Hiraeth

Chapter 10

Samara Shaw

The room went eerily quiet. No one said anything after I yelled and the girl, who used to be right in front of me, had taken a few steps away from me. Her face was stricken in fear but not as much as Ceris' whose eyes had gone a little watery. Shock was evident on Vince's face but he looked less frightened than the rest. Although, they all looked surprised by my sudden outburst,  I was the most frightened.

I didn't understand what I said or why I said it. The only languages I knew were English, Spanish, French, Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo and Arabic. The words I said were not any of those neither was it any I'd heard of or understood. They flew out of my mouth and for that second, it felt like I knew exactly what I was saying and the next, it felt like what I said made no sense at all. I could only describe it to be something else making use of my body but that was a ridiculous thought, there was no such thing as that.

However, it seemed what I said made sense to them. If it wasn't, she would've used it as an advantage to make fun of me but instead, it made her frightened. That was the moment I realised Thorne Academy had more effect on me than just following strict rules and severe punishments. Maybe I wasn't thinking much about the fact the people there were not mentally deranged but strange in their look and lifestyle. For goodness sake, the building was a city big, how was it even possible?

If things were normal, it was meant to be under the government's supervision and the public would have known about it. Even if they didn't, having pale green skin or elf ears was practically impossible. I'd met a lot of people and none of them looked that way, these were paranormal creatures and knowing that, I still didn't mind. I didn't even think about it but speaking a language I didn't know or understand? That was even worse, it meant whatever was in the school was beginning to affect me too.

"I'm sorry"

The tension in the room was unbearable so I stood up and took my leave. I broke my promise by leaving Ceris behind but she did not follow me either so I assumed it was her choice to stay. I walked through the passageway with my legs shivering and my heart thumping fast in fear. It took about five minutes before I finally made it out to the dining hall where everything looked and felt as normal as it was before. I had just my head out when I spotted Lucy on the same table she ate breakfast and with no other person I knew, she was the my only option. I knew whatever I would say would get an 'I don't care' reply but regardless, she was the only person I could confide in at that moment.

The walk to her seat was just not frightening because of what had happened but also because of what I thought people would think with the look on my face or with the way I walked like I had seen a ghost. I got lucky and only got a few stares, everyone was probably already used to me and also, the people there were not like the ones I grew up knowing. When I was younger, I used to get a lot of stares from both men and women. Men because they simply adored me and women because they would search for something they found imperfect. None of the people there paid much attention to me or cared about how I looked and that one the one thing that made it better than home.

She was chewing on meat when I pulled out a chair in front of her. Immediately she noticed my presence, she let out a long sigh "What are you doing here?"

"Staying with my roommate and friend, is that a problem?"

"To me, of course. At least you're not here with your friend"

"Her name is Ceris and she's with Vince"

"Vince invited her? That's a surprise"

"It's also a surprise you don't refer to him as Lord Vince"

"He doesn't deserve that much respect from me or any at all"

"I see." With the way it looked, I didn't think anyone would deserve so much respect from Lucy. She didn't look like someone to care about people's feelings or obediently follow the rules. The few hours I had spent knowing her was enough to prove it. "Anyways, he invited both of us and something weird happened so I had to leave. Can I talk to you about it?"