School of Broken Souls

by C. R. Jane

  It’s Alexander.

  Hair as dark as night, with eyes so light that you could almost see through them; it’s a striking combination. The only ones that even compare to him that I’ve seen are Professor London and Dante and Nix. All of them are gods among men.

  I feel Mercy stiffen beside me.

  "Well, well. Who's the new girl, Crazy?" he asks in a cold, haughty voice even though he definitely met me earlier.

  She begins quivering next to me, not saying anything. Her eyes are on the ground. She’s careful to keep them averted from the pack of boys in front of us. I can hear the others whispering and laughing behind Alexander as he looks us over.

  "Don't feel like talking, Crazy? Usually we can't shut you up,” he says.

  Anger flickers inside of me. I’m not the most adept at having friends, but I know an important part was sticking up for them when the time came for it.

  "Don't call her that," I snap. He looks at me with a glimmer of mirth in his eyes. It’s as if he can see all the way inside of me, see every dirty thought I'd ever had.

  "New girl’s got some fire. I like it."

  He looks over at Mercy about to say something. He takes a deep breath before he speaks though, and I watch as his eyes seem to expand as he does so. The blackness of his pupil begins dilating until it’s almost impossible to see the blue of his eyes. He staggers for a moment, almost as if whatever he just breathed in messed with his mind.

  I delicately sniff the air, wondering what I was missing. I can see the guys behind him sniff the air as well. Their eyes begin to dilate too, and they look like they are about to pass out from whatever they are smelling. Mercy’s grip on my hand tightens.

  The boys are all looking at me now with interest. Maybe interest was an understatement. They were all looking at me like I was the most fascinating thing they had ever seen.

  "Crazy, go back to your dorm room and stay there for the night,” Alexander says, directing his comment at Mercy.

  I feel her hand lose its hold on mine. She begins to walk away, leaving me alone in the hallway in front of the pack of boys. A shiver passes over me.

  "Mercy?" I call after her, unsure why she’s leaving me here. But she doesn’t even stop to look back at me. She just keeps walking down the hallway until she’s out of sight.

  I look over at the boys who seem to be now salivating as they watch me. What kind of power do they hold in the school for Mercy to just obey them like that with one command? She hadn’t seemed like the kind of girl who could be easily bossed around.

  Alexander takes a step closer, and I take a step back, my limbs beginning to tremble with fear. I wasn't looking to get manhandled out of school. He keeps walking until he has me trapped against the wall. He picks up a piece of my hair, feeling it between his fingers, breathing in again as he touches me. A look that could pass for euphoria crosses his face.

  “Leave us," he orders to the rest of the boys who are still standing behind him.

  "Alexander, you have to share," says one of them, almost sounding like he’s begging.

  Alexander turns his head, not completely taking his eyes off me, but moving just enough for them to see his displeasure at not being listened to. "Don't make me repeat myself again," he orders, a threat threaded into his words.

  They immediately begin to disperse, many of them muttering curses under their breath and giving me looks of longing as they do so.

  It was just me and him.

  I prayed that someone would walk down the hall, that someone would save me. I felt like a fly caught in a spider’s web.

  "What was your name again, pretty girl?" he asks, finally hinting that he remembered me from earlier. He leans in even further towards me until we are just a hair's breath apart. One more inch and our lips would be touching. I hated that a part of me didn't mind the thought of him being that close.

  "Adeline," I whisper despite the fact that my brain is screaming at me to shut up.

  "An interesting name for an interesting girl," he says. He breaths in again. Whatever he smells again seems to push him to making whatever decision he’d been thinking about.

  He starts to walk down the hallway, pulling me behind him.

  I finally have had enough, and I come to my senses. I start struggling, trying to pull my hand away from his. He stops and looks back at me annoyed. Taking a step towards me, he stares into my eyes.

  "Adeline, you’re going to follow me wherever I go tonight. You're not going to put up a fight,” he says in a voice that all of a sudden has a shiny, entrancing quality to it.

