******
It was almost afternoon when she walked out of the room after organizing her stuffs.
Zora was on the peach sofa watching TV with her legs crossed Indian style. She kept biting her left nails repeatedly and adjusting her blond hair anytime it fell in front of her face.
"You are watching Godzilla?" Fina asked as she moved to sit beside her.
Zora just stared at the flat TV on the wall in front of her.
"I like the movie." Fina said
"Me too. I like comedy films the most. But if you like something else, not Godzilla, we can watch anything you like"
"Zora. I like you. You are my roommate and I want to get to know you better but if you keep getting nervous we won't get anywhere with it." Fina said
"I'm sorry. It's hard for me being with so many people at once. Like the foyer."
"Did something happen to you to make you ….I'm just asking."
Zora looked at Fina since she entered the living room and her eyes widened in surprise.
"Wow. You look beautiful"
Fina looked at her loose white blouse and loose white shorts and wondered how she looked beautiful for Zora to give it a wow. Except for her hair which she always put in a ponytail that hung like waves down her back
"Thanks. I like comedy by the way but you can watch anything you want. I'm fine"
They watched the movie in silence for a while.
"I have nightmares, so I hope you won't be bothered by it" Zora said
"I have nightmares too"
They both looked at each other and burst out laughing.
"We have so much in common!" Zora said "I like studying. History and math the most but I am also obsessed with chemistry too"
"I like all subjects but fancy myself with history too" Fina said
Zora grabbed the peanut butter jar from the table beside her and passed it to her.
"Thanks"
Then she grabbed four slices of bread and hand it over to Fina.
"I lost my parents when I was fifteen. They were cursed into wooden dolls then they disappeared."
Fina stopped chewing her bread and looked at Zora in horror.
"Oh my God, Zora. That's terrible" Fina said "Do you know anything about it?"
Zora looked down and stared at her lap.
"What do you love most about Elfina yet?"
Zora beamed at her.
"I love our room the most and my nice roommate."
"You wanna go on a tour?"
"Tomorrow" Zora replied
They ate and watched more movies before falling asleep on the sofa.
It was dark; she couldn't see anything except the feeling that her hands and feet were tied.
The sound of water drops as it hits the floor. The rapid heartbeat. The darkness as it overwhelmed every part of her.
She knew she was in a different world. Again.
And the horrifying truth was that….it always seems so real.
Then, as it always happened, she heard screaming somewhere and froze.
The footsteps. It's coming closer. She could hear the voices again.
More screaming.
It's closer. They are closer.
She tried to stand but couldn't. Every drop of water means a second and another until she heard the door opens and….
Then, everything shifted…
She was at the library. Which library? She doesn't have a clue. Someone was talking to her and she smiled. Everything was peaceful until she felt something drop on her shoulder.
Blood.
She looked up and it began to rain.
It began to rain blood and she was drowning. Something was stopping her from breathing. Someone wants to make sure she dies. Someone was pulling her into the lake of blood.
Someone wants her dead.
Fina took a very sharp breath as she came back to reality. Then, she sat up and breathes a sigh of relief.
Zora was still fast asleep. One hand tucked under her head like a pillow. Her body curled on the sofa like a little child.
Fina turned off the TV and ran her fingers through her hair.
She swallowed hard, thinking about the voice she heard when the gate opened…
"Stop..Don't take them away….NOOO!" Zora screamed
Fina tapped her on the shoulder with her finger and she jolted awake suddenly.
"Don't kill me, please…" Zora begged desperately.
"It's Fina. You had a bad dream"
"Fina? Who..oh! I had a bad dream, didn't I?" Zora asked "What time is it?"
"It's three in the morning."
"I'm lucky I slept that long. I will go do some studying. There are some books I brought with me" Zora said and got up, moving to the bathroom.
The air has turned chilly and the curtains were still drawn up.
Fina moved to the window to draw the curtains down but froze when she saw movements outside.
Who would go out in this chilly weather and few hours past midnight?
The figure looked around before disappearing through one of the big trees.
"Fina?" Zora called
Fina drew the curtains and shivered as the chilly air attacked her body.
"I thought I saw someone outside"
Though it was dark outside, everywhere was lit like day in the rooms.
"Are you sure? You might have been mistaken."
"Perhaps" Fina said
"You wanna study with me?"
"Yeah"
They studied till dawn and got ready for the day.
"It says here that breakfast is eaten by seven sharp" Zora said
Fina opened the walk in closet and gasped. The room was painted cream and the rug was maroon in colour. There were tons of clothes and shoes. Accessories were kept on one side of the big room. On another side line different collections of make ups and an extremely big mirror in front of it. There was another big mirror in the middle of the room.
"Wow. Wow. Wow. They are all designers"
"Really?" Zora asked "I don't know anything about designers"
"Mum is going to flip if she sees this" Fina said
She stared at the collection of clothes arranged according to their designers name and moved to C line for Chanel.
"Um…Fina. We are putting on uniforms"
"Thanks a lot, Zo. You know how to burst a bubble"
Zora smiled.
"You were getting too excited" She said
Fina moved to the U section and picked the school uniform and its accessories.
A maroon blazer with big white gold buttons that has the winged cheetah symbol on it. A big butterfly striped white gold bow tie. A white shirt and a striped beige mini skirt.
The winged cheetah badge lies on the left side of the blazer.
There were cream vests too.
She turned to Zora but she was already out of the room.
Fina touched the gardenia symbol hidden beneath her collar bone and shook her head in mystery. All she knew about the symbol was that she was born with it.
She quickly got dressed and packed her hair in a ponytail leaving tendrils in front.
She moved to the makeup line and applied a gloss on her lips and skipped to the shoes section for gold sneakers.
When Fina went back to the bedroom, Zora was already dressed.
"I picked mine out yesterday"
"You look beautiful" Fina said
Zora blushed.
"Thanks."
They moved to the living room and saw three backpack on the sofa.
"Three?" Zora asked
"There were three chairs in the closet too. Do you think someone else was supposed to join us?" Fina asked
Zora shrugged and straightened her hair with her fingers.
They grabbed their backpacks and walked out of the room.
Students roam in the hallway, each one trying to get to the dining room in time. As Fina and Zora moved to get on the elevator, someone pushed them out of the way and entered.
"Oops! Sorry. Losers" The red head said
Her gang narrowed their eyes at Fina and flipped their hair but what struck Fina's most was the fact that they were wearing heels on glass.
The elevator door shut in front of their face.