it down instead of wearing it up.

7:35 pm

Sasha started calling Andrea when she parked next to her place. 'Hey, Andre are you ready? Did you wear your new dress and shoes?'

'Yesss,' answered Adrea, smiling.

'If you are ready, please come down to my car,' returned Sasha, excitedly.

'Hey,' waved Andrea happily at Sasha. Then sat on the front next to driving Sasha.' 

'Wow, girl. You look stunning! I love everything about your look.'

'Thanks, I like how you look as well,' returned Andrea, beaming. 

'Now, we ready can take off,' exclaimed Sasha cheerfully.

'Do you want to grab some coffee on the way to uni?' asked Sasha suddenly.

'Yes, I would love to,' replied Andrea. Oddly, when she finally settled in the car, Andrea had a funny feeling in her stomach that something unanticipated is gonna happen on that party. 

8:00 pm

    They were finally inside of the university heading toward the cavernous Main Hall. Andrea could clearly distinguish clink clank of her heels on the marble floor resounding across the hallway. The room was huge; it had a lot of old pictures tacked to the wall and hanging chandeliers that were probably more than a hundred years old. That room which was now usually used for big occasions like graduation ceremonies, major party gatherings, and uni welcome parties, used to be used mainly for grand and posh balls and even secretive gatherings and celebrations of remarkable people of that time. The University of St. Alexander was old and noble; therefore, it was perfect for having dark, buried secrets and for harbouring the forces which influence and complexity allowed to govern the world.  

'Andre, look. They have champagne!' said Sasha cheerfully. 'Want some?'

'Nah, I am good,' said Andrea, and then her mood suddenly sank - she spotted Chuck's smug face.  He was heading towards them. Andrea thought, 'please don't come any closer. Turn around and go, or even better puff away like an old hag from the Wizard of Oz story.'  To Andrea's disappointment, he did not do either of it. 

'Hey, babe. I missed you, badly' said Chuck kissing Sasha's lips hungrily. Looking at this site, Andrea felt like she is about to throw up. Then Chuck, when he finally stopped kissing Sasha, he turned to her. 'Hi Andrea, you look hot today,' he winked. Sasha nudged him slightly into his side. 'I could introduce you to a few cool guys here.'

'No, I am good,'  Andrea replied, smiling while thinking: 'Man I hate his guts'. 

'You guys can go, I  will probably be looking for Alec, he does not have a date.' 

'Great,' replied Sasha without thinking twice. Then, she swivelled to Chuck took his hand and pulled him to the alcohol table. 'I am not leaving this party without getting heavily drunk!' said Sasha loudly. Chuck smirked, he liked the idea, while Andrea looked at Sasha a bit worried. Andrea knew that Chuck might be up to no good when Sasha is heavily drunk. She had to keep a wary eye on her and make sure that she does not leave the party without her. 

'Andrea,' interrupted Andrea's train of thoughts male's voice that sounded confident and at the same time inviting that belonged to RALPH PATTERSON.

'Hi,' said she and turned into his direction. 'After a small pause, she continued, 'Do you enjoy yourself at this party?' she asked and gave him shinning smile.

'Yes, I am,' he replied slowly and then looked at her thoughtfully. 'I heard your poem today.'

'Really?' queried Andrea carefully. Then repeated her question once again more confidently 'I mean, I really? I hope it was not too embarrassing.'

'No, actually I think your poem was an ambitious piece of writing: it gave me an impression that the writer has a lot of character and has a lot to say.

'I appreciate your honesty, thank you, Ralph' returned Andrea.

'I have to admit you look... elegant tonight, said Ralph in a way that it seemed it tried to pick words carefully. 

Then he wanted to aks something else than stopped when he saw Alec with Michael to them.

'Andrea, let me introduce to my good friend, Michael.'

'Good evening, Andrea,' said Michael. 'Pleasure to meet you.' He continued 'Hey, Ralph. I hope you enjoy yourself. And you have a meeting at 11 with others.'

'Right, said Ralph,' who looked annoyed with Michael. 'Have fun, guys.' 

