Darkness:the Alice Chronicles 1-The Transformation

Darkness Black Out Chapter 1

One day, I had just turned fourteen, I went to school as usual. It was a normal school day, which meant it was going to be pretty boring. That was only because I did not know what was going to happen in the next few days and weeks. I was awakened by my mother's unpleasant voice knocking on my door. "Up!" she shouted. With sleepy eyes I got out of bed and looked around my room. It didn't look like the usual room of a fourteen-year-old girl. The room was filled with things you would usually find in a boy's room my age. There were many cars of different shapes and sizes. Then I went to the wardrobe and took some clothes. My clothes didn't fit a girl either. They weren't pink or glittery. When I was dressed, I went into the kitchen and sat down in one of the chairs. My mother made breakfast for me and my sister and after I had eaten, I said goodbye before she could scold me, hurried out of the house and went to school. On the way to school I saw some people dressed in white and black robes. They were walking silently through the streets and I wondered what they wanted. Next to them were some people in green and blue robes. Among the robed people, there were four who were different from the others. They all wore strange masks. The four with the masks seemed to be the leaders. They all had masks shaped like animal faces. The white one had long claws and a rabbit mask. The mask of the man in the black robe looked like the beak of a raven. The third had a mask that looked like the head of a caterpillar, and the last had a mask that looked like the face of a pig. He had the shell of a turtle.

I had been going to this school for about a year, so it was nothing new to me. I entered the school building and after a quick glance around, the other girls whispering as they saw me and staring at me, I ran up the stairs, silently through the corridor and into the classroom. The way the others looked at me had always frightened me. They stared at me and pointed their fingers at me. It always made me feel uncomfortable. I did not know why, but I felt there was a gulf between me and the others. When I got to the classroom, I hurried to my seat and sat down. It was one of those uncomfortable wooden seats. As soon as I sat down, I pressed my knees to my chest. My tangled hair fell in my face, so I started to blow it away. My classmates stared at me, which made me feel uncomfortable. Then the teacher came and the lesson started. The teacher scolded me for not sitting on my chair properly. I thought I was the ugliest creature. But it was not that I planned to do anything about it any time soon. My ugliness was part of me and it made people avoid me. That was comfortable. What I mean is that although I was a girl, I did not look like one. I was probably the least girly of all the girls. I had a hunchback from playing on my mobile phone. My body was still small and immature, even though I was fourteen. That is why I was often overlooked. Another reason for my ugliness was that my whole body was covered with golden hair. Another was my big nose and masculine face. But even though I was not a typical girl, I was very smart. In the lessons I had at school that day, I had, as usual, done very well. Especially in maths and physics. I was so happy because it was my fourteenth birthday and I was curious to see what presents my parents had bought for me. I was sure they had a cake for me. I was also doing well at school.

I never had bad grades. But I had very few friends. I only had Alex and Andy. Although I was in the eighth grade, I was still a child in body and mind. On that day, I had no idea what was about to happen. I was not yet aware of the fragility of happiness. I believed it would go on forever. That this city would remain the same boring place it had always been and that nothing would change. How wrong I was. Changes were coming that I couldn't even imagine at the time.
During the break I sat on a bench in the school yard. Jacob and Caleb grabbed me and kicked me down. They always did that. In primary school, they had bullied me and my sister. But when I got to middle school, they bullied me without my sister Mia's guidance. Luckily, it would be a while before that brat came to this school. Jacob and Caleb alone were horrible enough. When I tried to shield my chest with my arms, they laughed at me. Their feet smashed into my elbows. It hurts. Why do I have to put up with this? Why can't I be a boy? A strong boy who could knock them down. Someone who could stand up to them. I closed my eyes, waiting for the end to come, when I suddenly heard Jacob scream. I looked up. There was a boy about my age standing in front of me. He took my hand and helped me to stand up. At that moment my heart started beating faster. I became nervous. It was the first time in my life that a boy had held my hand. Caleb and Jacob ran away from the boy. He was pale and had white hair tied in two braids. I was so grateful that he had saved me. I blushed, which distracted me. Then I wanted to ask him who he was, but he was already gone. My parents always wanted to know why I was different from other girls. They wanted me to wear make-up and so on. Yesterday they finally found out.