Chapter Four

Lucianne froze at the top of the stairwell, looking down into the darkness that enveloped the steps. Her heart picked up again, and she could hear her blood rushing in her ears. The hairs on her skin raised, and she held her breath.

She waited. And waited. And waited.

Nobody appeared from the staircase, and the sounds were still there, but they did not increase in volume at all. She perked her ears up to the sound and listened more closely, and that was when she realised the source was not coming from the stairwell, but from behind her. She looked back, tracing the sound back to its source and to her relief, she saw what was causing the sounds.

A loose vine was tapping ever so lightly against the edge of the window frame. It sounded very much like footsteps and she exhaled in relief. She was sure she had locked the door behind her.

Walking towards the window, she pushed the vine out of it and drew the window down, shutting it. The flowing curtains touched her back and she removed herself from it. Fetching her luggage to her, she unlocked her room and stepped in.

The room was much larger than she imagined, and she could tell that it was really meant for travelling faculty members. There was no way the school could afford to provide such a big room to students, not when they had so many.

There was a large window on the facing side of the room, with curtains similar to the ones right outside her room. They drifted in the air softly, almost hauntingly calling out to her. The middle of the room was taken up by a canopy bed that had a black velvet cloth draping over the top rungs, falling at the sides of the bed. The sheets were white, and so were the pillows. On the other side of the bed stood a large cupboard that had black rings attached to the front.

Lucianne unpacked all her clothes into the cupboard, and by the time she was done, the sky had already turned dark. She arranged her stationery on the desk, putting in her makeup into the drawers. The desk was right below the window, and she sat on the chair, staring at the night sky.

There was an identical tower right outside her window, but it was so dark that she couldn't see anything other than that there were windows too. Removing her set of papers, she looked through her timetable to prepare herself for the school day tomorrow.

Every school day started with breakfast at the food hall, before the students were sent to their respective classes. Lunch happened around noon time and dinner around 7 at night. As a student, there were communal bathing houses but since she had a special room, she had a bathroom of her own that she could use.

Tired, she washed up before she retreated to bed. It took her a while before she finally fell asleep and when she did, she dreamed of Genevieve. She was resting on the floor of a pool which had been drained of all water. The floor was granite and darkness surrounded her. Hanging right above her naked body were hooks, on which an infant's back was pierced and hung on. She reached up with a crowbar and tore its skin open, and a shower of blood stained her bare breasts as she opened her mouth to taste the blood.

When Lucianne's eyes opened, she brushed the horrible nightmare from her mind and prepared for the day. It was early morning and she made her way to the food hall for breakfast. As she walked, she looked down at herself. Her uniform was attractive - the outfit was a black blazer with white lines bordering the edges, a white shirt inside and a tartan skirt. For the girls, the black blazer had a corset-like back which accentuated the feminine figure, and she liked the way she looked in it. She wore calf high socks as well as shiny black loafers and the resulting look was impressive.

The moment she reached the food hall, she was instantly struck by the mass of people walking about. Ruckus filled the sprawling room and there was chatter everywhere. She strolled in, at a loss for what to do or where to go. Soon, some students parted and she saw a row of food stalls along the side of the room. Walking over, she picked up some food and drinks before she returned to the seating section.

Most of the seats were already taken and as she passed by, some students placed their bags on the empty seats, as if they were telling her not to even think about sitting with them. They gave her short glares, and she could only shrug as she walked on.

"Fresh meat!" someone called out to her.

It was a boy, about her age, waving at her to come over. She headed to the seats and took them. Beside him were two girls, one with black hair and dark makeup and the other with long, blonde hair.

"I'm Lucianne," she told them.

"I'm Jonas," the boy said. "The blonde is Abbie and the black-haired girl is Harper. Abbie is the most depressing girl you'll ever know," he said with a hand at the side of his mouth. "Like, her only personality is her Depression," and he turned to Harper. "And Harper is the Femme Fatale of the entire school."

"Cut it out," Harper said to Jonas before she looked at Lucianne. "And Jonas is a big bully."

"So what brings you here, Lucianne?" Jonas asked her.

She only shrugged.

"Oh god, another Abbie?" Jonas said.

Harper rolled her eyes. "Ignore him," she said. "What is your major, Lucianne?"

"Literature," she said.

"Oh cool!" Harper said. "The rest of us are all music majors actually, I guess we won't share the same classes."

Lucianne frowned a little. "That's a pity."

"Nevermind," Harper said with a bright smile as she tucked a raven black strand of hair behind one ear that shone with a diamond earring. "We can meet apart from classes."

"Meet apart from classes?" Jonas said. "You're so busy shagging the entire football team that you have no time for us."

Harper glared at Jonas. "I'm here, aren't I?"

"Well, of course, you have to eat!" Jonas scoffed.

"Stop pestering her, c'mon," Abbie said. "She might be going through a lot and you might push her over the edge."

"Shut up, Abbie," Jonas said before he bit into his apple. Abbie shrunk back.

"Whatever," Harper said. "Do you have your timetable, Lucianne? Let's see when we can meet."

Lucianne gave her timetable to Abbie. The three of them huddled around her to read her timetable. Then, out of nowhere, Jonas scoffed aloud as he shook his head.

"What?" Lucianne asked.

"Good luck to you," Jonas said.

"Good luck indeed," Harper said.

"What?"

Jonas held her timetable up for her to see. He pointed to her first period. "Look."

"Poetry by Gabriel Blacken," Lucianne repeated.

"Gabriel Blacken is your professor," Jonas said with a mocking smile. "You might want to drop out, Lucianne."