Zephira - A Winterbury College Novel

Chapter One - Meet Zephira

Her knuckles gleamed white in stark contrast to the rest of her sun kissed fingers and the back of her hand. Focus, focus, focus, she chanted internally. Her head was bowed so that tresses of ebony curls blinded her vision to the left and right of her. The rapid breaths and chants were interrupted by the sound of the cheap hotel room door opening, and the unforgiving strip light from the corridor spilled in displaying threadbare, tired furnishings inside the room.

"Everything is in the car, we're ready to go."

Zephira ignored the monotone voice travelling from the doorway and snapped her head back to glare at her mother. The betrayer. The abandoner. The utter—, her thoughts ceased as Zephira rushed to speak, attempting to maintain an ounce of humility. "So, you're really making me leave?"

Zephira watched her mother flinch at the sound of her voice. Her words didn't appear to have made a blind bit of difference because she continued to glare out the darkened hotel window.

"It's really not my choi––"

Sheer anger propelled her toward her mother. She shrank further into the corner before finally turning to face a fast approaching Zephira. The guy from the doorway stepped forward as though he feared Zephira may actually strike her mother. A damaged pretty little face didn't equal sell out tours, well that's what Ted kept saying every time he looked at her like he wanted to slam his fist into her face.

"Don't give me that bullshit," she seethed, her fists balled at the end of her rod straight arms. She backed off, aware the guy was looming ever closer. The last thing she needed right now was to be held in restraint by an idiot like him.

"It's all your choice."

Zephira's shoulders slumped as she took in her mother's bottom lip, gathered between her teeth and tears glossing her fearful blue eyes. Her mother shook her head slowly.

"The money has all gone, Zephira," her voice but a whisper. "If I don't do this tour, we're both finished."

"But why there, Mom?" Her eyes widened and she craned her neck toward her mothers face as though studying her features may help her understand better. "It's like I'm being committed to an asylum or something. After everything that's happened I could do without being around the loonies and the freaks." She swallowed hard and managed to regain her composure as she hopelessly tried to reason. That's all she seemed to do for the last week since they'd arrived back in her mother's birth country, England. This is where she'd made it as a punk rock singer in her own right before taking a back seat to her father's singing career. The mere question escaping her lips for what must have been the hundredth time seemed to veil her mother's eyes, her head turned back to face the murky grey September day and she was lost to her once more. There was no answer. Zephira knew she was condemned to whatever that place was going to bring her.

For the first few days of their visit they'd stayed at her grandmother's house. That's when the letter had arrived. None of this school business had been personally explained to her. She'd seen the whole thing unfold in her grandmother's kitchen from whatever those dreams, visions, nightmares, hellish inflictions were to be classed as.

Her mother had peered down at a courier delivered, thick creamy envelope embellished with a grand coat of arms of purple and gold with angels wings flowing from each side in the top left hand corner. The coat of arms was a thing of beauty, but what it meant was nothing short of grotesque to her.

Zephira's grandmother had accepted delivery of the wretched envelope and slid it across the kitchen table as soon as her mother had sat down that morning. She'd watched the both of them as though she was occupying the seat between them, unable to input or respond to the conversation they were having about her, ghostlike, unseen and unheard. Her mother had carefully peeled the envelope open avoiding Zephira's grandmother's prying gaze as she scanned the page, her frown deepening as her eyes flew from left to right.