Starr Academy: Year Two

Starr Academy: Year Two- Chapter 25

Twenty-Five

~~Gilliett's Point Of View~~

    I frowned as I looked across the great hall to where Hope usually sits during lunch and dinner. I've noticed that she has been missing meals since I was told she had run out of the school and cried in the garden. Whenever I ask her about it, she closes up. That was so not like the Hope I've come to know.

    Every night, I watch Hop's best friend Franklin get up and leave. I knew he was getting dinner for Hope and taking it to her. Just the other day I found out where she's been, in the library just studying.

    Day after day, I watch helplessly as Hope loses more and more life that was always in her. During our training, I try to get her to smile once again. But he doesn't anymore. Even with me placing a life candle in her room doesn't work.

    The other day I had checked the one that I had placed in her room the night before and was baffled by what I found. The candle's golden veins that make it life were turned a sickening green as if the gold tarnished within the wax. The white of the wax had yellowed as if it became sick itself.

    No matter where I looked, all the reasons for this was the same. If I couldn't find a way to help Hope, she was going to die. That something has caused her life element to start leeching out of her. Something has caused her to give up living her life. After everything she's done for me, I couldn't let that happen to her.

    After dinner, I made my way up to Headmistress Alexi's office. I needed her help to save one of our beloved students. All I wanted was to have the old Hope back. The one that smiles at me with all her heart and makes me want to continue being a good instructor for her. I don't know what I'd do if she died now.

    The door opened shortly after I knocked and Theo frowned seeing me. He opened the door for me to enter. "You look like something is troubling you Ian."

    I nodded to him. "Very much so. Can I speak with you and your lovely wife about a matter of great concern to me."

    He nodded as ushered me over to the lounging couches where Alexi was reading several papers. She set them down seeing me. "Ian, what a pleasure to see you and not off to your apartment for the night."

    I nodded as I sat down. "I would be if not for a wary concern of mine."

    She frowned. "What is on your mind?"

    I sighed as Theo took the seat next to his wife. "It's about Hope."

    They both looked at each other before turning back to me. "Is she alright? I've noticed she has been missing quite a number of meals as of late."

    I looked down to my hand as my forearms rested on my thighs. "I think something's wrong, but she won't talk to me about it." My voice went on to tell them everything I knew and researched. The worry entering into them as well throughout the entire time I was talking to them.

    When I was done, Alexi placed her hand on mine. "I'm glad you came to us with this. We'll all do everything we can to help Hope and get to the bottom of this. You're not alone and never will be when I comes to one of the student's safety."

    I nodded. "Forgive me for waiting so long. I just needed to know more before I came to you."

    She nodded. "I completely understand." She looked to Theo. "I believe you have been a confident of our sweet Hope's in the past. Has she come to you at all?"

    Theo shook his head. "I too have noticed her low spirits, but she hadn't talked to me about anything." He sighed. "I've gone to where I normally would bump into her, but she doesn't speak. Just hugs me when we cross paths. The look on her face is one of a broken heart. Could that be what i wrong with her?"

    I frowned. "A broken heart wouldn't cause this much damage. But I will look to see if I can find anything that may suggest otherwise."

    Alexi stood up and I followed with Theo. "We will all try to find out what could be causing this. For now, I suggest we rest on this information for the night to have a clear mind in the morning."

    Nodding, I bid farewell and left to my office where I had a doorway to my apartment. All the professors had such things so they didn't have to live at the school like the students. We could have our own lives outside of the school grounds this way and a family if we had one.

    I didn't.

    Don't get me wrong. I have a sister and my mom, but no girlfriend of my own. No one ever spoke to my heart enough to stay more than a month before they just grew bored of me and left. At the moment, that was fine with me. I preferred teaching and seeing my students grew as strong magic wielders and the future of our magical world.

    I was only twenty for heaven's sake. There was no need to have anyone permanent just yet in my life. Not with everything that's been happening here with Hope. She needed help and I was going to be there to help her as much as I can. A girlfriend wouldn't understand that. Wouldn't understand the late nights all for the sake of a single student.

    Hope. Ever since last year, I've been so anxious to see how she grew more and more with each day in our magical world. I had been wanting to she her shine so brightly with my help. Now she needed so much help to keep her light from flickering out.

~~Hope's Point Of View~~

    A hand set down on mine and I looked up at Franklin. I frowned as he pushed my books away and set a tray down in front of me full of food. "And I don't want to hear it. You're eating and that's that." He sat down folding his arms in front of his chest.

    I pouted at him. "You don't have to watch me."

    His eyebrows went up. "The last time I left before you at, you just pushed it away and didn't eat anything on the tray. The next morning, you were weak and had very little energy." He shook his head. "I'm not going to let you go without food because you're upset."

    Sighing, I lifted up a fork and started eating. I've told him I didn't have an appetite now-a-days, but he insists that I eat. He's even been making me eat a full breakfast even if I didn't want to. He said he was making sure I didn't waste away.

    After I eat, like every night, he'd pack up my stuff from the table and 'escorted' me back to my room where he demanded I get some rest. To him, it was his duty as my best friend to see I was staying well. He even guilt trips me into doing what he wants me to do for me. If it means so much to him, then I didn't complain too much.

    Franklin placed his hand around my shoulder like he's done for a while as we walked to my room. "This weekend, we're going into town and you are  going to enjoy yourself or else." All I did was nodded as I didn't have the strength to argue. Not anymore.

    I've come to terms with the emptiness inside. The emptiness that spills over even night when I'm alone and I cry myself to sleep. The loneliness that makes me not want to live. Why live when my boyfriend is with the girl who hates me? I must have done something to make him not want me anymore. I couldn't help that I still trusted Marek with everything in me and think it was my fault he didn't want me.

    My fault...