Midnight City

Chapter Seventeen

I was rendered speechless. My mouth kept falling open and I was absolutely sure I looked like a gold fish. One year in science we were given a gold fish to look after and had to see how the pH levels and temperature affected them. Wyatt and I had a black googly eyed one, and it was fair to say that our fish didn't live to its full life expectancy. We had to make the water more acidic and our googly eyed fish whom we'd cleverly named Goggles lay on the bottom of the tank gasping. Wyatt and I had always felt really cruel and often refused to take part, in which case Mentor Stephen would use our fish, so we decided that we would just do the least damage possible.

So that was what I looked like, I looked like Goggles in an acidic tank.

I let go of Avery's hand and stood slowly backed away from him in shock.

'Magdalene, I'm sorry-' Avery's eyes searched my face, he looked guilty like he had done something wrong, well he had. Keeping this from me, like I didn't have the right to know.

I shook my head and ran out of the room. It was stupid, and I should have handled it better, but at that present point in time, all I could think about was running.

So I ran.

And ran.

My bare feet slapped on the lino floors as I tore around the base, trying to distance myself from Avery. I headed towards the classrooms and slipped into the art room. It was dark because I hadn't turned the lights on, and the blinds were down over the window. My hip smacked into the corner of a table and it felt like I had been stabbed. I muttered some incoherent curse and shut myself in the supply closet. I sat on a stack of paper and was surrounded by small boxes of acrylic and oil paints. I rested my face in my hands and tried to sort out the jumble of thoughts that were sprinting through my head like Fidelia on race day. Race day was really just a day that Nestor and Charline organised once and the winner from each race got the loser's desert or something along those lines. I refused to take part, whereas Fidelia jumped at the chance and ended up winning the girls race and coming second in the boys' race. She was so ecstatic and I remembered how proud I was of her. 

I thought about Fidelia, and how tight our friendship was. She would tell me absolutely anything. I felt like I was going behind her back, keeping secrets from her. But if I told her, then I would obviously tell Kermit too, and then Kermit sleep talked and Tadpole might find out, and it was all just such a mess. I knew  I had to tell Fiddy, she would kill me if she found out I was keeping this all from her, but what if it wasn't safe to tell her. 

What if I told her, and she was put in danger. That alone was enough to make me want to lock all of my secrets into a small dark room with a lock and a key, which I would swallow. 

My thoughts were rudely interrupted by a knocking at the door.

'Mags, please open the door. I can explain everything.' Avery begged.

I sat quietly; hoping that he would think I wasn't hiding in the art cupboard, how did he even know I was in there anyway?

'I know you're in there, don't pretend like you are not.' Avery's frustrated voice was muffled by the door. I could picture him running his fingers through his hair.

'Please, I just need some time to think things over.' I was disgusted at how weak my voice sounded.

'Magdalene, you have been in there for two hours.' What? I had barely even sat down.

'No I haven't.' I whispered stubbornly.

'Please come out.'

I stood up and rested my hand on the doorknob. It wasn't locked, so why hadn't he burst in yet? I turned the handle and stepped out, shutting the door to my hideaway.