by Mika B. Coit
"I hope you were not too much on her Jane."
"Of course not... I am trying to set her in a good prospective to the other students, especially on her first day of school. It is important Leslie." Mother responded with pride.
"Just let her be a normal teenager and not mould her into something you want her to be. We have not even had her for a day. Give her some space."
"She has had space from us for the past two years. It is time we acted as a family... a family with pride and prestigiousness."
The black Jaguar parked in front of the school gates, Andrew got out the car to open Iliana’s door. She stepped out looking fine and smart in her navy blue blazer which revealed the same coloured bow that was clipped under the collar of her white shirt. The pleated blue tartan mini skirt fell just above her knees and the pure white socks came up from her black shiny school shoes to below her knees.
Iliana could see the red bricked school that stood in the middle of it’s own large grounds through the black and gold tipped gates. The building was enormous with about five floors and lots of white multi panelled windows. A humongous Roman numeral clock reading eight-twenty-three hung at the centre of the main building. Students flooded through the open gates which was guarded by two well built men in black suits.
"I will be waiting here for you at three this afternoon, my lady." Andrew reported closing the door after Iliana.
Iliana shuddered at what he said.
"Please do not call me that... just call me Iliana."
"As you wish my la... umm... Iliana." Andrew said awkwardly, his tanned face turning pink.
Iliana smiled as Andrew got back into the car and drove away. The space was then quickly taken by another black swish car. Iliana made her way through the open gates and into the school grounds. She felt everyone’s eyes on her and heard them whispering to one another under their breaths. As Iliana held her head up high she noticed a familiar female figure standing near a forested area under a large tree all alone. The light breeze brushed through her dark auburn shoulder length hair but with her head faced down. Wanting to surprise her Iliana crept up behind then jumped in front of her.
"Good morning Chloe!" Iliana said cheerfully expecting her to jump and then laugh.
But Chloe did not. She kept her head down with her side parted hair covering her face.
"Chloe..." Iliana whispered thinking she had got the wrong person.
Then Iliana gasped loudly and stepped back in shock when the girl lifted her head up slowly. It was Chloe but not the Chloe Iliana remembered from yesterday. Instead of peachy soft skin, it was pale and dry looking. Her eyes were not the warm green colour but dark and dull with circles under them. Without thinking Iliana raised a hand to stroke Chloe’s cheeks who just stood there completely dazed and vacant but growling under her breath, like Yuki does when she does not like somebody. As soon as their skin touched Iliana felt a prickly burning sensation making Chloe hiss and turn away. Iliana looked down at her hand expecting to see a mark or a burn, but there was nothing.
Looking up at Chloe who turned her back, Iliana called out to her.
"C-Chloe!"
Chloe spun round flicking her hair aside, her eyes glistening and her skin flustered.
"Iliana!... You startled me... Where did you appear from so suddenly?" She said happily and bubbly.
"Ar-are you okay?" Iliana asked frowning and glaring at her cautiously, wondering whether she might turn strange again.
"Err... I am fine." Chloe answered staring back at her as confused as Iliana was. "Are you okay?"
Iliana laughed falsely and stroked her hair as an act of awkwardness.
"Oh... I am okay, just umm... still not quite fully awake yet. I am so not a morning person."
"Okay then... well, I suppose I had better show you where the school office is so you can get your locker key. Come on... follow me." Chloe said skipping ahead.
As Iliana followed Chloe towards the school building she noticed Kazuki standing on the pathway with girls fluttering and flirting around him. Iliana who hated to admit it was not surprised. He looked dashing in his school uniform with his blazer open, showing off his pure white shirt and navy tie. He had one hand inside his navy trouser pocket and the other holding his mobile against his ear, completely ignoring the girls around him. His eyes was fixed on Chloe, but when his eyes met Iliana’s he quickly looked away.
