Witching Hour (complete)

(1) Just another day

Ugh, just another day at school. Sad enough it has to be a rainy winter's day too. I just want to go home and sleep all day, but instead I'm sitting in a sweater in an overheated classroom trying to make sense of the books in front of me. Whoever thought of making algebra a school subject should be admitted into a mental hospital. I just don't get it. This book might as well just be filled with spells instead of formulas if you ask me. Cos here, sin there, blablabla. Just five more minutes and I can get the hell out of here.

'Alana?' Wait, who said my name? 

'Alana?' Oh no, the teacher.

'Yes miss?' I reply. 

'Could you stay for a few minutes after class? I need to discuss some things with you,' she answers.
No no no noooo, I don't want to stay, nope.

'I will stay.' I say. Why? What did I do this time? My nerves are playing with me when the bell rings. I pack my bag very slowly, hoping to buy some time before I have to go face Miss Gretcher. When I am finished packing, I walk to the teachers desk and sit down in front of it.

'So you wanted to speak with me, Miss,'

'Yes, I wanted to talk about your grades for algebra. I checked your test and it was an insufficient. If you continue like this you will get another red grade on your transcript. Maybe it is time for tutoring?' 

'Another insufficient?' No, not true, it is a sufficient, I need a sufficient. If I get another insufficient on my report card I'll be dead. I already got two, no need for another. 

'Sorry, but yes,'

'Oh okay, I will look into tutoring. I hope next chapter will be better for me. The last one was really hard,' I say.

'Okay, well, I am worried about you, Alana,' she says. 'You seem so far away in your mind and while you were so good at school your grades are running down the hill. Is everything okay?'
She can't notice, she may not know it. 

'Yes, everything is okay, just having a hard time,'

'Fine then, that was it, I'll set you free before you miss your next class,' 

'Thanks, bye,'

'Bye, '

How many teachers would have seen something? Did they already call my grandmother? I really hope not, if they called I won't be at school for at least a week. Well, need to hurry up to get to my Latin class before I'm too late, I don't want to mess up Latin. I look up to a clock on the wall and the realisation hits me: I only have a minute left to get across the building to my Latin class. I run through the halls, people are looking weird at me, but I don't care. Everyone thought that already of me anyway.

The bell rings when I step through the door, nailed it. My Latin teacher frowns when I walk in. Sadly enough for him I'm on time, so he can't say a thing. I know how much he hates that, and secretly I enjoy it when I walk past him and say hello.

Later that day:

'I'm home!'
I shout when I walk into the hall. I pant while I hang up my jacket and kick off my shoes. Cycling nine kilometers with headwind isn't an easy task, but biking home slow and being too late would be worse. Wait no, no kicking my shoes around, they must be placed nicely in the shoerack. I place my bag on the stairs. My grandmother comes walking down the stairs, straight to me. Her face screams I am in trouble. I try to turn around and get out without looking suspicious, but she calls me back. When she stops walking towards me, she stands so close to me I can feel her breath on my skin.

Despite the fact that she is shorter than me, she is extremely intimidating and I believe she enjoys that kind of power. Slowly, she checks me out from head to toe before she starts speaking.

'So, school called,'
I just nod while I stand there shaking on my legs, but I need to give a straight face. My fear will only feed her anger. I look at her face and see her controlling her anger. Such a time bomb inside her can't be good. It could explode any minute and if it did it could kill me.

'They said you got another insufficiant and they are worried about your mental state. They say you are really absent in class lately,' she continues.

Yep, it's true then. Suddenly she gets a leather belt out of her pocket and starts hitting me. With every hit I keep silent, but her grin gets bigger and bigger. I sink to the ground in agony, but she still continues. I don't know how long she hit me, but when she stops I'm broken. I sit on my knees on the ground, protecting my head with my arms. But no more beating comes. I look up, she is towering above me. Somewhere behind that hard mask of her I can see something breaking. Her stone grey eyes don't grin anymore, but look angry.

'Go to your room!'
She screams,
'I don't want to see your ugly face. This whole situation is your fault and you know it!'
I run to my room and quietly close the door. I hear her saying she wanted my sister instead of me. I want to slam with the door, slam it so hard it falls out the wall. But that would get me another beating.

How I wish granpa Johny was still alive. When I was forced to live with my grandparents because my parents died, granpa always managed to keep grandmother Elizabeth from hurting me. When he past half a year ago my grandmother was free to do anything with me. I hit my cushion with my fists until I fall down crying and bury my face in it. I miss my little sister so much. The memories of us together make me both sad and happy.

We were really close, but our parents decided our guardians would be separate if needed, and they were needed. But I always knew Rose was grandmother's favorite. But when my parents died, she got me instead of Rose and she blames me for it all. The accident, me, granpa's death and for what else.

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Hey all, thank you for reading. This is the first time writing for me so some tips and tricks are very welcome.
If you read this, I am glad you made it so far, and hope you would like to read the other parts I have coming up.

Have a lovely day,
Me