What happened at Beldmount Boarding School?

Interview 2

"Did you know Anne Katherine?" asked Jen as she glanced at an older woman. She drank a full glass of pungent whiskey with a vigorous thirst.

Though it was a warm morning, the room, an antique and pristine library, was gloomy and dump. Jen pushed the navy blue cardigan closer to her body, waiting for the woman to finish her long sip.

"Yes." even with only one word she sounded intoxicated. The lady avoided Jen's eyes, who pretended to write in the notebook, to make her more comfortable. However, the woman seemed more interested in the pink lipstick mark she left on the cup. "We were friends, and we went to the same classes." Her speech was slurry. The glass of whiskey in her hand had not been her first one of the day.

Jen noticed her interest become smaller with the passage of time. Her drink, strong in both smell and taste, occupied the lady's mind in its entirety. Strict and elegant, her pose remained intact no matter how many sips she took. Her clothes were luxurious and her neck had pearls hanging around, forming a gorgeous cascade of sparkling white. With her free hand, the old lady scratched one of her ears, also adorned, but with one big pearl instead.

While Jen continued to wait, the lady's exquisite perfume of dahlias ingrained itself in the walls and clothes, making Jen's nose twist. The woman had achieved what few could, yet beneath all the dazzling and affluence, there was an edge that was strange to Jen. Until the smell of whiskey stroke a heavy string on her heart, turning into a reverberating force through her body. There was a fake surface that covered a deep and sorrowful darkness that persisted in staying hidden by a nonchalant attitude. 

That didn't matter, Jen would uncover it soon enough. All those layers beneath that uncaring exterior would see the light.

"Mrs Woods, can you tell me a little about yourself?" she started small with a shy smile.

For the first time, the woman looked at her, her fake lashes moving at a quick pace. She then began to look around the room, her voice echoing. "I was born in this house. I married in this house and raise my children in these walls. The same for my children. It was and still is a quiet and lucky life. I have been blessed." she said without an expression in her voice, an unsettling void that worried Jen.

"You were not raised in this house?"

The woman quivered her lip and took a sip of whiskey again. "No. Back then it was better to send us children to school. To Beldmount." her voice was stuck on something, nothing that another sip wouldn't solve.

The more she watched the lady, the more Jen wanted to scratch her restless legs.

"So what was school life like? How did you strike a friendship with Anne Katherine?"

Mrs Woods stroke a strange smile, the kind that a person would use to hide a discomfort. As if she was in a rush to get it all done.

"My school life? Pretty common for a boarding school. On most of the days, we enjoyed the calm and uneventful days of Lovegood. The rest... well, when kids, whose lives have been decided by their self-important parents, get a little freedom,  wild things can happen. Never too much though." The smile continued halfway through Mrs Woods face, reflecting on the crystal cup secured in her hands. "Anne was a delightful girl..." her posture went straight and she drank the remaining whiskey. A hard task as her arms shook with struggle. "What happened really was a tragedy."

The old lady pushed strands of her hair back as she tried to remain calm, though failing. Jen understood that whatever had happened at Mrs Woods on that place, had made its mark on her heart. Something she was unable to hide, no matter how much she tried.

"Really?" that question made in polite tones by Jen, ripped Mrs Woods of sullen thoughts. "Because I heard that Anne Katherine was a haughty princess and by the end simply insufferable."

A flash of worry passed through the woman's face. Almost immediately Mrs Woods buried it with her empty glass, pretending to drink the non-existent liquid. She replaced her initial reaction with one of anger and discontentment.

"Nonsense! She loved everyone and everyone loved her. She was the centre of the school." her hands betrayed her by shaking even more violently. Mrs Woods noticed Jen's glance and made sure to put the glass on the vernished small table beside her velvet armchair. "All slander!" she scoffed.

"Right... Then can you explain to me her behaviour in the months leading to the incident? There were reports saying she was acting strange..." Jen sensed a heavy resistance on the lady's part.

She looked everywhere, except to Jen. To the rows upon rows of books stacked on the opposite side of the door. To the garden view on the opposite side, whose noises seemed muffled by the strong glass. And finally, on the haunting ceiling fresco that told the story of angels helping humankind survive the plague. The last was drawn as a black skeleton wearing a bloody scythe. It was a disturbing painting, but right now seemed easier on the eyes for Mrs Woods than Jen's inquisitive stare.

"I don't know..." she replied, her eyes glued on the fresco. "Anne was fine before..." the wall was up, Mrs Woods kept on guarding whatever she knew with a fierce will.

But Jen knew how to break it.

"Could it have been because of Puzuzu?"

Jen got her reaction. Mrs Woods shot a glance at her, her face drained of colour, making her blush stick much more. Her hands reached closer to her heart as if trying to protect it.

"How..." she whispered. Her shock and her fright were so open it almost felt like a different woman. Then she raised herself and walked to the window, where life seemed much simpler. "I don't know what you are talking about, Miss Brighton." she said with her figure turned away and her arms crossed.

It was clear as the day that peered from the window that she was lying and that indeed she knew what Jen meant.

Only a little more.

"Mrs Woods, you mean to say that there was no ritual? No familiars?" the lady flinched, yet Jen continued. "Everything was normal? I heard of drugs, alcohol... rape. These happened long before the school's closing. Before..." Jen stopped as the lady turned, her blue eyes cold and unfriendly.

There was a deep furrow that graced her features, making her seem older than she appeared before. She stayed silent and looked at Jen with a disapproving sneer. "As I said, things could be wild when children were left alone." her voice was low, and she reached closer to the table where her glass was. In a smooth movement, she filled it with more whiskey from a crystal bottle hidden behind a cupboard. "There was really no supervision... no way to know from right and wrong..."

"Wild is very different from criminal behaviour..." Jen sighed as she saw the woman watching her glass mesmerized. "Mrs Woods we can go around in circles all day, but the truth is... are you prepared to tell me what you know? Or has my trip here been in vain?"

The woman took the glass from her vision and circled her armchair. The sadness on her face told Jen of her demons.

"You make it sound so easy... some things are buried for a reason... if you release it then there will be no coming back." Mrs Woods sat again and drank the yellowish drink in one go. Jen got scared of her losing herself over the drink, yet the older woman seemed unfazed when she finished. If possible she seemed sober. "We were just children..."

And she was finally ready to talk.

What do you think?