Guarded Light

The Basics ~ Chapter 2

I wake up to the sound of Cara screaming through the dorm. "BREAKFAST! BACON!" That last word was all I needed to bolt outside of my room, trip down the stairs, and get the first piece of bacon in the meeting room. "Yahoo! BACON!" I do a little victory pose. 

"You don't have to be so dramatic." Ashi walks behind me, groggy, followed by Mideli, full of bed head, purple today. "Do you change your hair colour everyday? It looks really pretty today." Mideli just looked confounded, "Do I dwa?" She yawns, "Something bout my hair right? Yeah. what was the question again?" 

I decided I'd ask again later. I don't think she is in the right mindset for 20 questions, "Never mind. I'm going to go get ready. Do we have any Earl Grey tea?" Cara stopped cooking the bacon, and opened up a cabinet. "If we do, it'll be in there. I know for sure we have green, but I'm not sure about Earl Grey." 

I walk over to the cabinet , and inside was boxes upon boxes of teas. "You guys preparing for the caffeine apocalypse or something? What's up with the massive tea hoard?" Kais walked in, pushed me aside, and grabbed the Lady Grey tea. She shuffled to another cabinet, pulled out an oven kettle, and put the tea bag inside. 

"Morning Kais. How are you?" Kais turned around like on a wheel, and then she growled. She looked like a demon sent from her room. I started to hide behind Cara. "Lesson learned. Don't talk to Kais in the morning." "Do you understand the massive tea collection yet? It keeps the monster in Kais tame until next morning." Cara chuckled. "Once she has had her daily tea, she's really sweet. Ask her later for some Earl Grey. Go get ready for school, I'll finish up breakfast."

 I ducked out of the kitchen, walked up to my room, and played a game of 'Find your clothes!' with the boxes of my things. I never have to worry about make-up. I don't like wearing it anyway. I also had to find my brush. Not gonna happen today, I'll borrow one from Ashi. She seems like the most likely person to help me out. Which room was hers though. 

I'm dressed for school, so I head back down to the meeting room, Mideli was sitting on the couch. "Mornin! You awake yet?" She muttered something, I don't think it was meant to mean anything, I moved back to the kitchen. Cara was still there, but Kais turned from demon to angel in a snap. 

"Where did Ashi go?" Cara shrugged her shoulders, "To her room I believe. I made a room chart for you, so that you knew who's room was who's." I nodded, "Thanks. Do you know if we have any Earl Grey tea?" Kais sat for a minute, then nodded. "Yeah, middle shelf, top right box. Whilst you are at it, could you make an entire pot. I know Mideli loves Earl Grey. Don't add ANYTHING to it." 

That was a majority of my morning, waiting for food, and getting ready. Next. Get to school. I had an idea to learn more about this town, and it might as well start in the class that made me think this place was strange. So, that means gym class once more. I'm worried that I might get caught this time, but this time it was different. I knew what I was doing. I might not be able to ask anyone about it, but if I can piece it together myself, then I don't have to upset anyone. 

