Truly Twisted (Floyd Leech x OC)

New Low

Ophelia followed the headmage out of the castle, down the stone street until they came to a stop in front of an abandoned house. It truly looked like a haunted house, a creaking metal gate included.

She didn't get a chance to make a comment as the headmage began talking again. "Isn't it delightful? Right, scoot inside now. There you go," he said as he pushed her into the rickety home.

She couldn't believe her eyes. There was broken furniture under the nearly foot thick layer of dust. The curtains had all but rotted away and there were holes in the ceiling. Old pictures hung crooked on the walls, some possibly bigger than her. There was a village of cobwebs housing possibly hundreds of spiders. The floors creaked with each step. This was a nightmare.

"Couldn't you just assign me to a dorm?" She asked.

He gave her a disapproving look as he put his hands on his hips, "That would break school tradition."

"I bet if I could use magic, you'd put me somewhere," she grumbled.

"Ah, but if you could use magic, you wouldn't be here." Looking around, he seemed unconcerned with any of the negative features, "This should keep the elements at bay for the time being. Now, I should return to my research. Do try to find a way to busy yourself." He smiled at her, "But don't let me catch you wandering the campus! Ta!"

She crossed her arms over her chest, frowning as a plume of dust formed when he closed the door. "He could have left something to clean this place with."

Something hit the window. Walking to the large window in the lounge area she watched as dark clouds began to cry. It was poetic.

Now that she was alone with her thoughts, all she wanted to do was cry. It wasn't a homesickness that made her heart ache, but fear. Of course she was afraid. In a world where magic exists, she was alone. Vacant, the mirror had said. Utterly and completely alone, and that was a heavier weight than she had ever felt. And so, her tears fell as she walked through the dorm. Much to her surprise, she found a broom quite possibly older than her. A broom was a broom, and that meant at least the floor could be cleaned.

She didn't even second guess how she managed to find cleaning supplies at any given moment. Her mind was off, remembering where she was supposed to be, trying to not focus on where she was.

She took bits of broken furniture and tossed them into the fireplace. Somehow, a box of matches had appeared, so she swiped one and tossed it in. With the fire going, she felt a bit more at ease.

She frowned at the wet spots on the floor, but there was no helping it. She only had a few buckets and bowls and cracked cups to catch the water. She had strategically placed those in the only room that looked like it could be lived in.

"GWAH! It's pouring out there!" Someone yelled as they slammed the door.

Ophelia looked over her shoulder as she finished haphazardly attaching a timeworn curtain with a rusty nail to the ceiling to help keep the rain out. She had pushed the refrigerator onto a moldy rug and was pulling it everywhere, then stacked chairs and other dangerous things on top of the fridge and was using a knob from a dresser as a hammer.

"It's you!" The cat yelled when he saw her at the top of the junk pile. She nearly fell off as the cat laughed, "You look like a bat that got blasted by a water gun! As if I wouldn't just sneak back onto campus the second I escaped pryin' eyes. You all got no idea what I'm capable of! I ain't givin' up on goin' here just 'cause I got kicked out one measly ol' time. And if you think otherwise, you don't know Grim!"

With the cat's monologue done, Ophelia climbed down, landing none too gracefully on a broken couch and sitting down. "I must admit, your determination is commendable."