~ Skyhawk ~
~ 1,419 words ~
"Looking in the mirror, I barely recognised the person staring back."
I had changed. If I had been here a few days ago, I might have styled my hair in a braid to make myself look prettier but I wasn't her anymore so my hair hung in untamed, dull blonde strands. Not only did I look new, I felt new. So I stood there for a few minutes, looking in the mirror and accepting that I was now different than before.
A loud bang, coming from downstairs, reached my ears but I decided to stay a few more seconds.
I knew who was at the door.I knew they were coming to take me away. And I knew I had to go. Putting the toothbrush down, I walked calmly out of the bathroom and flicked the light off. The floorboards squeaked, as they always did, when I wandered towards the front door. My hands didn’t shake as I thought they would. This is the new me, I reminded myself.
"Hello Miss, I hoped you were informed of our arrival?" A man in a dark black suit stood outside. I nodded once. "Good and I also hope that you understand it is just protocol that we cannot tell you where you are going." I nodded again. His voice was emotionless and matched his appearance. I saw that not a single inch of skin could be seen on the man, apart from his face which didn't really look like skin at all. He was so pale, that I thought if I reached out to touch his face, my hand would go right through him, like a ghost. "Then, let's get on our way." He smiled and I realised that even his smile was unexpressive. I locked the door and walked up to one of the three black cars parked on the street. The man opened the door for me but before I slid in, I spoke for the first time since he had seen the man. "Sorry, what is your name?" I asked.
The man hesitated, "I'm afraid, like most things, that's classified at the moment." I narrowed my eyes then jumped in before he slammed the door shut.
After about an hour I decided to try the facilities out in the car. "Excuse me do you have Ed Sheeran's new album?" I looked at the mirror at the same time the chauffeur did and I saw his mouth curl up into a smile. "Of course, we have everything." He replied, "Actually, you're the first person to not ask for sweets or chocolate." He said the last sentence with disgust. I suppose he had, had enough of kids stuffing their faces with food and spilling most of it on the leather seats in the car. "I wouldn't want to be a nuisance." I spoke simply whilst returning the smile and looking out of the window again. We must have travelled a long way. Not only was it taking ages to get wherever we were going, we were driving through forests and moorland, nothing like back at home. The trees kept flying past and soon my eyelids were lowering and I was drifting off.
When I woke up, it was dark outside. I rolled down the window and inhaled the cold and slight salty air. As the car stopped, an enormous brightly lit golden gate loomed ahead of us. The chauffeur, who had insisted on me calling him Will, tapped some numbers into the key pad at the side of the gate. "Come in then." A voice boomed and instantly the gleaming gates slid open and the car crept forward. It took a few more minutes to reach the actual building but when we did arrive it looked as if everyone was asleep. All but one building had lights on in the windows. Will opened the main door for me and I wasn't hit with...silence. Being the girl from yesterday, I expected a warm welcome but I wasn't her. Instead of a lobby full of people I was greeted by three girls, each of them giggling.
"OMG!" One of them squealed.
"YAY!" The girl next to her laughed.
"AWESOME!" The last girl commented.
"NEW GIRL!" The chorused pulling me into an enormous hug.
"Stop this at once ladies!" A women, wearing very old-fashioned clothes shrieked from the top of a wide set of stairs. The 'ladies' were stunned into silence. Once the women had darted off the last step, she spoke again, "Hello, what a pleasure it is to meet you. My name is Miss Hawthorn and welcome." I could tell she had rehearsed those lines.
"Excuse me but where am I?" I asked nervously. Miss Hawthorn chuckled and I realised that even if she laughed for 10 minute straight, her voice would still sound posh.
"Your new school..for an academy which prepares young girls and young boys for their careers in adulthood." That also rolled off her tongue easily. Maybe the girl I used to be would've gasped and been completely shocked but I know I'm not her so instead my reaction was...in fact.. calm. Like I had expected this.
Walking up the tiny stairs in the common room, the words 'cute' and 'boy' hit me. I heaved my bags into the only room with girls in it and met my three roommates. "Hi..." I started awkwardly, fidgeting with a zip on my suitcase. I'd seen them last night but we hadn't had time to get to know each other before going to bed.
"HEY!" They all screamed together before giving me the most suffocating but adorable hug ever. The girls introduced themselves. Bella was the girl with hazel coloured hair, Hermione was the one with golden hair and Tris had dirty blonde hair like me.
"Tris?" I asked, "Like Beatrice from Divergent?"
She nodded enthusiastically, "FINALLY, someone gets it!" I laughed and Bella turned to me.
"Guess where I got my name from?" I furrowed my eyebrows, raking my brain for any memory of a Bella. "I'll give you a clue, my last name is Swan!" She rubbed her eyelid which dislodged a bit of her mascara. I was surprised at the fact that all of them were wearing a full face of makeup. It looked as though they were about to waltz off to a ball.
"Oh! Twilight! Bella Swan from Twilight!" I gasped.
"And let me guess Hermione in Harry Potter?" Hermione nodded, bouncing on the bed. We all giggled.
I unpacked my bags which were mainly just full of clothes. All my belongings were still in my house, I doubted that I would ever see them again. They would soon be incased in a layer of dust.
The common room was deserted when crept onto one of the sofas at half nine. I couldn't sleep because I couldn't stop thinking. What was this school? Why had I been taken here? Suddenly the door to the room flung open and a couple of boys waltzed in. One of them stopped and turned to me. "Hi, you're the new girl right?" His voice was sweet and gentle and I felt lulled by his presence. I put those thought behind me. If I wasn't the person I was now, I would have squished up next to him on the sofa and gazed into his eyes dreamily. I might have flirted with him and played 'hard to get'. But I wasn't her so I didn't.
"Yes, I'm Ellen." I murmured half-heartedly introducing myself. My eyes found themselves gazing back into the roaring fires. The flames licked up the wood and the warmth it was giving off was nearly unbearable.
"That's a nice name." He complemented, slowly wandering over to me and then sitting down. “I’m Zach,” He laughed.
"Where am I?" I sighed angrily, rocking my head back and forth in frustration. I pulled my knees to my head and tucked my toes onto the sofa.
"In an academy which prepares young girls and young boys for their careers in adulthood," The sentence rolled easily off his tongue but left me more confused. He smirked.
“What! What is this place?" My legs were cramped now but I didn't move them. He stopped grinning, straightened up and then stood up. Facing me, his voice turned serious yet I could still see a twinkle of amusement in his eyes. He spoke,
"I've been here three years and I still don't think I can answer that question."