The Hidden School

Chapter 1

My eyes began to sting then water, as I stared at the computer screen. The buffering circle was spinning round and round, having a difficult time processing the eight page application form. Application form for what you may ask? An academy for magick and nature. The New Moon Academy for pagans and witches. The computer screen changed from a buffering circle to application sent successfully message. "Hell yes!" I jumped up excitedly and suddenly, sending the chair falling backwards. A thud sounded from the chair hitting the ground, startling me to reality. I smiled a half smile and picked up the medium weight chair to its original position.
"Honey, are you okay? Are you hurt? I heard something fall." She probably got scared or startled by the noise. "Yeah I'm fine mom. The application to New Moon Academy finally went through after ten minutes of waiting. I jumped up off the chair in excitement and it fell backwards." I started walking to the door to go check on my mom, and shocked myself as I opened it. I walked into the hallway, slightly closing the door so the door was barely opened, but not fully closed. The bathroom and the archway were across from each other, and the archway led to the dining room. My room was across from my mom's room, but she had that door closed and locked 24/7. "All you need to do now is to have patience, and wait for a call from the Academy." My mom was at the large, rickety dining room table doing her crossword puzzles. She looked haggard, like she hadn't slept in days.
The dining room was in between the kitchen and living room. "Mom, when was the last time you slept?" She looked up and had bags that were as dark as the circles around a raccoons eyes. Her head kept falling down from exhaustion. "Four days ago. My nightmares are getting more vivid, they have more details, they scare me a lot and people I know are dying in them, including me." I sat down next to her, instantly feeling concern and worry soften my face. "Honey, I'm okay. They're just dreams. Besides, you've done something really big that you've always wanted to. I'm proud of you, honey. You looked something terrifying in the face and accomplished what you set out to do. I know I don't say it much, but I love you." She kissed the side of my head and went back to her crossword puzzles. "What did you want for dinner mom?" She looked up at me, zoned out while she processed what I just asked her. "Oh, just tea. I ate a snack a little bit ago." She forced a smile on her face, while her eyes were beginning to look distant again. "All right. I'll make you some tea." I stood up and walked to the kitchen to look for tea.
I flipped on the kitchen light, watching as the yellow light lit up the room. I walked over to the cabinet that stored the teas we had, and opened it up. We had so many different kinds of teas made by a man who knew which herbs to blend together . One helped with sleep, one helped with concentration, and one of them was just regular tea. I grabbed the tea blend that helped with sleep. I knew I shouldn't do it, but I couldn't stand seeing my mom like that. I grabbed a pot, filled it with water, set it on the stove top burner and turned on the burner. All I had to do now was wait for the water to start boiling. I leaned against the counter and imagined what the future might hold for me. A few minutes later, I could hear the water boiling over. I snapped back to reality and turned off the burner. I grabbed two mugs and put the tea blend in the mugs, then I grabbed the pot and poured water over them both so they could steep. I put the pot in the drain rack and could smell the tea. It smelled like lavender and chamomile.
The minutes passed by as I stood there zoning out, until I slowly came to reality and realized what I was supposed to be doing. I looked at the tea, and they were ready. I took the tea bags and put them on a paper plate to dry. I added honey to both cups tea, stirred them and brought them to the table. I went back to the kitchen and turned off the light. I sat down and drank my tea as I watched my mom. I knew she was going to get mad, but I'm worried about her. After a few sips, she looked up at me glaring daggers. "I should've been more specific about the type of tea, huh?! You know I'm having nightmares! ARE YOU STUPID OR SOMETHING?! I can't FUCKING believe you Adririan Rayne Ovett!"
