Where Smoke and Light Collide - ONC 2022

Farewell

The solitary room was a musty space the size of a closet. It had a small window at the very top where even the scant light gave up before it reached the floor. A single cot fitted inside and in another corner a bucket for the waste. The door only swung open to provide food twice a day.

Kieran spent two weeks confined in solitary, the same two weeks it took for Cristoff's face to stop looking like an oversized pear. And during that time, Anya would find a way to sneak up to the attic. She'd lean her face on the dusty floor and talk to him through the crack under the door, about Letti and Calek, about missing him.

He never responded.

When Kieran was let out, she noticed he'd gone a shade paler and his dark hair had grown to cover his eyes. He wore it like a mask and walked with his head down avoiding anyone who'd approach him, not Letti, not Calek, and not even Anya.

"He's so different." Letti once said.

"Why do you think he changed?" Calek had asked.

Both had met the friendlier version of Kieran—the Kieran who came out of his shadows—but Anya knew better, he hadn't changed, he was back to being the lonely boy, the shadow boy, the one who was happier being alone.

It hurt Anya, deeper than she ever thought it would. His cold demeanor froze her, she felt it deep into her bones, like she would never be warm again, never be whole again. She took a step back to her old self too, back to sleepless nights, and this time, not the moon or the stars could give her comfort. She'd sit by the window and stare at the shadows, the empty shadows, and she'd wonder, how could someone lose another in a blink of an eye?

And then it came...a summons for every child to the headmistress's office. They lined them from youngest to eldest and the line went from the office door, all through the hall and down the staircase. Anya saw Letti and Calek somewhere along the middle of the line, she stood near the end with some of the oldest kids, including Cristoff. She'd constantly peek over her shoulder in case Kieran came along.

"Looking for your boyfriend?" Cristoff asked with a smirk. His cheeks were still puffy and when he smiled he looked like a chipmunk.

Anya peered at him through squinted eyes. "You're face still looks crooked, want me to even it out for you?"

He paled and pressed his lips together.

One by one the children entered the office, and one by one they came out only after a minute or so. The aids were sending them off through the opposite staircase so nobody got a chance to ask what went on inside the office. Along the lines, Anya heard someone say they were being tested.

A test? How big of a test could it be if it was done in less than a minute.

When Anya's turn came, the office door opened and the girl stepped out. She regarded Anya wordlessly with a baffled expression on her face. Anya stared after the girl as if pleading for an explanation, but the door shut without ever getting one. She turned her attention to the people seated before her.

The headmistress, as always, sat behind her desk, it was the couple at the visitor chairs who stopped Anya in her tracks. She gaped at the woman dressed in pink silk, the color of the dress as light as the blush on someone's face, embroidered in blue flowers and gold leaves. Her warm honey hair was adorned in curls and held together with bejeweled golden pins. And Anya had never seen such vibrant blue like the jacket the man wore or a walking cane as elegant as the golden one lying on his lap.

"Anya, this is Lord De Vous and his wife the Lady De Vous." The headmistress's tone was flat but her eyes bore into Anya expectantly. "How do we greet visitors, Anya?"