Creature School

LOLA - Chapter 1

The tropical heat blares down on me through the glass panes of the school. Chairs are sticky from sweat as the students grip the rim as if it can protect them from what is going to happen. The sound of many fluttering hearts beat against my eardrums as well as my own, thudding against it’s cage. It is a pleasant day in florida; Trees abuzz with life, water gleaming turquoise under the searing sun. However, nothing can lighten our spirits at this hour. The defining hour. A raspy voice echoes through the speakers and we all wait in anticipation. 

‘Could all tenth graders report to the hall for their injections, please.’

I can feel my curly blonde hair, glued to my back. Is this really happening? I can’t do this.

The class suddenly stumbles out of their seats and makes their way down single-file to the hall. You’ll be okay, I mean if things go a little....unexpectedly, you won’t be the only one, right? I slip in to the line and pad my way on the silicon floor. I have always wondered how Kiki must have felt this day. I wish you were here Kiki. I need my older sister. 

‘I’m placin’ my bets on Jack, I mean c’mon you guys. Am I right?’ 

The cluster of well built boys jokingly pester each other, meanwhile with every step I take, the less I can remember giggling at my usual high-pitched and bubbly fashion. My white dress swishes behind me, patterns of flowers and greenery being displayed on every inch of it’s fabric. It’s kiki’s dress. She wore it for her trial day and so I am wearing it for mine, although specks of dark red at the collar has still not washed out since-

I inch my way through the creaking doors to be instantly hit with a smell of medicine and a janitor’s closet. Gross. I notice three vertical tables with straps at their sides. I take it that’s where our hands are going to go. 

Behind me I hear a small scream of sheer terror and nervousness. I swiftly turn around to face a petite ginger haired girl, shuddering out of her own skin. I stop walking towards what lies ahead and pull her aside gently.

‘You’ll be fine, okay? Look, each person is only in it for about two minutes. You can be right after me, Kirsty.’

I smile reassuringly and hug her trembling body softly, as if she was made of glass. She flashes a glance of gratitude and we proceed to the forming line in the middle of the gymnasium hall, where the nurses with their equipment and clipboards stand patiently waiting for each student in our year to arrive. We are of the age where this is law and the truth is to be shared with the world. No matter who you are and where you come from, every single student of our age around the globe is taking this test. That thought is kinda nice. I am not alone.

As the line starts to deplete, no-one yet has changed. For them this is just one injection that celebrates their very existence of being a human. They skip absently back to their classes despite the cold sweats sweeping the rest of the year like a wave. From where I stand, a large boy with shoulders thick as a brick wall blocks most of my view of the people getting onto the tables three at a time. I balance on the balls my feet and bite my lip when I see a boy cringe, a needle stabbing into his arm. As soon as it does he tries to lurch forward  in agony as his features shift and change before my eyes. If he wasn’t strapped to the table he would’ve clutched for his stomach and bits of irritated skin on his face and neck.

‘Jesus! What the-’ He yells out in a frenzy of sharp jitters. I can see small black talons protruding from his scratching fingertips and delicate horns twisting themselves out of his head. He is one of them. The Fire Drakes. He has stopped lurching forward and now just stares in pure astonishment and fear at what he has just discovered, along with the rest of the audience, the nurses included.