Today is another swim day. I'm thinking that this is divided up into sections, and this is the one I happened to get. I finished getting ready early, so that I could be able to jump up at any moment. Just like yesterday, there was thunk. I raced to the curtain, and peeled it back slowly. This time, the kid actually looked scared. He was sitting by his locker, but the bully wasn't there, yet. It turns out the kid shut his locker. I sit and watch anyway. I heard the door slam, and I watched the kid. He started to glow once more. He pulled a jacket out of his locker and put it on. He still glowed through the jacket, but it wasn't as vibrant. He appeared to be even worse than before the door had shut. He was trying to hide, but I don't think it was possible for him. If the idea of the light is to show the victim, then it's working well. I tried to watch the bully. If I couldn't cross over myself, then I'd have to help the kid. I tried to tell him to hide in a locker, but I was too late. The bully found the kid. "So, um, about yesterday." The kid curled up into a ball. "Don't, not now." The bully grabbed the kid's jacket. "You started this!" "And? I can't fix this now. Besides you had to agree to have it continue. It's not my fault alone." The bully sighed. "...You're right, but still can you explain something to me?" He looked up, "I at least should know why they picked me and not someone more relatable to you." "That I can't say, I wish I could." The kid uncurled from his armadillo state. "Could you at least get rid of the damn glow?" "Wear dark things." "So you can't." "Did you NOT pay attention when they told us about these things? The glow I can't get rid, though I really wish I could." I wanted to say something, but I had no words. I still don't understand anything. I gave up for the day, or at least, the time before. If I wanted to figure out anything, I'd have to ask, which was something I really wanted to avoid doing. I'll ask the kid if I can, he seems to know more on the subject. I close the curtain, and left the locker room. As for the rest of day, I waited until I got to the dorm. It turns out that Kais was there before me. She was sitting on the couch reading a book."What are you reading?" She doesn't reply. The sun shines through the window, hitting her book cover, it gives of a bright glare. I decide to sit on the couch with her. I grab the blanket hanging on the back of the couch and wrapped it around me. I might as well, its cold, and I don't want to unpack. Kais notices me and waves faintly, her hand on the place she stopped. "Aren't you home early?" "Could ask the same about you. I haven't joined any clubs yet so I came straight home." She stopped me, and then held her finger to her mouth. The room goes silent before I hear it. A far off sound of a gun being fired. "Go to your room and shut the blinds. Now." She shuts her book and runs up the stairs. I take the blanket with me and jump up. I fumble to find my key in my pocket and run upstairs. I charge to my door, and I hear something shatter downstairs. I nearly scream before I cover my mouth. I need to hide. I open the door, and lock it. The curtains were closed when I got there. I didn't turn on the light. Instead, I grabbed my phone and turned on its flashlight. I decided to hide in the closet, it was enclosed, had no windows, and I could stay unnoticed, hopefully. I hear footsteps coming up the stairs, and someone pound on the door. I stopped breathing until the footsteps walked back down the stairs, and out the back door. I hear two gunshots outside of the dorm, a mixture of voices, and yelling. It started to fade. I step out of the closet, and out of my room. I was greeted by a grab on my shoulders, then fell into a hug. "Are you okay?" It was Kais, "I'm so sorry. I didn't to tell you this," She was sobbing into my shoulder, her hair covered her face, "I'm sorry you had to go through that. It doesn't happen usually."I wrapped my hands around her back, and rubbed her shoulders. She stopped talking for a while. I knew I was alright, but was she? Kais had been so worried about me that she didn't notice a few cuts on her arm. I walked her down to the couch and saw the front window was shattered. I had her sit on the couch as I went to go find something to cover her arm. First place I checked was my room. I knew I had a first aid kit somewhere with my stuff, but I could find it. I grab a few damp paper towels and head back down. Kais had lied down with a blank expression. That startled me, she looked like a doll thrown across the room, her red hair was in a mess, her eyes tired but unblinking. She saw me and sat up, she faked a smile, now I know when she is really upset. "I'm sorry about earlier, I'm okay now." "But you have cuts on your arm, don't you want to cover them?" She shrugged, "I'll just wash them, thanks." The day had gone by, and now it was getting darker. Where were the other girls? "Shouldn't the others be home soon? They've been away for a while." She brings her hand to her mouth to ponder, "I wouldn't know, they should be here, Cara especially. She's not in any clubs that last this late. I'll call her." She pulls out her phone and stands up, I hear her talk to Cara, she mutters and hangs up the phone. "Well, it turns out she went to get food today. She will be home soon." I hear the shutters on the back door rattle. "Hellooo! I'm home!" I hear Ashi call out and put her keys on the rack. She opens the door to the meeting room. "How was your-" She notices the shattered window. "No! What happened, please don't tell me it was a- " She saw I was there, and looked at Kais, she nods softly. "Oh no. When" "Soon after school ended." "How long?" Kais looks at her watch, "Ten minutes max. The only thing that was damaged was the window." Ashi looks around, "You sure? What about you? Did you get hurt?" Kais lifted her hands and turned them. "Oh, Kais! You have to tell me that!" She turns to me, "Are you hurt anywhere?" I shake my head. Ashi leaves to her room. "You know, I should tell you what that was." Yes, answers! "Not now though. I don't think you would understand everything." Should have expected that. Ashi walks back down with a tarp, "Can you help me put this over the window. That way, it won't be cold until it's fixed. I've called the shop, they can install it tomorrow." I get up to hold the tarp over the place where the window should be, Ashi unrolls some duct tape and tapes the sides down. "Good as new, except not transparent." I think it's time I start my unpacking and homework. I depart from the two and tell them to say hi to Cara and Mideli when they come back. My door is unlocked when I get there, I forgot to lock it again when Kais came up to me. I open all of my boxes and started to decorate. After I decorated, I found all of my clothes and put them into the closet. I got my hairbrush and stuff into a box and walked over to the bathroom to put it down. I walk back up, all of my things were unpacked, so I tried to do all of my homework, but I fell asleep in the middle of it.