Okay, so our teacher had us do this for a school project and then she forced everyone in my class to read it. I want to know what people who WEREN'T forced to read it think. It's a first attempt at non-modern fanfiction. -AJ ThaPlatypus

I stared forlornly at the door. Naturally, I didn't wish to leave the nursery; I had no real desire to be seeing Aunt Reed, for she loved me not and the same went for her children. It had been a long time, several days' time, actually, since I had been locked unmercifully up in the red-room and seen the spectral shadows of Mr. Reed. My only company had been myself and, on the occasion that it was necessary, either Abbott or Bessie. Today was no different.

Rather content that I had been left by my lonesome, I ambled over to the window and pressed my forehead against it, hoping to see something of interest. The autumn leaves shimmered waves of yellows, oranges, and reds as the wind outside gently ruffled the limbs of the trees. It was as if the zephyrs were trying to ease them to sleep, slowly drawing the trees, along with the rest of nature, into her dormancy for the winter. Squirrels and robins danced about the lawn, once and a while stopping short to take fancy in a seed or insect. I imagined that they were all preparing for a great feast later on, in which they would dine with the finest and most decorous of fae and sylph.

My whims dissipated with the discordant rapping that came upon the door to the nursery. Sighing, I grudgingly pulled myself away from the sill and walked briskly over to it. Bessie entered without my consent (for she needed none, being my superior) and looked down at me, a stoic expression upon her visage. She let an outbreath escape her lips and took one lock of my hair between her fingers.

'Miss Jane, what e'er have you been doing to your hair?' she asked, frowning in a manner that led me to believe she was not expecting an answer. Bessie demanded gently of me that I must find a brush and bring it thither so that she might sort out the 'rat's nest' that presided on my scalp. I did so and patiently endured the correcting of my peccant, disorderly mane.

'Missis insists you come to her at once,' Bessie told me.

With that, I was left alone once more. The ever-present temptation of staying put turned about in my head, willing me to stay away from she who would most likely have nothing of the benevolent sort to say to me. My heart bid me to step out of line, but long instilled in my will was the sense of obligation to Mrs. Reed. I took a deep breath and tarried a little, every once and again starting for the drawing room in which she would be found. The self-battle lasted until I heard her voice echo throughout the halls.

'Miss Eyre!' it commanded. 'Come down at once!'

Starting at the sudden order, I bounded down the stairs and made for the drawing room. The door was shut, and no light was permitted to escape under it. This gave the room ahead of me an imprisoned feel; every step forward felt like the journey to the dungeons beneath some highly estate. Frightening images of snarling criminals, dank cells, the ever-foreboding darkness, and the floor's filth that was created by rat and detainee alike poured into my mind, flooding it with a sense of dread. I swallowed hard and pressed one quivering hand up to the door, pressing it inwards.

What I saw in the room gave me a fright most unbearable. Mrs. Reed sat in her usual chair, yes, but to her right was a tall figure, clothed in black apparel that seemed as if it were the robes of an executioner. All that could be seen of the creature beneath the mantles was two parchment colored hands and the base of its chalk-white chin jutting above a well-built, yet thinned neck. Due to my childish fantasies, upon seeing the figure, pallor came to my cheeks, sweat formed on my brow, I let out a shriek, and my body fell faint to the floor.

Sometime later, I awoke to see that I was still in the same chamber with the missis and her daunting acquaintance. My heart leapt into my mouth when I came to realize that it was indeed the frightening figure that was helping me up to my feet. The missis sniffed at me, apparently displeased with my behavior. She took her piercing eyes off of me and pointed them at the figure. For a moment, silence had the stage, but the missis was quick to change this.

'I believe you have met Herr Brechen,' she said icily. I trembled a little; unsure of whom she spoke of. 'It is surely not the creature which holds onto my very shoulders who is the man she speaks of,' I told myself. The figure let go of my shoulders and knelt down before me. Underneath its hood, two pale, ocean-grey eyes stared back at me. On a first glance, they seemed quite terrible and cold, but the longer I held the gaze, the more I came to find more heart than in all of Mrs. Reed's home. For a frightening person, for human it was, he was most certainly putting my apprehensive soul at ease.

