―one. old friends

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β—€Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β Β  β—₯
π†πŽπŽπƒππ˜π„, 𝐃𝐀𝐃

𝐈 π–πŽπ'𝐓 πŒπˆπ’π’ π˜πŽπ”
β—£Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β  Β Β  β—’

MY NAME'S JODI TIFFANY, AT LEAST, THAT'S WHAT I TOLD THEM. The three of us sat in a cinnamon-scented room, the windows supplying small gusts of wind, the noise of the filter from the empty fish tank was the only thing filling the silence. It distracted me for a moment, allowing me to wonder about the occupier of said fish tank. What kind of fish was it? The safest guess was a simple goldfish, but one glance at the woman and I knew that she was anything but simple, so why would her pets be?

No, I think it would have been a fighter fish, one of those tropical little creatures. The ones that look elegant and mythical, but actually kill whole schools of fish in favour of not having to share space. With one more glance at the woman and I knew, that was definitely the kind of fish she had.

I looked the woman up and down subtly, half of her was hidden behind her pristine desk, the other half of her would haunt my dreams. She was scarily pale, her eyes hollow and dark, as if she was an inch from death. She wore a green dress, one that looked like she had walked right out of the 1900's. She had half-mooned glasses that sat on the edge of her crooked nose. In fact, they were so low down her face that I don't even think she was using them. Maybe it was a fashion thing. But I seriously doubted that this woman knew what such a thing was.

Upon first seeing her, and I would never say this out loud to her face, but I thought she was a monster.

And the guy on my right? Well, he was my, uh, 'dad', so to speak. He was a tall lanky dude, a little shorter than six foot. He had brown hair that was lathered in gel, his face narrow and his brown eyes framed by square glasses. He wore, what was apparently, his best suit which was really just a button-up shirt, grey pants and a cream cardigan as well as a tie that was beyond painful to look at.

I guess you could say I was the best looking one in the room.

But then again, that was usually the case.

The woman, Mrs. Carr, (for some reason I highly doubted she was married), cleared her throat and I sat up a little straighter. ''Well, Mr. Tiffany, it certainly looks like your daughter is in need of extreme help.'' I tried my best not to look offended. ''You are aware that whilst she attends this school, no communication is to be allowed?''

'Dad' gulped, glancing at me nervously, gently pulling his collar away from his neck with a finger. ''Oh, well, why?'' I cursed internally, he could have at least made it seem like he cared.

''It is our way of work, Sir. Whilst your daughter attends this school, she can afford no distractions such as letters from home or anything of the sort. Our psychological doctors have found it's extremely effective.''

''Understandable. Uh, when will this all begin?''

''It's effective immediately. I'll give you five minutes to say your goodbyes.'' She stood and walked out of the room, I was slightly worried that she was going to fall over, as if her frail bones couldn't handle their own weight. But she had been rude to me, so I stopped worrying after a second and started hoping. Sadly, it didn't happen and the door swung shut behind her.

I stood, my father doing the same and I turned to face him. I opened my arms for an embrace and he awkwardly shuffled forward until our arms were around each other.

You know, if you had asked me at the beginning of the week how it was going to go, I wouldn't have expected myself to fall back into the grasps of a world I wanted nothing to do with and I definitely wouldn't have said that hugging a random stranger I had dragged off the street was in my future.

Subtly, I slipped my hand into his coat pocket. ''The hard-drive's in your pocket, it's the only copy.''

''And the money?''

''Your other pocket,'' I pulled away, winking as I crossed my arms across my chest. ''Goodbye, dad. I won't miss you.''

Pretending, rather badly might I add, to be upset, he nodded solemnly and began to walk out of the room, his feet dragging behind him. Through the window, I glanced up at the gathering clouds. This quest better be worth it. The woman re-entered the room, eyeing me from the corner of her eye as 'dad' left the room, sending one last glance at me before shaking his head and continuing his walk. It was the most believable thing he had done so far. That man, whatever his name was, was a bad actor.

''Right this way, Ms. Tiffany.'' It was the first time she had addressed me and her voice had such a commanding tone, that I did as told without question.

Mrs. Carr lead me through a maze of halls, explaining and pointing in different directions as to where I could find anything. She then explained the trip that would be taking place at the end of this week ― that got my attention. That was what had drew me here.

It was Saturday too, which meant the trip would be tomorrow. I had just made it in time.

''And this, is the dinner hall.''

Swinging a large set of double-doors open, the lady revealed a large hall with four long tables. But there was only around twenty or so students here. This was the whole school? Wow, no wonder it was so easy to get in, they were in a severe shortage of the most important ingredient to make a school.

''Ladies and gents, this is our new student. Treat her well.'' There was a pause as the students and I seized each other up, having staring contests with each other to see who was tougher and whether or not I was easy prey for their games of bullying. Most of them turned their heads the second we made eye-contact.

The woman turned around, preparing to leave. She placed her hand on my shoulder and it took everything in me not to flinch or instinctively judo flip her.

''Welcome to the Wilderness School,'' her thin lips curled up into a cruel sneer. ''Where the kids are the animals.''

Rolling my eyes, I brushed her hand off of my shoulder as if it was nothing more than a spec of dust, stuffed my hand in my pockets and waltzed forward as if I already owned the place. The only time my, so far, brilliant performance, came to a halt was when I locked eyes with one of the teachers.

I froze momentarily, gulping as I felt his eyes stare accusingly into my soul.

For fuck's sake. It just had to be him, didn't it?

Gleeson Hedge, my old protector.


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