She got up, stormed out into the living room, opened her bedroom door that was in there and slammed it shut. I flinched, looked down at my tea and sighed into it. She was mad at me and I knew why. She needed sleep more than she knew. I drank the rest of both teas and cleaned them before putting them in dish drain. I started walking to my room. I turned off the dining room lights. I slowly opened up my door and closed it slowly but softly. I did not want to wake her up at all. I locked the door, and moved the chair towards the door and put it under the door knob. I sat down on my bed and realized I hadn't breathed doing all of that. I took in a deep breath and breathed out. I just sat there for a while, trying to get energy to get up to get changed. I stood up, closed my curtains and changed into my PJs. I looked out the curtain up at the moon, high up in the sky. It was full, shining brightly and lighting up everything with silvery light. "Moon, watch over my sleep, keep me safe until morning." I sighed and turned around. I turned off my lights and laid down under my blankets. I turned onto my side and pulled the blanket up to my face. I closed my eyes and let sleep take me. It took 2 minutes, so while I waited I listened to the crickets. I fell asleep. Scratch. Scratch. Scratch scratch scratch scratch. I woke up immediately. My breathing and heart rate were fast as I heard the scratching, the door knob jiggling and heavy breathing. I heard scratching on my door, door frame and the wall. Then it got quiet for a bit. Way too quiet for my comfort. Then the door started shaking hard and fast like she was trying to break it. It happened again and again, but the door wasn't budging. "Adririan, sweetie, open the door. Open the door, please. Open the door. Open. The. Door. Adririan. Open this FUCKING door now!" Then more scratching and door knob jiggling. Then I began hearing her hum a lullaby creepily, before laughing maniacally loudly. She stood outside my door for an hour longer, humming. As soon as the humming stopped, I began to listen intently. I could hear yawning, then I heard her whisper,"Adririan, honey, I'm sorry. I knew I should've gone to bed earlier, but I didn't. This is on me. I know you probably didn't want to experience this tonight. This falls on me entirely. I'm going to bed, baby. Good night and sweet dreams. I love you." I heard my mom shuffle off to her room, then heard her door open and close. I waited for what felt like an eternity to make sure she went to bed. I fell asleep waiting to make sure she went to bed.
I was dreaming of a huge house on a hill, that was surrounded by trees on every side. There was a thick fog blanketing everything around me. I was dressed in a ceremonial robe of sorts. It was a velvet, dark green robe with a hood. I could hear people screaming, crying and wailing off in the distance. I could see a puddle of dark liquid on the ground. I followed the puddle with my eyes and saw someone who looked familiar but also unfamiliar laying on the ground in the puddle. I could feel anger and deep profound sadness rising up. I lifted my face up to the sky and screamed from anger and pain. I sat up in bed, screaming. I had sweat all over me and the sheets. I realized I was in my bedroom and it was morning. A shaky breath left my mouth, that I didn't realize I had been holding in after screaming. I covered my face with my hands, felt tears on my cheeks and then rubbed my face. Knock, knock knock. "Honey, are you okay? You were screaming and I could hear you crying. Can you open the door? I want to talk to you and see if you're okay." I sighed and threw the blanket off of me. I stood up, stretched and my back popped. I walked over to the door, unlocked it and opened my door to reveal my mom's frightened face. "Hi mom. I'm okay. I had a premonition dream of my future. It was... kinda terrifying, but really sad, honestly. People were screaming. There was blood. Someone I knew in the dream was dead, laying on the ground in front of me." My mom pushed open the door and hugged me tightly. I started crying and buried my face in my mom's shoulder as she hugged me tighter and closer. She kissed the top of my head as I kept crying. Minutes later, I had stopped crying but didn't move from the embrace. "Honey, dreams like that can be scary and sad. But now you know what the future may hold and can act accordingly. I'm going to make pancakes and bacon. Check your email for any messages from the Academy. I love you sweetie." She squeezed me tightly, kissed me on the forehead and went to go make breakfast. I stood there for a minute before closing the door. I grabbed clothes, grabbed my brush and went to the bathroom to shower. I got out of the shower feeling better and sweat free. I got dried off and brushed my hair. I put on my clean clothes and wiped the mirror off. I stared at myself and just studied my face. Green eyes looked back at me. My brown curly hair was framing my round, chubby face. My nose was kinda big but I still found it beautiful. My mouth lifted up in a small smile. My lips were kinda lopsided and kinda thin but I still found them beautiful. I sighed before putting the towel in the hamper and grabbing my clothes off the ground. I walked back to my room and put my clothes in my clothes hamper. I put my brush back from where I got it and sat down at the computer. I turned it on and waited for it to boot up. As soon as it booted up I logged onto the computer and checked my email. As I checked my email, I saw an email from the Academy. I clicked on it excitedly but I was also