True Darkness

I rested my head on the car window, gazing out of it, and watched as the browning leaves whizzed passed. They didn't care where I was going. To them I was just another face. They hated our types. You could tell just by looking at them. They were jealous we could move while they had to stay in the same place from the first moment they were planted. Trees. Another thing to add to the list of potential threats to humans.

I sighed and leant to get my bag. If I was going to have to stay in this car I might as well enjoy some of it. I pulled my headphones out of the bag and gently manoeuvred them into my ears individually. My Dad was in the car, driving to be exact, but he wouldn't care. We don't talk. I wouldn't even be here with him if it wasn't for the small fact that my Mother hated me. My own Mother. They thought I was a freak because of what I saw. I agreed with them now. I was a freak. I was different. I should be feared.

The car turned around a corner and we were suddenly approached by a Welcome sign. It edged passed us warily, doing it's best to avoid any contact with the cars that came too close to it. It'd fail one day and find itself flat on its back looking up at the sky only to be carried away and replaced by a newer, younger model. What would happen to the sign I was unsure. It'd probably be burnt down for scrap metal. There one minute. Gone the next.

These things have consciences you see. Well no. You don't see. But I do. That's not even the weird part. Not only do I see their consciences, drifting in and out of vision with venom in their eyes, but I see people that aren't there either. No. Not people. Things. Things that shouldn't be able to exist. Things that aren't physically possible. But that's the thing. They aren't physically possible. Because only I can see them which, as you could imagine, is just great for trying to make new friends.

I didn't get a week or two to settle in to my new home. I didn't even get a day. I was picked up from the Airport and told I had to go straight to school. My Dad didn't want me at home any longer than I had to be. He was like Mum. Only Mum wasn't a drunken imbecile who wasted all his money on cheap booze and whores. I was loaded with a school bag as soon as I sat in the car which, after further investigation, I discovered held the essentials. I was told to load whatever else I might need into the bag. I was told to hurry.

Another corner. Another road closer to my new life. Dad leaned back and grunted something about only another three streets. I was closer than I thought. I shut my eyes, sighed and laid my head back. There wasn't time. I couldn't make friends. The things made sure of that. The one friend I had, Isabella, had known me since I was little. She used to live next-door to me. She could hear the arguments from her room. I used to stay around her house a lot. She was my best friend and now I had to leave her. Great.

Five minutes later we arrived. My Dad jumped out of the car and rushed round to open my door. If I didn't know him better I would have thanked him for the kindness but I knew he just really wanted me gone. My suspicions were confirmed when he pointed me in the direction of the reception, kissed me on the cheek, jumped in his car and sped away without a second glance. I touched my cheek. It was sticky. He had been drinking again. I came to the conclusion I needed a car and headed inside.

The reception was warm and friendly. The walls were painted yellow with white borders. I smiled at this. It gave me the impression of a summers day. I inhaled the scent of the new place. There was a faint trace of cinnamon. Weird. I turned to look at the receptionist. Woman. Mid-fourties. Brown hair done up in a bun. Glasses attached to a chain around her neck. The typical school receptionist. She noticed me staring and smiled.
"Hello there. You must be Libitina. Welcome to the school." she held her hand out over the desk and smiled again. I took her hand and shook it.

"Please. Call me Libby." I said matching her warm smile. It was getting off to a good start.

"Nice to meet you Libby. I am Mrs Whitehall. Do you know where your lessons are?" Mrs Whitehall asked shuffling to a filing cabinet and pulling out a folder with my name on it.

I narrowed my gaze at the folder as if I could see through it. There could be anything in there. Accounts of my indifference. My details. My life shortened into notes, only picking up on the things which helped them decide if I was in the good or bad category. Since I was here I guessed I was in the good. For now.

"No I'm afraid I don't. Have you got a map?" I said moving slightly to get a better view of the place.

"Of course. Here you are," she said happily, handing me a sheet with a detailed diagram of the school printed on. "and here is your timetable. Would you like me to escort you to your first lesson?"

"No thank you. I think I'll manage." I said gratefully.

I wanted out already. There was something that didn't feel right about this place. I quickly left the reception and made my way down the hall. The rooms I passed and the hallways were nothing like the reception. Any and all warm, comforting colours had been replaced with Red and Black paint. It was chilling but in the same way, calming. I preferred it out here to the reception.

In my old school people walked into me a lot. I can't blame them. There wasn't much for them to see. I was short for a sixteen year old, five foot one to be exact, pale, with black hair that curled when it wanted to and eyes that changed colour with my mood. Today they were green. Anxiety. No-one bumped into me here and half of them weren't even looking where they were going. It was like a sixth sense. I blinked but quickly removed any suspicions from my mind. They were probably just used to new people.

My first lesson was Biology in B12. I had found the B's but couldn't find B12 for the life of me and the amount of people in the halls were beginning to decline. I walked along the corridor. B9. B10. B11. B13. So where was B12? I turned around to check again only to smack straight into some boys chest and fall onto the floor. He looked down at me and sighed. It wasn't a sympathetic sigh. It was a highly agitated sigh.

"Watch where you're going will you?!" he spat and his eyes flashed red.

Wait. What? His eyes flashed red? That meant he was one of them. But I haven't been able to touch the things before which meant he was different. But how? I realised I was staring at the boy and blushed.

"I'm s-sorry." I stuttered, trying to pick myself up and failing badly.

The boy grunted at me and offered his hand to pull me up. I took it reluctantly. It didn't pass through. He was real. He was there. I frowned at his hand and then up at him. He looked at me with an eyebrow raised.

"Are you okay?" he asked seeming a little worried.

I blinked away the frown and shot my gaze to the floor.

"Yes I'm fine. Where is B12?" I asked still transfixed with the floor.

"Oh great you're in my lesson." he said, voice loaded with sarcasm, and sighed. "Follow me then."

With that he set off at a great speed, causing me to run to keep up with him. We got to the classroom, which turned out to be down a side corridor to my left, and he went through the door without waiting for me. I went to follow him but stopped as a cat ran in and jumped up onto a seat. This was weird enough as it was but then the cat changed into a girl.

I sighed, already seeing the outcome for my life this year. It had begun. There was no turning back.