"You're so beautiful."
The silky smooth voice echoed between the trees and I tried my best to follow it. I made sure to step carefully along the forest floor since my feet were bare and cold. My attire offered no warmth, my knee length dress in tatters and covered in leaves and dirt. How long had I been travelling, following that voice?
"Your eyes are like the most valuable emeralds, they reflect the beauty of the nature surrounding us."
"You're too kind," a female voice chirped. I frowned. I hadn't heard this voice before but now, after I had got so close, it had intercepted my consciousness.
Nevertheless, I kept walking. I had come too far to give up now.
The twigs and fallen autumn leaves crunched underfoot as I kept going. I had never been here before but there was a feeling of familiarity that made me seem to know this place like the back of my hand. A few metres ahead, I spotted a clearing. The clearing. It was the place I'd been having visions about and it looked exactly as I'd imagined.
The burnt orange of the leaves stopped where the trees split and instead the ground was lush and green and generously scattered with wild flowers. The beginning of a stream trickled into view and bird song echoed into the background, both of which helping to create a peaceful ambience. The entire scene was enchanting, but not as enchanting as the two figures occupying it. One, a male and the suspected owner of the voice I had been following for goodness knows how long, was stood against the glistening rock face, gaze softly placed on the other person there: a girl in a fiery red dress that perfectly matched her hair. She was laid elegantly along a flat part of the rock, her dress flowing across it and tumbling onto the grass like a pool of lava.
They didn't seem to notice my presence. It was almost like I wasn't there, like I blended into the shadows. Or perhaps they did notice me and decided I wasn't worth the extra energy to turn their heads and greet me. I was about to call out to them when the boy stepped forward, towards the girl. He bent down, gently placing a hand under her chin and bringing her face towards his. As soon as their lips touched, the sky ran black and thunder erupted from the clouds. Pinkish lightning forked towards me and, in shock, I tumbled backwards and shielded my eyes.
When I tentatively moved my arm away, I found myself staring into nothing. I blinked a few times, wondering what had happened to my vision, before the storage cupboard shelves came into view and I sighed. It had been a dream, an extremely vivid dream.
A glance towards my alarm clock told me it was only four in the morning and I cursed under my breath before turning over and wishing myself to sleep again. I had a terrible habit of not being able go back to sleep after waking up and I just hoped that this morning would prove different. I could barely deal with Carmelita as it was, but without sleep I was done for.
Two hours later and I was still tossing and turning. I only drifted off maybe half an hour before my alarm was set to wake me up which meant, needless to say, I wasn't particularly happy when both a shrill ring and an excitable brother disturbed me from my short slumber.
I made myself get out from under my blanket and into the shower, only properly opening my eyes when the piercing light in the bathroom forced them to. It was going to be a long day.
-
I found myself thinking the exact same thing hours later as I was crouched on the floor, halfway to a leg cramp and attempting to paint the exact type of trees Carmelita wanted in her backdrop. It was the third time I was re-painting them because she was terrible at describing what she wanted but then just expected me to read her mind and do them exactly as she wanted. On a normal day, she would be getting on my nerves. But today, running on approximately four hours of sleep, I was half feeling like I was about to collapse, half feeling like I was about to punch her lights out. Only time would tell what the outcome to that scenario would be.
But still, I kept painting. Even when Carmelita skipped over and told me I was doing the trees wrong for the third time. Even when she decided to give an impromptu tap performance and demanded a reward. Even when she slinked an arm around Klaus' shoulder and mercilessly flirted with him, all the while keeping an eye on me for my reaction.
I tried my best to ignore it but there was only so much fake swooning and sickening giggles I could take before I slammed my paint brush down and said that I was taking a break. Klaus said he was going to take one as well, looking obviously uncomfortable, and the two of us went to get water.
"Is it just me," said Klaus, adjusting his collar, "or is Carmelita... clingier than usual?"
"She's definitely being weird," I agreed, "Maybe she's trying to get to know you before you have to... you know..."
"I would rather she didn't get to know me."
I nodded, "Let's just hope she backs off and lets us get on with the backdrop. If she tells me to redo anything else she's going to get a slap in the face."
Klaus laughed, "I would pay to see that. Anyway, I'm just gonna go clear my head a bit outside. Care to join?"
I considered his proposition briefly before replying. It was freezing outside and despite not really wanting to face Carmelita again so quickly, I assumed frostbite was more painful than my ears bleeding from her terrible singing voice.
"I'll pass but thanks for the offer," I said with a smile, "I've still got half a million trees to finish."
"Fair enough, I'll see you in a minute."
We went our separate ways and I prayed that Carmelita had gone off to annoy someone else so I could work in peace, even if it was just for five or ten minutes. But alas, luck never seemed to be on my side.
I chose to ignore the fiery redhead and crouched down again, my legs burning in familiar pain. It was less than a minute before Carmelita started talking. I rolled my eyes and spun around as well as I could whilst being in my position. But to my surprise, Carmelita was smiling. As in, an actual smile, not a smirk or an evil, devious smile, or the fake one she busted out whenever Vice Principal Nero was around. For once it seemed like she was actually giving me a genuine smile.
In surprise, the "Shut up" I had been planning on firing her way, fell silent on my lips and instead I asked her what was going on.
"Isadora," she said softly, which was another surprise because I thought she only knew how to screech, "I need to talk to you... before Klaus comes back."
In my confusion I just raised an eyebrow and said okay. I decided that this had to be interesting if Carmelita Spats herself was being so serious about it, which was why I set the paintbrush down again and decided to listen. This had better be good.
