I don't own POTO! Have a nice day :)
Lilly PoV
"Lilly?" I hear a soft voice calling out to me.
I arch my back trying to stretch my muscles out a bit.
Why am I so stiff this morning?
"Lilly, you're squishing me," The voice tells me, but it's a lot squeakier this time.
Pushing through the sleepy haze, my eyes peeled open and I woke up looking into the eyes of my little brother. His bottom lip jutting out in a pout, and his hair a mess from sleep.
"I'm sorry, I must have fallen asleep," I tell him, pointing out the obvious.
Getting off his bed I search for my phone in my pocket. I cursed internally at myself because of the low battery. Then my eyes fell to the time and I wanted to rip my hair out. I didn't charge my phone or set an alarm for class today. I'm twenty minutes late already.
"Crap."
"You said a bad word!" Adrien cheers, quickly waking up.
"Sorry little man, I'll get mum to make you some breakfast okay. I have to get going," I rush out, ruffling his hair in a goodbye gesture, before running out of the room.
"Mum!" I call out, pacing towards the living room. "Can you make Adrien something to eat?"
When I turn the corner, only dad is there reading the newspaper, his suit done up to perfection. A quick scan of the room I see mum is nowhere in sight.
"Your mother isn't here right now," He answers glumly, not looking at me.
"Fine, can you make him something then, and give him his medicine,"
"Can't you do it?" He questions, raising an eyebrow.
"I have a class to get to," I sigh, picking up my backpack from the front door.
This time he looks up at me putting the paper into his lap.
"Fine." He huffs, standing up and readjusting his tie.
I hold back the urge to roll my eyes, and instead open the front door to leave. I hope Mrs Fell doesn't give me too hard a time for being late.
"Have a good day Elizabeth," I hear dad call out before I shut the door on him.
I think that's the first time in a year my dad has wished me good luck for anything. I would go as far as saying it's the first time in months he's even talked to me about something other than complaining about mum.
No doubt she will stumble home later a mess from her late night 'adventures'.
It doesn't take me long to get to the Opera house. I run to the changing rooms, trying to get into my ballet costume as quickly as possible. I'm half an hour late no and there no doubt in my mind Mrs Fell is going to find a way to punish me.
Running backstage I see everyone is on the stage practicing their turns. With wishful thinking I sneak my way into the crowd, turning with them in hopes Mrs Fell won't notice me.
"Elizabeth, class started nine, what is your excuse for being late?" Mrs Fell calls out, from the front of the stage.
Busted.
"I'm sorry Mrs Fell, I didn't set my alarm last night," I tell her the truth.
She sighs, lowering her head in disappointment. I feel like I'm hanging by a fine line with Mrs Fell. One of these days she's going to refuse my parents cheques to teach me. She's going to completely give up on me. I would, I'm a lost cause when it comes to trying to teach me something.
Dancing should come from passion and imagination anyway, not training and hard work.
"I'll deal with you after class," She dismisses.
Banging her cane on the ground everyone stops spinning and stands tall ready for their next instruction. Samantha beckons with her hand for me to go over to her on the other side of the stage. I shake my head, there no need to piss her off any more than I already have.
The day drags on slowly, and I'm sweating and aching by the time were allowed to get changed and go home. Mrs Fell pushed us to our limits, especially me. She had me go back to the basics of ballet, pointing my toes and repeating the same pirouette move, over and over again. It was all very tiring, and the thought of collapsing on my bed sounded like the most amazing thing in the world.
"Elizabeth, don't forget I want a word with you after you've changed," Mrs Fell reminds me, before I can escape.
I groan, internally of course and trudged off towards the changing room. The girls are already giggling and gossiping amongst each other as they change. I, on the other hand, sit down on the bench and hold my head in my hands.
"You alright?" Samantha asks.
I feel her arm wrap around my shoulders in what I assume was supposed to be soothing. I shake it off, standing up and running my hands through my natty, sweaty hair.
"Sorry, I'm just all sweaty and gross right now, I don't even want to change," I grumble.
It's a horrible feeling trying to peel off a skin-tight leotard when you're sweaty. I hate the fact that we have to wear these things. We are all expected to wear black leotards with white tights, so Mrs Fell can see our movement clearly.
I much prefer wearing some jogging bottoms and a sports bra when I'm working out, this outfit is just ridiculous.
"You don't have to, you only live across the street, you might as well just go home in that,"
"True." I agree, sitting back down after I've cooled a bit.
"So I've got tickets to see black swan tomorrow-"
"I can't," I cut her off.
