Guarded Light

The Curse ~ Chapter 1

It's a strange place to start, but not as strange as this town. I'm new in the town of Heartace, England. If it helps, my name is Deia; I'm a dark brown haired, tall-ish student. I just transferred to a boarding school, Heartace High School, that accepts only the best of the best from every corner of the world. Every student has their own trait or 'Talent' from their country that makes this place unique. I was scouted because I am a prodigy in science and engineering. I'm a freshman right now.

Let me tell you the weirdest thing that has happened to me today. In gym class, we change in the locker room. Yes, there is only one locker room. It's separated in two by a dark black curtain. One side is the girls, and the other, the boys. I was getting ready when I heard a thunk on the other side of the curtain. I drew back the curtain carefully, I didn't want a detention on my first day. So, I pull back the curtain a little to see what was going on. I see a kid with glasses and a kid with I'd say is a school jacket. The guy with the school jacket had his hand wrapped around the kid with glasses' head. The kid with glasses didn't even flinch. I feel bad, this has probably happened many times to him. The room went cold, I shivered. I want to step in and help, but again, I don't want a detention...

Anyway, the jacket kid grins, "Sup, Nerd. Ready for another lesson?" The boy with glasses then looked scared, but the jacket kid stops, and looks down. That is when things get weird. The boy with glasses started to glow, only his chest though. Then jacket boy stutters, he blushes,"...What the-" "...Huh?" Glasses boy gets worried. Then the jacket boy starts to glow as well.

"Why is your...?" "Wait, no... Crap!" "That means we're..." The jacket boy lets go, his face a flame. "OH HELL NO!" They cover their chests, and the glasses boy runs, and I hear a splash. I think he fell into the pool. The jacket boy turns to face me, and I close the curtain as fast as I could. I think he ran as far as he could, until he hit a door.

I sank down to the floor, and then I realized, everyone was staring at me. I was in deep water, literally, we had swimming that day. I hope they don't think I wanted to watch them, well I kinda wanted to, but that was just to figure out what was going on. It turns out that the two I watched didn't get anywhere NEAR each other. In fact, I was right in the middle of the two all class.

I want to know what that was, because I don't think anyone will tell me if I ask. It seems like a touchy subject to everyone here, including those two boys. It also seems that I need to get a physical scheduled, after class. I knew I should have bought a calendar.

I have regular classes all day, and then the only thing I notice is this, people will sit on benches and just watch as people go by. It's really creepy, watching their lonely eyes cross the students walking down the halls. I feel like they are ghosts sometimes, with their statue-like sit, it's like they aren't breathing, dead almost. I've heard things about Apathy Syndrome, maybe those guys have that. I'm scared to talk to them though. Again, I want to know what is up with this town, and I want to figure out how it will play through me.

I get back to my dorm, well, it's supposed to be my new dorm, but the front door is locked. I wasn't given a key to the dorm, I had hoped I would get one upon reaching the faculty office to receive my class list. I need to get in, its getting late, and the streets aren't the best place to be in the dark. I try knocking on the door. No answer. Instead, I call out and knock.

"Hello? May I get in? Heelloo?"

This time, a girl with vibrant blue ombre hair answers, "And, you are, exactly?" and at that point, I blanked. This was one of the first times I was made to introduce myself. I was nervous, not only did I have to introduce myself alone, but this girl felt like one I didn't want to mess with.

"... I'm Deia... The new girl." She stared at me for a spell, then shut the door. I heard whispers on the inside, and then three locks unlocking. One a security chain, and the other two normal locks. The door opened, and only the girl who answered the door appeared. About a minute later, she said,"Well, don't just stand there all fish-eyed. Come in!" there was silence, "Alright..." She turned around, and started to walk away, "You want to know where your room is, right? Follow me."

She headed up a stairway leading to five rooms. She pointed to the one nearest us. "That's my room, don't enter it." She pointed to the one on the far end, "That one is yours. All of your stuff was delivered earlier. Feel free to decorate as much as you like, just, don't paint the walls, OK? We have to clean all of it up after we graduate, so try not to make too much a mess." I nod and walk over to my new room.

