A Part of Your World

Vamma's POV

I suppose this would be an ordinary day for any human teenager, except that I'm not human. If it weren't for Nathan, I would never set foot in a school ever again. I don't even know why he was so insistent despite knowing my negative memories associated with it.

All around me the class bustled with life and noise. Everyone seemed ... excited? I squinted my eyes to get a better look at their faces, excitement was indeed the most appropriate emotion to describe them, but as Nathan kept reminding me, it was never that simple.

I couldn't quite make out why they shrieked while talking either. From what I observed humans shrieked when scared or in pain. Maybe human school wasn't that different from mine after all.

As more than one group realized I was hunched over in my seat and staring at them, I started to look around the classroom. It wasn't as big as the rooms in Nathan's house, but it was spacey enough regardless. Walls were painted in a shade of blue that reminded me of the morning sky, and the desks were made out of light-coloured wood. I saw the material humans called "the blackboard", why they called something dark green black was beyond my comprehension.

With a "thud" the doors swung open to reveal our teacher. He was a middle-aged man with a balding head and a hairy moustache. His glasses sat on the edge of his nose like they would fall down any second. In one hand, he tried to balance five books, and in the other hand, he had some equipment that I assumed was for the lesson. He stopped in front of the blackboard after putting the books on his desk to write the lesson's name: Mathematics. Lesson names didn't interest me, the actual lesson even less, so instead, I started to inspect the schoolyard out of the window. Barely a few minutes have passed, but I could feel my mind delving into the memories I've tried so hard to suppress as I nodded off to sleep.

***

The loud crack of a whip woke me up. I banged the back of my head to the wall by accident and could feel the blood oozing out of my new wound before it began to heal itself.

"You've cried, said the hoarse voice that carried the whip. You know what it means when you cry, right?"

My mouth thinned in a grim line as I could feel blood withdrawing from my face. I raised my trembling hands to touch my face. Under all that dirt, I could feel the path my tears left. I knew what it meant; I knew all too well what sort of horrible pain it would bring. My heart began to pound loudly as if to threaten me that it could increase my punishment. I shouldn't have been feeling anything, yet fear had consumed every fibre of my body. The guard picked me up from my hair with one hand to drag me to my new cell. At that moment, out of sheer luck or by fate I resisted. I wasn't born with a Magic Core that held a special power, so what? I used the little elemental bond I had with plants to smack his arm. That's all it took; the guard was too shocked to move as I ran away from his gaping mouth and the prison I spent my whole life in.

I quickly made it to the border that separated our world from the prying eyes of humans. The handcuffs got heavier by the moment, the same went for my eyelids. With the last ounce of strength I had in my Core I lowered the barrier just enough for me to fit in. The alarms blared behind me as I hopped off the fence and ran without ever looking back.

Hours passed, maybe days until I found a house. I knew sooner or later someone would come looking for me. I couldn't risk innocent humans who stood no chance against even the weakest of our kind, but I had no choice. I pounded on the door in hopes of someone hearing me until the door opened to reveal the person that taught me everything about this world: Nathan.

***

"...essa! Vanessa!"

Still shaken by the nightmare, it took me several seconds to realize the class had been dismissed, and one of the girls I saw this morning was addressing me by my fake name.

She had short ginger hair with blue eyes and freckles to complement her lively complexion that I thought looked quite different from me. Behind her was another girl. She immediately caught my eye because of how much she looked like Nathan with her grey ponytail that gave a bluish hue. Even her eyes reminded me of him except that hers were considerably more strikingly blue than his. On the other side stood a boy with features that are ordinary for most humans: Brown hair and brown eyes. Compared to the girls who were basically sparkling with what I now knew was excitement, he seemed ... reserved. I must have been silent for a long time when the ginger girl stuck her hand out and introduced herself.

"Nice to meet you, Vanessa! Name's Bon-Bon. These two idiots are Daniel and Sally. We're ditching school, wanna come?"

Idiots?