  I find that his voice has just become my most favorite sound that I have ever heard. I feel relaxed after he speaks. All the fear and panic that I had a moment ago has disappeared.

  He looks at me satisfied.

  "Good girl," he says as he begins walking again, pulling me behind him. I walk with him willingly this time, feeling a sense of peace at wherever we’re going.

  After a few minutes, a little voice inside of me starts to ask me what I am doing. Where am I going? What had he done to my head that has made me so relaxed?

  I come to a dead stop in the hallway. He looks back at me in surprise and confusion.

  "Where are we going?" I ask, allowing the little voice in my head to overpower the calmness that is still flowing through me. He looks even more surprised as he walks back towards me and peers into my eyes, searching for something.

  “Adeline, you're going to follow me," he says, in that same smooth, compelling voice.

  I begin walking again beside him, calm and trusting once again. But just like before, the feeling only lasts for a moment. But it’s long enough for him to get me alone in a room.

  As the feeling starts to fade again, I look around in a panic at the room that we’ve just walked into. It looks like it hasn’t been used for quite some time. There are chairs stacked against the wall, and a layer of dust covers everything, even the floor.

  Again, the little voice starts in my head. What was I doing in this room with a strange boy? Why were we alone?

  "I want to go," I say frantically, pulling away from him and backing up towards the door.

  He looks astonished, as if my reaction was the strangest thing that had ever happened to him. And maybe it was. I couldn’t imagine very many sane girls ever gave up a chance to be alone with him.

  He walks towards me, muttering something under his breath. I hear the lock engage in the door behind me, thwarting my chances to escape. Why would someone outside lock the door? Had the group of guys been following us, and they were helping Alexander keep me in here? Why would they do that?

  He strolls towards me until I’m again pressed into the wall, his arms on either side of me, caging me in. It seems like this position is one of his favorites.

  "You are a different one, aren't you?" he whispers under his breath as he looks deep into my eyes again as if he’s still searching for something.

  "Hold still, sweet Adeline," he says, and I feel my limbs soften against the door as my objections once again go skittering away.

  His lips brush against mine, surprising me. I lean into the kiss, despite the fact that the little voice is starting to whisper again. It’s telling me I need to be questioning what’s going on again, but this time I ignore it.

  There’s something magnetic about him, something that I can’t understand but that I crave desperately. As his lips continue to move against mine, I fall into his embrace, wondering how I ever lived without the feel of his lips against mine.

  Suddenly, everything changes. The passion and happiness that I have been feeling starts to fade, replaced by a sadness that seeps into every part of my soul. Every terrible memory I have of my life comes flying to the forefront of my mind until I can’t remember that anything good ever existed in the world.

  Images of Ash dying slowly in her hospital bed and having to attend her funeral file through my mind. The bullying in school, my father being sick, my mother weeping at the kitchen table... I
mage after horrible image continues to flood every tendril of my brain until tears are streaming down my face and I’m sobbing into his lips. He pulls back with a moan as if pulling away from my lips physically hurts him. He makes soothing noises and gently strokes my face as I continue to cry. My despair is so strong that it is all I can do not to fall to the floor in agony.

  What had just happened?

  It was like his kiss had taken away every good feeling that I had ever had.

  Looking at him through my tears, I wonder if my eyes are playing tricks on me. He looks vibrant, almost as if he is glowing. His looks have magnified tenfold, something that I didn’t think was possible.

  Maybe my sorrow was making me crazy.

  He leans in towards me, taking one more breath before brushing his lips softly against my lips, a look of reverence in his eyes.

  “Sleep, sweetheart,” he murmurs.

  Or at least I think he does. The world turns black before I have another thought.

