AN
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Thirty Day's before the Outbreak
Why am I being sent here? No matter how many times I ask that question or who I ask I always get told the same thing. "It's for your own good Vi," or "This school helps kids like you." I hate those answers and wish someone would tell me the truth. They are scared of me, I know they are. Ever since my mum found me watching cartoons next to my grandmother's lifeless body, everyone has been afraid of me. I don't know why my grandmother was the person who killed herself not me. I just don't why they are afraid of me, why they abandoned me at this school in the middle of nowhere.
Ericson's Boarding School for Troubled Youth, that's where my parents sent me. A school in the middle of nowhere surrounded by a forest and place everyone will help me get better. I don't think this place will help, I don't think there is anything wrong with me, but my parents say I must go here so here I am. I'm surprised that my dad is sober enough and my mum has the time to spare to be concerned about me, but they worry too much. There is nothing wrong with me.
God, I can't believe they sent me here. As the bus stops outside the front gate, I can already tell I am going to hate it here. The school seems old with stone walls and buildings that look like they were built hundreds of years ago. Waiting to greet me standing in front of the large metal gate is the school's headmaster with his large faithful dog sitting beside him. The man looks just like his picture in the brochure with his short Dark Brown, stupid suit and even his arms are folded like they were in his picture. He doesn't look like he would be fun to be around.
"Miss Nicholson I am Richard Patterson, the headmaster and let me be the first to welcome you to Ericson's Boarding School," The head says as I get off the bus. "Would you please follow me I will show you to your room so you can drop your things off and then we can go to my office where I will explain how this school works."
"Whatever," I shrug as I follow him and his big dog which looks kind of scary now that I am closer to it.
"Now Miss Nicholson that attitude of yours needs to change," Mr. Patterson warns. "I will let it slide considering you just arrived, but here at this school we wish for our students to be more respectful of members of staff."
"…" I sigh and don't respond, there's nothing I want to say to him anyway.
"I think you will like it here miss Nicholson," The head states but I know he's wrong, and I will hate it here. "Although you have some reason why you are being sent here you like every student at Ericson's will be given a second chance and the necessary help to make your future bright… Ah, here we are." We stop outside one of the buildings double red doors where who I am guessing is the janitor is painting over some graffiti. "This is the student dorms."
"Looks nice," I comment just before a loud scream could be heard.
"I'm sure you will be comfortable here," The head says as we enter the building. "Normally we have two students to a room, but unfortunately since we have an odd number of girls, you will have a room to yourself."
"That's ok," It's not like I know anyone here or that I am not used to being by myself.
The inside of the building is just as bad as the outside, and despite it being summer it's so cold in here it's enough to make me shiver. I follow the principle through the corridor passing a kid who looks like he is barely old enough to walk and I start to wonder what he did to be sent here. The boy looks so young that at first I doubt he could have done anything too bad, but then I notice the scar on the side of his head that may be the reason for him being here. The boy runs through and hides when he sees me and the head approach him quickly darting inside of what I assume is his room.
"As you can see we like to help people of all age with whatever trouble they are going through," Mr. Patterson continues before we stop in front of one of many wooden doors. "This is your room." He opens the door, and I step inside seeing two beds, bedside table, bookshelf, and a window. "Just leave your bags here for now and come with me."
I do as I am told and dump my bag on my new bed before once again I start to Mr. Patterson through the school. For a head, he seems ok for now, I'm still waiting for him to turn into a dick like the head of my last school any time now. Anyway, he leads me through the school again telling me about the school's history, but I don't pay much attention instead I look towards a pair of red-haired girls that must be sisters and possible twins by how similar they look. They both catch me looking their way, and one of them smiles while the glares at me making me quickly look away. I don't think I will be making friends with them.
Soon we are outside, and I nearly jump out of my skin as a flying ball nearly smacks me in the head only missing me by a few millimeters. The schools head doesn't notice, and the blonde haired boy who rushes past me to retrieve the ball doesn't say a word to me or even looks my way. Some first day I'm having. I have been here for not even half an hour, and already I've nearly died. What did my parents think when they thought sending me to such a dangerous place was a good idea?