'Guten tag,' he said, smiling softly at me. I returned the smile; it was all I could do, not having comprehended what he had said. 'Mrs. Reed tells me that you are the child who wishes to be educated.'

His accent was rough. He pronounced his 'w' as a 'v' and every word that passed over his tongue was annunciated as if he had a difficult time forming the English language. I would have perceived him to be German, but I knew well that presumptions were not always correct, and by assuming his nationality I could very well bring offense to him.

'Yes,' I said quietly.

'Well,' he said, once again replacing the 'w' with a 'v.' I watched him carefully as he clasped his long, thin fingers together. 'I am here to fulfill this wish. I teach at a school in Munich. It is my great honor to be your escort thence.'

'I leave today?' I questioned, not at all prepared for such an announcement.

'The sooner the better,' Mrs. Reed huffed, drawing her chest up a little. Her eyes once again fell on me, glaring daggers right into my heart. 'Take her today; take the deceitful, livid child away from us! She had plagued our humble home far too long.'

'You speak as if Miss Eyre has the temperament of a demon,' Herr Brechen said. The missis sniffed a second time, clearly unwilling to take her poison-laced words back. The Herr stood up to his full height and pointed one skeleton-like finger at the door I had entered through. 'Go, Miss Eyre, pack up your things. Tonight, you shall make for a new life.'

Ready to be out of the presence of my aunt, I gathered up my skirt and headed back up to the nursery in frenzy. To think- at long last, after ten years of sorrow and the absence of love, I, Jane Eyre, would be leaving this horrid place for a new home, one that put a grand distance between me and the denizens of this cold house. I began to collect my belongings; those that were there were few and all could easily fit into a small bag. Bessie permitted me to take one of her bags in remembrance of her. Together, we filled it with my trivial amount of Earthly possessions.

'Do you know anything of this school Herr Brechen is to take me to?' I asked Bessie, just as we finished filling the bag with my things.

'No, Miss Jane, I do not,' Bessie shook her head. She placed the handle of the bag in my hand and offered me her own. I grasped it and we descended the stairs slowly. 'I just know that you will be well cared for- Herr Brechen is a kind man, though his appearance may speak otherwise of him.'

'Indeed, his eyes are kind while his countenance is ominous,' I remarked.

Bessie took me back into the drawing room, where the missis and Herr were still standing. They seemed to be making small talk, and when they noticed our presence, they sealed their lips as if their murmurings were that of the clandestine nature. Mrs. Reed looked to Bessie, expecting her to speak.

'Miss Eyre is ready for departure,' Bessie said calmly. Mrs. Reed nodded her head and waved at us dismissively.

'Then be gone with her!' she exclaimed. I felt the hurt swell up in my chest. Bessie's grip tightened on my hand, and she guided me outside with haste. Herr Brechen followed, walking behind us in a manner that reminded me much of a nun whose head was bent in meditation. We walked across the lawn of the plantation towards a carriage. It was as black as the clothing upon Herr Brechen's physique, with two ebony steeds attached to it who were standing at attention and awaiting their orders. At the end of the drive, Bessie stooped down and embraced me, stroking my hair a little.

'Promise me you will remember me,' she whispered. I nodded and told her that I would. 'Now then, go along. The journey will not be a swift one; I bid you farewell and safe travels.'

As soon as she had released me from her arms, Herr Brechen hoisted me up into the carriage by the waist and sat me down inside. He told me to be as patient as I could- there would be plenty of picturesque scenery we would pass on our journey, and if I got bored I could always examine that.

The trip to Munich was indeed very long. It took weeks; I daresay a month or more passed before we even had entered Germany. After we had arrived there, it took us another few weeks to arrive in Munich, where we finally stopped at a school Herr Brechen had told me was called 'Die Schule der Fremde.' The true name of the school, Akademie der Spezialisierung, was, as he said, much too difficult on the tongue of those who did not speak the Deutsch language, so the children had decidedly called it 'Die Schule der Fremde,' or simply 'Fremde.' When he revealed that it meant, 'the school of strange,' I marveled at this and tried to think of a possible reason for such a title, but none came to mind.

