Mute

Preface

A summer evening. The breeze nice and cold. School clubs in full spin at Sacred Heart School for Girls. Laughter and teens happily chatting heard in the hallways. The teachers have now all left the school building, the only adults being the kind librarian, Mrs Winston, and the security guard, Mr Stevenson.

Violetta was sat at a table with her friends, talking about the most recent books they have read. The windows are open, letting the cool, fresh air into the room.

"Okay girls. It's almost time to close, alright?" Mrs Winston warns, paired with a wink at the small table filled with young ladies. At those words, they clamber up to their feet, and stuff their bags with books they have exchanged earlier in the day. Violetta is sat still, waiting for her friend group to leave. 

"Violetta? Are you coming? We need to get back to our rooms." One chimes, making Violetta aware that lights out was hours ago. With an audible sigh, Violetta grabs her stuff and walks slowly towards Mrs Winston's desk, placing a couple of books down with a sheepish smile. 

"Hi Mrs Winston. I just wanted to return these before I go." She speaks quietly into the, otherwise, silent library. The librarian happily takes Violetta's most recent reads and stamps them. 

"Of course." She smiles, placing both books aside and looking at the young teen in front of her. "Did you enjoy these? I read them once or twice and I remember the plot being quite interesting." Mrs Winston recalls with a polite smile as she sits on her chair. Violetta nods, gripping her bag tightly. 

"Uh... yeah. The second one from the Duchess in the Forest series was interesting. I especially liked the love interest." Violetta gushes, staring at her feet awkwardly. "I need to go. Thank you again." Mrs Winston smiles at the young lady and goes to answer, but Violetta turns and walks away hastily. 

The dorms were a five-minute walk away from the library building. Violetta shared a room with one of her classmates she rarely spoke to: a popular girl who seems to like everyone but her own roommate. 

"Oh. You're finally back? From your nerd meetings I presume." The teen sneers at Violetta as she walks through the door. Without a word, Violetta climbs into her bed and turns towards the wall, staring at it for what felt like an eternity before finally managing to sleep. 

Morning arrives in the dorms and all the girls are now up and getting dressed, having breakfast and following their respective morning routines before the first class starts. Violetta, having woken up by laughter echoing in her room, looks around, finding most of her blonde hair cut off with blunt scissors, an incident that was only the start of her difficult experience at the all-girls school.