The Academy of Darkness

Chapter 4 - Thoughts and Revelations

hey guys! sorry it took so long to upload this one, school work :/ and check out the music i posted with each chapter!! awesome as bands!

. Thoughts and Revelations

It was a Sunday morning. The clock read half past eleven. I proceeded down the stairs. After having a small breakfast of cereal and hot chocolate, I was headed out to one of my favourite spots in Rocky Shores. It was a place I went to just sit and think. I was headed to the beach cliffs around the great lighthouse. Claire had already left for work.

In many ways, living with my aunt was like having my own house. I liked it because then I didn't have to hide myself.

She deserves a much better, more loving niece than me... 

But then again it's for her own good, I have tp push everyone away - they can't get to close.

Rocky Shores was pretty neat for a town. It was along the shores of a beach yet near the fringe of the woods at the same time. You could look at one side and see an empty beach strewn with drift wood and rocks and then turn your head around and be staring into a forest of pines and oaks. The sky was usually always grey and there were animals in the woods, a little claustraphobic at times.

 It was small though - about an average of one thousand people. In the city-suburban place I had lived with my family, the amount of people at school were about Rocky Shore's entire population doubled - though it had been primary and secondary students. It was a big well known place. I had felt kind of left out coming to a small town like this where everyone knew everyone and had grown up together. Gossip got around pretty fast that Claire's orphaned niece was coming to live with her. Luckily for me I had found my best friend, Abbey, when we started high school. I had a few other friends - or acquaintances - whatever you wanted to call them, here and there, but usually Abbey and I just kept to ourselves. The dynamic duo.

I looked out at the great expanse before me. I watched as the thrashing grey waves crashed down onto the jagged rocks below, splashing sea spray high above the cliffs. The smell of salt water and ocean brine scented the air. The tides were in and the weather was menacing. A storm was brewing. I looked up at the gloomy sky, varying different shades of grey and wondered who could have possibly killed that poor girl and why. Where was the motive, the reason?  It began to drizzle lightly, so I held my head back and let the drops cleanse my face and hopefully my mind. Although it was only morning, it was now as dark as twilight. The wind sent a gusty breeze, chilling me to the core. I gazed down at the rocky ridges beneath me; it was easy to see where the town got its name.

The beach was quite a sight too. The twisted branches of dead bone white trees hung over the back of me. Drift wood was scattered along the shore; a guaranteed spot for everyone. The lighthouse was overlooking the sea on the highest cliff. I sat down on the sandy grass, letting my mind wander.

I then swore I could hear a soft voice in the breeze, like an echo. It was a girl's voice. She whispered "Be careful, there are more to come, save them or be next... watch out for the ravens... watch your step." it was so eerily real and not a figment of my imagination that I almost got up and ran. Without a doubt I knew it was her that was speaking to me. Ravens, what did she mean? But the spooky and weird were nothing new to me, so I held my stance. They say that victims of a sudden, traumatic death - like murder - leave some sort of life force behind, some electrical energy, from shock. Freaky stuff.

I've only ever had a dead person speak to me once before. It had been my own grandma, when I had visited her grave on our freakishly shared birthdays. We wished her well and were headed for the car but then from behind me I could feel a nice warm presence, and the smell of her honeysuckle perfume that she'd always worn. I turned around but no one was there. When I turned back to the car she had whispered 'And happy birthday to you as well my love.' I thought I'd imagined it at first... but then I just... knew.

I was startled out of my reverie by a loud shrieking noise from behind me. I stood up swiftly and turned around, suppressing a scream though a squeak escaped. I looked everywhere but there was nothing to be seen. The shriek was neither human nor animal. It was the cawing of a bird.

Glancing back at the ocean I could 'feel' the presence around me. I turned sharply and there saw a black raven mocker perched up upon a branch. The raven sat up high, looking down on me with beady black eyes of curiosity. The bird looked more demon than beast. "Go away just leave me alone!" I shouted, shoeing the bird away. It took flight. I turned back around and sat, stilled by fear.

"CAW!!!!" shrieked the raven as loud as he dared. I screamed and jumped up just as the bird swooped over my head and ascended into the skies. Before it left view, it crooked its head backwards cawing and revealing a red glint in its eye. Maybe it was just the light or my imagination but I was sure of what I'd seen. Was that just a bird or was it the raven? The raven from that confusing vision I'd had over a year ago. Could it have been the same ravens that the girl had whispered to me about? Were they ravens at all? As if to answer that question the stench of rotting flesh entered my nose. Ugh! Something was unfolding here, and the vision I'd had once upon a time was the missing link. I had to run. 

 Breathing heavily and barely containing wrenching sobs, I turned in a full spin yelling "What do you want from me!?" up at the sky. Feelings took over, no longer able to enclose them, a hulking sob shook me and I crumpled to the ground. It had all happened so fast! The misery, the confusion and the fear burst out. I began to weep, softer as the time past. Kneeling on the hard ground I let my tears run freely, blurring all sight. The vast sea in view made my tears seem so small. I cried for my family. I cried for myself. I cried for some normalcy. I cried for the girl who had died. I cried for justice and reason. I cried for Harley, longing his arms to encircle me once again. Black tears streaked my face. I took hold of myself. I hadn't had a break down in ages so something was sure to set me off. I had too much to worry about on my plate. I was over the pain.

I rose to my feet and began to run. I ran, running to escape the incident, running with not a clue of where I was going - where I was headed. The wind began to wane against my damp face, cooling me. I stopped once I reached the edge of the forest. I had no intention of running into there and reliving my old vision which I still remembered with perfect clarity. With nowhere else to go but home, I headed off with contempt, back to the house I had now been made to call home for the past six years, back to reality. So I trudged home, distraught and unnerved.