The girls' fight was ended prematurely because of Markus and Oliver's return to the table.
"You seemed to be chatty a while ago. Why did you suddenly fall silent?" Oliver asked and I responded to him in my brain.
'Its all your fault that they got chatty.'
He sat down in his chair and Markus sat on my left.
"Haven't you started eating yet?" he asked me looking down at my plate,"Oliver told me that you have not eaten since you came here." "What?!" Elise and Maria exclaimed at the same time,"You haven't eaten since he came here?!"
"Yeah, I mean....yes." I responded smiling,"Don't worry I feel just fine. There are times at home when I used to stay hungry..." "Lies." Oliver grumbled from beside me and I gave him a side eye but he didn't stop,"The truth is that Vee cannot stay for more than eight hours without eating. Even when she sleeps she wakes up to get food."
I blushed when Markus laughed at me but I soon felt grateful because he moved closer to me to mix my rice and gravy.
"It will be inappropriate for me to feed you while we are here." he whispered to me and I smiled.
"Do not worry about me. I can feed myself. I am not yet that weak." I whispered back.
We ate in silence for the rest of the time and it felt peaceful. After eating, we went back to our classes for the last afternoon class which apparently is common for everyone and it just has to be the worst thing; sports. I'm not the athletic type of girl so it's going to be a challenge for me. Elise and Maria look as frail as I do but they must already be used to it and maybe Elise has had more time to get accustomed to the physical exertion than anyone else present here. The sports attire was similar to a fencing suit and highly uncomfortable.
It was very difficult to run in it and even harder to do burpees. After we run again we were separated, boys from the girls, and taken to different swimming pools. What separated the pools was a thick glass that run from the ceiling to the pit of the pool.
"Is this mandatory?" I asked the instructor looking at how deep the pool was.
"Yes. We need to make sure there are no accidents like those from yesterday." she said looking at the surface of the water.
"Yesterday?" I asked.
Did people drown yesterday? Ollie wouldn't have missed telling this to me if he knew about it. How many were there?
"Mhhh.... yesterday some idiots went to Scythe and tried to swim even though it is not allowed." she explained patiently and I nodded.
"How many?" I asked.
"A total of fifteen. Ten boys and five girls."
"Do people usually drown there? Are they.....dead?"
I looked straight into her eyes when I asked her and she stared back at me with a blank expression on her face.
"No. Would you take the lesson more seriously if they had?"
What an awkward and creepy question to ask a twelve year old. She sounds like she would be delighted if they had died. I shook my head and she raised her brows in question. Ahh yes! She wants me to be formal with her. Nodding or shaking my head will not be satisfactory for her.
"No. I will take it just as serious even now."
She didn't look pleased even then and she looked back to the water and said a military like 'good'. I went to change my clothes with the other girls where we were even searched.
When I exited the changing room I noticed that the glass had been covered with a white sheet that ended just above the water surface. That does no good because good swimmers could dive deeper to peep at the other sex's side.
"Do you want to see them?" I heard the woman asked me from behind.
I don't know how I got so close to the edge of the pool but I slipped and fell in the water in an attempt to turn to look at her. Because I can't swim I started to panic as my head sank deeper into the water with the rest of my body. Whatever was going on in my head at that time was not beneficial as my brain told me to inhale. Before I lost consciousness, I felt someone grab my arms and pull me up. I started coughing as soon as my head was out of the the water.
"Breathe in Ms Rogers. Deep breaths." she instructed me and I followed her inhalation.
She helped me get to the bench and I sat down as she wrapped me in a towel topped with a fleece. I was warn in no time and I watched as another instructor pressed a button that made the floor of the pool move upwards. Why didn't they do that earlier?!
"You can never know the danger of water until it threatens to take you away." she said in a sad and melancholy tone.
"What do you mean?" I asked her a little curious.
"Do you want to see the fifteen?" she asked me smiling as she grabbed a huge book from her bag.
I stared at the book as she pulled out some photos from the middle. The writing on the book was faded and a little scratched off but with my good eyes I could see everything or at least most of it.
'RECORDS OF ANCESTORS' ACADEMY:
JOURNAL OF THE DEAD'
From the title I have proven to myself that this place really does harbour ghosts. She placed her hand to cover the writing and my eyes shifted to look into her eyes.
"That looks like an interesting book." I remarked as I tried to guage her expression.
"It is. Maybe one day you'll get to read it." she said still passive but smiling.
"When I'm dead?" I asked.
"The dead don't read child." she said non chalantly and I could only smile.
I have no idea why she is being so kind to me so I'll try to show her the same kindness. She is similar to Sr Drevin. So now I have two women I am comfortable with.
"Your story can be in here though."
My heart dropped at her remark and I turned to look at her with wide eyes. She wasn't looking at me but at the book that rested on her lap with her fingers tracing the writing on the cover. She looks sad; extremely sad. Not knowing what else to do I rubbed her back absentmindedly and pretended to be looking at the photos she had given me. I didn't recognize the faces in the photos; all except one that portrayed the boy I had seen in or at the sewing room. The boy who had been drugged away by those creepy long dangling hands.
A shiver run down my spine and I broke into a cold sweat. There is no way he would have gone swimming after that. He looked as good as dead when he was crawling on the ground back then.
"Do you know him?" I heard her ask.
"No." I breathed out the words not necessarily trying to answer her question but to grieve for this boy.
"You seem to have recognized him." she pointed out the obvious.
I turned to look at her and realized one of my hands was still on her back and I was shaking. I moved my hand away from her and placed it on my lap where my other hand that held onto the boy's photo was already lying shaking. I saw her eyes trail down to my trembling hand and she looked scary. She didn't move her head but only her eyes and I covered my trembling hand with the other sturdier one but soon they were both shaking like crazy.
"Are you feeling cold?" she asked looking into my eyes.
"No." I answered and she raised her eyebrows at me,"Maybe a little bit."
"We should get you back to your room then."
"I still don't know your name." I said trying to calm my nerves.
"Christabel Reeves." she said smiling.
Strange. That was mom's name before she married dad and became Christabel Rogers.
"I used to have a name sec back when I was a student. Her life was easy..." she said as if she had read my mind.
So the girl in the photo I saw really was mom.
"My mom." I blurted out involuntarily and I was surprised by it.
"You resemble her."
"Where you friends?"
"No. I was an unrecognized extra in her perfect little life."
"So you hated her?"
"More than anything."
I don't like her anymore. She might just take out her harboured feelings on me.
"You do not have to feel uneasy around me Olive Rogers. The hate is for your mother." she said with a chilling stare and unnerving grin.