Dying to Breathe

2.1: out of her depth (unedited)

A/N: Welcome back! This is such an underrated song. Makes me feel like the world is beautiful even in its sadness... That sadness is a type of beauty. Just thought it fit this chapter, so press that play button~

*I might also go back and add songs to previous chapters. I always listen to music while writing and I just believe it sets the mood. Ok, I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 2, Part 1: Out of Her Depth

Millie was an eccentric girl. As far back as Penelope remembered, Millie was there, standing in front of her, casting an entirely too big of a shadow to escape. She often wondered, had she been born first, would she be the one creating the inescapable shadow? Then she would look at her sister—the bright, energetic, charismatic, always sparkling girl—and realize it didn't matter who was born first. Millie was Millie. Penelope was Penelope. And Penelope was always destined to be in the shade because Millie was made for the sun.

It wasn't until the days after Millie disappeared that Penelope realized just how profound an impact Millie had on everyone. While she always believed Millie needed her, she had never imagined just how much she needed Millie. Without Millie, she felt incomplete—like her very substance had surrounded Millie, and without her, her very identity was made into something worthless.

Like the desperation of the dying, Penelope reached out and tried to grab something—anything—to fill the growing void inside of her. Her eyes opened as she awoke in a cold sweat; her hand reaching out into the empty space in front of her. She gasped, her heart pounding as her ears rung with the last words her sister said to her:

"Lighten up, L! It's just a stupid dare. I'll be back by morning."

Closing her eyes, she swallowed back the pain and the guilt. It was like years had passed instead of the short three months it had been. Taking a breath, she forced herself to recite the note Millie had left for her—all was not lost just yet.

It took Penelope an hour and a half to leave the dorm, her stomach in an array of butterflies as she pulled anxiously on the short, black, plaid skirt. While Nina and Haley had shown her briefly around after they walked back to the dorm that evening, it was nothing like it was at seven in the morning. Cars blared at her from every which way as people rushed past her without any mercy. The walking light blinked off too fast and the smell of the many opened cafés turned her stomach.

She mentally noted to go buy groceries for breakfast until she got used to the morning rush.  

The bus system was even worse.

On top of having to smell the awful stench of urine and smoke, she had gone back and forth three entire times until she finally found the correct bus—which, at the time, felt like a miracle she had long lost hope for. She lost her transfer card two times during the run around and spent about six dollars more than necessary and wasted two hours by the time she found herself at the large academy.

She was off to a great start: late by forty-five minutes for her first day.

However, even as the clock ticked audibly inside her head, every single moment of stress and anxiety became worthwhile as she stood awestruck at the entrance.

The academy was breathtaking.

Above her was a modern glass structure, surrounded by old stone. The history of the campus stood against time as she felt like she had traveled back to the era of English country estates. And yet, the mixture of old and new created something contemporary that could easily be worshiped at a modern museum. The glass walls of the entrance building produced an exposed, vulnerability that the old stonework could not.