He had me taken from the carriage and straight into the school, eager to have me enrolled and to have me meet the other students which presided here. Both boys and girls alike were travelling the hallways, laughing and conversing with their friends. Herr Brechen told me it was their free time, where they could frolic around in juvenile abandon. I would have to wait for such gaiety, as I must meet the headmaster and be assigned classes and a bedchamber.

The office of the headmaster was a quite stately place, with an oaken desk, a few luxurious chairs, and a wall covered floor to ceiling with leather-bound novels, each thicker than the average Bible. As for the headmaster himself, he was a stout man with a round face. His skin was filled with much color, his eyes were a warm chocolate, and his clothing was that of a nobleman. Where his appearance told a person he was kindly, he was just as oppositely characterized as Herr Brechen- his kindly physique was diminished when his gruff, hard voice emitted from his throat.

'What is this, then, Herr Brechen!' he bellowed, standing up and looking down at me. 'You are certain she is permitted entry to this institution?'

'As certain of it as I am certain of your quick temper, Lehrer Anweisen,' Herr Brechen replied firmly. He folded his pale hands behind his back and stared long and hard into the eyes of the headmaster.

'What is your name, child?' he asked, turning his hard gaze to me.

'Jane,' I told him. 'My name is Jane Eyre.'

'Who is your father, Miss Eyre?' he demanded, narrowing his eyes.

'I have none,' I said, holding my posture up as straight as I could.

'And tell me of your mother- what of her?' he frowned. 'Do you not have a mother, also?'

'No,' I replied.

'Ah, orphan children have you brought to me,' Lehrer Anweisen hummed. He sat back into his chair and locked his fat fingers together. His eyes darted up and down my figure, scrutinizing me as if I were a meal. 'Take her to the chamber of Mademoiselle Lisse. I am most certain that she will find the girl a good companion.'

With the flick of his wrist, the Lehrer sent us both off. Herr Brechen took ahold of my hand and guided me to the bedchambers. They were on the third floor from the ground, with the boys' section on one wing of the floor and girls' on the other. I was told, by Herr Brechen, that boys did not visit the girls' chambers and vice versa. At the time, I saw it as a simply ridiculous rule; were not boys and girls only equals of opposing sex? Looking back, I fully agree with the statute.

The Herr brought me into a chamber that he deemed would be my home for the next eight years of my life. Inside it were two mahogany beds with cherry-red silken covers, a set of chest of drawers made also of mahogany, twin mirrors, and a toilette area next to a decent-sized walk-in wardrobe. The walls were a soft golden color, the trim was a deeper red than the silk bedcovers, and the floor was oak.

'The bed closest to the wardrobe will be yours,' Herr Brechen told me. I nodded and sat my lone piece of luggage down on it. He told me then, 'You are welcome to either come observe the students or you may stay by your lonesome in here. Dinner will be served at seven; by then, Mademoiselle Lisse will have returned hither and she will show you the way.'

I told him I would tarry there until it was time to sup. As the time drew nearer for the meal, I came to find that he was right, as the young girl called Lisse did show up in the chamber around half past six. She walked in and started at my presence in her room.

'I beg pardon,' said she, in a thick French accent. 'I was not aware that the Lehrer had assigned a roommate to me!'

I told her that it was quite alright, and she need not worry herself with my presence.

'Come, come!' she then said, taking ahold of my left hand and pulling me a long. 'You must come down to dinner with me! What is your name?'

'Jane,' I replied. 'Jane Eyre.'

'Well, Jane, I am Josette,' she said with a smile. 'And I give you much welcome to Fremde!'

I returned her smile and permitted her to pull me along to the dining room behind her. She led me to a table where she sat amongst other girls (her friends, all of my same age) who were of mixed nationality. One girl was from Ireland; another from Italy; the shyest one, who said not a word the entirety of the meal, was said to have come from the Far East. They all gave me a warm smile as welcome, and a few offered me a name and the offer of friendship. The Irish girl was Aileen, the Italian was Ines, and the Eastern girl (whom I found to later be Chinese) was Fen. Never in my wildest dreams had I imagined to be making friends so quickly.

