Letters to Him

Oakleighs pov It was raining as I looked out the window, the window of the moving train I was on. I sighed, turning, noticing three other people on the train. All three of us were being sent to boarding school, a special boarding school for criminally insane children aged nine to eighteen. I always thought boarding school was like a boat on the water, because you board a boat. Anyways, that isn’t the point, the point was girl genius screwed up again and this time my foster parents were done with me. “Sucks, the train ride is so long,” a boy said. I turned to see he had come to sit next to me. He was tall, dark hair and tattoos up and down both arms. “How do you know how long it is?” I asked and he began to laugh. “Not my first rodeo,” he shrugs. “So you’ve been to Green Oaks before?” I was not sure I even wanted the answer. “I work there,” He informs me. I frowned looking at him up and down again. “But you can’t be more than 19 years old,” I say. He smiles laughing again, “I’m 19, and I grew up at Green Oaks,” he says. “I’m the train rider, I ride the lovely GO train with all the horrible kids that parents don’t want anymore,” he smirks. I frowned again, turning to look out the window unamused by him. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you. That joke is always hit or miss,” he says. I ignored him as I watched the rain drops race each other. “I’ll tell you what I did to end up at Green Oaks if you tell me,” he says trying to catch my attention. I shrugged and continued to look out the window. “I hurt someone,” I tell him. “How informative,” he teased. “How did you hurt someone?” he asks. I turned to look at him, I couldn’t tell anyone the truth about what happened, they would think I was crazy. “I pushed a girl down some stairs because she was mean to me,” I lied. Lying was easy, I spent my whole life lying to my foster parents. “Liar,” he laughs. “I already know what you did,” he says, holding up my file. “Oakleigh,” My name rolls off his tongue like it was a sin to say. “Then why did you ask?” I frown. “I wanted to see if you would lie to me,” he shrugs. “So, Oakleigh told the police she turned into a dog?” he laughs, looking at my file. “A wolf,” I corrected him looking down. “So what, on a full moon you turn into a wolf?” he teases again. “No,” I said quietly feeling stupid. “No?” he asks. “I turn when I’m angry, it’s like something inside of me needs out and then forces herself forward and I'm gone,” I tell him. I wasn’t even sure why I was telling him, maybe because he already knew. “So what’s your diagnosis?” he asks clearly, not believing me. “Schizophrenia,” I sigh. “You were a foster kid?” he asked, causing me to jerk my head. “So?” I asked, clearly annoyed. He smirked, “So foster parents have a girl for five years and are getting ready to adopt her. Then she’s diagnosed with Schizophrenia and they throw her away,” he says. I felt myself getting upset, “No, they are going to take me back as soon as I'm better,” I told him. “They promised,” I say. “New flash girl genius,” he says, pulling out a paper. “They sighed you over to Green Oaks, no one is coming back for the schizo,” he smirks as if he was enjoying himself. I heard the growl escape my lips as the anger rolled off me, and then it was black, I was gone. Meaning that stupid voice in my head that calls herself Abby won again. I felt my body on something hard but my eyes didn’t want to open. “She’s definitely a wolf,” the older boy from the train said. “Did you have to piss her off on a train?” another man's voice asked. “We took the chance of taking in a random foster kid who thought she was a wolf when she could have really just been some girl with schizophrenia,” the train boy said. “So you triggered a shift on a train?” the man yelled. “Now we know she’s a wolf,” he says frustrated. “What were you planning to do? Stop the train and leave her stranded in the woods?” he asked. “Have her transferred to a real mental hospital,” he says in an amused voice. I listened to the bazaar conversation, these people were obviously as ill as me if they also thought I was a wolf. Oh no, they sent me to a hospital where the caregivers were as crazy as the patients. I tightened my eyes not wanting to open them, maybe it was all a dream and I would wake up back home and get ready to be adopted in a few weeks. “She’s awake,” the train boy says. “Go get Madeline,” the older man's voice says. I heard the door open and close, “You can keep them closed and pretend this doesn't happen or you can open them and we can talk,” the older man says. “Alright I’ll talk,” he laughed after a minute and I hadn’t opened my eyes. “I’m Fitz, Professor Fitz. I teach transformation of all beings, and I also counsel teens who haven’t known they