x
I cursed under my breath, shoving the bloody necklace into my pocket and walked into the music room. Chairs were up turned, instruments were left all over the floor, and sheets of music floated gently down from the roof. A frigid wind billowed through the disordered room, even though there were no windows. I ignored the goose bumps forming on my arm, and the nauseating sensation of being watched. I just barely missed whatever did this. 216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDGo89dt59v
There was one music stand still upright, with a chair behind it, centred in the middle of the otherwise chaotic room. 216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsM87gvGAXo
“Too perfect,” I mumbled. Clearly, someone was doing this on purpose.216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3ve61pNMTT
On the seat of the plastic chair rested a small violin of some kind, a shiny walnut colour. It was engraved in all sorts of star-shaped flowers, and would have looked very pretty if the strings weren’t ominously stained with blood. As I picked the small instrument up, red droplets crawled down its curves and onto the floor with a splat. There was no music on the stand, but aggressively scratched into the black metal was a name. 216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCvgDPDlkFo
“...Acacia?” I read aloud, confused for a moment, but then I remembered. She was the girl in my homeroom. Why her? Was this some kind of puzzle?216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0ebQCwruPj
I bit the inside of my cheek uncomfortably, beginning to hear my heartbeat through my chest as I checked the rest of the room for any clues. Willing my slow body to move faster, the room was void of anything meaningful. Sighing, I turned around. Surely, a teacher or principal would be coming soon to check out what the fuss was about, and I don’t need to be caught at the scene of the crime. The fluttery feeling of fear tickled my stomach. What the hell happened here?216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMFjsgkw453
I walked back into the hallway, but everyone was acting completely normal, like they somehow all forgot the terrifying scream they just heard a few moments ago. A little ways down the hall I waited, expecting a teacher of some kind, but nobody came. 216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkLxTM2WVvl
“What are you doing, Bella?” A kid I definitely didn’t know laughed behind me, so hard it was startling, “You’re going to be late for math.”
“That… already happened,” I frowned in confusion, but he just licked his lips and rolled his eyes. The students began heading to their classes as the bell rang, again, so with no other idea I tried back-tracking to my classroom. It occurred to me too late that I didn’t know the layout of the school yet, and now I was totally lost. 216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnV8QfFNiaL
“Great,” I sighed quietly. Why was this shitty school like a maze? It was like every corner I took, another endless beige hallway appeared. 216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVbc7WqqwUZ
“Hey,” I called to a girl closing her locker, “Can you tell me where 319 is?”
“Huh?” she frowned, “Right here.”
She pointed to a small bronze plate on the door next to her, reading 319.
The hell? This was definitely not where 319 was before.
“Um, thanks...”
“Weirdo,” she muttered, licking her lips. I frowned. Didn’t that other kid just do that, too?
216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBD1lnnDTcV
I walked into the math classroom, again, pinching my arm. I knew I wasn’t asleep, but this was so… off. Why was my heart beating so fast? It almost hurt.
As I turned the icy handle, my stomach dropped. I’d recognize that black dress anywhere, no matter how hard I tried to forget. Short black hair, covered in freckles, her wide amber eyes connected with mine.
216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbMOpseiPfZ
It was me. When I was a kid. How?
216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx5zQDhv83R
“W-what are you?” I said quickly, “Where the hell am I?”
Little me didn’t say a word.
“Say something!” I hissed, unable to control my quickening breath. This was a hallucination of some kind, it had to be.
216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp7c1qXjCjQ
All she did was point, but there was no way I was opening this door further to look. I realised I couldn’t teleport, summon any weapons, nothing. Why?!
The clicking of high-heeled shoes cut through my panicked thoughts like a knife. A dark, shadowy blob glided through the frosted glass of the door that I was just barely holding open, before she slowly came into view.
216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM3aBpwsnu9
“M-Mom?”
216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8eEdt7MovQ
The backlight of the dim, foggy windows just barely illuminated her tall and slender figure. Her colourless hair was smooth and wavy, cascading down to her waist. I could smell her perfume from here.
216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBrz0lINMeU
“What’s going on? Who- Why are you doing this?” I asked frantically, suddenly feeling extremely nauseous. This wasn’t possible.
216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoF8OBSRRhU
“Don’t be late, Bella,” my mom said sharply, expression cold as stone, but not to me. She put one gloved hand on kid me’s shoulder, and guided her to my left, out of view.
“Wait!” I called, throwing the door wide open to follow them. Despite being on the third floor, cold rain stung my face as I suddenly felt frozen earth beneath my feet. My eyes snapped up to see myself surrounded in a crowd of people, all wearing black. Instinctively, I turned the other way, desperately trying to get the handle of the door to open.
“No, not here,” I whispered, twisting the stuck door knob with every bit of panicked force I had left in me. No, no, no. Not again. Did I fall asleep?
216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvf3dIFCZEg
“Been a while since you had this nightmare, hasn’t it?” a familiar voice, hummed.
216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHuSb9e1iTd
I froze. I didn’t want to turn around. I didn’t want to see it happen, but I wanted to know who was there.
“Who are you?”
“Your math teacher,” I could hear her smile.
“What? Who are you? Why are you doing this?” I stammered as she came into view, watching me closely, grinning out of sadistic joy.
She giggled, and her appearance began to mutate. Deep pigment seemed to separate from her skin, moving around like an eel in murky water until half of her was blindingly white, and the other void of any colour at all. Her short blond hair was overcome with inky black roots, growing to nearly the floor, knotty and stringy, like moldy moss. I knew something was wrong with her, but I wasn’t in the mood to gloat.
