Astrid Blu: Orion's Curse

The Letter

                     The alarms at Little Mary's rang. It was time for everyone including Miss Annie to get up and start their new day. It's seven in the morning. The speakers placed around the corridors of the big house started to rumble, indicating that someone on the other end is ready to talk.
  
"Rise and shine!" Mrs Belmont was the one at the other end. "I hope everyone had nice dreams. Don't forget to do whatever it takes to make all your dreams come true. So dear children, today  there will be no change in our day-to-day activities. But, everyone should gather around in our meeting room, because a few mails arrived this morning. And that's all for today. I hope you girls have a great day. Thank you..." The echoes subsided slowly.
         
By that time, everyone was awake. The chattering of girls started to fill the corridor. Astrid got out of her pajamas and dressed herself into a nice and clean blue T-shirt with a pair of black jeans and her regular blue sneakers. She looked into the mirror. Her reflection showing her the same face everyday, pale and cold, with no emotions. She combed her silky red hair into a pony tail and brushed the baby hairs falling onto her forehead, backwards.

"The mail is here. I saw them" Charlotte came kicking the door of the room. She was a short, slim girl with short blonde hair. She was an exception to Astrid's boring life. Charlotte would have been Astrid's best friend, if Astrid ever let her crack open the little bubble of loneliness she created around herself.

Astrid shared her dorm with three other girls. They all had door to their rooms, fortunately. She would never be able to tolerate the girls'constant gossiping about the other girls of the their school. And she possibly cannot handle their squeaking and giggling, as well. Maybe because she wasn't a part of it. She had to always listen to it while sitting in her room, all alone.

It's like Astrid alone, is locked in a room filled with darkness, while the rest of the world is showered with different lights of beautiful colors and bubbles. Only being able to hear what happiness is, no one can blame her for being grateful that there is a door which locks her out of the normal world.
                   
Her giggly roommates were Charlotte, Veronica Miles and Elsa London. Veronica was basically the popular girl of their school. She treats everyone like she rules the world. Tall with black cunning eyes and curly hair with a perfectly tanned face and is the only one who does makeup in Little Mary's. She is not really an orphan like the rest of the girls. Her parents are in Vatican. So she stays here till they get back. When they come back, every month, she returns to their House. Elsa, on the other side, was Veronica's 'side kick', to be frank. She would always be around Veronica, admiring her in every way possible. Elsa is the only one who can touch Veronica's stuff, including her costly Dior makeup kit. Charlotte was the only normal one among them. She was sweet and kind. Though Astrid doesn't know that much about her, even after knowing her for almost three years, she knew that if she ever gets to know Charlotte, she would turn out to be Astrid's best friend for sure. But she never, ever tried. Sometimes she doesn't even know why.

  
"Oh my goodness, you scared the hell out of me, Charlotte!" Veronica exclaimed in a squeaky irritating voice. "And besides, you're not the the only one who listens to the announcement, Okay." Veronica said in her most annoying voice and continued to apply some cheek tint onto the apples of her cheeks. She ended the process by making a pout in front of the mirror admiring her work.
   
She turned to Elsa who was combing her hair and asked "Don't I look stunning , Elsa?"

"You sure do" Elsa answered like how she always does. And she most definitely was beautiful. If it wasn't for her attitude, Astrid would have open mindedly admitted that Veronica was indeed beautiful. But unfortunately, she had a thing called narcissism. And no one can ignore the fact that she is a complete bully.

Veronica let out a satisfied breath. She already knew what Elsa's answer would be. But she likes to hear it over and over again.
"Elsa, you wanna put on some lipstick" She handed over her lipstick to her beloved admirer as a reward for telling her what she wanted to hear.