Upstairs, on the east side of the building, Headmistress Mal led Leah down the hall to her room. They stopped in front of a door that read 19. She could hear murmurs coming from the otherside of the room. But it stopped as soon as Mal turned the handle and opened the door.
"Grils, I'm sure you remember that new roommate we talked about the other day." Mal asked the three girls who each sat on their respective beds. They blinked for a moment before nodding. "Well she has arrived, her name is Leah." Mal gestured to her. "She will be bunking with you three. I'm sure I can trust you will show her around as well as the rules we have in place?" She nudged Leah a bit, making her stumble into the room.
"Yes miss Mal!" The three girls said in unison.
"Good." She then looked at Leah "I shall leave you to unpack Miss Leah." With that, she left slamming the door shut.
"Thank god she's gone!" The one in a blue and white dress said.
"Seriously, doesn't she know how to knock? I mean we always get scolded for not knocking." Said the one in the dark blue dress.
Leah just watched as they all chatted with each other.
"Would you two calm yourself, I'm really not in the mood for an argument." The one in purple said.
Leah turned out their conversation as she glanced around the room. It was small with 4 beds, each with a small night stand next to them. At the other end of the room was a large window, under it was a bench that had a cushion on it. She noticed one empty bed near the window on the right side of the room. She walked over and placed her suitcase on top of the spring like mattresses and a thin fuzzy blanket.
"What do you suppose she had?" The blue and white one whispered.
"My guess is depression." The blue one guessed.
"I can hear you." Leah said with a bit of confidence.
"Excuse them." The one in purple said, jumping to her feet. She walked over to Leah's bed. "Names Jane, Jane darling." She stuck out her hand, leah took it and shook. "That over there is my older sister Wendy." She pointed to the one in blue. "And over there is Alice" she pointed to the blue and white one.
"Leah," she responded.
"So what are you in for, talking inanimate objects, imaginary friends, abusive family?" Alice asked.
Leah raised a brow as Jane shot her a look. "Alice!"
"I was just curious." She shrugged, leaned back onto her bed.
"Well I'm sure Leah is curious as to why you're here. How about you tell your story, hm?" Jane suggested.
"But-" Alice protested.
"Then stop pestering her if you don't want to share." She then leaned into Leah's ear. "Alice tends to have a very curious mind, likes to pry into other peoples business."
Leah nodded as she relaxed once again. She then open her suitcase and began to unpack the little belongings she had.
"You know." Jane said as she sat on the edge of Leah's bed. "Me and Wendy dream about a far off world known as neverland."
Leah turned her head for a second, could she possibly not be alone? "You do?" She asked as she began placing her clothes in the nightstand drawer.
Wendy nodded "nuts full of mythical creatures, like fairies, mermaid, lost boys, even pirates." She then sighed "unfortunately no one believes us, or our older brother."
"You have a brother?" Leah asked as she finished putting her last shirt in the small drawer before closing it.
"His name is Peter, he thinks he rules neverland. People say we didn't go there, it was just a childish dream, but we think the whole thing is real." Jane added.
"Is he here?" Leah asked as she took the photo of her family out and placed it in front of the small lamp.
"He is, he's just in the isolation ward. He's a bit more trouble than the rest of us." Wendy said.
"I see." Leah lowered her head Unser what to say. She placed the doll on the rather hard looking pillow before slamming her suitcase shut.
"It's alright, he just tried to jump off our third story balcony. So that's when our parents decided to send us here."
Leah's eyes wided "why the hell would your brother do that?!"
"Claims he can fly." Alice said.
"Surely that's a joke?"
Jane shook her head "afraid not, but we think when the time is right, he will bring us back to Neverland, where we can live happily together."
Leah nodded "remind me of my world. My parents said I was in a coma for a year and a half. But I say I was brought to an alternate world, where I was older and saved a galaxy far, far, away." She sat down next to Jane and picked up the small doll "it was like a dream come true. One day I hope to go back and finish what I started."
"What's with the doll?" Alice asked, sitting back up.
"It's what I look like in the galaxy."
"Alright Alice your turn." Jane said.
"What?!" Alice exsclamed.
"Come on we all shared our worlds, it's your turn. Unless you want me to share for you?" Jane mocked.
Alice shook her head "alright fine, I deam of a world of my own. One where animals speak, eveyone is the same size. They live in houses in a world ruled by a mad queen with card guards." Alice let out a small smile at the though "if I can just fine that rabbit hole again, I can go back to that world."
"Rabbit hole?" Leah asked.
"My sister found me under a tree, sleeping. But I remember very clearly that I followed a white rabbit with a pocket watch to a place called wonderland. Ever since my first visit I've checked every rabbit hole I've come across." She flopped back on her bed and frowned "though I'm starting to think I'll never find my way back to wonderland."
"You'll find it one day, Alice, I just know it." Wendy said as the rest nodded in agreement.
"I suppose. I just wish I could stash the ground more. Too bad we only get the small courtyard to be free in."
"They actually let you go outside here?"
