Samara Shaw
Everything felt heavy.
I had been awake for a few seconds, my eyelids closing with every chance they got. Keeping my eyes open for a second was a struggle, I felt drowsy even after what felt like long hours of sleep. My whole body was weak from exhaustion, I could not move a single muscle. My entire body was still. Everything looked blurred at first, I couldn't place my gaze on anything till a few seconds passed and I slowly regained my vision. Even after then, my mind still felt too fuzzy to remember what had happened. My head didn't wrap around the fact I was no longer at the edge of the bridge or in front of a stranger but laying up and staring at the ceiling.
I ended up losing the fight against sleep and sealed my eyes shut. I had not fallen completely asleep when I felt a poke on the tip of my nose. I ignored the first one, thinking it was just my mind playing tricks on me but it came again and this time, my eyelids parted to see what was interrupting my sleep. I felt it once more and that was the last it took to snap me out of my deep slumber.
Right above me with her index finger pressed against my nose was a girl with the darkest skin tone I had ever seen. Even though it was right before me and I could see her myself, I fought the fact she actually had a skin so dark. I doubted my eyes, she looked too dark to be true and if I had not settled on the fact it wasn't a dream but real life, I probably would've thought it was impossible have such a skin. Not that I have a problem with dark skinned people, I considered everyone equal but her's looked surprising yet beautiful.
Her skin wasn't the only thing that took my attention. Although, it was the first thing I laid my eyes on but I couldn't help but notice her eyes. They were silvery grey, similar to the eyes of the man I saw at the bridge. The only difference was that her eyes were bigger and was evident on her small face. Other features like her nose and lips were also small, making her look less of a human and more of a fictional character. A thick mop of white hair sat at the top of her head. The strands were curly and so were the edges that went down to her forehead. It was a rare combination, black skin and white hair, but it was beautiful.
I had only been in the school for a day and all three people I had met looked strange. Even though I never got the opportunity to leave my house that much, I had met quite a lot of people and none of them had stark white hair, fuzzy bright red hair or silver eyes. The people here were not normal, they didn't look like it and at that moment, it felt like I was in a fantasy movie. None of it looked real.
"Wake up sleeping beauty, you're gonna be late for school"
"What?" My voice came out rough and coarse as she walked away from where I layed. I pushed myself up and noticed I was on a bed. The room I was in looked way smaller than my bedroom back in the mansion.
Everything looked plain, there was nothing much about it. The walls were covered with white wallpaper and the ceiling just as white as the them. A small chandelier hung from the ceiling but this type was not like the ones in the mansion. They had candles on them and the metal around it looked old and rusted, like it had been there for years. There were two beds in the room, I was on one and the other was right across me. The distance between the two was about three feet, I could easily reach to the person on the other bed with ease. Two closets stood at the end of each bed and both were just as white as the sheets, one for each person. The only things that were not white were the door that was in the middle of both closets, the chandelier hanging from the ceiling and the shoe racks. One sat beside each closet and properly arranged on it were different shoes, either in black or white.
"It's six of clock, the bathroom might get more crowded if we spend one more minute here. Trust me, it's havoc there on weekdays"
"What are you talking about? Who are you"
"Oh yeah, you're new. I'm Lucinda, your roommate and this is our room, sadly. Welcome to Thorne Academy, I hope you leave here just as sane as you are now and if you don't, it's okay. It's not like any of of us do"
I had no idea if she was being sarcastic or not but either ways, it didn't sound like it was a good place. The boredom in her voice as she welcomed me was as if she wasn't so happy I was here. "Is this an asylum? "
"I wish but if it makes you feel any better, this is a school for the not so lucky people, not mentally deranged. Before you get your hopes up, it's far worse than you can ever imagine."
"I remember passing out at the males dorm, how did I get here?"
"This is the first advice you're ever going to get in Thorne, don't tell anyone you were at the males dorm. You'll get in trouble for that and the consequences might be, quite a lot for you"
.
"What do you mean? I just got here, I had no idea going there was bad. Besides, I wasn't properly welcomed and no one showed me the way here. I walked for hou_"
"Yeah, that's the best welcoming you can receive here. Now, hurry up and get out of bed, punctuality is a big deal here"
I pulled the sheets off and was welcomed by a rush of cold air. My dress fell just a few centimeters below my knees and the sleeves had been cut off, leaving more parts of my body bare to the harsh temperature. I couldn't say the same for Lucinda, she had really short jeans on and a top that covered just her breasts. Her entire legs, arms and belly was exposed and she didn't look bothered by it at all. I couldn't imagine wearing clothes as exposing as that in the presence of my parents, I could've been in a place even worse than a school.
"Where's my bag?"
"In the closet, you did remember to bring personal stuff, right?"
"I don't know, I didn't have a chance to pack my things"
She sighed and ran her fingers through her short hair. "This is going to be the longest morning of my life"
"I can go through it to check"
"Well, it's too late for that so I guess you just have to use the ones provided by the school. They suck by the way"
"I'll manage"
I hopped off the bed and went over to the closet with Lucinda still standing in the middle of the room folding her arms. I pulled open the closet doors and in it were different clothes hung on an horizontal pole like hanger. My bag sat right beneath the other clothes, beside it were towels properly folded on top of each other and a little basket beside it. In the wooden basket was a toothbrush, toothpaste, sponge and a colorless case containing a single bar of soap. Staring at it reminded me of how many skincare products I was forced to use back at home. I would use different products for my face, body, hands, feet and hair. This made me spend hours in the bathroom with maids around me to monitor the way I used them.
Different drawers were right beneath it, four all together. I pulled the first one open and in it were underwears all in white. They looked a lot different and less elegant from the ones at home but I had learned to live with the fact nothing here was like home. They were all plane, no lace, designs or patterns on them. I pulled open the second one and found socks in them, all in white or black and just like the rest, plain. The third one had tampons and sanitary napkins in them and the last one with notes and stationery.
"You're really skinny, you know?" Lucinda piped up from behind me "Like really really skinny"
"I've been worse"
"You had abusive parents or something?"
"No, they were worse than abusive parents"
"They forced you to go all skinny and stuff?"
"Yeah. I_"
"I don't wanna hear about it" She cut me off "Just hurry up and let's wrap this up"
I extended my arm to my back and pulled down the zipper before taking my arms out and pushing the dress down to the floor. I was left in a bra and panties when I stepped out of the dress. "Where do I keep the dirty clothes?"
"There's a laundry room close to the bathroom where you can take care of that but that'll be after school, just put them at the corner of the closet" She pointed her index finger at the left corner "Do you need me to leave? It's okay if you're not comfortable with me seeing you naked."
"You don't have to, I'm fine with it"
All my life, I used to have my maids get changed at least once every three months. My mother said it was becaushe she didn't want any one of them influencing me or for me to get too attached. Besides the trusted maid I had since when I was a child, the rest were always temporary and were usually present to help me get dressed so every single one of them had seen me naked. I had gotten used to that fact and so, didn't have issues with Lucinda seeing me naked.
I proceeded to fold the dress and place it on the last corner like she instrcucted before slipping off my undergarments and placing it on top of the dress. I wrapped the towel around myself and picked up the little basket before turning to face Lucinda who had already changed into a towel like I did.
"The people you're about to meet are not the nicest, do not be offended."