HJ Anti-Academic Anecdotes: Horror of Zaleska

Horror of Zaleska

The Meadows of Leisure were full of shadows and phantoms tonight as the gothic learning institute, the Academy of the Fantastical Mystics, was preparing a Halloween surprise within its weathered, sandstone-layered walls.

In the Grand Hall, the epicenter of the newly-rejuvenated school, students of all ages are gathered in long oak tables, either talking with one another like good friends or merely staring off into space, thinking of themselves about being whisked away from the plans to gorge on candy tonight, although some of them are thinly-veiled excuses.

One such student who's not in the mood for scouring the hallways for tricks or treats is an 11-year-old girl with long brown hair and sunken black eyes. She's dressed in a blue gingham dress instead her usual attire that she's grown accustomed to, but still wears the red sneakers she got before being sent away from her home to this Fantastical Mystical hellhole.

She's almost like Dorothy in appearance and predicament, but Harriet Jinjur happens to be no fan of anything Fantastical and Mystical.

While the details of her hatred are tragic in terms of how her parents went, we'll instead focus on the present on how she's coping in her first Halloween since her sudden enrollment.

October 31st, 1997.

But she's not complaining about the Academy for once. Instead, she's annoyed that she had to be whisked from her room, her latest Headline of the Moment unfinished on her personal laptop, to take part in what Miss Hazelnut, the head of the Academy who bothers to make a presence among the students and faculty, has in store for them tonight.

To most students, there's nothing but excitement when it comes to a surprise at a school deeply invested in magic, but to Harriet, it's more of a mixed bag for her. From emerald-headed natives to travelling sea serpent corpses, from magic-infused superhumans to erection-clothed patriarchs, from giant bat gods to a recent "space adventure" facing off against your supposed parents' killer.

To Harriet, any surprise the Academy whips out, unintentional or not, always spell disaster in some way.

As the reluctant student of the Fantastical Mystics ruminates on what they'll have in store for her tonight, one of the faculty suddenly appears behind her and taps her on the shoulder. He happens to be a harmless jack-of-all-trades who can't help but to commune to her. An old ample-bodied man who happens to handle a variety of duties in maintaining the Academy and beyond.

"Excus' me, Miss Jinjur?" he said to her with his typical compassion tainted with a Mockney accent.

Harriet doesn't even look at him, "Not now, Bert." She didn't sound too startled either, which became a common occurrence since he has the courtesy to pop out of nowhere. Maybe she's gotten used to Bert's teleportation skills, but really, she has no energy to talk to anybody around here.

"Well, dere's not gonna e-nuff time befor' de show starts..."

Harriet lets out a heavy sigh and turns to Bert, "Anything you wanna get off your chest then?"

"Nofing major, I as'ur' yew," said Bert. "I was jus' checkin' in ta see 'ow yewr firs' Hal'oween in de Academy was farin'."

"Nothing major," Harriet parrots back to him. "But seriously, it's been a normal day so far. I'd be more relieved if I'm not expecting an ax-murderer to come out of nowhere."

Bert's eyes shot up, "'Arriet!"

"Relax, Bert. It's not like I'm really expecting," Harriet smirked. "But still..." She faces the far end of the room where Miss Hazelnut and the others usually make their announcements. "I've got a feeling they're planning something gruesome for us."