The Third Reader - The School for Good and Evil

1) Shadow

A face stared at Evelynn through a window.

It caught her by surprise and she stopped to stare back at it, its black eyes were empty and endless, its expression hate-fuelled. She blinked harshly, and now met the reflection of her own face. She'd imagined it, it was only a reflection.

"Lynn!" Evelynn's elder brother yelled at her as her eyes fell away from the window, "Get inside!"

She was too engrossed in the creepy face she hadn't realised the sun had nearly set, villagers had formed a long line around the entrance to the forest, ready to fight off whatever or whoever kidnapped 2 children every 4 years.

It never worked.

Her mother rushed over, cheeks burning red with worry prominent in her features. "Why aren't you inside?! And you still look as pretty as ever! Go and mess yourself up now."

"Don't worry Mum. I won't be chosen. I'm not bad or good enough."

"Yes you are! You are incredibly sweet as much as you deny it and use snarky comments to hide it, now go. I love you."

Evelynn walked away rather reluctantly, reaching her room and locking the door with a huff. Her brother had already hammered wooden boards over the window. She traced a finger along one of them and pulled away in pain, a splinter from the wood had sliced open her finger.

"Oh," she murmured to herself, "how stupid of me."

Evelynn scanned her room, it was plain as usual. Rickety wooden furniture shoved in corners with a few plants and open books scattered around, a half finished drawing at her desk.

Evelynn was going to finish the drawing the next day, because she was 100% certain she wouldn't be chosen. Because Evelynn wasn't good or bad.

She believed that because on some days she would gently remove the bugs from her room and release them from a window. But, if she was in a bad mood she wouldn't hesitate to squash them with a book.

She always fought with her family over silly things, but would love them all the same. And she really could be terribly mean when she wanted to.

She suspected the girl that lived in the graveyard could be taken, Agatha. She felt sorry for Agatha because of what people said behind her back...and to her face. But whenever she approached the girl she'd receive a spit on the ground, which was quite funny, but rude all the same. Agatha's only friend was that pretty princess Sophie girl, maybe she would get chosen too, or kind Belle.

It was a shame really, children snatched from their homes every four years and taken to a school where they were forced to be a villain or a hero, never seeing their families again.

Although Evelynn was so incredibly sure she wouldn't be taken, she still had a slither of doubt as most people would, so decided to get it over with and crawled into bed, holding her duvet tightly to her body.

Torches from outside flickered through the gaps in the wood over her window, enough light to create looming shadows on the walls. Hours later Evelynn's eyes were still wide open, staring at the shadows on the wall.

Don't be silly Lynn, the school master won't want you-

Something across the room caught her attention and her eyes darted to the shape. Did a shadow just move?

A chilling fear crept over her limbs, freezing her to the bed. The shadow grew, coming closer and closer to her window. A crash nearly made her jump out of her skin, terror clawing at her chest, forbidding her to move an inch.