Indigo

Something that has always bothered me is people who shield the truth from me. I always end up knowing if they are or not, and it bothers me. I don’t know if I’d prefer not to know it or not, the only thing I do know is that I hate lies. Whenever someone lies to me, I get disappointed. Maybe that’s why I don’t have many friends.
Amarantha carried the books with her small arms and hands, pausing every now and then due to tiredness. She was a fast runner, but didn’t have a good physical state. Add to this the fact that she had been running up and down marble staircases and long corridors for a whole hour. She was drained and the books she was carrying were no feather.
She got to her room huffed and pissed, resting the books on the side of her bed. She didn’t even say hello to Annie who was crossed-legged in her bed, painting her toe nails a pale pink.
“Well hello, pissy baby.”
“Don’t call me that.”
Amarantha snarled as she kicked off her shoes and climbed into bed. Annie shrugged, turning the cap of her nail polish close as soon as she finished her little toe.
“What happened?”
Annie asked softly, gazing at Amarantha as she started turning the pages of one of the name books.
“Kier. He lied to me.”
Annie turned her head to the side.
“You’ve only known him for a day. You barely know who he is…there’s no point on getting worked up about some guy.”
“But he lied! How can I not get pissed about that?”
Amarantha spat, passing the page.
“Don’t be so stubborn. You don’t know his motives…and anyways, what do you care?”
“Lies are just-“
Amarantha was about to reply when they heard a small cough and Andrew drew the curtains from her bed, rested her elbows on her bed’s border and used them as pillow,
“You’re in fourth grade, Amarantha. He’s in eleventh. You’re what…eight? Nine? He’s seventeen or eighteen, I’m not sure…There’s no point for you to fuss about him. Be thankful that he even talked to you. He’s a controller freak with short patience and the strongest temper I’ve ever seen. If Annie couldn’t handle him as a boyfriend how can you as an acquaintance?”
Amarantha’s breath was caught in her throat.
“You…dated?”
Annie threw Andrew a look Amarantha couldn’t yet identify. She nodded,
“What Andrew said is true, but it’s not like he doesn’t have good things…he was-“
“I’m not interested in whatever you and him had, Annie. If I even hear the work ‘kiss’ I’ll throw up. You know what? I have a lot of reading to do, just go to sleep and we’ll talk some other time.”
And with that Amarantha closed the curtains around her and took out her reading lamp from her backpack. There were muffled whispers from her other two roommates and then the rustle of curtains being closed.
* * *
Amarantha suddenly tensed up in her sleep. She felt like someone was with her in her bed…maybe Annie had rolled into hers by accident? No, it wasn’t Annie. It was someone powerful, dark…She felt its presence pouring over her, sending chills all over her body. It was about to touch her, she was sure. She wanted to scream, to kick to open her eyes and face whatever was after her. But she couldn’t. No matter how hard she tried to make her eyelids to open they refused to do so. She was shaking from fear now and then the most terrifying sound came to her: the sound of soft laughter. The shadows and pressure in her chest seemed to dissipate slowly and the presence eventually went away but the feeling of vulnerability stayed with her. Amarantha’s former dream kicked in instantly, something about what the prize she would receive with her group from Professor Damaris and she soon forgot all about the scary encounter. But her body didn’t. A fright she couldn’t understand afterwards hid under her skin, intensified in her bones…making her feel heavy and unhappy.
* * *
Bert and Amarantha sat side by side on the table, both with furrowed brows and corners of the mouth facing downwards. They ate silently in between the rest of the fourth and eleven years. Amarantha buttered her piece of toast and ate it quickly trying to avoid the crumbs to fall in any other place than her plate. She ate a bit more of fruit and drained her glass of hot chocolate. She stood up and swung her backpack to her shoulder exiting the diner quickly. She didn’t have any day classes today so she decided to go to the inside garden she had seen in the school map. She found herself thinking who had built this academy and how they had constructed it all. The garden had an artificial sun and trees and flowers from all over the globe and ones Amarantha suspected where genetically altered.
She walked over to a cherry blossom tree and sat down, resting her back on the enormous trunk and placing her backpack beside her. She started flipping through the pages of the second name book, looking for the meaning of willow and oak but then her mind wandered over the small yellow flowers in front of her....

* * *

“The test on multiplying and dividing fractions will be next week, so I suggest you practice with this exercises I let on the board, okay?”
There was a groan from the whole classroom. Tyrell copied down the exercises on the top right corner of his math notebook and closed it shut. His head had been pounding all day, ever since that small voice had told him to duck near the football field and he hadn’t done so. But its not like he the headache prevented him from doing his work, he just didn’t want to. He was going to fail math anyway, so what was the point of a class assignment?

* * *
The feeling of being watched returned. Amarantha looked around, but apart from the trees and flowers she was completely sure she was all alone. A panic she was unaware of feeling doubled up instantly, causing her body to shiver violently, which scared her even more.
What is wrong with me?