"Why not?" She pouts at me.
"Becuase I have to look after my brother," I tell her, and her eyes filled with pity. "Maybe another time."
"Sorry I forgot. Your right we can go another time," She agrees.
I sit there in silence while Samatha gets changed. We chat to drown out the other girls taking pictures in the corner of the room. I would have loved to see black swan with her, I can't remember the last time I've been out just to hang out.
"I'll see you next week," Samatha said in goodbye.
"See ya," I fire back walking out of the changing room, once again I'm the last one out.
I took Samantha's advice and left my ballet outfit on, just throwing my hoodie on over the top, due to the winter weather. Now all I have to do is talk to Mrs Fell and I can go home. Where is that old woman when you need her?
I hear a banging noise coming from the other end of the hallway. A really loud banding noise, almost like Mrs Fell is banging her cane against something. I've never really ventured this way into the opera house before, I don't think anybody has.
"Mrs Fell?" I call out, not wanting to get in trouble for being here.
The banging stops and I freak out when I hear what sounds like someone running across the metal rafters above me. Clutching my hand to my chest, I look up in fright seeing a black shadow disappear above me.
"Old building my ass," I mutter under my breath.
I sling my backpack onto my back and walk over to the ladder that leads up to the rafters. It's probably a really dumb idea to do this, but to hell with it. Something inside of me, much larger than curiosity urges me to climb the ladder to find the source of the noise.
The metal creaks under my weight when I reach the top, and I hold onto the railings either side trying not to look down. These things are much higher than I thought they were. I can't see anyone up here.
"Is anyone up here?" I call out, then realize how stupid I sound.
I've probably ended up going insane. For all I know I could be talking to myself.
Edging forward slightly, I feel my legs begin to quiver with fear from the sheer height. I'm not usually afraid of heights, but this thing hasn't been walked across for decades, it could collapse at any minute.
What am I doing? I question myself. It's as if I was possessed by something greater. Deep down I would have never climbed up here, no matter how curious I w
Realizing my bad choice I back up slowly to get back to the ladder. That's when my foot hits something. A cloud of smoke puffs up in front of me. I scream as the metal below my feet disappears leaving me to fall towards the ground. But I don't hit the ground. Instead, I fall onto a pile of old mattresses. A cloud of dust filling my lungs when I land on them.
I look up at the hole I fell through only to realize that it wasn't a hole.
It was a trap door.
"No, wait! Mrs Fell!" I try to scream for help, but the door above closes.
Now I'm laying on a pile of old mattresses, underground in the pitch black with no idea where to go. Shuffling my backpack off my back, I blindly open it and root around from my phone. I finally hit something metal, and when I pull it out the screens light gives me something to see with. Five percent battery.
Great, just great.
I try to call Samatha knowing she is always glued to her phone and will surely pick up within the first few rings. But when I call instead of the usual ringing tone, I hear a high-pitched beeping noise.
No signal, great- perfect, I'm going to die here alone.
I can't think like that, I need to get out of here, where ever here is. I turn on the torch tool on my phone and the room I'm in is instantly lit with light. It looks to be some kind of sewer tunnel. But there are old-fashioned torch brackets secured to the walls which suggest people used these tunnels. Maybe there's someone still down here?
I hope not, I wouldn't like to think what kind of deranged, psychopath would stay down here.
Taking a deep breath of the stuffy air, I begin to walk down the tunnel only to find out what a maze this place is. Tunnel after tunnel I keep walking until I start to believe that I'm walking around in circles. I defiantly walked past the pile of mattresses more than once. Trying a different route I get half way down a tunnel when I step on a brick that begins to sink into the floor.
I jump back just in time to miss an arrow to the shoulder.
Trap doors and booby traps? Am I under the opera house or an evil billionaire's mansion?
My breathing comes out shallow as I continue on taking more care with where I'm stepping. Too bad that as I focused on my feet, I didn't notice the wire in front of me. I practically walk into it face first. Jumping back didn't help this time. Metal gates blocked me in as water began to pour out of two holes in the walls. This wasn't clean water either, it was green and murky.
The water was filling too quickly, and in no time I was submerged under the water, my phone blinking in my hand as it began to die out. I swam to the surface only to realize the water had risen all the way to the top of the ceiling.
I tried to hold my breath, but I gave in to my body's need to breathe and inhaled some of the water. My eyesight started to form black dots, and the water was becoming too heavy to swallow anymore.
That's when I felt myself begin to sink to the floor and my mind shut down into darkness.
