Scrape

1. Unrest

I glanced up briefly at the bright blue sky above the building's shadow. Trees impaled the hard ground behind me. The wind floated, guiding my senses into alert.

The apartment block was only around five metres away, yet it felt untouchable within its personal decay. I exhaled softly, tilting my head back to encompass the large building. It was always the same.
Grime gripped to the concrete foundations and ivy twisted its way between broken stone, a jet of green among pallid grey walls. Once, it had probably housed around 200 civilians. Today, it only sheltered me and a small, square pool off to my right.

I stepped backwards swiftly until I had taken myself out from underneath its gloomy shadow. I then turned my back on it. The apartment began blurring the further away I strode, and then began to fade into obscurity. I checked my right hand; there was no trace of the letter, "A," I had drawn onto it that day in black marker. The letter stood for Alice, which was my name.

I waited on a dusty embankment to wake up. It was taking slightly longer than usual, so I treated my eyes to one last look at the concrete graveyard behind me. The abandoned building reflected sorrow, wind whistling through broken doors and windows. When it reached me, it ruffled my burghundy hair tenderly, untangling it from my pale shoulders. For some reason, it made me hesitant; I was nostalgic of a time when this place had been bustling, a time that I had never witnessed myself.

Normally, I wouldn't have such an emotional attachment to my surroundings, even though I spent my dreams lucid. I took a deep breath, and then dedicated my time to staring at a dead tree in the opposite direction. Its branches were like skeleton fingers, beckoning me to stand with it in solitude. I resisted its call, and closed my eyes.

Slowly, I felt the dream fade around me. I was finally waking up.

***

Beep, beep, beeeeeeep, beep, beee-
The alarm clunked onto my head as I slammed my fist down too hard into it, just willing the noise to silence. I supposed that another dream of the same variation meant nothing to anyone, especially not me. It had been a solid 17 years of torment to me; having to learn to become lucid was a must to spice up my uninteresting, barren dreamlands.

"Ughhhhhhh," I groaned like a disgruntled yeti. Time to get up. The alarm clock read 8AM; too late to make it in time for breakfast. I had so many regrets from moving out of my home 3 months ago and into this specialised academy, and not being able keep the time was one of them. However, dressing quickly had always been my fortè, and so within 20 minutes I had dressed myself in my academy's uniform, pulled my hair back into a bun and applied some black eyeliner to my pale, almond-shaped green eyes.

I stood in front of the mirror, contemplating my reflection. I was not ugly, but I wouldn't be called beautiful by any means. Pretty; pretty was a term that could be used when describing me. It was fitting, I believed, as my personality was instead often what caught people's eyes.
"Hello, I'm Alice," I practiced.

This was my first day at the academy, so a good impression was desirable.

"Hello, I'm Alice."

Someone mimicked me, teasing me. I was still looking into the mirror, and watched as a male walked up behind me and spoke over my shoulder. I was astonished that anyone had found a way to sneak into my room, as I had a habit of locking my door.  I met eyes with him, glaring him down. Inside, I was quivering silently in mortification.

"Who the hell are you?" I demanded.

Upon turning, he was still in the room with me; I wasn't hallucinating. I studied his features carefully. A handsome complexion, I had to admit; he had soft blonde hair, with contrasting eyes so dark they were almost black. I knew that was impossible, though; they must've been brown. He took the time to look my body up and down keenly before responding; he acted like he was a predator and I was tasty-looking  prey.

"Now, now, kitten," he purred alluringly, "No need to bite me, I was just seeing who I have to share a dorm with." Obviously he wasn't familiar with the concept of privacy.

"I said: who are you?"

My voice was now menacingly quiet. He picked up on it immediately.

"My name? Sebastian. But that's not important; all that's important is that you remember my face. I'll surely remember yours, kitty."

He prowled around my room, picking up objects and placing them down with little satisfaction. Why was this happening to me?! I'd only just arrived here yesterday evening for God's sake! He didn't seem to feel at all threatened by me, unlike people at my previous school.

My education was slightly questionable, however. The reason I'd left my old school was due to being kicked out (lets just say I made friends with the wrong girl, and she got me into drugs), but this didn't mean I was willing to go with whatever anyone wanted from me!

I brought my attention back to Sebastian.

"Look; don't call me kitty, okay? And get out of my room. I'm just trying to fit in here, and you're making it hard for me to not beat you half to death and get expelled again! You should be ashamed, only perverts do thing like th-"

I carried on ranting to him even as we reached the door and I grabbed the key from the small shelf to the left of my door, unlocked it, shoved him out into the hallway and shut it right in his smug face.

"So you got expelled from your last school? Interesting. Make sure you're not late for class, I don't want my new toy getting in trouble," he mocked, his voice muffled through the door.

I didn't respond to his obvious attempt to rile me up and instead ignored him, until I could hear his retreating footsteps creaking on the old wooden floor in the hallway. It was then that I remembered the key to my door in my palm.

Wait. I'd unlocked my door? Cold realization came over me as I checked my room, only to see a breeze slowly part my window's curtains when I turned around. I was placed on the fourth floor, so I doubted it was open. I checked, and it was in fact open. What a freak! If I could help it, I would avoid him until my last breath. Until then, locking my window as well as my door seemed viable. I checked my belongings. All there. I then arranged my bed as a last-ditch attempt to clean my room. My alarm clock was underneath my pillow. It read:

8:40AM.

I was definitely going to be late for my first day.

********
So this is my first novel-writing attempt, I hope you guys who read it enjoy it!
I will be updating pretty much every week after the set first 10 chapters, but please be patient with me as I am a busy A-level student!
<3