216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGEbRCCILpm
“Melinoë,” she introduced herself, her smile even more hideous than before with the unnatural amount of sharp, bird-like teeth around it.
I muttered, “What do you want?”
Melinoë?
“My my,” she said sweetly, “What a difference a little fear makes, hm? You’re much less… annoying.”
“How are you keeping me here like this? Where even is this?”
“Your mother sent me here,” she said slowly, face still stretched in an unsettling smile.
“No she didn’t,” I said instantly, “You’re lying.”
“Well, you just saw her, didn’t you?”
“That wasn’t her! This isn’t real!” I snapped against my will, clawing at the handle, “Just tell me what you want from me!”
I was going to lose it if I had to spend another second here. I had to get out.
Please, help me.
“She’s not dead,” The spectral monster continued, speaking softly despite her demonic appearance. But her sticky sweet tone only escalated the swirling nausea in my throat.
“That’s just something you tell yourself, isn’t it?”
I don’t ask you for much, Hecate, but please get me out of here.
“Because if she was alive, why would she not want to be with you?” she continued to smile, pacing leisurely around the small room, “All a mother really wants is a daughter she can be proud of. That can’t be that hard, can it?”
“Just shut up,” I muttered. It was like I could see the funeral play out behind me, even though I was turned the other way. I felt my stomach tense, like I was about to puke. A sudden wave of dizziness washed over me, forcing my eyes shut tight.
She’s dead.
“You’re not giving up that easily, are you? Come now, I’m sure you're not as worthless as you think.”
“Shut up.” My eyes began to sting, icy rain pelting my back. This isn’t real. It’s not. This isn’t happening.
“Or maybe you’ve already accepted she has no interest in you?”
“Stop talking.”
“She’s not really dead.”
“Leave me alone.”
I need to calm down. Calm down. Just breathe.
I forced myself to take a deep breath, then another, and another, trying to tune her out.
216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcA1p2p4j86
Nothing is happening.
216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡewGBBX6AiS
“You know I’m right.”
216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcRVB87Xprg
“You’re lying to yourself.”
216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAFWAGY5kLI
I just fell asleep at my desk in math, that’s all.
216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUn7QLe6UWL
“Deep down, you know she’s alive.”
216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxLz5EoT15L
Everything is fine, I am safe.
216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLRZr86blNg
“She’s alive, and wants nothing to do with you!”
216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGxtWb1Zck1
This is just a nightmare.
216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkOpM0Zw3q2
The muffled sounds of Melinoë's increasingly aggressive words began to fade as I focused on my breath. The shower of rain softened, and my heart didn’t feel like it was going to burst anymore. Soon, a soft, rhythmic beeping appeared out of the quiet, and the stench of embalming fluid and white lilies melted into the sterile smell of…
216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwFCgZEFPi9
…Bleach?
216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCjgFPE9Jn3
A hospital.
216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcnxnlUb8kN
Shit.
216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4WFZt9eKVl
“Um, hi,” a familiar voice said awkwardly.
216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjW7VuYHrc8
I quickly sat up, wincing at the dull ache in my head, and saw that it was Acacia. She was sitting in a chair on the wall opposite to me, offering a small smile. I took a panicked moment to try and figure what the hell the mist could have possibly spun this story into.
“Please, please, please do not tell me I passed out at school,” I groaned.
“W-well, you did,” she laughed slightly, “But, it wasn’t your fault.”
“They called an ambulance?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh my god,” I mumbled into my hands. Great. Absolutely fantastic. I can’t wait to explain all this to my dad.
Sighing, I blinked a few times to adjust to the bright white lights, when I noticed a red mark on Acacia’s cheek. There were a few stitches, covered by a bandage.
“Wait, what the hell happened?” I frowned, realising that I also had a few cuts and bruises on my arms. But Melinoë attacked me in a dream, didn’t she?
“U-um, a freak earthquake, they said,” she said quietly, “They- they told me something really big hit you, so you probably have a concussion.”
“Shit.”
Earthquake? The mist has had some crazy translations before, but Melinoë had caused enough a mess to look like an earthquake? That wasn’t right, something else must have happened.
“Ah, you’re awake!” a nurse called from the door, a smile covered by his mask, “Don’t worry, I was just about to phone your dad.”
“Please don’t,” I begged, “He’s literally going to kill me.”
The nurse looked confused for a moment, “O-oh, sorry, but it’s protocol. I’m sure he’ll only be concerned about your safety.” With that, he quickly left the small room.
“Ugh,” I groaned again, “I am so fucked.”
Acacia laughed quietly, “Yeah, me too. Sorry, Bella.”
“Why are you apologising?” I scoffed, “Not like you could have done anything.”
“N-no,” she agreed hesitantly, “It’s just… I have really bad luck.”
“Really? Me too,” I sighed, “Shit, with our bad luck combined, we’ve probably cursed the entire school.”216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrVuw7vFm5u
Acacia smiled, giggling softly as she got up from the chair, “I hope you recover fast, Bella.”
Just as she was about to leave the room, I heard her whisper, “I’m sorry.”
Before I could ask her what she could possibly be sorry about, she left the room. I sighed again. For the first time, I had bigger things to worry about than my dad finding out about this.
216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡskDGSxXrRS
Who is Melinoë?216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgWXuO0mfrt
216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxfCW9iX9ww
…Is my mom really alive?
216Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM8Phi9b5nx