were a being until being sent here. There’s a lot you don’t know being fostered by humans who don’t get you. We’ve started the search of your birth parents so we can have a better understanding of your wolf. She’s beautiful, your wolf. She’s not like any wolf we’ve ever seen, she is fast and quick on her feet but she can also sense who’s against her and who’s not. Which is also something wolves are taught, not something they already know. I’m going to assume you began your shifts around the age of eleven like most do,” he chuckles. “I was nine,” I whispered and finally opened my eyes. “I hallucinated the shifts when I turned nine,” I say. “Beautiful eyes,” he smiles looking into my eyes. I looked down to see a white sheet laying over me and I frowned. “Your clothes were ruined in the shift, we covered you before you shifted back,” He informed me. I nodded, sitting up and holding the sheet to my body, then the train boy walked back in with a tall woman. “She’s awake,” the train boy smirks. “Derek, go find something else to do,” the beautiful tall woman said. The train boy I now knew as Derek rolled his eyes and left the room. “Headmistress,” Professor Fitz smiled. “Professor,” she nodded back. “Miss Oakleigh, no last name,” she says. “I am Headmistress Darla of Green Oaks prep school for the supernatural,” she smiles. “Green Oaks is a mental institution,” I say. Headmistress Darla smiles and laughs, turning away from me. She grabbed a bundle of clothes and handed them to me. “Get dressed Miss Oakleigh,” she smiles. She then took Professor Fitz and they left the room. I looked at the leggings and fitted shirt she had handed me, I shrugged, not in a position to complain, and put them on. Once I was dressed I walked to the door, I slowly opened it to see the Headmistress and the professor having a quiet conversation. I listened in on them before announcing I was there. “Have you found the girl's birth parents?” headmistress Darla asked him. He shakes his head with a sign, “The name Oakleigh doesn’t exist on the supernatural registry,” He tells her. “Which means one of two things, either she wasn’t born in a hospital leaving no record of her or her name isn’t really Oakleigh,” she tells him. “So either way we don’t know who she really is and which realm she came from,” Professor Fitz says. Everyone in this place is absolutely insane, this was a mental institute run by mentals. The headmistress took a deep breath and turned to see me, she plastered a smile to her face, “Shall we start the tour?” she asks. I didn’t say anything, I just nodded and she walked over taking my hand and pulling towards some large doors. We walked out of the building we had been in, I turned my head to see the sign that read ‘Green Oaks hospital,’ I shrugged and looked ahead to see a large beautiful area surrounded by even more beautiful buildings. Behind each building were the tallest trees I had ever seen. “Still think this is a mental hospital?” the headmistress asked me. “What is this place?” I asked, looking around. There were girls all dressed how I was and they were running a trail. Over near the woods there had to be about fifty boys training in combat and a few feet away from them there were girls also training. I turned to see several people walking into a white building that read ‘aquatics,’. “It’s a prep school for the supernatural,” she says. “Most beings come into their beings around 11, the most powerful beings come into their beings at the age of 9 and require much more training,” she smiles. “So it’s all real?” I asked, still looking around I saw wolves and my eyes widened. “As real as your wolf is,” Headmistress smiles. “I’m not, I mean I don’t have,” was all I could say as I turned again to girls with large wings. “No Oakleigh you do not have schizophrenia,” she smiles. I felt the warm tears down my face, “He was right,” I whispered. “Who was right?” the headmistress asked me. I shook my head, not answering her question of who was right and looked up to her, my question spilling off my tongue before I had a chance to even think about it... “Headmistress, can y’all track things?” I asked her. “A tracker can track some things,” she smiles. “What, or who, is it you are wanting to track?” she asked me. “Some letters,” I told her and she looked at me confused. “When I first shifted, I received a letter in the mail and then we wrote letters to each other all the time,” I informed her. “So this person already knew you were going to shift?” she asked me. “I guess so,” I shrug. She looked at me concerned and then her smile returned. “Let’s get you settled and I’ll take a look at those letters,” she smiles. We walked for about ten minutes before we reached a large building, “These are the girls' dorms,” she says. “Your room