Samara Shaw
I was one of the very few normal people, if there were any at all.
I stepped out of my new room into the hallway where other girls roamed in groups or pairs. None of them looked completely human or anything like the ones I had gotten used to. The people here had at least one feature that made them look inhuman. Not a single one of them looked like regular people. Some of them had their hair in awkward colors and styles, some had colored skin and some had weird face features, like their eyes in a specific shape, nose too small or big or mouth in a certain color or structure.
However, people in groups had similar physical characteristics. They had little differences between them, like one being just a bit taller than the rest. It was as if they only associated themselves with people of their kind and thinking about it made me feel even crazier. Everything looked like something straight out of a fictional novel. It was impossible to believe I could see them with my own eyes. I mean, who would believe I actually met a group of people with pale green skin or someone with bright red eyes?
I walked down the wide hallway with my eyes staring at almost everything. Lucinda was right beside me and throughout the entire walk, she didn't say a word. It was my first time getting so much attention since my birthday party. The thought of that ceremony only made my mind bubble with annoyance. I didn't have the best experience after all that attention and I guess because it reminded me of that day, I felt it would bring me just as much pain as then.
I wondered what would have happened if I did not overhear the conversation or if I didn't have enough courage to boldly stand in the middle of at least hundred people and disrespect them all with words of my mouth. No one would imagine that after all my years of learning to be the perfect lady and not standing up to my parents even once, I would do so much. It wasn't after I did it that I realised what I had done. If I had let things happen, I probably would be somewhere in a mansion trying to look good enough to impress my husband or feeding on salad once a day to look slimmer.
I couldn't tell while was better, a forced marriage or being the only normal one in a school filled with paranormal creatures?
"You only get fifteen minutes and if you're not done on time, you'll be pulled out and I wouldn't so anything to help you simply because I do not care"
"Fifteen minutes? That's too small to get my hair clean, I need at least two hours"
"And I still don't care" Lucinda slammed her bathroom door, which was right next to mine, shut with a loud bang. Her attitude towards me was just too cold for someone she met a few minutes ago. Staying in the same room as her would be one of the most difficult things to in Thorne. "Fourteen minutes left"
I snapped out of my thoughts and hurriedly made it into the bathroom. It looked like what mother would describe as something from a prison and I couldn't deny the fact it looked like it. All it had in it was a single showerhead and a sink. The walls and the floor were covered with white tiles and on the ceiling was a bulb. That was all to the bathroom, there was no bathtub, no cabinet with hair shampoo and other products and no mirrors. I couldn't deal with all of that in just fifteen minutes.
"Lucinda"
"It's Lucy to you"
"They're no shampoos here"
"We all use the regular bar of soap and we're not dead so deal with it"
A bar of soap for both my hair and skin was one of the most disgusting things I ever heard but there is was, naked under a showerhead and ready to deal with it like Lucy said. I had less than fourteen minutes already and every second in there was valuable. I had gone through just enough to get forcefully pulled out of a bathroom naked whether or not I was done.
The sponge felt like hard wood against my skin. It felt like my skin would get bruised if I went any faster than I was. Whatever it was I was using to scrub my body was a lame excuse for a sponge. With the pain I felt with each scrub, I learned to adapt with it. I was going to spend at least months here to get my parent's favor and that was only if they considered paying me a visit. A day of red skin would hurt but walking among people smelling like an old hag was worse.
I was done and had rinsed and folded both the sponge and soap back in the case when I turned off the shower and just then, I heard a bang on my door. I flinched and before I could process what was happening, the case slipped out of my hand and fell on the floor. The impact caused the box to open and the contents in it got exposed on the wet and disgusting tiles covering the floor. The thought of bending down made me feel dirty and picking them up was one thing I couldn't think of doing. I could not use both the sponge or soap ever again, no matter what the consequences may be.
"Hey, are you done?"
The voice from the person was too thin for a person with such energy to bang the door that hard. It was like the voice of a six year old, feminine and low but if I had not heard it myself, I wouldn't believe it was the same person.
"I am" I unlocked the door and pushed it open to meet a tall, masculine figured girl. Her size was the only thing that made her look inhuman. She had normal strawberry blonde hair that fell down to her shoulders and ocean blue eyes. Thick rimmed glasses sat at the bridge of her nose and freckles on her chubby cheeks. She wasn't just extremely tall but plump with her facial features like a normal human being. Her white teeth was covered with braces as they stayed exposed to me in a wide smile.
"Hi, you're the new girl right? I'm Ceris"
"I'm Samara"
"It's nice to meet you Samara but I have just fourteen minutes left. I look forward to being friends with you. My room is next to yours in case you need anything"
"That's so sweet, thank you"
"Don't mention it and if you're wondering, Lucy left a few minutes ago"
"I better leave now, see you later Ceris"
I was beginning to understand the type of person Lucy was. It didn't look like she cared about helping me understand school at all and to learn to adapt, I had to be fast, not speak to much about my problems, ask too may questions or complain cause she would never care. Although, she wasn't the best person to offer a proper welcome, I still appreciated her little efforts.
Walking back to my room only took a few seconds. I tried my best to avoid eye contact with the other girls even when most of them had their eyes on me. My legs moved the fastest they could since the best thing I'd learned in Thorne was to be quick with everything.
When I got to my room, I met Lucy by her bed. She had a short grey skirt on and socks covering her feet up to her thighs. The long sleeved white shirt she had on had the first three buttons unbuttoned and a red tie hung loosely around her neck. The same uniform laid on my bed with black leather shoes on the floor right in front of it. She had also placed my undergarments beside it and a silver metallic hair comb.
It was almost impossible she managed all of that In a few minutes.
"We have thirty five minutes left for breakfast"
I took off the towel and hung it on the side of my bed. The bra was a little bigger than my size and almost covered my entire breasts completely but It was something I could manage. The panties happened to be my accurate size and slipped up my legs easily. The skirt was a little too short and stopped right at my mid thigh while the socks, unlike Lucy's, covered my feet up to my knees. I had a lot of skin out, something my mother would never tolerate. It felt weird to have my thighs feel so bare and exposed but another complain to Lucy wouldn't give me anything but an 'I don't care'. The skirt hugged my waist and the shirt my perfect size. I left no buttons unbuttoned and tied the tie around my neck. Lastly, I wore the deep red blazer over my shirt and combed my damp short hair into a bob. The teeth felt too hard for my scalp, unlike the soft hair brushes I grew up using. Although, I may have injured my head in the process, it did a great job by straightening my hair.
"Done"
Lucy lead me out of the room and I trailed behind her like a lost puppy, maintaining just a few centimetre distance between us. I walked just as fast as she was, the heels of our leather shoes hitting the floor with clicks. We weren't the only ones in uniforms, a few other people walked in the same direction.
We walked past a skway bridge, like the one I saw at the male's dorm. It was the different from the one I saw the day before. The structure was similar but the statues on it were different. This one has a single statue on it, an angel with its wings wide up in the air. Each pair was at least seven feet wide and six feet long. A piece of cloth hung around its waist and the other parts exposed. This angel had long hair and covered it covered its entire face. I couldn't help but stare at the statue throughout. Something about it looked so familiar and intriguing.
It took a few more minutes and turns before we got to the hall and it wasn't until then I figured out Thorne Academy wasn't just a school, it was a society for the paranormal.