Over the next few days at school Iliana kept a close watch on Chloe. She noticed how quickly Chloe’s moods changed from sweet and cheerful to rough and aggressive. Sometimes right in the middle of a conversation Chloe would snap however, does not recall having the conversation they have had. Iliana had also noticed Kazuki who always seemed to be lurking around in the near distance. His eyes followed Chloe’s every movement like a hawk to it’s prey. Iliana slowly saw less of her. Chloe missed the classes that they shared, hardly breathed a word to anyone even to the teachers and eventually Iliana went through a day without seeing her at all. Iliana knew Chloe had other friends but Chloe would always make a point of saying hello. One particular lunch break sitting under the tree where she met Chloe on the first day of school, two girls approached Iliana.
One had mousy brown hair that was swept back in a high ponytail. Her light brown eyes hid behind fashionable spectacles that was probably a brand name, Iliana thought. The other girl was a little taller with chestnut coloured hair gathered on one side and rested on her small shoulders. Her side parted long fringe revealed her big brown eyes and when she smiled, two dimples either side was revealed. The girl with the spectacles spoke first.
"Hello... umm my name is Claire Hunter and this is Victoria Walder." She introduced nodding towards the girl next to her who waved.
Iliana smiled at both of them. She had seen them with Chloe a few times around the school and both of them shared a few of Iliana’s classes, but never had the chance to introduce. They always seemed to be gossiping and giggling wherever they went.
"Pleasure to meet you both."
"Likewise." Claire responded smiling back then carried on. "We are Chloe’s friends and we are quite close, but lately we have noticed that she has been acting very strangely. I mean... she has been a little down and vacant for a while due to her parents personal problems, but these past few days have been worse."
Then Victoria added.
"She has not been talking to us and has been completely ignoring us. Every time we talk to her she just murmurs to herself... I am positively sure I heard her growl like a dog a couple of times, it was really weird."
Iliana listened to both girls intently.
"Chloe... in between her abnormal behaviour talked a lot about you and the times you have spent together, and we were wondering... and I know you have only just recently met her. But, do you know anything or have noticed anything different about her?" Claire asked.
Unable to tell them exactly what she had noticed especially on the first day of school, Iliana shook her head.
"Unfortunately I know nothing either, but I have also noticed her behaviour... Have you seen her today?"
"I saw her walking down the stairs towards the girl’s ground floor bathroom today. You know... The creepy bathroom near the music room that no-one hardly ever goes down because everyone thinks it is haunted, but actually it is not. It was just stupid rumours, the boys thought it was funny to broadcast a few years back." Victoria answered rolling her eyes before continuing. "Anyway, I was going to follow her but the Music teacher Mr. Gregory asked me to help him carry some instruments to his classroom, what a nuisance that was."
"I have not seen her since yesterday afternoon when I saw her walking away from Father Benjamin, the Religious Education teacher. I tried to follow her but she disappeared so quickly." Claire said.
"I will do everything I can to help and I will let you both know if I hear anything!" Iliana exclaimed just as the first bell rang for the end of lunch break.
"Thanks." Victoria and Claire chorused together.
&
nbsp; "You know... next time, if you want to, you can join us for lunch." Claire suggested, giving Iliana a smile.
Iliana beamed back.
"That is kind, thank you."
Iliana watched the two girls walk away not really knowing what to do first when she recognised three boys howling with laughter further up near the football ground.
Iliana picked up her leftover salad sandwich and made her way to the three boys.
"Hey!" She shouted.
The three boys all turned round then glanced nervously to one another as they realised it was Iliana approaching them.
"What do you want?" Asked the guy who still had so much hair gel pasted on his brown hair.
"Careful Oliver... you know who her Mother is." Warned the boy with short black spiky hair who too lavishly pasted hair gel to keep his spikes up.
"I know Jason, I found that out the other day!" Oliver snapped his dull brown eyes fixed on Iliana.
"Look!" Iliana started now thinking that having a Mother as a top lawyer had it’s benefits. "I just want to ask you guys a question. That day at Beach Cove... why were you bullying Chloe?"
Oliver snorted out with laughter and the other two boys joined in, leaving Iliana standing there with one eyebrow raised.
