Episode 2
I woke up in the middle of the night to a shrill ringing noise in my ear. I didn't know what it was, nor did I want to find out. I was too scared to open my eyes and look around.
"Oi…" I heard a lower feminine voice say. "Get out of my room." I tried to ignore it, thinking it was just a figment of my imagination, but it persisted to talk.
"Come, on then. I know you're awake." She said.
I felt cold hands touch my wrists and I jerked away. My eyes opened without my control and before me loomed a pale white girl with dark hair to her chin and a gold earring dangling from her left ear.
"AHHH!!!" I screamed loud and clear.
"Shut up." She said, putting her cold hand over my mouth. "You don't want to wake Jeanne do you?"
I shook my head slowly. I didn't want to wake anyone. I was the new student that would be shunned out of any group of people if I so much as woke them up at the hour it was. I wanted to make a good impression.
"Who are you?" I asked, as she uncovered my mouth after a few minutes had passed.
"I'm Thelma." She said a little chipper for how late it was.
"What are you doing in my room?" I asked, now angered that some girl had wandered into my room in the middle of the night.
"Your room?" Thelma gave me a questionable look. "Oh, right, you don't know I'm dead." Then she covered her mouth. I felt all color drain from my face.
This has got to be a dream!!! I yelled inside of my head. Lord just let this be a dream and let me get back to sleep.
"Ella told me that you would be able to see me." The … ghost carried on. "Although I didn't really believe it until you screamed. Quite comical actually." She snickered a little to herself. I switched on the light near my bed, and she turned to look at me. A puzzled expression came to her face, and I could not tell why.
"What the hell do you want?" I was getting annoyed, she was laughing at the fact that she was causing me to loose R.E.M.
"Who are you?" She asked bluntly.
"Ali Callahan." I said hotly. There was no point in fighting it now, I really knew I was dreaming – there are no such things as ghosts, I told myself.
"Callahan…?" Thelma mumbled to herself, then seemed to brush it away.
"What do you want?" I asked bluntly, hoping the nightmare would end soon so I could resume R.E.M. Thelma turned toward me, giving an annoyed look.
"No point in waiting for tomorrow to talk to her." Thelma said to herself. She looked at me, a serious expression on her face.
"Ali, I have a mission for you." she said all 'matter of factly'. I snickered and knew that this was a dream. "I want you to find out Malachi's deepest fear."
Simple task, I thought, and maybe agreeing to it that much sooner would let me resume sleep.
"Sure," I said brushing it off and readjusting my pillow. "I'll do it." I said slowly as I nuzzled my head back down to sleep.
"Wake up." Thelma said, and I could feel something nudge the corner of my bed. I sat up quickly.
"Will this nightmare ever end?!" I yelled into the room. All of the sudden the lights seemed to flicker, even though I didn't have any of them on. Creepy, I thought and shuddered, pulling my covers up around my neck.
"Oi, nightmare?" Thelma asked. She was now sitting on the other vacant bed. "You haven't even hit that neck of the woods yet, this is just the tip of the iceberg." She said. I looked at her dimly lit face and scowled.
"What are you talking about?"
"You think you're actually sleeping in that bed?" Thelma asked as her eyebrow rose. "She doesn't remember." A soft feminine voice said, and Thelma's head looked around ever so slightly.
"What are you bloody doing, waking me up in the middle of the night?" I asked, I was getting angered, just wanting this thing out of my room and especially out of my dreams. I needed sleep for my first day of classes.
"You don't remember do you?" Thelma asked me.
"Remember what?" I asked shaking my long blonde hair, trying to make the wisps hit my face and wake me up.
"Don't push it Thelma." The soft feminine voice came again, with many breaths, as if she were in pain.
"Right," Thelma said in response. "Your task, Ali Callahan, is to find out the most inner fear of Malachi."
I nodded slowly. She had already told me this, and I had already agreed to it, what was her fricken' problem?
"Didn't I agree to that already?" I asked as a confused look appeared on Thelma's face, but she brushed it aside immediately.
"There are a few conditions to this task." Thelma paused, looking at me intently.
"Go on, I'm listening." I retorted, annoyed. Couldn't she just get this done and over with. I thought. I knew that lack of sleep wouldn't go over well when I fell asleep in classes tomorrow.
"One, you need to find out his deepest fear as soon as possible. It is vital that you are swift in this task." She paused, looking at me. "Two, do not show him your deepest desire. Three, do not let him know that you are looking for his deepest fear or that you have been talking to me. Last," she paused again. "Do not fall in love with him."
These were interesting requests, especially the last one, more shocking than anything. Why on earth would I fall in love with Malachi? He seemed to be a little manipulative and ….egotistical in the way he carried himself and talked. As if he knew that he was the world and everything in it.
"Ok?" I asked, more of as a question than as a blunt 'I will do it.'
"Good." Thelma said, interpreting it the way it was not meant to be taken. "Start your task immediately, and do not falter for a minute." She gave me a little smile of victory.
I felt a wave of exhaustion hit me as my head fell to the pillow. I saw a shimmer of light as Thelma's aura seemed to disappear. I was once again engrossed in sleep.
"Ali?" I heard a soft voice asking through a haze of dreams about Malachi..?
I grunted low, letting go of my grasp around my pillow and rolling over. I opened my eyes slowly to see deep brown eyes peering into mine, seeing my very soul. It almost hurt to look at them, as if my chest were burning.
"Who..?" I asked, a little stunned and then focused on the rest of the face. Malachi himself.
"What are you doing in my room?" I asked a little embarrassed to be half asleep and a guy in my room. I saw him smirk slightly and remove himself from my bedside.
