[Tuesday, October 31, 2023 at 17:30]
The bus stopped right opposite the school. Until seeing it personally, I wasn't expecting much. Whether primary or secondary, every one of them (those I've seen on t.v. until now, at least) looked relatively the same. So imagine my surprise when I descended from the bus only to see a building that seemed to have been inspired by medieval castles! While I stared at it, waiting for the smiling woman behind us to finally lead the way, I was told that the thing I was looking at (without Dad's degree of curiosity) was my new school—New Dawn Secondary School—, and not some historical building or something. I still think she didn't have to bend over and whisper it in my ear though…
You'd think a school with that name and style would be famous in any normal city, wouldn't you? Especially with the pair of stone statues on either side of the main entrance. Those things are so ugly and honestly, kind of disturbing. I get that the youngest we can be to enter secondary is 11, but passing 10 doesn't mean we're all suddenly over having fears, OK?! It makes sense to think they designed this thing with the esthetics of fairytale castles in mind. Or, castles of fairytale villains, to be exact. I don't think they really thought things over much. Was the original goal to create an atmosphere that would make children feel less against the idea of staying back, since we need to sleep here at night too? Well, my 14-year-old self can't help but want to run back home instead. Those things are anything but welcoming (in my opinion)!
Dad didn't seem to mind, though. I actually think he's a little envious. Frankly, if we could switch, I wouldn't have minded letting him go here in my place. Just the idea of those stone statues being in the same yard as me gives me goosebumps. I want out of this city!
Once I managed to tear my gaze away from those nightmare-inducing statues, it finally dawned on me that I wouldn't be seeing or hearing from Dad until Christmas at the very least. Now that my mind had fully processed the situation I was in, that I would be forced to stay in this strange place regardless of my feelings, I tightened my grasp on Dad's hand.
I've seen children younger than me push their parents' affectionate gestures away in public because they think it's too embarrassing. I, on the other hand, couldn't have cared less in that moment. It would be my first time living away from Dad since we first met. As a friendless girl without any other close relative I'd also never spent a single night outside the house of my legal guardian, let's not mention staying in a foreign place days away from home.
Glancing at the massive entrance again, I couldn't bring myself to let go of Dad just yet. Is it because we're currently in summer? His hand was really warm, though not sweaty like mine. I think my behaviour may have seemed overly dramatic to the few children and parents around, seeing the looks we got. But who cared. Every second mattered. And I was very much determined to make the most of every single one of them.
I was only able to let go after Dad got down on one knee, said some sweetly encouraging words while looking me in the eye, before finally pulling me into a hug. That was the longest hug I ever got from him. I hope we can have more in the future. I don't know why but… I feel like it was the best so far. Though I would rather he not have that forced expression on his face next time. He was trying so hard to encourage me with a comforting smile, but everyone could tell at a glance that the dam was about to break. Gosh, even the smile of that unknown teacher (who gave us the treasure map) was more believable than Dad's. That's just how bad Dad is at acting! An open book, I tell you, an open book!
Seeing the gentle blue eyes characteristic of him well up with tears brought tears to my own. A little misunderstanding ensued then. He mistakenly believed I teared up because I was sad and reluctant to part and judging by his words, I'm pretty sure he suspected I wanted to ditch school and run back home instead, haha... Ok, it's true that deep down inside I wished to go back right away, but in that particular moment, the truth was that seeing him cry because he didn't want us separated for even one single day was what truly caused me to want to cry, too. As a result of this misunderstanding, he ended up doubling his efforts to cheer me up.
To the surprise of…no one, it didn't take long before the two of us became a crying mess by the roadside… Now THAT's what we call embarrassing! Everyone kept glancing our way. You'd think we were some sort of free spectacle—a pair of circus-escaped performers. Failed performers. Thank God our guide was kind enough to make blend in the background, allowing her to forget she even existed while we had "our moment."
It was after we finally detached from each other that I witnessed the first peculiarity of this new, abnormal environment I was about to become part of.
