Feed the Flames

..::^~Ronan~^::..

I had to feel my way around the Geometry classroom in order to get to my desk. I was nearly blind, but according to Abigail, I looked good. Abigail had gotten a hold of me this morning, pulling me from Cell’s not so tight grip. Somehow, she had convinced me to ditch my glass (by this, I mean she took them), put my hair down, and she put mascara on me. I appreciated the effort, but I wasn’t a personal project. More than that, I really didn’t like being partially blind. I accidentally bumped into somebody’s desk, and quickly spat out a quiet ‘sorry’ before I finally found my own desk. I needed to get my glasses back from Abigail.

I crossed my legs and straightened out my plaid skirt. I was wearing the ever so unflattering sweater, leaving the sweater vest completely uncharted territory. I just…I needed time before I thought about wearing that. Cell, I assumed, took my book from my desk, and opened it to the correct page before returning it to my desk. She knew that my glasses had been usurped and took pity on me.

I gave her quick thanks as I pretended to read what was on the page.

“Hey,” an unfamiliar voice said from my other side. It was a guy, and it was deep. I looked over at the source, not being able to make out his face. Despite the fact that my vision was blurry, I was able to make out short black hair and a sharp jawline.

“Hello,” I said back, flashing him a small smile, and pretended as if I could actually read the material in my book. I had to fake it in my first three classes as well. I was definitely going to get my backup glasses during lunch.

“You’re new, yeah? Ronan? I haven’t seen you around before,” his voice was a slight whisper, to cover up the fact that we were talking in class. I wondered if he realized that the bell had not even rung yet, unless he was embarrassed to talk to me. My heart sunk a little; I was definitely use to being the outcast that everybody was ashamed of. I told my head to shut up, and I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes at my own thoughts.

“It’s my second day,” I confirmed.

“I thought so. Well, I’m Liam. It’s nice to meet you,” the blurred outline that I looked at seemed to have given me a smile. I returned a small smile, and then I was able to breeze through the class without having to struggle, i.e. reading stuff, reading stuff aloud, or writing. I clumsily stood up, and somebody slightly shorter than me tapped me on the shoulder. I looked over to see Cell. Well, I was ninety-nine percent sure that it was Cell. I had never been more thankful that she was there.

“I really need a service friend right now,” I pouted, “I have to get my glasses from the room.” She grabbed me by the upper arm, and started dragging me along. She could have been dragging me to the fiery depths of hell, or off a cliff, but I just had to trust that she would not be that much of an asshole. Then again, that would get me out of this school. I could see the outline of the trees in the large courtyard, and the walk to the dorms seemed somewhat familiar. Eventually, we got to the room, and I quickly found my glasses – after stubbing my toe on every piece of furniture. I emerged from my room, expecting to see Cell, but she had disappeared. She had probably wanted to be alone. I took a deep breath, and left the building. I headed towards the cafeteria where I grabbed a salad, and sat down with four of the boys I had met earlier. I half expected Cell to be sitting here, but she was not. Neither was Frank.

“Well, look who it is,” Mikey smirked at me, and looked at Bob, “I told you she wouldn’t be able to stay away.” Gerard rolled his eyes and grabbed his tray. He left the table and I could not help but feel I had done something wrong.

“I’m surprised you don’t think you’re too good to sit with us,” Bob said, picking at what food he had left on his plate, “I saw you talking to that Abigail girl. She’s a character, alright.”

I sighed a little, “I don’t think I’m too good for anybody,” I said honestly, feeling a little less hungry. A few of them looked a little surprise, “and Abigail is nice. Where’s Frank?” I asked quickly, changing the subject.

“He’s seeing a girl,” Bob said aloud.

“There’s no doubt about it,” Ray agreed.

“I think we’ve just found our next objective, boys,” Mikey smirked.

“I give it a week,” Ray added. I eyed the rest of the cafeteria, and I could see Abigail and the group of people with her looking over at us. They did not break eye contact with me – I had to look away myself. It had not even lasted a minute, but it undoubtedly made me feel extremely uncomfortable. I looked at my watch to find that I had fifteen minutes left before I had to get to dance.

“I’m on my way to class,” I said, picking up my tray, “I’ll see you all tomorrow,” I turned around after receiving a bunch of ‘goodbyes’, and headed towards dance class. I was thankful when I was in the safety of the changing room. I had my dance attire on, and my contacts in. I went out to the dance floor to start stretching. Abigail sat down next to me, and began her own stretching.

“So, I saw you hanging out with that group of outcasts, today,” I was surprised to hear her say that. Yesterday and this morning, she had seemed so nice.

“Those outcasts are my friends,” I found it ironic that I was sticking up for Abigail around them, and I was sticking up for them around Abigail.

“You want some advice? Stay as far away from them as possible,” she warned, “They’re danger- they’re weird.”

“They’re weird,” Abigail cut her off quickly, “They’re weird, and that’s not going to help your reputation.

“I appreciate that, but-” I tried to finish, but she had cut me off.

“There are no ‘buts’. It’s them or the rest of the school,” she said firmly. I took a deep breath, and nodded slowly that I understood. I didn’t want to fight with anybody, or cause trouble with anybody. However, it seemed that if I didn’t listen to Abigail, she would make my life at Bal Voyeux less enjoyable than it already was for me. I took a deep sigh, and stared at a line on the polished wooden floor.

