Same Band... New School... New Species?!

Same Band...New School...New Species?! - 16

"Crystal?" a voice was calling me from far away.

"Is she going to be okay?"

"I don't know..."

"Can you get the collar off?"

"No, it won't budge."

"We have to get it off before she wakes up."

"I think she just twitched..."

I opened my eyes to a dark room. The first thing I was aware off, some something around my waist. My hand came up and I felt a thin band of something stiff around my hips. There was something cold in the middle, just below my bellybutton.

"Crystal?" someone grabbed my hand that was touching my hips and held it in their hand.

"Yeah?" I tried to focus on who it was. I saw dark hair... but it took a long moment for me to realize that it was Isabelle.

"Are you alright?" she asked, her voice strained, like she was really worried.

"I'm fine," I took a deep breath and tried to sit up.

"No Crystal," Isabelle pushed me back until I was laying down again. "You need rest."

"Where am I?" I murmured, looking around. I didn't recognize the room. It was plain, with only the couch I was laying on in the middle, a desk near the couch, a bed and closet in one corner, a door in another and finally a TV in front of the couch.

"The holding room," she said quietly. "This is the place where we are taken when we first find out about the dorms."

"Did you just find out?"

"No," she smiled sadly. "I'm here visiting you."

"What do you mean?" I demanded.

"You're... well you're in house arrest."

"What?!" I jumped to my feet and ran to the door.

"Crystal!"

I grabbed the handle and turned, but it caught. Locked. Panic flared in me. I couldn't get out. They weren't going to let me out of here. I was never going to see my brothers again. I grabbed the handle and threw my weight against the door. Again, and again, and one more time. Nothing. I sunk to the floor, hand still on the handle.

"Crystal?" Isabelle walked up to me and knelt beside me.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry."

"Why?" I looked up at her from where I sat. "You didn't put me in here."

"No..." she put a hand on my shoulder. "But there's nothing I can do to help."

"I know," I let go of the handle. "Did they put you in here to comfort me?"

"Yes, I think so," she smiled sympathetically.

"Isabelle," a voice came out of a speaker in the ceiling. "Thank you for helping Crystal, however it is time for dinner. Crystal please go to the other side of the room so Isabelle may leave."

"Are you mental?!" I laughed harshly. "I'm not leaving this door."

"Then Isabelle and yourself will both go hungry."

I looked at Isabelle and she just shrugged, like it didn't matter either way. I glared up at the ceiling, then turned around and walked stiffly to the other side of the room. The door clicked open and I had to clench my fists to stop myself from running towards that door.

"See you later Crystal," she smiled sadly and walked through the door.

For some reason I expected some sort of evil cloaked figure to pull the door shut from the other side. The only thing on the other side was hallway, ordinary school hallway. I was just in a room off the main hall... not hidden away in some secret place. I could get out. There was a way.

Then Don rounded the corner with a tray of food and closed the door behind himself. I don't know why I felt so betrayed at that. I thought that Don was on my side, he helped me so much during my time here...

"Hi Crystal," he set the tray down on the desk and walked towards me.

"So now you're helping the headmaster?" I crossed my arms.

"I don't have a choice Crystal," he sighed. "I'm the head of the Crimson Dorm, I answer to the headmaster."

"Of course." I pushed past him towards the desk and the food. If it was dinner time for Isabelle now, then I'd been asleep all day.

Wait. I froze in my tracks. The reason I was asleep for so long came rushing back to me. My hand flew up to my neck. There were two small bumps on my throat, a good two inches from each other. That vampire... from the crimson dorm, the one that took me away from my brothers.

"Do you know who it was?" I asked quietly, knowing Don would know what I was on about.

"Yes."

"Are you going to tell me?"

"He was one of my prefects, from the Crimson dorm, a serious loyal follower of the headmaster," Don walked around to the desk too, looking me in the eye. "I'm sorry that you have to go through this."

"How long are they going to leave me in here?" I asked, hoping he had the answer.

"Not long," he looked away from my eyes.

"What?" I demanded.

He reached forward to my waist. I looked down and saw the belt. That must have been the thing I felt when I woke up... I hadn't thought about it since then. I was wearing a pair of low rise blue sweatpants that came up on my hips and a white t-shirt that ended above my bellybutton. Just above my hips, was a leather belt, with a metal loop beside a strange metal disk in the middle.

"What the hell is this?" I demanded, looking for the buckle. There was none. It wouldn't come off...

"It's a shock belt Crystal," he told me gently. "You can't leave school grounds without it activating."

My insides when cold.

"What's the loop for?" I murmured, but I think I already knew.

"A leash."

"Go away." I walked around to the couch and sat down, shaking. I was never getting out of here...

"Crystal-"

"Get out!" I screamed. I couldn't take it. I was away from my family, locked in the second worst place I'd been in my life and I was wearing a collar. I was never getting out.

I heard the door open and click closed. I fell to onto my side on the couch, curled into a ball and just cried.