Mr. Patterson leads me into the centermost building of the school campus where immediately I hear the sound of someone playing the piano, and I think I hear singing too, but it is too faint, so I can't be sure. I follow the schools head up a creaky staircase and into an office that looks just as old-fashioned as the rest of the school. Mr. Patterson takes his seat behind a large desk while his faithful hound lays down in his bed in the corner of the room. I don't like it here, this room feels oppressive, and the way the headmaster stares at me as I take my seat opposite him doesn't help make that feeling go away.
"Miss Nicholson, I'm sure you have been told this before that this school doesn't just teach the standard lessons, but we also help our students with whatever problems they are currently experiencing," Mr. Patterson tells me the same thing my parents told me when they said they were shipping me off to this place. "You will be put into the standard education class since your record shows you have no problems academically, but because of the unfortunate incident at your grandmother's house you will be required to see the school nurse at least once a week."
I clench my fists and bit my tongue to stop myself from doing or saying anything I shouldn't. My grandmother raised me, my father was too drunk and my three jobs so I grow up at my grandparent's house. I don't like what he said, I don't like how he can say her death was just some unfortunate incident like it could have happened to anyone. I watched my grandmother die, I watched as she shot herself. What happened wasn't just an unfortunate incident.
"I don't think I need to see the nurse," I tell him once I am sure I wouldn't sound too angry about his previous words.
"You need to see her," He insists. "What happened to you has affected you and talking to our nurse will help you."
Why does everyone think I need help? Just because I didn't cry when my grandmother shot herself in front of me, just because I didn't freak out everyone thinks I am a broken little girl who needs to be helped.
"Your first meeting with our nurse will be tomorrow after classes finished," Mr. Patterson says ignoring how I feel. "She will come and collect you since your new but every other appointment you have with her you will have to go to her." He pauses a minute to retrieve a small folder from his desk before sliding it over to me. "Here is your class schedule and the times and locations that our school's clubs meet. It is not required that you join a club, but we encourage all our students to take part in club activities."
I don't think I would join a club, I was never interested in any club activities at my old school. From what I have seen of my fellow students none of them like the kind of people I want to be friends with, apart from that one girl who smiled at me but then her sister that glared at me will be there, so I don't think that will work out. I was planning on telling him that, I was just about to tell Mr. Patterson that I have no interest in making friends or joining a club when a knock on the door stops me. It was probably good that it did because as I believe if I said that then I would have been forced to join a club by someone.
"Come in!" A boy enters at the heads words who has black hair and looks friendly than most students I have seen since I got here. "Miss Nicholson, Aasim here will take you on a tour of the school and answer any questions you have."
"Hi," The boy smiles extending a hand towards me. "I'm Aasim."
"Violet," I reply as I stand and hesitantly take his hand.
"Please show miss Nicholson around," The head says. "If you don't mind I have work to do so would you two please leave."
"Yes sir," Aasim says before leaving, and wordlessly I follow behind him seeing the head throwing me off to someone else just like my parents. "I take it all you have seen are the dorms and that office."
"Yeah," I say.
"Ok," Aasim responds. "Then I will show you the classroom, café, and greenhouse."
"That's all I need to see?" I ask. I know this school is small, but still, I expected to be shown a few more rooms.
"One of the best things about this school is that it is small," Aasim tells me. "Few rooms and few names you need to remember, and some names you should remember"
"What do you mean?" I ask raising an eyebrow.
"It will be easier to show you," Aasim answers. "Everyone has their reasons for being here."
Aasim was right about this school being small because in less than an hour later he has sowed me around the school. During the tour, he kept asking me if I had any questions which started to annoy me, but I never had anything that needed to be answered. The whole time Aasim was showing me around I kept looking for something modern as everywhere I looked I saw nothing but chalkboards and other things that schools all over the country haven't used in decades.
The tour ends with Aasim taking me back to my dorm room so I can unpack and settle into my new room before dinner. We say our goodbyes then I am alone again. That's a never problem everyone seems to think I have. I don't mind being alone and can be just as happy by myself as when I am with someone else, but everyone thinks that means something is wrong with me just because I wasn't running around and making friends with everyone that I see.