This will be where I stay for a while, so I'd better make it feel like as much of a home as I can. My room door is locked as well, and I know this time, there won't be anyone to unlock it. I turn my head to face the girl, but her door slams shut. I could try and pick the lock, but I might lose some hairpins, and probably break the door handle. I'd rather not take my chances in that kind of gamble, I'd rather sleep on the couch that I saw walking in. I'm going to do that, just for tonight until people decide it's time to mope out of bed and face the morning. I really hope there was a blanket on the couch, it's cold here. I think all of my clothes and stuff are in my room. I hope anyway.

I walk down to the meeting area, and I turn on the light. "SURPRISE!!!" And that was when I tripped out of sheer terror, fell on my face, and down the stairs. The girls helped me up, "Sorry, I'm really tired after today." The girl who helped me to my feet held my back, "Whats up? Just tired after you first day here? I hope you can relax with us! I'm Ashi. Wanna sit on the couch?" Ah, a warm welcome, finally. "I guess you know who I am already, and thanks for the offer."

I sit on the couch by Ashi and the blue haired girl, and the other girls run off into another room. I take this chance to look around, I see a sign behind me saying 'Welcome Deia!' and some balloons were tied to the legs of a coffee table in front of the couch. Two chairs sat on the ends of the coffee table.

"You know, I've really been looking forward to your coming ever since we heard you were going to stay with us! I'm sorry I was a little apprehensive earlier, but I hope you and I can get along well! I'm Mideli." She wraps me into a tight hug, and Ashi joins in. I see the other girls walking in backwards. I couldn't see them too well, but they seemed really happy.

Once they turned around, I saw they were holding a two-layer cake, iced with white and blue frosting, it was one of the tiered round cakes, small and quaint. On top of the cake was a lock design. "Thank you so much you guys! This is so sweet." We enjoyed some vanilla cake, laughed over jokes and stories, and then I bit into something hard "Ow!" I think I might have chipped a tooth. I took the fork out of my mouth, and I see a key inside of my slice of cake.

"I thought you might want your room, I wanted to be really creative. Though, I should have warned you about that. I had hoped the picture of a lock would be enough. I made the cake, you know." One of the other girls held up her hand in a peace sign-like motion, "I'm Cara, and she," Cara points to the other girl, "Is the head of this dorm."

She grinned so big, I thought her teeth were a crescent moon, radiant and bright. "I'm Kais, I planned this event, and they helped... Wait. Did you remember to turn off the con-" BOOM! "AH!" I plugged my ears as confetti fluttered down from the back of the couch. "-fetti cannon... Are you OK Deia?" I think I had tears down my checks. I was petrified. "Deia? Hey, can you answer me?"

I feel someone release my hands from my ears, and then rub my back, "Sorry about that Deia, your OK now, there aren't any more loud noises." It took me a while before I got out of shock. "I'm usually happy about surprises, in fact, I love surprises, I just think I had one to many today."

The girls turned to each other, and they looked rather worried. "What happened?" Mideli asked. I looked at her, I felt so tired, I could have fallen straight on my face and slept through a tsunami, and I wouldn't even notice. "Do you mind if we talk about it after school tomorrow? I'm wiped." Ashi nods, "Yeah, sure, maybe you'll feel better after a good night's sleep." I nod, "Thank you so much for the welcome party, I'm sorry it was so short."

Kais waves her hand, "Psh, it's not a big deal, I'm just glad you're here, safe. You might not want to forget your room key though. It's kinda important." I pick up the key from Kais' hand, "Alright guys, it was nice to meet you, good night."

With that, I walk upstairs, to my room, and flop on the door, forgetting its locked, my head thunked against the wood. "Ow..." Grumbling and rubbing my hand against my forehead, I open the door.

It's a royal shade of blue, with my boxes of stuff near a desk by a window. In the other corner, there is a twin bed, with a soft blanket and cover, and a pillow, a really fluffy pillow! First thing that popped into my head was "Soft kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur. Sleepy kitty, happy kitty, purr, purr, purr." Man, I really must be crazy. I didn't even bother to change. I fell right into the bed, and fell asleep.