"Am I missing something here?... Please enlighten me."
"We were not bullying her." Oliver managed to say in between his sniggering.
"You were not?"
"No!" Replied the guy with the army shaven blond hair. "More like she was bullying us into giving her more drugs!"
Oliver punched him hard on his upper arm making him wince and grunt out with pain.
"Your not supposed to tell her that Martyn, you idiot!"
"Wait... drugs?" Iliana repeated and confused.
Oliver pressed his lips together, Martyn looked away stroking his sore arm and Jason scratched his forehead not knowing what else to do or say. Iliana put a hand on her hip looking like a headmistress scolding three naughty boys.
‘These guys are not as clever and tough as they look.’ She thought, before saying out loud...
"Look... I promise you I will not tell anyone even my Mother, who frankly has nothing to do with any of this. I am just worried about a friend... and if you know something then please tell me and to let you know I keep my promises."
After a few moments Oliver sighed heavily.
"Fine..." He said reluctantly. "She overheard us talking about a stash of drugs we bought. She begged us to give her some and even offered to pay two-thousand-pounds for it which was way more than double for what we paid. So obviously we accepted her offer."
"Then when we were at Beach Cove she begged for some more which we did not have because we gave her all of it." Jason added. "And that was when you came along."
Unable to let all that information sank in, Iliana then asked.
"Why?"
All three shrugged then thinking about it for a second, Oliver replied.
"I think I remember her muttering something like... she could not cope any longer."
Martyn nodded in agreement.
"Yeah... come to think of it, she also said that she hated her life."
Classes went past in a blur. Throughout the afternoon Iliana thought of what the boys told her. She tried to weigh everything together hoping to make sense to why someone so sweet and girly as Chloe would begin to take drugs. The thought of Chloe’s split personality change and Claire mentioning Chloe’s parents having personal problems popped into Iliana’s mind. There was only one conclusion that fitted with all the evidence... something Iliana had been trying to run away from.
Making her way to her locker after the last lesson Iliana’s mobile vibrated in her skirt pocket disrupting her in her deep thoughts. Mother’s picture flashed up on the screen.
"Hello Mother!" Iliana answered as she arrived at the door of her locker and leaned her back against it.
"Hello Iliana... how was school today?" Mother asked sounding more pleasant today than she had been since Iliana first moved here.
Mother did however apologise for being too sincere with her last night and explained that she only wanted to keep the family reputation clean.
"Same as always."
"Oh, I am sure it was more interesting than that. But anyway, I have an important meeting this afternoon and then dinner with my bosses clients. So I think I will be home quite late tonight, and I have asked Andrew to pick me up. You can finally walk home as you have wanted to since you arrived here." Mother informed Iliana then adding with a hint of sarcasm. "I do not understand why you like to walk everywhere."
"It keeps me fit, anyway... what about Father?" Iliana asked watching a crowd of people rushing up from the stairs further up ahead then passing her to exit the building.
"I just got off the phone with him before I called you, he said he has a lot of patients to tend to and he might also be home late. I feel so guilty for always coming home late and leaving you alone." Mother said with a tone of regret.
"It is okay, I do not mind... besides I am not alone... I have Yuki." Iliana reassured, her eyes fixed on the stairs where more huddles of students and teachers poured out.
"Okay then... well, I had better go. Oh, do not forget to pick Yuki up from Mrs. Croppe before ten, that lady likes to bed early."
"Okay, have fun tonight Mother."
"I will try."
As soon as Mother hung up Iliana slipped her mobile back into her skirt pocket.
"Excuse me!" She said to a tall fellow student who passed her carrying his guitar bag behind him along with his other companions.
The boy turned round, his blond curly hair bouncing behind his ears that revealed a row of small silver hoops pierced from the top tip of his ear to the bottom lobe.
"What is going on?" Iliana asked.
"The girls creepy bathroom on the ground floor is totally flooded, so everyone from the ground and first floor have been evacuated." He answered in a laid back voice.
"Oh thanks." Iliana said as the boy and his group walked away.
