FANG ACADEMY

CHAPTER 1: Fang Academy

// JUNE EFFORTS QUIETLY.

I'VE PLANTED VEGETABLES ALONG EACH GARDEN WALL.

SO EVEN IF SPRING CONTINUES TO DISAPPOINT,

WE CAN SAY AT LEAST LETTUCE LOVED THE RAIN. //

- Lisa Olstein

Bonnie’s POV

I stretched on my bed, yawning before the sweet summer sun. I smiled. This was something that was rare to be seen in Mawsynram. I was originally from Australia but I had moved to this place for training. Mawsynram is located in Meghalaya, India and is the rainiest place on Earth and hence, it was rare for the Sun to show up early in the morning, like it did today.

I got up, grabbed my toothbrush, and my special herb toothpaste. Yes, I had to pay a witch to make this special toothpaste for me… got to keep them teeth clean. Anyways, I made my way to the common washrooms. Our academy was quite wealthy but our chancellor had the opinion that too many facilities corrupt the mind. And so even after being rich and all, we lived with little to no luxury here. Some man our chancellor was…

As I elongated my canines, I started brushing my teeth in an elaborate manner. My fangs were the source of my pride, the proof that I was not a hollow. Hollows were the mutant born who weren’t special. They had the genes of a special one, but the genes were dormant.

Some hollows had the luxury to maintain their sanity but as for the less privileged ones, they went feral. There was a lot of bias between the special ones and the hollows and hence the feeling of revenge that hollows harboured. My elder ex-step-brother was a hollow as well but he was certainly more well off than the others of his kind.

My mom married his dad, 7 years after my father went missing on a mission. The marriage did not work out and mom divorced his dad. As I started flossing my teeth, I caught some commotion coming from the side of the academics’ building. It was too early even for workers to be arriving to work. The classes aren’t starting till tomorrow already. What was this all about, then?

I did not pay much attention to it and went back to my room. Today was the day the students will start arriving. Most people did not come back until the end of the first week of classes but my mom was vey strict about my training and hence, I was here even before the arrival date. Yeah, my mom is a perfectionist and I am an only kid.

I took my bathrobe and my bath essentials. I was going to spend all day packed up in my room today because Clark and Lewis are not coming till tomorrow and I have no other friends in this whole place. It is not that people don’t want to talk to me but I am very reserved and socially aloof to socialise that much. The only people that were present in the whole common washroom other than me were the girls that arrived early in the morning and were doing their morning routine.

I chose the last bathroom and got in, locking it after me. Although we had to do most of the things ourselves, there were other luxuries in the academy. The bathrooms and other common areas were pretty big and comfortable in size. I hung my clothes and stripped on the marble floor then got into the big shower. The water was a little too cold at first but it adjusted after a few seconds. I took my shampoo and massaged it onto my head. This was the most comfortable thing my mom ever taught me.

You see, my mom ran a brand of salons all over Australia and that was the reason why we were still living a comfortable life, even after dad went missing. My mom was a human and I got most of my traits from my dad. So, whenever someone told me that I looked or acted a lot like my dad, it warmed my heart knowing that there was at least something of his that I had with me.

After I took my relaxing bath, I wrapped my bath robe around me and collected my things before heading back to my room. I would be starting my third year in training this time at the academy while Clark and Lewis would start their fourth year and third year respectively. We were all the same age but Clark completed his graduation course a year earlier than Lewis and me and thus started training earlier than us too.

To be honest, I loved my besties. To an introvert like me, they were a blessing in disguise. They were my adoptive parents in a way, lol. We spent half of our summer in Greece, going through ancient museums and hidden sites that humans were unaware of. The rest of the summer, they visited Lewis’ grandparents in the Bahamas and I went back to my home. I missed mom a lot after a year of hard work and grinding.

Every day at the academy was difficult and disciplined. We had our days off from time to time and parties that blew minds and they were worth all the everyday training. I got dressed, put on my headphones and grabbed a poetry book. This was my mantra to get rid of unnecessary distractions and only focus on things that I want to focus on. My heightened senses were not always a blessing. Hell, I don’t want to hear couples slamming their bodies on each other while I was having my breakfast. It was nauseating at times.

And so, as planned I spend my day in my room, giving all my attention to my books and only going out to the common dining room to eat. The day went by fast and the weather turned back to normal, raining like it always was. I liked the feeling of sun on my skin but there was something about the rain and the thunderstorms as well. It had an eerily quiet feeling to it.

Maybe because my animal senses found peace in the light pitter patter of the rain or maybe because it was something else but I just couldn’t place a finger onto what it was. Before I went to bed, I picked my toothbrush again, to brush my teeth. I was obsessed with my teeth and the cleaning that they needed. Again, I heard some commotion from the direction of the academy grounds but I decided to ignore it.

The curiosity in me can wait until tomorrow when I will be well rested to socialise again. And thinking about the next day, I fell into a deep sleep.