  Chapter 7

  I wake up, the morning light pouring across my bed, and the room gives a slight spin. Whoa. I lay there, trying to remember yesterday, and how much happened. Meeting Mercy, finding Clarissa giving Mr. Dusk a blowjob, and then there’s Alexander. My heart twirls. But everything falls blank after he comes to me in the hallway. He asked me to follow him and I did, but then I can’t seem to remember the rest. I sit up in my bed, trying to remember how I even got to my room, what I had for dinner. Nothing.

  My mind is blank.

  Climbing out of bed, I put the memory loss down to being so overwhelmed with starting a new school that I pushed the things out of my head, not to mention how sleepy I still feel. My tiredness must be clouding my mind. The memories are bound to come back to me. I check my phone. There’re no new messages, so I head for the communal shower.

  The long room is empty. Showers are on either side of the tiled walls, each section closed in by short cubicles, but they barely reach my shoulders in height. I hurriedly undress near my locker and wrap a towel around my chest. The tiles underfoot are icy under my hurried footsteps as I make my way into the bathroom and flip on the lever. Leaving the towel on the outside of the door, I step into the steamy water and begin lathering myself. I’ve never shared a shower before, so I make it my mission to come in early before it’s too crowded.

  By the time I’m washed and dried, two other girls come into the bathroom. It seems only the scholarship girls use this location as I’ve never seen the beautiful ones here. Probably for the best. I don’t see this working with Clarissa being here.

  Fifteen minutes later, I’m dressed in my pleated black skirt and shirt, and I roll my black socks up to my knees. I step into my black school shoes and with my text book in hand, I head out for breakfast, hoping to bump into Mercy.

  The morning breeze carries a cold bite, and I quicken my steps across the courtyard. I’m just past the dragon fountain when a familiar figure steps out from the shadows from my right.

  I rock on my heels to a halt, my eyes meeting his.

  “Alexander!” I murmur, my voice more high pitched than I intended. “What are you doing here?” I regret my words at once since the school grounds are open to all students, and maybe his dorm is in this building? I just didn’t expect him to be here.

  “How are you feeling?” he asks with genuine care in his gaze.

  I glance around, expecting to see his friends, maybe laughing at me, but it’s just the two of us. “A bit hungry. You?” The conversation feels stilted and strange, and my breath catches in my throat.

  He studies me, staring so intently, I’m shuffling my feet. The silence between us feels like the world is pressing down on my shoulders. But when I look up into his blue eyes, framed by long, dark lashes, I’m lost. They are stunning, just like him. Captivating. The blueness of his irises reminds me of something… extravagant. He smirks at me, not cruelly but with intrigue.

  “So, you slept all right?” he asks.

  I’m lost for words, trying to decipher the secret message behind his question. Why would he ask me how I slept? The hottest guy in the school should barely know I exist, let along come and speak to me. “Is that meant to be a trick question?” I mutter.

  He bursts out laughing, the sound coming from deep in his lungs, and my earlier anguish melts away. His hand reaches out and touches my arm, his fingers cold, but his touch ignites a fire within. He pulls his hand away, but I can still feel the imprint of his fingers seeping into my being.

  The breeze blows through his obsidian hair, and I can’t help admiring how incredibly handsome he is from the depth of his eyes to his strong bone structure. He looks manly and strong and unstoppable if he wants anything.

  “It’s hard adjusting to a new school,” he says.

  “What are you expecting to have happened to me last night?”

  The corner of his mouth twitches and curls upward, a playfulness slithering over his expression. “You’re cute when you’re confused.”

  “Did you just… compliment me?”

  He shrugs, his lips smiling widely. “Prefer I take it back?”

  “Nope, no take-backs!”

  He’s laughing again, and there’s something soft and comforting about the sound, about him being at such ease.

  Once again, he’s staring at me, studying me. “Good to see you’re feeling well.”

  “Couldn’t be better.”

  “Well, I got places to be.” Yet, he doesn’t move away, his gaze scanning me as if searching for something in me. And only then do I notice the wrinkles forming on the bridge of his nose like he expected me to answer differently about how I’m feeling. Was he hoping to hear me say I hated my first day and everything sucks? It’s not going to happen, not when I’m here for the benefit of my father, not anything else. I’m not here for my happiness.

