Hager's Boarding School for Troubled Youth

Chapter Five

The image with this chapter is the rough sketch of the school emblem! Enjoy chapter five everyone!

We had about two hours of free time before the announcement bell cut through the roaring room, the principal's voice echoed in the silence. "Hello! Hope you all enjoyed your free-time. It is now eight at night which means...bedtime!" The speaker screeched like a cars' tires squealing against the blacktop coming to a speedy halt. "Sorry, sorry. I get too excited sometimes."

"Really? We couldn't tell..." Kingston sighed and threw his back against the rough green sofa he sat on.

"You will all now head back to your rooms and get a good nights' sleep for your first day of classes. The morning begins at six a.m. with breakfast until seven. After breakfast, you will head to your first class. I hope you all have a great night! Good-bye now!"

Everyone grumbled and gathered at the door, "I feel like a child with a curfew..." Leland kicked his shoe at the floor. "I guess it's fine since we'll have to get up early tomorrow, we won't be as exhausted." He rubbed the back of his head and smiled.

"Fucking moron..." Frederick slapped the back of Leland's blonde head.

"Hey, what was that for?"

"Shut the fuck up." He pushed past Leland and stomped out the door.

"What's his problem?" Kingston shook his head. "Such a hot-head, honestly..."

I ignored everyone as we gathered at the hall to head back to the dorms. All I thought about the whole time we were in that room were the images of that man. Beads of sweat formed across my forehead and my palms clammed up. My heart jumped in my chest, I thought it would reach up and crawl out through my mouth. I swallowed hard, something about that man chilled me to the bone. Why did I see something like that? What was the meaning? Was it a memory?

Kingston flicked my ear, the other students had shuffled out of the room already, I stood in the middle of the carpeted area like a statue. The girls and boys had separated at the entrance to the dorm hallway, "Xenia, do you want to eat together tomorrow morning?" Kingston bumped my shoulder and pushed his bottom lip out into a pout. I guess he didn't want to be stuck with the other boys, I didn't blame him, the others were... strange.

I nodded, my heart rate slowed to a normal pace as I scanned the others as they disappeared into their respective rooms. I didn't want to sit with any of the girls either, it was a win-win sitting with him. "I'll meet you at doors to the café." He did an exaggerated single nod and jogged down the hall to his room. I shook my head and smiled, he was one of the sanest people I met so far–he was still strange, but not the worst.

The smile faded and I tapped in the code to my door, the green light blinked on and the doors' lock clicked open. I threw myself on the bed and stared at the plain ceiling. It was like a giant blank page that stared at me, mocking me about all the strange things about this school I couldn't piece together. The whole thing was a giant mystery, the lost memory, the child's scream, the chained-up door and that weird vision I had.

I popped up and pulled out a notebook from my desk. I wrote down all the things I noticed about the school and tried to connect them, but no matter where the lines intersected it didn't add up. "Maybe I need to wait. Maybe there will be more clues later." I sighed and rested my chin in my palm.

A sudden hard knock on my door brought me back to reality. "Xenia...are you awake?" The voice was high, and the obnoxious sobbing gave away the identity of my intruder.

I got up from my computer chair like a slug, "I'm coming." I opened the door and Aurelia stood in front of me, a blanket close to her chest and a piece of hair in her mouth. I cringed at the sight, she looked like a four-year-old scared of the monster in her closet.