I don't own House of Anubis
Boarding school was some kind of sick joke.
I couldn't believe that 4 years ago, I'd let my Gran convince me to come here.
To friggin' England.
What was I thinking?
Well 14 year old me certainly never expected this.
I never considered being alone on graduation night in the empty House.
Everyone
Gone.
Amber Millington, My roommate and best friend, Left immediately after being handed her diploma. She danced off stage with a wide smile on her cherubic face and hugged her father. Mr. Millington's blue eyes, the same as hers, flickered with pride as he led her to their fancy looking town car. Amber climbed in nimbly and without protest. A moment later, the tinted window rolled down and she poked her head out, blond ringlets dancing in the breeze. "I LOVE YOU GUYS!" She screamed, the corners of her eyes crinkled as she grinned. The car pulled away from the cobblestone curb, and I lost a piece of me.
Mara Jeffrey, my study savior, departed after lunch. Her arms were full of textbooks and her cocoa eyes were shining with hope. She'd been accepted to Oxford University to study astrophysics. It was all Mara had ever dreamed of. She sniffled and let a few tears run down her tan cheeks but greeted her future with determined grace. Mara was going to change the world. Maybe she'd discover life on some other planet or galaxy. All that mattered to me as she pranced out the door was that she was leaving my little world.
Jerome Clarke and Alfie Lewis left as a pair, the same way they'd spent their last 9 years. They'd both come here very young and for very different reasons but had found each other somehow. They were the lucky ones. Jerome and Alfie had no idea what they'd be doing in this lifetime of theirs. Perhaps they'd become clowns. Maybe business men. Maybe they'd defy all of our preconceived notions and work 9-5 at some desk job. Probably not. But whatever they faced, it would be together. And so, as always, Jerome and Alfie snuck out without us noticing. We should've noticed that the house was a little quieter. That we all felt a little less….Alive.
Patricia Williamson was gone by sundown. She had to drive to London to catch her red-eye flight to New York City. Her skin practically glowed with excitement at the thought. She was going to be a wardrobe consultant in a city where anything was possible. Her private dreams were coming alive right in front of her sharp eyes. Her departure was brief. No one said much. She simply stared at me; her looks told me that she wished me well in this lifetime. Patricia gave me a gentle hug, a little pat on the back, and a letter before ducking out into the rain. She left me with an apology. She left me with an empty heart.
Mick Campbell was second to the last. He and I had never been very close. He had always been into sports and me into….well, everything that wasn't sports. Despite that, Mick was an all-around good guy. That's why he decided to be a police officer. His dad disowned him for that. Mr. Campbell expected his son to be a doctor or a lawyer or a business man. He couldn't handle that he would only be making $60,000 a year. Tops. He didn't even bother to see his own child graduate. Mick took all of this in stride and held his head high. He would do whatever the hell he wanted to, and his dad couldn't hold him back. Mick gave Fabian and I each a hug and looked around the entryway. With a smile, he headed out to his car, to the great unknown.
Fabian Rutter left me last. It was around midnight. The sky was dark and cold as we waited for his dad to pick him up. Fabian was going to be an engineer, and he was heading out to California in the morning to start college at CalTech. Apparently, it's one of the most elite colleges in the country, and he couldn't wait to go to America. He tried desperately to conceal his excitement but he was a horrible actor. Fabian, unlike myself, was able to close this wonderful chapter of his life and move on to the next with an open heart. We stood in silence, his arms wrapped around me carefully. I remembered everything that had transpired in these last 4 years in a matter of seconds. Study nights, Dances, Trips to the city, Ice cream parties. It was so beautiful, so extraordinary that I couldn't bear to have it end. The crunching of gravel woke me from my haze of memories and I froze. Half of me wanted Fabian to stay, to keep the past alive and well. But the reasonable half of me kissed his cold forehead, withdrew my arms from around his neck, and wished him well. He stumbled into his dad's car, tripping over random pebbles and sticks. And, as he sat in that front seat, I could swear tears were rolling down his cheeks.
And that's how I ended up here.
Waiting for the morning to just friggin show up
Because being alone makes me want to cry.
Amber's dainty snores aren't filling the room.
I can't hear Jerome and Alfie
Having a pillow fight downstairs.
Patricia's creepy goth music
isn't trickling threw the walls.
This is that ridiculous kind of sad
That you could swear will rip you in two.
There's nothing in America
That could compete with Anubis.
There's nothing left for me there.
And my heart
Can't let this place go.
My head falls back on my one pillow
And I hear the unmistakable sound of crinkling paper.
There,
On that fading navy blue cloth,
Lays an envelope.
My heart smiles and breaks all at the same time.
Amber,
Fabian,
Jerome,
Alfie,
Mick,
Mara,
And even Patricia
Have all left me something of theirs. As I tear open the yellow business envelope, 7 different items tumble out onto my naked mattress. A silver necklace glints in the moonlight. Two matching jesters' hats are tangled by their own pom-poms. A graphing calculator. A roll of pre-wrap. A map of the stars. A skull key-chain.
Oh my God.
I hug the beautiful gifts to my chest.
They will always be with me
Wherever I go.
No matter what happens.
Anubis lives on.