The white van has stopped. Esme stretched his body groggily, still sluggish from sleeping (since there was nothing else to do on the van and Esme realized that the snake person wouldn't bother anyone who was sleeping). He didn't want to look for the snake person just yet, but instead wanted to find the metallic voice creature before they all had to get off the van. After asking some people where the 'amber eyes' person might be, Esme finally found them huddled near one corner of the vehicle, filled with spider-webs. Luckily for Esme, the other kids weren't around the corner so it was just he and the metallic voice creature. Silence hung between them at first, but then the low voice murmured, "…What do you want?"
Esme had many questions on his mind. Questions like: "How do you know we're actually going to a… whatever place you described?!" or "Why did you stare at me?" or "Did you say that to scare everybody?" but he stuck with the politest one he could think of right now.
"Hey, my name's Esme. What's yours?"
A growl came as a reply but right after it, the voice grunted its name, "…Zayyart. What do you want?"
"Oh, okay, Zayyart," Esme said, trying to roll the unusual name on his tongue, "I just want to know… how you know where we are going. My mother said it was a boarding school. And what did you mean by 'failures'?"
"I heard."
"All right, but could you answer my question?" Esme repeated, this time a little louder just in case the person was slightly deaf.
"My sister wrote letters to me. She went there. But she stopped writing them ages ago. She… never came back."
And just like that, the conversation ended. Zayyart turned his back towards Esme, a sign that told him that if Esme talked again, that'll be the last word he will say in this life. He sighed heavily, and walked away to a free spot that wasn't near any sleeping people and curled into a ball. What Zayyart had said didn't clear up any of his questions, but for sure Esme knew that the place they arrived at was dangerous. Although he still didn't understand why the 'amber eyes' called everyone on the van 'failures'… He didn't seem like the person who would call people nasty names so there must be a reason behind it. Or… maybe he really was just that type of person.
But Esme didn't ponder on that thought right now. There was something more important than that; he just wanted to turn back time. He didn't want to be here; with all these scary kids he didn't know. He wanted to go back to his small apartment with his mother and munch on some chocolate cupcakes every night like they used to. Why did mother lie to me? Why did she send me away?
Esme tightened his arms around his knees, and shivered not because of the cold. The moon pendant on his neck felt heavy, as if it was dragging him down, down and down… all the way to the darkest of the voids.
"Child…"
Esme's head shot up, alert. The voids disappeared.
But, who had spoken? He glanced around frantically but everyone seemed to be sleeping, their chests rising and falling in the dark so it couldn't have been one of them. Then, was it the snake person? No. They wouldn't call him "child".
Esme shrugged. A lot had happened in the past few days so it wouldn't be a surprise if his mind was playing tricks on him. He brushed off the tingling feeling on the back of his neck that felt like someone was watching him and faced the back door of the van. There were clicking noises as someone unlocked the locks on the outside, the hinges rattling loudly and waking everyone up. "What's going on?" someone murmured sleepily, rubbing their eyes.
Blinding light poured through the doors of the van and many shielded their eyes from it, grumbling at the sudden brightness. But Esme kept his eyes open despite it feeling like it was on fire, and his eyes quickly adjusted to his surroundings. He saw the same mean-looking man who wore a suit and who appeared at his apartment's door on the outside of the vehicle. The big man opened the back door of the van roughly, letting it swing back and bang the vehicle hard, rattling the hinges. Several kids near the doors backed away frightfully as a tall lady wearing high heels stepped passed the big man and into the van, her heavy scent of perfume overwhelming the atmosphere. To be precise, it didn't actually smell like perfume. It had a more chemical smell to it, as if she's been working with cleaning products before she came here. The lady was dressed in a red swing dress which glittered with tiny rubies stuck to the hem of the skirt. On her neck draped a fur shawl coloured like snow, and it was decorated with red symbols. Her hair was tied into a neat bun which was held together by a red ribbon and dangling rubies hung from her ears.
Everything about her screamed "rich" or "nobly" but a tiny voice whispered "death". The lady sucked in a long breath through her teeth and scanned the dim room. Scared, anxious and curious faces peeped at her, and she could see that every one of them were skinny or had bones visible beneath their scaly, smooth, furry or feathery skin. Esme ducked behind another student when the woman's gaze swept past him. Dangerous. Don't let her see you.
His mind kept telling him that while he peered at the tall lady through the gaps of the kids, and slowed his breathing. After a few more seconds of inspection, the woman left; her heels click clacking on the floor as she stopped and whispered to another man beside the big man. "Care" was all Esme could hear from the quick conversation before the big man stood in front of all the kids, blocking out the light. His arms were extended, his palms facing the children. And suddenly, green, glowing strings began to protrude from his palms in slow, twisting motions and it reached for the kids closest to the man. He let it move on its own, and as soon as the strings touched one of the child's forehead who gasped softly, the girl collapsed and her eyes rolled backwards.
Screams erupted inside the van.
"1, 2, 3," hushed the big man, smiling with all his teeth as the children ran away from him, shrieking in fear, "close your eyes and picture the sky.
Listen to the stars, and don't turn away.
Because what comes next, in this delightful happy day…
Is a little black cat, on top of its woeful prey."
Before Esme could move, he felt something touch his forehead as instant weariness washed over him. His arms and legs felt like rocks, and it was even painful to keep his head up. The darkness in the van urged him to close his eyes, soothing him and telling him that he should sleep. He knew he couldn't do that… But it was too late.
His eyes drooped close and the world spun before his eyes. He heard the other kids slump to the ground beside him and he felt like doing that too. Sleeep…
Everything then went black.