CHAPTER 2
1452 Words
Rory’s POV
My mum raised a brow and stared at me with an unimpressed look on her face.
I dropped my hands to my sides and looked around in confusion. Maybe it fell? But the envelope was nowhere to be found.
Weird… really weird.
“Clean up this mess now and act your age. You'll be eighteen in a few months, and you're throwing a tantrum over something that we all saw coming,” she yelled at me, tears welling up in her eyes.
I felt bad for my mum, but at the same time, I had every right to throw a goddamn tantrum.
“Now, get down soon for dinner.” she sniffled and walked out of the room.
I stood, not saying anything for a second before I silently screamed and slammed my room door.
Picking up my bedroom's broom, I began to sweep the shards of glass and broken pieces of what used to be my jewellery boxes.
—
“Aurora, dinner's ready!”
“Coming!”
I hurried down the stairs to the kitchen, my mum was dishing out mashed potatoes and pork and she had a bottle of wine on the table.
Oh brother… Is she really planning on getting drunk?
Wait, why were there three plates?
Just as I was about to ask my mum about it, the doorbell rang.
“Aurora, get that for me, please.”
I mumbled an okay and walked over to the door pulling it open.
There stood the weirdest man I had ever seen, so I did the first thing that came to mind.
“Wrong house.”
Then I slammed the door in his face.
Luckily for me, my mum was already walking towards me when I did so.
“Aurora Sally Hale!”
Urgh, not my middle name.
“Why did you slam the door on our guest?” she huffed and pushed me aside to open the door.
The weird man was still standing there.
“My bad. Thought he got the wrong house.” I said flatly and walked to the dining table.
“Please come in, Sir. Don't mind my daughter's nasty behaviour. Teenagers right?”
The man didn't sound mused or even let out a laugh.
—
Dinner was awkward.
I kept feeling the man's eyes on me and many questions kept running through my mind.
Was my mum seeing this man?
Was she planning to marry me off to him to lessen her burden and live off her life as a single woman?
Was she–
“So Aurora, meet the registrar of your new school.” My mum smiled sweetly at me, giving me that secret look to act right.
“What? School?” I asked confused because I really was. When I mentioned the letter I found in my room to her earlier and about a new school, she seemed oblivious. So what changed in the span of an hour?
“Yes, dear. Thornheart Academy. You be–”
“Um, excuse me for a minute mum. Was this supposed to be a surprise, and I wasn't supposed to see the envelope, but you slipped when you left it in my room?”
She looked confused again when I mentioned the envelope part and the weird man's eyes stared directly at me when I mentioned it too, and I was sure I wasn't mistaken when I heard him mutter, s**t.
“Anyway, pack your bags. You'll leave first thing tomorrow morning and this isn't up for discussion.”
“But mum-”
“Aurora, this is for your own good,” she said in a monotone voice, and her eyes looked a bit dull.
What the freak was going on?
I pushed my chair from the table and walked to my bedroom.
Stay positive, stay positive. I mean, it's a new start so…
—-
It was evening when I arrived at the gates of Thornheart Academy, and even though I knew it would look weird from the name, I didn't expect it to actually be.
The gates were high and pointy, like those large ancient regal gates and don't get me started on the building.
The building was huge and it looked more like a castle than a school.
“This way, Miss. Hale.” The registrar, whom I later found out was Mr. Kurt, walked ahead of me, inside the compound.
The compound was bare. Did people really attend this place as a school or was it some sort of mental institution for rich people's children?
We finally reached the doors of the building and they opened without Mr. Kurt having to touch them.
We walked on and on till we got to an office and Mr. Kurt stopped abruptly, making me bump into him.
“This is where my journey ends with you, Little lady.”
With that, he walked away and practically vanished from my sight.
What the-
“Miss. Hayes? Come in.” a voice called from inside the office, scaring me out of my wits.
I walked to the door and pushed it open, stepping into a pretty, bland-looking office. Too bland compared to how everything else in this school looks.
Behind the desk sat a chubby-looking woman with cat-eye glasses on her face and greying hair in a perm on her head. She looked pretty stern and she nodded for me to take a seat.
“Welcome to Thornheart Academy and I am your headmistress, Ms Altratha. You will learn a lot staying with us here.”
Her voice sent a shiver down my spine for some reason.
“Let me get your file.”
I have a file here already?
She got up and walked to a door I hadn't noticed was in the room, pulled it open and walked in, closing the door softly behind her.
I swung my legs, waiting for her, when something glinted in the corner of my eye.
A black mirror hung on the wall. A black mirror? Who owned a black mirror? It was the most fascinating thing I had ever seen and I felt so drawn to it.
Before I knew it, I was standing in front of it and then, I reached out to touch it… Everything went blank.
All of a sudden, I was staring at myself touching the mirror with my eyes white and a crackling sound and the door was a bit open. I didn't think much of it till I caught a wisp of white hair disappear from behind the door. As if someone had caught me and run.
What the actual-
And in a few seconds, I took a large gasp of air and pulled away from the mirror. I was back in my body? Was that some sort of illusion?
Was this some sort of joke? Test?
Did I fail by touching the mirror?
“Damnit.” I stared with fear, noticing the visible c***k on the mirror. I must have touched it too hard in my brief state of unconsciousness.
“Miss Hayes-”
I quickly rushed over to my seat, acting natural.
The headmistress walked back in and eyed me cautiously before taking her seat and running me through my schedule, but my mind could only help wondering, what had just happened and if she had noticed the c***k yet.
“Miss Hayes, are you listening?”
“Huh, what?”
“I said you have geography in about an hour, and you need to settle in,” she replied with a frown.
“Oh, right. I should be on my way to the dorms then.”
“She handed me a map and my timetable and then let me go.”
—
I walked aimlessly trying tj find the dorms but I was lost. I saw a lady who looked like a staff member walk out of a classroom.
“Hi, Miss.”
She turned to me and smiled.
“I can't seem to find my way to the dorms.”
“Oh dear, that's terrible. What kind are you?” she asked, gleefully.
“Kind?”
Was she crazy too?
“Yes, you're kind.” Her smile was slowly fading when another teacher came up to her.
She looked at me with a weird look and then whispered to her friend, who in turn looked at me weirdly.
“The girls’ dorm is to your right,” she finally said, and I bowed in appreciation before walking away, but I could still hear them whispering, and I was sure it was about me.
“A human? What was the headmistress thinking?”
“She wouldn't survive for so long here. Top two days.”
- Writer