"Jeanne asked me to come and check on you. She didn't see you in this morning's class and was wondering if you were feeling better from yesterday." His eyes were still bearing into mine and I had to look away to make my chest stop hurting.
"I didn't realize I had slept so late." I looked at the clock on my side table and realized it wasn't ticking. "It must have broken." I whispered to myself, and I glanced at Malachi when I heard him snicker quietly.
"Is something funny?" I asked him, and he turned to look at me questionably. There was a silence for a moment before he began to speak again.
"Jeanne is expecting you downstairs so that she can give you a tour of the school." He looked at me sternly and then left.
I looked at my door as it closed swiftly and wondered why there was such a change in his attitude. So playful at first and then, as if he had been angered by my question. I shook my head slowly. Whatever, I thought, looking around the bright room. I noticed my bags, laying on the spare bed, opened and my clothes from yesterday thrown to one side…….. Who had dressed me in my pajamas? I looked down at my attire realizing that I was, in fact, in my 'jams; a low tank top and boy-shorts. I automatically felt embarrassed at the fact that this random stranger had seen me in my sleep-gear, and that I was bearing all with my chest when he had decided to grace me with his presence.
I got up slowly, trying to make my way around the room, almost feeling in a slight daze. I could feel the coldness of where Thelma had stood the night before.
Only a dream, I thought.
I wandered over to my suitcase and rummaged through the stacks of clothes. I pushed aside the clothes bought that night of the accident, wondering why I had even dared pack them knowing that their presence reminded me of my mother's death. But, then again, it was the last remnants of my mother that I had with me in England. My father had been so quick to usher me off to school that I didn't even get to pack a picture of her.
I felt like I was in a foreign land, although I had managed to stay in Europe. The United Kingdom was more foreign to me than what Berlin had been when we had first moved to Europe.
How I longed to go back to those days when my mom was still alive. Then maybe I could somehow fix what had happened and bring her back from the grave. I brushed away a single tear that had managed to form in the corner of my eye and dressed quickly. There was no reason for crying, not when I had the whole day that I had to maintain my composure. I would cry later, in the darkness of my room.
"Good afternoon Miss Callahan." Jeanne said, greeting me with a smile as I walked to the door where she was standing; right in front of the dining hall.
"Hello, Head Master." I said, looking at the many students who were beginning to gather in the dining hall.
"It's nice to see you feeling better Ali." Jeanne said, ushering me towards the meal line.
"As you might not know, this school was once a house, owned by the McBaine family." Jeanne said, as I tuned out history of the house. I had already researched the school when I had first learned of my new attendance that was to be made. I looked around the room, not really paying attention to what was being plopped on my tray, and spotted a blond haired girl that was sitting quite close to Malachi. I turned away when I noticed that she was giving me an angry look.
"Now it is a distinguished school house that any person would be proud to graduate from." Jeanne said, finishing her informative speech and giving me a big smile. I tried to plaster a kind smile on my face that said I had been listening. I sensed a sign of annoyance as Jeanne turned to look at the room of students. I picked up my tray full of food and looked around the room.
"Feel free to sit with Malachi." Jeanne piped up, noticing that I was looking for a small empty spot in a lone corner. I saw Malachi's face light up as if he had heard Jeanne from across the room. Oh gosh. I thought, not even wanting to converse with anyone at the moment. I already wanted to go home. I felt a little nudge from Jeanne and I felt myself compelled to walk towards his table. I found myself in front of him instantly.
"Hey Ali." He said, smiling big. I rolled my eyes; it looked like his ego was growing just from my approach. Mr. Popular gets the new girl...ha ha ha, yeah right. I thought to myself. I sat down at the edge of table, feeling the glare from the blonde girl grow stronger.
"Ali, this is Alex." Malachi said, and I looked up to see him lingering over me, his hand gesturing toward the overprotective girl. "This is Lenox," he said about the guy sitting next to me and continued to gesture to a few other people around the table, but I didn't remember their names. "Everyone this is Ali Callahan." I could feel him smile, but didn't dare look up at him, instead I focused on the people around me.
"Nice to meet you all." I said shyly, I had always hated a big introduction.
I could feel Alex's eyes baring in to me, but I didn't dare look at her. I sensed a presence of evil about her and it disturbed me to even be sitting so close to her. I felt a surge of energy, and I felt cold as if someone had kicked me in the gut. I gasped for breath but could find none. I fell off my chair and to the floor, trying to catch my breath. I felt blow after blow of coldness come over me followed by pain.
What was happening?
"Alex!!" I heard some people yell. My gaze shifted upwards to see Malachi standing over me. He was looking in Alex's direction, and there was a look of death on his face. I felt him pick me up, not refusing his help; I couldn't, I couldn't even move, let alone protest.
He was running… and then the sun hit my face and the cold blows subsided. Fresh air hit my face, and I could feel it bring life back into my lungs.
"Ali, are you ok?" I heard his voice ask me as the sun blinded my vision. I felt a hard surface underneath me and realized that he had laid me down on something. I began to take in deep breaths of the air and try to calm my floating head. I could not configure out anything that had just happened, and wondered why everyone had been yelling at Alex for her to stop.
"Ow." I said as I fell off the bench and my body seemed to fall into a ball. A sharp pain had risen in my ribs and it was so powerful that I heard myself screaming in pain.
"Oh god." I heard Malachi curse.
"Is she ok?" I heard footsteps hitting gravel as they ran towards me, and the voice belonging to the head master. I didn't hear anything for a couple of minutes.
"Ali?" I felt strong hands on my back. One of them started to unwrap me from my ball and lift me slowly. "Jeanne, she needs help." Malachi said slowly, my eyes focused on him. He was pale, as if he had been hit in the stomach himself. My eyes began to black out, but I could feel the swift motion of Malachi carrying me to …. Where?
