Toppled Over!

Part 1- Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Jamie

This semester was a pain, all we did was study, more study and only study. Tomorrow was the last examination and I was eager to get it over with. Carl had been studying continuously for the past month without any distraction, he'd hardly spoken to me and I would be the one blabbering on and on. I wasn't even sure if he was listening or not but I still continued chattering. He'd stopped hanging out with me lately, I guess he felt pestered. Today was the one day he agreed to accompany me to check the house we'd be staying in during the trip.

The trip was something I'd planned out, it is a mini vacation Carl and I decided to go to after this semester. Convincing my mom wasn't an easy job, but Carl's presence reassured her that I wouldn't do anything that'll kill me on the trip.

Carl told me that he didn't want to live in a lavish hotel or anything of that sort, something simple and enjoyable was his taste, I agreed and starting looking up places to stay. A random email had popped up and vanished as soon as we clicked the link. Coincidently, the email had images of a house and the address too. We decided to check it out as it was an ancient house where tourists could stay.

We were at the location, "The Toppled Tower". I needed to see this place to have my questions answered as when I had seen the name and the description on the site, it didn't look toppled or like a tower. It was a normal house, moss growing on the walls and it looked messy yet exotic for some reason. We were just attracted to the house. Carl who usually didn't like messy places had too agreed to stay here. We wanted a simple yet adventurous get away, although Carl clearly told that he'd just stay indoors. We couldn't see the inside of the house as it was locked, we peeped through the windows, but it was all dark. I felt a sudden shock when I touched the gates, I was probably too excited thinking about the trip. I got into the car while Carl was still standing and looking through the windows as if he could see indoors. I called, "Carl!", he didn't move. I called again and this time accompanying it with the horns. He finally shook and turned to me. He walked towards the car, almost wavering with the wind. We'd been planning for the trip ever since our exams started (I'd rather say I had been thinking about it and not Carl). This trip was much awaited as studying for exams constantly had got me near crazy!

The next day at college, I was more excited than nervous even though I wasn't prepared for the exam. The entire college too was happy and tensed at the same time (but more of happy). Everyone was relieved that it was the last exam however, we had to pass in this last exam to graduate, this subject was taken lightly all the time but I always ended up getting low grades no matter how prepared I was. This frightening subject is "English Language". As soon as I reached school, I felt relieved as I saw Carl sitting on a bench, he waved as soon as he saw me and I went and sat beside him. I didn't want him to distance me again so I kept my mouth shut. Carl and I wished each other good luck and made plans to meet after exams. The exam hall was quiet and I took my seat, and the paper was handed to me. The teacher gave me a glare and told us to begin. The first question was, "Days are numbered, Life is short....", we had to write a composition on the topic. Hardly had I even started the paper than I already got stuck. I somehow completed the paper, and went out to meet Carl.

He too seemed disturbed, I asked him what was wrong as he was usually never sad after an exam. He just turned it down and we started walking to my house. At home, mom asked me how my paper was and I gave my classic reply, "It was ok, but the result is unpredictable", she glared at me but let go as usual. I started packing my stuff, and Carl started telling me about his plans for the trip. We were both excited whereas Mom was skeptical about sending me but thankfully agreed in the end. I started packing some clothes for Carl as well as he didn't have many clothes. He was an orphan and lived in a PG, he didn't like speaking about his parents and I didn't want to ask and trouble him. Carl and I were more like brothers than friends.