 'See you in class, Andrea,' he looked at her one last time, this time with a tinge of jealousy and something else: Was it Fondness? Warines? Then Ralph turned on his shoes and headed towards the exit while calling someone on his phone. His voice sounded serious and rough. 'It's Ralph; I will be at the place in 20 minutes. Make sure that everything is ready. And All members gathered.'

'Andrea. Do you like dancing? They play cool music here.'

'Please, Andrea,' asked Alec too.

'Alright. Let's go.' said Andrea, who generally did not like dancing. 

' I have got new moves to show, ' said Alce beaming.

'Really? I hope you won't injure anyone with your NEW MOVES,' said Andrea. Alce was a pretty shoddy dancer, but his friends including found him funny and usually joined him; he made everyone more comfortable with their lousy dancing.

Michael was spinning Alex on the floor by his leg, which made everyone to laugh historically because Alec started to feel giddy and yelling jibberish that he is a huge-Jack-fruit-Bonanza-Monkey-Rocking-ass.  When he stopped spinning and stood up, he saw Javier. 'Nice moves,' he said smirking. 'Thank you,' returned Alec a bit blushing.

'Want a cocktail? It will make you giddier than spinning on that floor,' said Javier in a flirting tone.  'Yes, absolutely,' replied Alex cheerfully. 

While everyone was enjoying their time on the dance floor, Ralph was gloomily looking around the room waiting for people to enter. 

11:00pm

'Please sit down, brothers and sisters' said Ralph solemnly and raised his hands. In the middle of the room, there was a huge round polished in the middle, and thirty seats in front of each were standing figures in black robes and hoodies that hid people's faces. They all sat as Ralph spoke and revealed their faces by taking the hoodies off. 'Tonight is the ceremony for our new member, James Arthur. This summer he proved to be useful for our society. He found the goblet of cursed souls that gives immense powers to those who possess it. It allows the performing of the Grand Power Ceremony that the greatest practised. 'Wow', uttered one of the members. 'Indeed, it's a wow, brother' said Ralph, then frowned. 

'Unfortunately, the Goblet misses three important rocks, without which this goblet wouldn't work. There was intelligence that one of the rocks was spotted in Prague and one of our fellow members from the second branch is looking for it.

 When or if he finds it, that person will be transferred to this university to be able to do the honours of performing the ceremony alongside me. Mind you, the rest two rocks are yet to be found. Unfortunately, we don't have the knowledge of whereabouts of these rocks. But what we know is that the other rock should be of 2cm size and be of bright azure colour and utterly fragile this kind of rock only the worthiest of woman can find. In contrast, the second one is dark red and so tough that nothing in the world can break it -- this rock only the man who is loved by the worthiest of woman can acquire.'

12:00 pm

'Andrea,' on the phone was Andrea's father,  his voice sounded utterly in distress and anxiety. 

'Dad is everything okay?' 

'Andrea, your mother needs a heart operation. We have a relative who is an excellent doctor that works in the Czech Republic. I and your mum are flying today to Prague. We bought you a ticket on Thursday; I have already explained the situation to the Dean of your department. And that you will be back on campus a week later if everything... goes well. The Dean will ask all professors to send you your assignments and reading material. And as far as I am concerned, it just the beginning of the semester, you won't miss much. Also, some students tend to start a few weeks later, and it does not affect their academic performance.'

'Dad, at the moment, I don't worry much about my grades or academic performance. I want my mum to be fine. That's the only thing that matters to me. Tell mom that I love her. And that I'll see her in Prague very soon. '

Andrea hanged up the phone, feeling dazed and overwhelmed. She could not wrap her mind around what has just happened. Her mother suddenly needs a heart operation. Therefore she needs to fly to Prague after tomorrow. It felt surreal. Andrea was standing outside next to the colons. Feeling pensive and downcast, she took a deep breath - the air felt cold and stiff;  she raised her eyes at the pitch dark sky, thinking sorrowfully: ' What an exciting evening indeed.'