  Without a word, he turns and strolls away, hands deep in the pockets of his school pants, his head low.

  How strange.

  I stand near the dragon fountain for a long while, unable to understand what just happened or what the conversation was about. When I come up with no reason except him being forced to look out for new students, I saunter toward the cafeteria for breakfast.

  Mercy’s already there, and I join her with my stack of pancakes topped with fruit. I don’t tell her about the strange conversation with Alexander as she’ll read too much into it. Soon after, we rush to the Dragon Tower for our first class as we’d spent too long over our meal chatting about an essay she’s working on for literature.

  “We’re going to be late,” I say to Mercy, but she isn’t listening while she drags me by my arm along the third floor of the dragon tower. It sparks a feeling of déjà vu that I can’t quite place.

  “It’s fine. Ms. Pickle is always late for English, and she’ll probably make us watch some snore-fest documentary about poetry in the middle ages. Seriously, we’re doing ourselves a favor by being late.”

  “Ms. Pickle?”

  “It’s actually Ms. Hickle, but everyone calls her pickle since she always wears green clothes. Always.” She laughs to herself.

  Normally, I would laugh at the strange nickname, but I’m too busy staring at the doors we pass by that have no numbers, the same corridor I traveled earlier to reach my first class yesterday. When we reach the fork in the passage, I glance left into the darkness and automatically swing right, but Mercy bumps into me. I stumble backward and she wrenches me down the dark corridor. I struggle as panic grabs me, all I can picture is Mr. Dusk getting a blowjob from the redhaired bitch just up ahead.

  Mercy doesn’t stop, and I find myself stumbling after her. Soon we’re around the corner and I breathe a sigh of relief when I see that there’s no one there. We continue to rush through the darkened hallway.

  “Where are we going?” I ask, squinting to see what lies ahead.

  “Shh,” she mutters. “I’ve been watching them, and they always go down this passage. I think this is where they have secret cl
asses.”

  Unease curls in my gut, but as much as I want to turn back around, I’m equally curious to find out what exactly is going on in this school.

  We reach a round hallway with three passages spiking outward, and my head spins with trying to work out all the tunnel-like corridors in this enormous building. The cobblestone look on the walls continue under our feet in this area; gone are the smooth, polished floors. Everything seems old and used here, and I can’t help but feel this is an older part of the tower.

  “Not sure we should be here.” I spot several dark droplets near the path directly ahead. “Is that blood?”

  “Good, that’s the way we’ll go.” Mercy’s iron fingers lock around my wrist as she hauls me behind her. I should pull away, but I keep going because I want to see what’s here too.

  “Why’s it so dark?” I whisper, but Mercy doesn’t respond. We just keep our heads low and move swiftly. Fear and anticipation tighten in a knot in my chest, but then I remind myself aside from Mr. Dusk, no other teacher has said this wing of the building is prohibited. Not even during my super-fast orientation.

  We reach several doorways, but our sights are fixed on the one directly in front where the door is left slightly ajar. A dim light streaks the hallway from within.

  The sound of grunting and expelled breaths come from inside and we exchange nervous glances.

  Without a word, we scramble forward and peer inside. Mercy is on her knees, and I’m standing, looking inside through the sliver of a gap.

  It’s a gymnasium and from our vantage point, we see several of the non-scholarship students, dressed in black pants and V-neck tees, the school crest over their chest. I can tell they’re all non-scholarship students because they’ve got that surreal, perfect look about them.

  They’re fighting. Hand to hand combat. There are several pairings of students facing each other, battling. The red-haired girl is there, confronting Alexander, and something in my chest hitches. Damn he’s large and strong, and I can’t help it, but my gaze falls to his tight ass. I imagine myself running my hand over his body, but I shake those thoughts away. What’s wrong with me?