I was busy thinking how to make myself scarce. (Of course, only until no one remembered anymore how I'd successfully turned into a water fountain in front of our school on the very first day itself.) If I waited long enough, maybe I could start trying and interacting with others without being the butt of all jokes? If time doesn't do the trick, staying a loner wouldn't be hard for someone with my years of experience, right? I was in the midst of telling myself that there were too few students on the scenes and that rumours might not spiral as rapidly here, when I accidentally witnessed the most horrifying scene of my life. I mean, it's not everyone who can digest seeing a hideous statue gobble up a student!
Although a bit annoying, I didn't think the kids deserved to be scarred for life on their very first day of secondary, no matter how immature they were acting as they mocked those two statues positioned like guard dogs on either side of the wooden double doors. Did rubbing its deformed muzzle while letting out all sorts of stupid, childish comments and laughing about them with his friends deserve such a killer punishment?
…I admit I froze in that moment, my eyes widened in horror as the kid slowly disappeared head first down the now open-mouthed creature's throat, kicking and screaming, his friends (who'd been active spectators seconds before) running away from the scene crying. (Note to self: find LOYAL friends if time sides with me this time.) It was only after seeing most students—ones who were already accustomed with the peculiar environment, I assumed—continuing about their business nonchalantly that I realized just how stupid I was being.
I let out an uneasy chuckle. "Seriously, a stone statue suddenly coming to life to eat a child because it was made fun of?" Everything about that line is ridiculous. The scary-looking statue was probably a decoration that also served the purpose of pranking newly enrolled students. Since someone thought it up, and the idea was actually accepted and executed, more than one person must have found it funny. I wouldn't be surprised if some of them even thought it would be a good opportunity to teach us not to joke around with school property through one heck of a scare…
Those nutjobs!
So that's how I swallowed my fear and forced my legs to keep moving, the ever-smiling woman looking down at me questioningly from my side. The stone wall was too high. Dad wouldn't have seen it from where he stood. So, what was I going to do anyway? Turn back before even making it through the gate and tell Dad how a statue made out of FREAKING STONE had come to life just to eat an annoying, unnerving brat? That I was too scared to enter because of the human-eating statue? While at it, I might as well just go full out with the crazy and tell him I saw dragons and fairies fighting in a battle to the death… The school's chosen design is ideal playground for my newly found wild imagination, no?
Hah!
So… that's how I ended up turning off the first alarm blaring in my mind about the possible dangers of this place.
I turned around, waving a final goodbye at my teary-eyed yet smiling father, who waved back at me with unrivalled enthusiasm, as though having been waiting for me to look at him again this entire time. I regret not running back and hugging him one last time before actually entering, now.
Using his grinning face as a source of strength, I convinced myself what I'd witnessed was nothing but the fruit of questionable people's equally questionable sense of humour, walked past the pair of strange-looking beasts that now looked identical again, with canines sticking out of their closed mouths like two pairs of sharpened chopsticks and brows carved in an expression of anger, my heart thumping in my chest.
"This is a new beginning for me. I can't afford to let myself succumb to childish fears."
That was my thought as our guide (who had yet to introduce herself still) took me in through another entrance. One that didn't require walking right between the two demon-like mechanical beings. Back then, I I had no idea if that was where first years usually entered on their first day or if she simply did it after noticing that I'm still enough of a baby to be afraid of…those things. Either way, I was genuinely thankful, even though the entrance we took required too much walking and was hidden so well behind bushes and vines I thought we'd reached a dead end.
Yeah, the feeling of thankfulness quickly passed. All it took was setting foot in the first corridor. After the freaking plants moved out of the way on their own! I still cannot believe it. The leaves, flowers, vines, everything, they crept away from the wooden door as soon as she waved her hand lazily. It was almost like looking at rats scurrying away after someone turns the light on.
I'm not going to lie. That was both cool but also unsettling. I thought my new school might just be really fun if it had more cool mechanical stuff going on inside. But… right now, after the three and a half hours I've been here, I'm not too sure those plants aren't actually alive, anymore. I'm not even entirely sure that that thing at the front didn't really eat that kid up…!