Remembering what Victoria had said about seeing Chloe going to the girls bathroom earlier Iliana made her way down the stairs. The first floor was so much quieter compared to the second floor she had just come down from. A ‘Do Not Enter’ sign barricaded the stairs going down the ground floor, which Iliana squeezed herself pass quite quickly when she heard a shuffling sound. She pressed herself against the wall of the stairs to hide as whoever it was ran up to the second floor. Iliana sighed, her heart racing with mixed emotions of nervousness and a bit of excitement. As she made it down the ground floor her feet stepped into an inch of water. The long corridor was flooded and instantly Iliana felt a cold shiver that ran down her spine. Then a ruffle of noises followed by men’s voices echoed from the very end of the corridor where Iliana headed towards, whilst trying to tread lightly so not to make too much splashing noises.
The door to the bathroom was ajar and as Iliana pressed her ear against the door she could hear a deep growling noise like a tiger who was ready to pounce it’s enemy, and a man’s voice that seemed to be muttering an incantation so quickly Iliana could not make out what he was trying to say. Even more intrigued Iliana slowly pushed the door praying it would not squeak as she opened it, just so she could slip her slim body inside... luckily it did not make a sound. But she did not expect to see what was coming.
***CHAPTER 2***
The large bathroom was dim with only a few long fluorescent bulbs flickering light, down to the ankle deep flooded floor and a chill in the room gave it an even more eerie atmosphere. In front of Iliana with their backs towards her were two broad shouldered men. Both stood in between the row of sinks which were all full to the brim with water on their left and the toilet cubicles on their right. Sitting on a wooden chair that looked a little misplaced in a girls bathroom was a girl, who wore the same uniform as Iliana but had a white cloth draped over her face. Thick ropes strapped round both of her wrists to the arms of the chair
and her waist was tied to the back of the chair. It sounded like the deep growling noises came from the girl but Iliana was uncertain. Without thinking Iliana spoke out quite loudly that it echoed round the room and the growling noises stopped, and so did the muttering of the incantation.
"What on earth is going on here?"
Startled, both men whipped round in unison and Iliana’s eyes widened. Standing there with his blazer still open and a long thin silver sword in one hand was Kazuki. Next to him was a priest in his late thirties dressed completely in black with the white collar. He had a stubbled beard and short light brown hair. He was a little shorter than Kazuki and Iliana was positively sure he was the Religious Education teacher. She had not yet a lesson with him but has heard a lot of gossip of his ways of teaching the religious matters from fellow students. He was holding an opened black book in one hand and quite a big silver cross in the other.
"What is she doing here?" Kazuki asked bluntly and rather coldly.
"I should ask you the same question." Iliana snapped back.
Kazuki glared at her and if looks could kill, Iliana would have died twice over. But his deathly glare seemed to also have a hint of shock and bewilderment to it. The priest frowned curiously at Iliana.
"You can see him?" He questioned in a gentle and calm voice.
Before Iliana could answer the obvious question the girl strapped to the chair started to screech loudly and the white cloth that had covered her face flew off.
"C-Chloe!" Iliana gasped, her hand over her mouth in complete shock.
Her face was almost unrecognizable. The only thing that probably resembled Chloe was her dark auburn shoulder length hair. Her face was white and gaunt. Her eyes were no longer light green but dark with black circles under them. She looked a lot worse than that time when Iliana saw her on her first day of school. Chloe’s whole body began to shake quite violently as she started screeching. The thick ropes around her snapped off like paper thin twigs and she suddenly threw her head back. Black thick smoke emerged from her eyes and mouth then floated up to the air and landed on the floor lightly, not even making a splash on the water. The smoke then materialised into two dark figures which looked like full grown gorillas but minus the fur. It’s arms were long with claws at the end of it’s fingers like a big cat. And as they growled it revealed it’s set of wolf like teeth. Their eyes were dark and fierce looking and their body was the colour of night. Kazuki launched himself towards them, his long thin sword wielded in his hand.