Anyway once Aasim left me, and I started unpacking it doesn't take me long before I have put everything away. I didn't come here with much just clothes and a lovey-dovey book my mother insisted I take with me since Ericson's is so isolated there are no cellphone or wifi signals here. I'm sure others would suffer more without their phones and social media account, but I never go into that stuff like everyone else at my old school and was happy to just watch cartoons.
I hear another knocking of a door only this time no one waits for me to call them into the room they just walk right into my room without permission. I see it's the two red-haired girls and that little kid I saw have entered the room. Once again one of the red hairs is smiling while the other glares at me. The little boy hides behind the girl's legs peeking out nervously at me as he clenches a piece of paper in his hands.
"Hi, I'm Sophie," The smiling girls says.
"Minerva," Grunts the glaring girl.
"I'm… I'm Tennessee," The boy stutters stepping out from behind the girl's legs. "I… I made you this."
"Thanks," I say accepting the piece of paper which I soon see is a welcome to Ericson's card.
"We are in the room next to you," Sophie says. "If you need anything feel free to ask."
One Day before the Outbreak
School sucks, but at least my fellow students are ok. Sophie is friendly and helped me so many times I have somehow become reliant on her to get through classes. Tennessee or Ten as I have started calling him is a sweet, quiet boy who shares a love for art with Sophie and my bedroom walls have become littered with pictures they have given me since I arrived. Minerva was cold to me when I first arrived, but ever since then, she has become my best friend here and someone who I really leave the side of. I've also made friends with a girl named Brody, she has auburn hair that hilariously frizzed up a few days ago much to everyone's amusement. Brody is a kind girl, but she usually has overthinks things and has been taken out of class several times because she started to have a panic attack.
As for the teachers while I don't like any of them apart from the school nurse Ms. Martin. Unlike the other teachers Ms. Martin is kind, and I felt safe talking to her after a while although I still believe I don't need her help, she is kind of cool for an adult and knows when I don't want to talk anymore and respects that. The rest of the teachers like I said I don't like any of them. They are strict, harsh and so boring that I feel myself falling asleep whenever they talk. Even the head Mr. Patterson showed he wasn't the friendly person I met when I arrived when he yelled at Minerva and me for laying in a grassy field with a no walking on the grass sign. I can understand why he wanted us off of the grass, but he didn't have to shout or make us pull weeds for an hour just for ignoring that one sign.
Anyway, my school life has started to become a borrowing routine of classes followed by a fun free period with the kids I have come to call friends. My free period usually involves playing card games, drawing or if I am lucky listening to Minerva sing. Minerva has such a pretty voice and when this annoying boy called Louis or Lou for short plays the piano when she is singing the whole school and even the entire forest around us goes silent to admire the beautiful songs they make together. I really wish I can hear Minerva sing again tonight, but instead, we are forced to listen to the radio by the teachers as reports of mass rioting come in from all over the country.
"Hey Vi," I turn to the sound of a whisper finding Minerva has sat down at some point right next to me without me even noticing. I hate it when she sneaks up on me like that. "Sophie and Ten want to know if you want to sleep over in our room again tonight, Brody will be there too so are you in?"
"Sure," I nod, and we both share a smile.
Sneaking into each other's rooms has become a fun past time for us and although the teachers say we shouldn't leave our rooms at night none of them check the dorm so we can do as we please and get away with sleepovers. I still remember the first time we had a sleepover, Brody was so nervous she had to leave halfway through the night, and unfortunately for Minerva and myself, Sophie and Ten thought it was a good idea to draw on our faces while we slept. They were wrong, and Minerva and I had our revenge. At least now nothing like that will happen, and Brody is able to stay the night.
"Sounds fun," I whisper.
"It will be," Minerva promises. "Brody's parents sent her a box of chocolates again, and she said she will bring them over tonight."
All of a sudden a loud roar can be heard, and all eyes are drawn to the window. The sun may be setting, but there is still enough light to see the source of the sound. In the distance, several helicopters fly through the air at a faster pace than I normally see them move. There are a lot of helicopters, some of them are even the type that has two of those twirly blade things, and all of them are heading in the same direction towards where I know a city is and where I see smoke rise in the distance. I'm not an expert, but even I know it will take a giant fire for us to see here all the way in the wilderness. Just what is happening?