is 509, everything is set up. Come find me with your letters and I will figure out who your pen pal is,” she smiled. “These are your keys,” she says, handing me a pink keyring with several keys on it. With that she turned and walked off, I turned to face the building and walked into it. The inside was amazing, tall ceilings and a grand piano next to a set of large stairs. To the left was a large desk where a girl not much older than me sat. She looked up at me with a large smile on her face, “Welcome Oakleigh, I’m Raven. I will be the RA so to speak,” she smiled. “Anything you need, come find me.These are your books and your course schedule.” She says handing me a folder and stack of books. She then picked up a card with my name and picture on it, “This is your dining card, they will scan it each time you go in. You get three meals a day plus two snacks,” she smiles. I looked at everything overwhelmed, “It'll be okay, It’s a great place,” she smiles. “Go on up and get settled,” she told me and I nodded walking over to the stairs. Great five flights of stairs with all this stuff. I finally made it up to the fifth floor and signed, realizing my room was on the other end, walking down for a few minutes I finally found room 509. As I went to shove the key into the door it flew open, “Oh you’re finally here!” A small girl screamed and threw her arms around me causing me to drop everything I was holding. “Oh I’m sorry,” she giggles and bends down helping me pick my things up. “I’m sorry,” she says again like I hadn't heard her the first time. “It’s fine,” I sighed as we got my things picked up. “I’m Karsyn, your roommate,” she smiles, inviting me into the room. Only it was more than a room, when you walk in there's a small walkway that leads into a room that has couches and tvs. There's a sink and a fridge with a microwave and then two doors, one food was blank and the other was decorated with Karsyn's name on it. “Your room is the blank door, they already have your bedding, clothes and anything else you’ll probably need,” she says. “All your things from the train have also been placed in the room,” she smiles. I nodded looking around the shared space, “did it come like this?” I asked her. “Well no, I decorated it. My roommates never stay long,” she says, biting her lip. I looked at her sad expression and before I could stop myself my mouth opened, “How come they never stay long?” I asked, not really wanting the answer. “They think low of me,” she shrugs. I looked her up and down trying to understand why they thought low of her, she’s pretty, while she does talk a lot it wouldn’t be bad in the long run because you can never get lonely if she keeps talking. “Because I’m a low class pixie,” she says and I look at her more confused. “You’re a wolf, headmistress is a siren, professor Fitz is an animal shape shifter so he can shift into any thing, and then we have phoenixes, vampires, witches, dragons,” she says continuing the list. “Dragons?” I asked. “Well yeah, the girls who walk around with the crazy winged eye makeup and the boys mostly have scale tattoos,” she says. I nodded, getting overwhelmed again, “And i’m a pixie but a low class pixie, I got into the prep school because of my aunt,” she says. “There's classes for each being?” I asked. She nods, “I’m low class, then there's middle class, high class, and then there's high fae counsel being just above high class,” she told me. “I think I need a nap,” I sigh. “Oh yes please rest, we’ll have a long day tomorrow,” she smiled. I didn’t ask about the long day as I didn’t want to know. I walked into my room seeing the pastel blue walls and the blue bedspread. It was basically whatI liked in a room. I walked over, setting my things on the bedside table and looking around. The closet was filled with school uniforms and even casual clothes for I assume weekends and after school hours. I found something more comfy than the work out clothes the headmistress had given me and I slipped into the night shorts and shirt before crawling into the king sized bed. I laid directly in the middle of the bed falling into a deep sleep without having to try. I began to dream about the wolf in me that calls herself Abby, all she ever did was complain that I never let her out and that’s why she was so mean when she would force herself out. When I woke up the next morning I found a letter sitting on the bed. I knew who it was from the moment I saw his hand writing on the outside addressed to me. My dearest Oakleigh I heard you have made it to the prep school. Green Oaks will be safer for you and Abby. I also heard what happened on the train, I’m so sorry Derek finds himself so amusing. There is more to Derek than meets the eye, keep him as an ally. Green Oaks may be good and safe but