Post scriptum - 1. Act One

Chapter 2 - A change of scenery

The next day, I wake up early. I still can't believe mum really gave me my fourth second chance. To be honest, I don't deserve this kind of things, yet my mother's kindness moves me every time.

After I brush my teeth, I get dressed. I wear a plain gray t-shirt and a black pair of jeans. I find somewhere in my closet a dark blue jacket which dad had worn in his youth and which suits me like a glove. I can't really say that I take after dad. To me, he had always been distant, as if I had done something unforgivable to him long ago. I don't understand why, I myself do not feel guilty for anything.

I meet up with my parents downstairs after I pack in a backpack a couple of things I think I might need. Gustave doesn't want me to leave and hugs me tightly before I leave the house. My father and mum get in the car and I sit in its back seat. It's a long road and, being a while after I last went outside, it feels like a new experience to me. And, in a sense, it kinda is: I go to a new school and I am really looking forward to it for the first time in forever. It's a warm early autumn day, I think it's the 5th of September and it feels like an extra day of summer.

The car stops before a brick building guarded by a thick brick wall. It looks like a fortress or, should I say, a prison. And, just like any of those options listed, it is guarded by a man in a gray coat. I suddenly feel uneasy.

We get out of the car and my father hands me my backpack. My mum hugs me tightly for the last time and kisses my forehead. She looks as if she is on the verge of crying. After we say goodbye, they get in the car and the vehicle speeds to other horizons, leaving behind small dust whirlpools rising up to the sun.

* * *

I am left alone on the sidewalk and it takes some time for me to get used to the situation. I look through the gate. In the schoolyard, the trees are an emerald green, a far cry from the rusty brown and golden yellow of their companions on the roadside. There is a feeling that tells me that I have to get inside.

I pass the guard on my tiptoes as he takes a break to light a cigarette, I don't think I had a really good reason to do this, and soon find myself in the schoolyard. It is teeming with young boys and girls, some my age, others a bit older or younger. The weather seems like a pleasant summer day despite outside is the fifth day of fall. I slowly walk on the stone alleys, not knowing what to do or where to go. Perhaps an idea will come soon to me.

I pass a group of students on a bench.

"Hey! You cheated!" I overhear a girl shout. "You couldn't have used your Fenrir! I knocked it out!"

"You're wrong, Liza!" A boy replies. "I could because in the last round I pulled out the Tower of Babel and now I am immune."

"No, it's worth 4500 hit points and you clearly lack them."

"Have you checked?"

I smile. The way they play reminds me of the times I play cards with Gustave. I obviously let him win, yet if he dared to taunt me saying I sucked at the game, I wouldn't have any mercy when we played our next round. Under a tree is a group of three girls. One with jet black hair is adjusting her makeup in a bronze mirror.

"This colour doesn't suit me," she says.

"Ravenna, I think the mirror is to blame," a girl with dark green hair wearing a pair of sunglasses replies. "You look perfect girl!"

Somewhere further, I see a group of young people gathered around a stereo. I can hear some faint music comming from it.

"This is so lame!" A girl complains.

"This is the song my parents had their first dance," someone says.

"Oh, so that's why it is so old fashioned! Better put R U Mine!"