Immortali

Chapter 4- Mentor

She woke up to another ordinary day, her mother was making breakfast, her brother and sister were sitting at the table eating. Soon, Raina joined them. To her, it was just another ordinary day, and the occurrences of last night were little more than a dream. So, with little ceremony, she dressed herself for school and was soon walking through the school gates without a second thought.

"Layla!" Raina called out as she approached a girl with jet black hair. The girl turned around and gave Raina a genuine smile, which looked quite out of place amongst her pale make up, black eyeliner and skull earrings.

"Ray! Hey, cool party yesterday. You looked like you got a real shock!" Raina returned Layla's smile and shook her head.
"You have no idea. Like, I knew it was going to happen, but I guess I was just... somewhere else."
Layla laughed at Raina's feeble excuse.
"You're always somewhere else. Where do you go when you, you know... drift?"
Raina thought about her answer for a moment. She went to many different places when she drifted, but she often found herself thinking about a city. It was unlike any city she'd ever seen or heard of, with tall towers made of glass and stone. It was surrounded by waterfalls and giant, ancient trees. Along the many walls and windows, strange symbols were etched onto the surface. To Raina, they looked like a mixture of Norse Runes, Greek letters and Egyptian hieroglyphs. She didn't know where she'd gotten it from, perhaps a dream she'd had as a young girl? Either way, the city was always on her mind, whether she thought about it or not.

"I'm not really sure," she began, thinking it was best not to mention the strange city. "But I think I just like to imagine; it doesn't really matter what about."
Layla nodded at this and began to talk about other things, namely music and TV shows. Raina, listened to her, but she found it difficult. A sense of unease twitched in her gut, and she felt as though she were being watched.

Turning her head, Raina stared at the person a little further ahead of them along the hall. Her breathing came to halt, and her heart thumped like a drum. She tried to reassure herself. She told herself that she was mistaken, that this person couldn't possibly be who she thought they were. But, as they neared the woman with the red blouse, her features became more distinct. Her dark brown hair was pulled up into a tight bun and she stood rather rigidly, as though she was ready to run at the slightest incident.

Nerves crackled through Raina like electricity. She felt the unease in her gut multiply, and then the woman turned around.

Raina wasn't sure what she felt. Disappointment, or relief? The woman stared down at her with blue eyes. She suddenly realised how stupid she'd been. The yellow eyed woman from last night wasn't real. Actually, nothing from last night was real. It was just a dream, she told herself for the second time that day.

"Ray?" Layla asked. Raina jumped at the sudden sound. She turned to Layla and sighed with relief. She hadn't realised she'd been staring, or that it had been obvious.
"Sorry," she muttered. Layla nodded, and Raina knew she was probably pinning the incident down as one of her 'daydreams'. Raina wished it was that simple.

"Are you in class 9B?"

Raina looked at the blue eyed teacher. She found herself examining every detail of the woman's face, especially her eyes. For some reason, she felt edgy. It was the feeling she generally associated with mistrust, or the feeling of being lied too. Out of nowhere, an invisible wave washed over her, crashing into her mind with more force than a tsunami.

Pale hands grasped at the basin. It was full of water, but the person was avoiding their reflection. The change had been too hideous to look at, but curiosity got the better of them. Slowly, they raised their head and stared at the mirror hanging above the basin. A face as pale as the hands that gripped the edges of the basin stared back with bright yellow eyes.