the people there can sometimes be a bit much. I’ll await your reply before I discuss my visit to Green Oaks with Darla Green. Then we will finally meet. Until then, Ace. I set the letter aside, I was confused again. Ace knew about Green Oaks and he knew the boy from the train. I got up looking around the room for the box of letters from Ace. I found the little box that contained every letter I had ever received from him. Starting the day of my ninth birthday, I had shifted and after my shift I came home covered in mud and my foster parents at the time yelled at me for running away though I hadn’t. It was after I had taken a shower that there was a letter sitting on my pillow in my tiny room. A few days later I was transferred to a new foster home but Ace already knew and the letters kept coming. He knew every time I moved home, and I would tell him everything in my letter. Ace was the first person to know everything. I sent him a letter the day everything went down and Abby killed the poor girl. Well she wasn’t too poor, she had been bullying me and Abby warned that if I didn’t allow the shift to let her out she would do things she didn’t want to. That’s what led to the death of the most popular girl in school and my diagnosis of schizophrenia. Little did they know, I really was a wolf and who knows what Ace is. Ace happened to know I was a wolf and all the details he had given me so far was all chalked up to me being mental. At first it was fun playing make believe with Ace in these letters and then they began to scare me so we stopped talking about wolves. We started talking about other things, deeper things, things that were important to each other. Holy crap, I thought, grabbing the letter back, he’s planning to come to Green Oaks. I jumped up running into my bathroom, I stopped taking in the sight. It was huge, the sink was covered with all of my face products and a basket with makeup. I turned to see a large bath and a shower next to it containing my shampoo and conditioner. I opened a cabinet and found pastel blue body towels, hair towels and washcloths. “What an odd place,” I whispered to myself. I started a bath and bathed myself before getting out and wrapping myself up. I walked out of the bathroom and into the large walk in closet looking for something to wear. Assuming I had to wear a uniform I grabbed a white skirt, a pastel blue button up with a white tie and some pastel blue sneakers. “Why is everything pastel blue?” I asked myself as I put everything on. I grabbed my backpack and the box of letters. I walked out of my room to find Karsyn standing in the shared space, “you ready?” she asked, wearing her back pack. “I’m supposed to go see headmistress Darla,” I tell her. She nods and almost looks upset, “But I can have breakfast with you first,” I force a smile. She looked up at me with a hopeful smile. “To the dining hall,” she smiles. Karsyn and I slowly made our way to the dining hall, Karsyn babbling on about whatever it was she was talking about. My mind was preoccupied thinking about the fact that Ace was planning to come here, meaning we were finally going to meet. “Whelp this is the dining hall,” Karsyn smiles. I looked up and just like all the other buildings it was beautiful and probably cost more than my foster parents' four bedroom house. “Is the food any good?” I asked. “I believe so, some of the higher class kids don’t actually eat it they throw it away in front of the cooks or do stupid things to get the cooks fired,” she says. “But if you have food preferences you can give the list to the cooks and they will make it for you. As long as you’re nice to them,” she says. “Good to know,” I say and we walked into the barely filled dining hall. “Not a lot of people make it for breakfast, late sleepers,” she says as a girl around our age scanned out IDs. We walked to the line grabbing trays and filling them with food. I wasn’t actually hungry but I forced myself to eat some. After eating, I stood up and smiled at Karsyn, “I’m gonna go see the headmistress now, I’ll see you back in the room,” I forced a smile. She nodded, her mouth full of food. I threw away the rest of my stuff and headed out. I wandered around campus not actually knowing where I was going, “Lost already?” He laughed as he walked up to me. “No,” I frowned and turned to walk the other way. “Darlas’ office is that way,” he says. “How do you know that’s what I was looking for?” I asked him. “I’m assuming these are the letters you want her to have tracked, but something tells me you don’t need them tracked anymore,” he smirks. “Goodbye,” I said to Derek and headed off in the direction he pointed me in. I wasn’t sure what made me more nervous, Ace wanting to come here or the fact that he knew Derek and the headmistress.