Tʜᴇ ልςαdεmψ

The Place of Screams

Several days, possibly weeks had passed since Liam figured out his feelings for his best friend. He was on the shore of the disgusting beach with his and May's tent mate, Jules Ramos, setting up fish traps. Well, not so much Liam, mostly Jules.

"If you'd actually do something then this would go a lot faster, you know.", she said with annoyance laced into her voice.

"Sorry," he said. "Just a space case today I suppose.", he added.

"It's fine."

Jules was always one of the more attractive girls out of the fourteen-year-olds. Long, curly hair and freckles spotted across her tan cheeks seemed to always attract everyone. Or maybe it was the hazel eyes. But whatever it was, Liam didn't see it. His eyes were for May Volkov.

After what could've been an hour of silence and waves crashing against the slate rocks, Jules spoke up.

"Which tent do you think will go to The Academy tonight?", she asked in attempt to make conversation. Jules never asked those boring, thoughtless, old lady questions. She was clearly desperate for conversation to spark, possibly ignite into a fire.

"I hope our tent goes. It's about time. We've been doing this since we were eleven." Liam said in a monotone voice.  Monotone and bored sounded wrong in his voice, considering their voice was typically enthusiastic and cheerful. Not pitiful and bored.

"We're about to turn fifteen anyways. They have to let us go before that.", she mocked his monotone voice, deepening her own and making it thicker.

Liam rolled his eyes at her mocking skills.

"You're right.", he said in an annoyingly high-pitched voice to throw the poor mocking skills back in her direction.

Jules mirrored the reaction Liam had to her mocking him by rolling her hazel irises.

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Hours felt like days while setting up those fish traps. But luckily, those hours finally lead up to dinner. Everyone scarfed the raw fish and stale bread down before they could swallow their last bite. Hunger still in the children's stomachs once the flimsy paper plates were licked clean.

The announcement of which tent goes to The Academy was creating a tense feeling in the scorching, humid air. It comes every night after dinner, one tent that has 'proved themselves' get to go to the glorified school. Everyone was eagerly listening for the beloved announcement.

Joshua finally stepped up to announce. Here it comes. It has to be Tent 8. It has to be. They had worked endless days since they were eleven.

"Congratulations, Tent 8. You're going to The Academy.", Joshua said, almost matching the monotone voice Liam had on only hours before.

May smiled widely, brightly. Jules made an indecipherable noise out of excitement. Liam felt butterflies fill his stomach the the brim as he smiled along with May.

The trio was dismissed to collect their things and get on the train to The Academy. They excitedly chattered about what they hoped to achieve while the train got closer to their destination. Night softly blanketed the sky by the time they had arrived.

As the trio of Tent 8 stood patiently in the office, the excitement in their stomachs making up for the hunger,, they could hear the headmaster shuffling through thick, crinkled papers behind a cherry-wood door. After a minute, he entered, announcing his presence with heavy footsteps.

He didn't have much of an appearance. He wore a dark cloak that blended seamlessly with the night, a old, bald head, and paper-white skin.

"Hello. Welcome to The Academy. I am your headmaster, you will just call me Headmaster. Nothing different. Here are your schedules.", he said as he handed each child a school schedule.

"How did you know which one of us was which?", Jules asked curiously as she observed that her friends received the correct schedules along with herself.

Headmaster merely smiled. He quickly allowed rhe smile to melt off of his face, as he went over the rules to The Academy. Basic school rules. Breaking of the rules will result in punishment. They were handed green blazers with the school crest of an eagle binded by a circle on the left side of the chest in black threading, the girls were given a matching green skirt with a black stripe at the bottom, Liam was given matching green trousers, and they were all given a white dress shirt and a black tie.

Before they were sent to their immaculate dorms, they heard a scream of a young woman come from Headmaster's closet. The dull screech made Liam's stomach leap and he could've sworn that he saw May's eyes bludge out of her head. It was a Place of Screams.

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Hello loves! I hope you're enjoying my story! If you have any requests for a specific event to take place later in the story then I will take the request into consideration because I don't have the entire end planned out. It isn't guaranteed that it will be used, but highly likely since I'm not popular on this platform and won't get many requests. I hope to see you in my next chapter as we walk through Liam, May, and Jules's adventures together! Happy reading~!

•- averslxo

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