To The Stars And Back - Jack Dawson

Chapter 1 - Elizabeth and Luna

Rain poured out of the sky during Mrs. Dubois' french class. I raced two drops down the window as I waited for the one that I chose to get to the bottom first. French class was so exceedingly boring. I was already fluent so there was no need to pay attention. Plus the drugs always made it hard to focus.

Oh, I should probably explain the drugs. Everyone at Ms. DuPont's School For Peculiar Girls had 'special abilities'. That's the in-denial way of saying that we were magical or whatever. Everyone gets one pill after breakfast that will last them the next twenty four hours until they have to take another pill. The small white and black pills basically make it so that we can't use our powers.

I have to take a stronger dose than everyone else at the school. Something about how I'm too strong and if I use my powers than an evil demon who's doomed to haunt me forever is gonna come and steal my soul and blah blah blah. Anyway, my powers are basically, I can hold a personal belonging and when I focus, I can see someone's secrets or peer into their life. It's pretty cool. I just haven't done it since I first got stuck in this hellhole when I was eight. I'm eighteen now, almost nineteen, and they haven't let me go despite me being an adult.

Ms. DuPont would always say, 'Elizabeth, the outside world is corrupt and full of evil people that will use you for your abilities. You need to stay here, where it's safe.' Bite me.

"Elizabeth," Mrs. Dubois said. I jumped and sat forward, leaning in. "Could you conjugate the verb to fall in the preterite 'you' tense?"

"Uh, Tu tombes." I said. She seemed unhappy that I correctly answered the question.

"Correct..."

I smirked and leaned back, crossing my arms over my chest. I kept fake listening to the lesson until the door to the classroom opened. A small brunette with dark eyes and freckles walked into the room. She looked like trouble. I rolled my eyes as she made her way to the front of the class.

Her and Ms. Dubois had a brief conversation and all eyes were on the brunette. "Alright class. This is our new resident here, go ahead and introduce yourself." Mrs. DuPont said in her thick french accent. The girl stood up straighter, clearly loving the attention.

"I'm Luna Morris. I'm eighteen and I'm from New York." She said.

"We didn't ask for your life story, Miss Morris. Now go ahead and take a seat in the back. I believe there's an open seat next to Miss Finch." She said. Oh no, I was gonna have to sit next to the new girl. The last thing that I liked was being the center of attention. Everyone knew that I was cursed so they always asked questions when I preferred to be alone. I liked people, just not the girls here. Everyone was staring at me until Mrs. Dubois called for their attention.

Luna was silent until we were supposed to start on individual writing. Just conjugating different verbs on a sheet of paper. Small bits of undistinguishable chatter rang out here and there while I kept my eyes glued to my work.

"What's your name?" Luna asked.

"Elizabeth." If I really liked a person then I would let them call me Beth. But no one had earned that privilege since my mom died.

"Well it's nice to meet ya." She stuck out her hand but I kept my eyes glued to my paper. She quickly withdrew her hand. "Okay then." She looked at my funny for a second before her face morphed into an in awe expression. She kept leaning towards me, invading my personal space. I backed up and gave her a confused and judgmental look. "Your eyes are insane. Are they-"

"Yeah they're violet. I'm aware." I said, still leaning as far back from her as I could without falling off my chair.

She sat back in her chair and I returned to my normal position. Sitting leaned back in my chair, I brushed a strand of thick curly blond hair out of my face. "Everyone else in here says that you're cursed. Is that true?"

"Sadly yes." I said.

"Woah. What's the curse?"

"A demon is doomed to haunt me for the rest of...well...forever. So that's one of the reasons why I'm stuck here at age eighteen." I said.

"What's the other one?" She asked.

"The other what?"

"The other reason?"

"They won't let me leave." I said.

"Well why don't you just escape?"

"It's harder than it sounds. Not exactly excited to get tormented by a demon."

"Well no offense, but it's depressing here. I bet every single girl in here wants to leave." She stated. I scoffed.

"You'd be surprised. DuPont has them all under her thumb. None of them see what's wrong with this place." I said. "I probably shouldn't be telling you any of this."

"Why not?"

"You're a stranger, I don't talk to people, and this is how I personally feel. I'm not gonna ruin your experience at this shit show by telling you mine." I said. She frowned and we both went back to work.