nervous. I read the email but had to re-read it. I got accepted!! I started laughing, got up and ran to my mom. "Mom, mom, mom! Guess what! I checked my email and I got accepted to the Academy!" I was freaking out. My mom gently put her hands on my shoulders and had a big smile on her face, but her eyes looked sad. "Why do you look sad mom?" My mom's smile fell a little and she just looked at me for a few seconds before looking down. "I'm just really going to miss you. You've been living with me for 20 years honey. You've been my baby but also my buddy." I saw tears falling from my mom's face and I hugged her. "Mom, I'm always a call or a message away. I'll come visit you when I can. Please don't be sad." She hugged me tighter and we stood like that for a while. She took a deep breath, wiped her tears off and looked at me. "Go set the table for me. We can celebrate your acceptance after breakfast." I smiled, grabbed plates and forks and went to set the table. I went back into the kitchen got some glasses and orange juice then put them on the table. My mom came out with the pancakes and bacon then went back to the kitchen. I began to pour orange juice into the glasses when my mom came back with blueberry syrup for the pancakes. She brought out the special syrup for me. The blueberry syrup was a celebratory syrup that we had used to celebrate everything worth celebrating. We sat down and divided up the pancakes and bacon between both of us. My mom grabbed the syrup and poured some onto her neat stack of pancakes then handed me the syrup. I poured it on my own stack and could smell the syrup and blueberries. "This looks good mom. Thank you!" My mom looked up at me and smiled. "You're welcome sweetie. I know you love bacon and pancakes, so I made it for you. The blueberry syrup is to celebrate you getting into the Academy. I'm so proud of you honey!" I had eaten two pieces of bacon from my plate when I looked up at her. My mom was trying not to cry, but she looked so proud. "Mom, I'll message, call and visit you, so please don't look so sad." She smiled and laughed. We ate our breakfast together and I knew this was a memory I would always cherish. We cleaned up and washed the dishes including the ones she used to make the food and cook it on. Once the kitchen was cleaned, my mom left for the store. She had to get some stuff for me and the house. She came back in half an hour. "Honey, look what I got for you." She held up a board game and an adult coloring book. She smiled brightly at me. "It's your favorite game and something to help you relax. I thought we would have a family night event. I got to go get the rest of it, though." I smiled at my mom and grabbed the game and coloring book from her, then placed them on the table. "I'll help you get the rest of it." We both went outside and were slapped in the face with heat. The walk to and from the car were sweltering and felt like we were swimming in heat. Once we got inside the cool house, it felt heavenly. We went through everything and sorted it. The few groceries she got we put in the kitchen. The other things we left in the living room. It was family night stuff. Movies, games, paper and pens. She had also got some candy and popcorn. She got food to make my favorite meal: tater tot casserole and cream cheese corn. I looked at everything and felt a pang of sadness. It was real. Me leaving tomorrow was real and was going to happen. "Honey, let's make tonight a night of happiness. No sadness, no tears. We can save it for tomorrow." I smiled and nodded in agreement. We put on a movie and played the board game. We popped the popcorn and ate the candy. We drank alcohol and sodas as we celebrated. We made new happy memories together. When the sun began to set, my mom got up and went to go make dinner. "You relax. Watch the movie and write me a letter." She laughed as she left the living room. As soon as she left, the sadness crept back. We are making happy memories. We can get emotional tomorrow. Tonight is a night of celebrating, I thought to myself. I smiled and watched the movie as my mom cooked. She called me into the kitchen to tell me to set the table. I set the table and put drinks on the table. I put alcohol and sodas on the table. She put the food on the table and we sat down to eat. "Want to thank Mother Earth for our food?" I looked up at my mom in shock and surprise. "Yeah!" She smiled and bowed her head. "Mother Earth, thank you for providing the means for us to eat this meal in celebration. Thank you for the animals who provided the meat." We sat there in silence for a little bit before digging in. The cheese, meat, tater tots and Rotel were really delicious together. I ate all of it before eating the cream cheese corn. It was so creamy. I finished it and got seconds. We talked about the future and reminisced about the past. After we were done eating, we cleaned up. After everything was put up and washed, we cleaned up the mess in the living room. After it was cleaned, we wrote each other a letter. The letters were a way we told each other how we felt and what we were grateful for and reminded each other we loved the other. It was also a way of leaving a piece of us with the other in case anything bad happened to one of us. We finished writing the letters and wished each other a goodnight and sweet dreams. We also told each other we loved each other, then we went to bed. As I laid in bed, I began to cry. I was going to miss my mom. I was going to miss her hugs. I cried myself to sleep. No dreams were had tonight. Just the embrace of darkness welcoming me.