"Indeed, except we can only go out at certain times." Jane said.
Leah turned her head to the window that overlooked the small courtyard nestled inside the center of the building. She assumed that was the space they were talking about. "So when do we get to go outside?" She asked.
"Not for another half hour, but there's still plenty we can do till then." Jane then got to her feet "for instance, why don't we give you the grand tour." Wendy and Leah both followed by getting her there feet. They all made there way to the door when Wendy looked at Alice.
"You comeing alice?" She asked.
"You guys go ahead, I'll catch up later" she said all moody.
"Suit yourself" Wendy said as they all headed out the door.
For the first time, Leah actually focused on the way the place looked. It was like an antique home completely made of wood. Yet modern at the same time. It gave off a cozy cabin-like feel.
"Up stairs is where the bedrooms are along with some of the medical areas." Wendy said as they walked to the pain staircase. She pointed across to a double door where two guards were posted. "Though you need to be accompanied to enter the medical area."
Leah looked around and noticed a door over on the opposite side of the staircase. "What's that?"
"Don't know, they won't let us though there." Wendy said with a shrug.
"But downstairs is where the fun is, along with the staff's offices/quarters." Jane added and they all headed downstairs. Leah shrugged it off and followed them.
At the bottom, Leah stopped to admire the grand entrance. It reminded her of when she would go to her aunt's mansion before she passed. Its grand double doors completed the grand staircase that broke off leading left, and right. There was a red carpet that led from the entrance to the staircase.
"Leah you coming?" Jane asked.
Leah snapped out of her sight seeing and rushed back over to them. They went left Instead of right.
"Down here is where we mostly spend our time, there's game rooms ranging from mental to physical." She gestured to a room on the left we're two boys were playing ping pong, and to the right where four teens were playing a board game.
"Not to mention we have every gaming console you could imagine from PlayStation 4 to Nintendo switch" Wendy added as they stopped at another room on their right. Inside several teens were racing in mario kart.
"Over here we have a small library and here is our classroom." Wendy muttered as if the words were poison. She could care less for the education here. "The older kids usually meet in the mornings, the younger ones meet in the afternoon. Three hours a day, Five days a week."
They all stopped to peek inside the classroom. Inside was a big glass window that let in lots of light. The left wall had a big bookshelf and to the right were different pieces of Excellent work. In the middle of the room were several rows of desks facing the front wall. On it was a chalkboard and in front was a desk. At the desk sat a young woman who she presumed was the teacher.
"Hey Miss porter." Jane called, giveing a polite wave.
Miss Porter looked over at the three girls. "Miss Wendy, Miss Jane, what a pleasure to see you both." She then eyed leah "and who's this you brought with you?"
"This is our new roommate, leah." Wendy explained.
Miss Potter gave her a kind smile "I knew we were getting someone new. Hello Miss Leah and welcome to the institute. My name is Miss Porter and I'm one of the teachers here. I focus on geography and math."
Leah gave her a small wave, staring to get shy once again.
"There's no need to be shy around me." She spoke as if to read Leah's mind "now how old are you?"
"15." She spoke soft, yet loud enough for them to hear.
"I see, we'll then you will be here from 9-12. Money though Friday."
Leah nodded.
"Very good, now is there anything else I can do for you lady's?"
The girls shook their heads.
"Alright, you're all excused. Oh and if you see Miss Belle, please send her my way."
"Yes Miss porter." Wendy and Jane said in unison before they all left.
"Who's Miss bell?" Leah asked as they continued down the hall.
"She's the English and arts teacher here. On the weekends shill set up an activity for us to do, like crafts or some sort of model we have to build." Jane stated. "She's very nice, even if she makes us read books."
"Say leah." Wendy said changing the subject "I don't mean to be rude but you look a lot younger than I thought you were."
It was true, Leah did look a lot younger than she was. She had gone through full puberty but was short at just 5 foot 3. She also never acted her age, especially since the accident. "Ya I get that a lot, how old are you guys?"
"I'm 16" Wendy responded.
"And I'm 13" Jane added..
Leah nodded as they turned the corner to we're a large set of doors were. "This is my favorite spot." Jane said as she opened one "welcome to the cafeteria, open for three meals a day, seven days a week. Breakfast at eight, lunch at one, and dinner at six."
The room was full of long cafeteria-like tables. There was also a small counter that looked like a serving area. It reminded her a bit of her school cafeteria.
"Whatever you do, don't touch the meatloaf, it makes half of us sick." Wendy whispered to leah.
She shuddered at the fact. "Duly noted." Then the bell rang, only it sounded more like a church bell rather than a school bell. "what's that?" She asked as Jane shut the door.
"That's the bell, it signals when it's time to change activities. Right now it tells us to head out for mandatory outside time." Jane explained before rushing off outside.
"Guess she's excited for fresh air." Leah said.
Wendy let out a light giggle "indeed. Come I'll show you how we get to the courtyard." Leah followed. Maybe this way of life wasn't going to be so bad, or was it?
