The Letter
Wrote by: Jamie Baldwin
I was seventeen years old when I received my letter. This wasn't an ordinary letter; this letter was telling me that I had been marked. Being marked isn't as bad as it sounds, you don't actually have a mark of any kind. You remain the same as you always were, the way you were born, until you change. Being marked does have its advantages and its disadvantages. One of those disadvantages is leaving your normal life to go to The House of Night. The House Of Night is a school for vampires. Well… future vampires. I'll get to that later. The letter I received read:
Dear Corina,
I am pleased to inform you that you have been marked. Now that you have been marked you will attend The House of Night. As you probably already know The House of Night is a night school. Your days will be your time to sleep and do daily activities. Classes start at nine P.M and end at three A.M. I will explain more when you arrive. We are expecting you on Friday. Jan. 29, 2010. You will live in a dorm and may have a roommate.
Don't worry about your family, once a month we have a visitor's day. On visitors day there will be no classes. Again I will explain more when you arrive.
Your mentor,
-Aphrodite
I was excited and sad at the same time. I was excited I was marked but sad about leaving mom and dad. Now the real thing to worry about, telling Mom and Dad. They would most likely support my decision. I am not saying they'll be as excited as I am but they'll support me I know it. Here goes nothing.
" Hey! Mom, Dad you know that letter I got in the mail today? Well turns out it was a letter stating that I have been marked and get to attend The House Of Night." When I was speaking I felt very strong and mature. Now that I am starring at my parents hoping for a positive response I feel as weak as possible.
"Isn't that the school up town for vampire fledglings?" asked Dad. The good thing was that mom and him didn't look worried or upset.
" Yes." I sad definitely not as strong as I was before. "But, before you get upset I want you to know that, yes I will have to leave home and live in a dorm with a roommate but once a month there is a parents visitation day."
"Honey, we're not upset, we're excited for you." mom said. Her and dad both had smiles on their faces. "Well, we better pack your things. Can I help you?" Mom asked. That was crazy talk, like I didn't want my mom to help me pack my last day at home.
"Of course you can help me Mom." I said with a bit of a giggle.
Mom and I went up to my room I thought I caught a tear roll down her cheek from the corner of my eye.
"Mom, what's wrong?"
"Oh! Nothing, I just have something I need to tell you. It's good so, don't worry." We went and sat on my bed.
"Did you know that I was marked when I was your age?"
"You were? No I had no idea!" I said this in shock. My Mom, Marked! Weird!
"Yes. I was but I didn't make it through the change into a full vampire."
"I'm sorry mom." I said feeling kind of bad for being all excited.
"Don't be sorry. That's why I am so excited for you because I know you will." I was so surprised.
"Well it's time for me to go."
"Okay. Let's go say good bye to your father."
We went down stairs and I said my goodbyes and left. After going to the star bucks to say goodbyes to friends I finally got to The House of Night. The House of Night was a colossal castle looking building. As I pulled into a parking slot I spotted a gorgeous woman sitting in a deck chair. As I got out she was standing up walking towards my car. When she reached me she extended her arm. I shook her hand as she introduced herself.
"Hello, I'm Aphrodite, your mentor." When Aphrodite said this I was automatically in awe. Her voice sounded like an angel.
"I'm Corina." I said, with a little shake in my voice.
"Well then, come with me Corina, I'll show you around on our way to your dorm."
Aphrodite and I walked up to two colossal oak doors, it made me feel like I was entering Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry. Aphrodite opened both of the doors and boy was I amazed at the beauty ahead of me. I was guessing that this is the main Building of the four that completed the school. I saw some other students reading, talking to friends, and just hanging out.
"This is the great hall. This is where students can read, catch up on school work or do pretty much whatever they want. Your room is in building two. That is where the girl's dorms are located; the boy's dorms are in building three. Classes are located in building four. Lynn will be able to help you if you need it."
"Great. This place is so big!" I said sound abnormally perky.
After Aphrodite showed me the rest of the great hall she took me to my dorm. When we were walking I saw a guy standing by a tree. Not in a scary way, just standing there peacefully. I asked Aphrodite who he was.
"Oh! That's John Collins." He's actually a first year just like you. He arrived about three weeks ago."