The dinner itself was a sight to behold. A large roast had been done up, with tender succulent slices of beef for everyone. Cooked with it were peeled potatoes the size of my clenched fist, soft carrots that belittled my fingers, and bread rolls that were as dense as cotton candy. Butter was provided in fancy glass dishes along the tables, which were all clothed in scarlet. The dinner plates were fine china, the silverware was so clean one could see his or herself in its surface, and the glasses were filled to the brim with the sweetest, creamiest milk that had ever passed over my tongue.

After the meal, we were instructed to head back up to our chambers. Josette made sure that I came behind her, and we swiftly made our way up into the chamber we had been assigned and closed ourselves in. Josette lit a few candles and smiled sweetly at me.

'So, you are from England?' she asked.

'Yes,' I nodded.

'Ah, how exciting that is!' Josette exclaimed. 'You must have crossed over the channel on a boat, then?'

'That we did,' I laughed, wondering at her questions. 'Are we not supposed to be readying ourselves for bed?'

'We are to prepare ourselves for sleep, yes,' she said with a giggle. 'But most of us, we stay up late into the night, sharing tales and creating fantasies among one another. The school brings us promise, Jane. A promise the real world will never give us.'

'What promise?' I asked her.

'The promise of safety and security,' she said, in almost a whisper. 'We are not like other humans. We are orphans, all of us, because of either the death of our parents or abandonment.'

'My parents are dead,' I said. 'What of yours?'

'They left me alone in the world,' she said, drawing herself up to her full height. 'They said they did not wish to have a child of my…type.'

'What mean you?' I said, unwilling to let her speak with such riddles for any longer. 'I understand you not.'

'Oh, Jane, you don't know?' she cried. She pressed a forearm to her front and closed her eyes. 'Jane, we are not like the normal people! This school only admits the children of the supernatural realm. The world, they despise and fear us; mere children!'

'Supernatural?' I blinked, making certain I had heard her correctly and that my ears were not at fault for misconstruing her words.

'Aye, Jane,' Josette nodded. 'That we are. You cannot tell at first sight that I am abnormal, can you?'

'No,' I shook my head. 'To me, you seem perfectly normal. You seem just like any other innocent child.'

'Bah!' she scoffed, more to herself than to me. 'To even think that I am normal brings pain to my very ears. Jane, the extent of my normality resides in my countenance. Underneath, I am nothing but a creature different than a human. We all have some strange ability, whether it is to become intangible or to become like fire.'

'What is it that you do?' I inquired, hoping it was not too much to ask. 'And why does no one accept us?'

'I speak to animals,' she said, turning red in the cheeks. 'No one wishes to accept a girl who finds comrades amongst the birds and the bees. It is not the strangest of abilities I have seen, Jane, nor is it the most normal. Again, we are different, therefore humans shun us.'

'How do you discover such ability?' I frowned, indicating that I myself had felt quite normal in all of my life at Gateshead. Still, the thought lingered that Herr Brechen would not have taken me had I not met the school's prerequisite.

'Some accidentally find it when reacting to surprise or fear,' she said calmly. 'Others, it comes with age. The select few must be conscious of such a power to use it. Only handfuls are born able to make use of it naturally.'

For the rest of the night, I pondered this to myself. What ability had I been cursed with that caused me to be a part of this forbidden world? I then blamed such for Mrs. Reed's hatred of me. It was not me she hated; it was what I was. That night, I lie awake in the bed, staring up at the ceiling and pondering on the numerous things that the children here at Fremde could do. I imagined some walking through walls, others flying, and still others becoming invisible. My mind thought of them as deities like Helios and Zeus, or perhaps as Oden and Thor. I could see them, performing acts unimaginable by the average human being.

Now, my life seems better in some respects and worse in others. I have escaped the cruelties of Gateshead and landed in the shielding arms of Fremde. Friends have come to me when I had feared for loneliness. A world outside of this place I then presided in did not wish to accept me, and it was all for an unknown gift I had been afflicted with. Thus ended my life with Mrs. Reed-

I will leave it up to your mind's eye what transpired next.