“Thanks for the warning,” I looked at her and smiled, and she returned it, “So, Liam told me he met you today.” At first, I had no idea who she was talking about, but then I remembered Geometry class – the guy who had introduced himself.

“Oh, yeah. He gave me his name, but I couldn’t actually see him,” I said the last four words slowly, “which reminds me – I need my glasses back.”

“Oh, right. I feel somewhat bad about that. I didn’t think about the fact that you actually need them. They’re in my bag so I’ll give them to you after class,” she assured, and I nodded.

“Perfect,” I was content. That pair had been my favorite out of the two I owned.

“Okay, then come on. We have to get to the barre,” Abigail dragged me to stand next to her and we did our barre exercises with Madam Flint and the rest of the girls. There weren’t that many – fifteen maybe. For the rest of the class period, we were given the time to work on our weekly assignment. I had decided to choreograph a dance of ‘The Crucibles’ by Author Miller. The dance would go along with ‘Sweet Dream (are made of this)’, Marilyn Manson’s version. Technically, it wasn’t a book, it was a play. Still, it told a story though book format. By the end of the class, I had figured out about 80% of what I wanted the dance to be. I would be jumpy during art.

Art class was not too far from the dance studio. I was able to make my way without getting lost. Once again, I met up with Cell, where we sat next to each other in comfortable silence. Today, we were being introduced to drawing words. I couldn’t focus much on the work, just as I couldn’t stop staring at Gerard’s back. He was a few tables in front of Cell and I, and sitting alone. His hair was a little messy in the back, and he slouched over. His head was ducked down, most likely encompassed in his work – or sleeping. Suddenly, his back straightened up, and he turned his head around to look at me. I knew I looked like a deer caught in headlights. I quickly put my head down, trying to refocus on my paper. For some reason, he terrified me.

Cell had disappeared not too long after the bell rang, so I ended up walking back to the room by myself. She was not in our common room when I got inside. I sighed, and put my schoolwork down on my desk. I didn’t have much homework, so I quickly knocked it out of the way. By the time I was finished, the cafeteria was serving dinner. I took advantage and decided to go get a meal. I found the table where Mikey, Bob, Gerard, and Ray were, and sat down with them. Once again, Gerard got up and left as soon as I sat down.

“Seriously, what is his problem,” I scoffed, and started eating.

“He just…it’s hard for him to like people,” Mikey said, “Ever since we were, uh, cut off from our family, he tries to keep to his own kind.”

“What is his own kind?” I asked nonchalantly. I looked at the three as they stared at me.

“Italian,” Ray quickly sputtered. That had earned laughs from the other two. I couldn’t help but smile myself.

After dinner, I went back to my room, and changed to go to bed. I walked over to my window in order to close my curtains, and just barely saw five figures walking into the forest. At least, I thought I had.

I squinted my eyes, and even though it was dark, I definitely saw five figures disappear into the tree line. To my understanding, that had been against the rules. However, I was not going to go tell on anybody.

This is when my conscious kicked in. What if somebody got hurt, ran away, or killed? What if that happened because I did not say anything? I swallowed hard. Either way, I would be the bad guy. Against my better judgment, I closed my curtains, and I tried to forget about it. It would eat at me and make it hard to fall asleep – or so I thought. I had been far more tired than I thought.

Hazel eyes filled my vision. They were filled with hate, and they placed fear into my soul. The more I looked at the eyes, the more I saw the forest. And there was blood. It was all around the ground, the trunks of the trees, the broken leaves and twigs on the ground. Blood.

I ran through the trees, trying to get away. There was not anything chasing me, but there was. There must have be something behind me, and I did not know it. However, my legs knew, and that was why I was running. I was scared, and I missed my mom. I wanted my mom. I reached out for her, but I landed in front of her gravestone.

“No,” I let out quickly, the tears gathering in my eyes.

“Yes,” my mom replied. I could hear her voice distinctly, but she was nowhere around.

“Mom?” I called out into the nothingness. I was in a white oblivion, and there was nothing.

“The flames. Stay away from the flames,” she said, sounding distant.

“Mom?” I called out again, louder. She didn’t reply this time.

“Mom?!” I sat up in my bed, my eyes beginning to adjust to the dark. My breathing was heaving, and my heart was beating quickly. I did not usually have weird dreams, so I was never sure how to react to them. I started by looking at my clock. It said that it was still early – four in the morning. I had a little bit longer to sleep, but I was almost afraid to. I lay back down against the pillow, and allowed myself to think of my late mother. The hazel eyes looked so familiar, but I didn’t know whose they were. They weren’t Franks, they were anybody in my family, they didn’t belong to any of my friends – but they were familiar nonetheless. What had my mom meant about the flames? What flames?

I had to remind myself that it was just a nightmare. It probably didn’t mean anything. After seeing a group of people go into the forest last night, and then dreaming about being in the forest, though, that had creeped me out. I worked to calm my breathing so I could sleep more. I didn’t want to be tired during class. Tomorrow was Wednesday, meaning the week would be halfway over, and this made me feel better. I closed my eyes, and drifted into a dreamless sleep.

©Shannon