Well John was very cute. Anyway when I got to the dorm Aphrodite walked me to my door and bid me good night. Then again told me that if I had any questions to ask her or Lynn. My room was awesome! It was painted a gorgeous dark red with white Japanese cherry blossom trees painted on the walls. Well three walls were red one was white. There were two full size beds in the room, which was to be expected having a roommate and all. The beds were decorated beautifully. The bedspreads were black; the pillow shams were the same dark shade of red as the walls, with black and white throw pillows. It was much more beautiful than it sounds.
"Hi, I'm Lynn. You must be Corina." Lynn wasn't overly perky like I expected her to be, Just enough that our personalities would even out with each other.
"Yes I am Corina, Nice to meet you Lynn. This place is gorgeous isn't it? Um… which bed is mine?" I was so glad when she said that my bed was on the east side of the room. My side of the room was basically arranged just like my room back at home. It even had a white book shelf in the corner. All of my things were already brought up to my room and unpacked. I guess this is why Aphrodite told me to leave my things in the great hall.
"Lynn, do you know John Collins?" I said knowing that a small smile was creeping up on my face.
"Why yes I do. John is a very quiet and private person, He also very polite and generous." She said with the same facial expression upon her face as me.
"All the girls go weak in the knees when there around him." We both sighed then started laughing. I could tell that I and Lynn would be great friends.
I have now been at The House of Night for two weeks. I have started attending classes. I have vampire Society class first two hours. Then I have drama. Can you guess who is in that class Lynn and John! I actually sit in between the two of them. After drama we eat dinner I sat with Lynn. Come to find out Lynn and john had been best friends since forever. It was very weird that they both were marked. As I sat down John introduced his self.
"Hi, I'm John." He said with a huge grin on his face.
"I'm Corina." I sounded so stupid. I had a grin on my face like a small child let loose in a candy store. Everyone stopped talking and started eating after that. When I finished eating I excused myself and started towards the great hall. Then someone caught my arm. I slowly turned around not knowing who it was. It was John!
"Corina, I know we haven't known each other long, but would you like to go to the Halloween ball with me?" John looked so nervous, I thought he might vomit.
"Yes, I would." I said trying not to look overly excited.
"I didn't even know that The House of Night had Dances or Balls." I said.
"Well now you do. I'll pick you up at seven on Friday." He said. Then we said our goodnights and went back to what we were doing in the fist place. I got back to my room I still had a few minutes before I had to get back to class. I fell back on my bed and wanted to just scream my excitement to the world! I stayed on my bed for what felt like ten seconds was really ten minutes! I had to get to class!
I made it to equestrian studies with two minutes to spare. That class felt like it drug on forever and ever. It's was Thursday and I just found out that there will be no classes Friday because of the Halloween ball. So that means me and Lynn could go shopping for dresses. When that class was over I went and found l Lynn.
"Do you want to go dress shopping with me tomorrow?" I asked trying to be hopeful because I really didn't want to go by myself.
"Sure!"
All the way back to the dorm, we were talking about what kind of dresses we wanted to get. Lynn wanted a pink strapless. I wanted a silk floor length dress that was black and silver. So that is what we got. We spent most of Friday at the mall and dress barn. We got exactly what we wanted too. When we got back to school it was four o'clock. The ball started at seven. So we did our make-up, and hair, and then put on the dresses. Lynn looked great. If I do say so myself I did to.
At precisely seven o'clock John was at my door. We walked into the great hall which had been rearranged for the ball specifically I felt like a queen. John and I danced to almost every song that was played. Then they announced the real Halloween queen. It was Lynn! Lynn was voted queen and her date Conner was king. I had so much fun. When the ball was over John walked me back to my dorm. We were a little more than halfway there when John fainted.
Lynn and Conner were walking with us when this happened. Lynn ran to get help and Conner stayed with me. Lynn returned with Professor Nolan. He carried John to the hospital wing of the school. I went with them. Professor Nolan said he would be okay; it's just that his body rejected the change into a full vampire. So this meant he would be sent home. His parents would probably be happy he was home. When I got back to my room Lynn was already crying which made me cry about the loss of our friend.
Three weeks later John called me to let me know that he had recovered and still wanted to stay in touch. I also had good news for him. That morning I had waked up and my eyes were blood red, which would eventually fade back to my natural color. This meant I had made it through the change. He said he was very happy for me, my mom was so thrilled. Some people think VAMPIRE! RUN AWAY! But I am a different type of vampire.
The type of vampire I am doesn't drink blood. We are everything a normal vampire (we still have small fangs.) except we don't drink blood.
Lynn also made it through the change and we stayed great friends along with John.
