Pearl Academy I The Emergence

Chapter 4

It was then that I knew that it had found us.

I clutch onto my friend's arm, pulling him back. "We're too late." I cry out. My eyes scour our surroundings. "It's too late." I feel their arms embrace me from behind as we back away from the impending darkness. "No! It's not too late. We're succeeding this time." I hear the desperation in their voice. It breaks my heart. Truly, it does.

I hear the faint sound of something moving in the distance. The allure of the darkness hits me with a force so strong that my knees nearly buckle. "Come closer, my selenophile." The voice is a melody to my ears. I feel myself walking forward against my will. If it weren't for the hold my friend had on me, I would've been swallowed whole by it. "Yes...come to the shadows." I don't want to. I know I can't go in. But I have no control over my body. "Hey!" My friend shakes me. "Don't listen to it. Don't give in!" I can't stop myself from moving closer to the soothing voice. "We've already lost, Tian. It's up to the other one now." I lost all hope, and that's all it needed to expel my friend away from me.

"Give in," the voice sings, "come with me." A tear rolls down my face as I catch a glimpse of the wildebeest inside the darkness. It sneers at me and pounces. "No!" I scream as darkness consumes me entirely.

*****

I scream into my pillow and wake up with my heart in my throat. Every inch of my skin is covered in a cold sweat. My hands and legs shake uncontrollably, briefly locking up and then going back to seizing like crazy.

My dreams have become more vivid with each night that passes. It's been like this for a week now. I keep dreaming the same thing over and over again, but the ending has never been the same. I don't understand it; although, I doubt I ever will. I roll onto my back and check on the munchkins. Makayla and Allison are huddled together right beside me while the boys are piled on top of each other at the foot of the bed.

I thought I told them to specifically sleep on the floor mattress. There's barely any room for the three of us girls here. They've insisted on sleeping in my room since I told them about my decision to attend Pearl Academy. They all devised a plan to sneak in while I went to sleep every single night. Even if I locked my door, they somehow would somehow get in. I didn't mind. I did the same thing when they first integrated into the group home.

Unfortunately for me, I won't have their support after tonight. I roll off my bed and head to my bathroom. The dream had wrecked my feelings. It drained them completely. I go straight to my bathroom sink and turn on the cold water. Underneath it all, I know my dreams are psychosomatic. Dr. Cale said that they carry the answer that I've been trying to find for years. When I was little, I had trouble distinguishing dreams from reality. Dr. Cale had to teach me how to separate the two. She would ask me questions about how I looked in my dreams or what details stuck out to me the most.

Like, in my dreams I always felt sluggish and weird as if...

My eyebrows scrunch as it slowly dawns on me. I count the fingers of each hand and feel the cold surface of the sink.

As if everything was either too dark or too bright. The details are either too in tune or too blurred. There is never an in-between. A darkness flits over my mirror that makes me tense. My bathroom, even with my light on, is too dark. And, even though I know that this is my bathroom, the edges of my vision have clouded over.

This isn't real.

I hesitantly look up at my own reflection. My unruly hair is lazily bunched up into a bun with a few stragglers framing my sweaty face. I tuck a few of them behind my ears but my reflection doesn't mimic my movements. It stays still. And I freeze, holding my breath.

I wave my hand back and forth but to no avail. My hands drop to my side and my breathing becomes shallow. A cold breeze rises the hairs on the base of my neck. I don't shiver, or gasp, or do anything at all. I am completely paralyzed by fear. "This isn't real..." I whisper to myself, "It isn't real." My reflection slowly tilts her head and smirks. I close my eyes tightly and repeatedly say the same words over and over again. This isn't real, this isn't real.

When I open my eyes, I wake up with a ray of new morning light sneaking through the cracks of my curtains. The warmth anchors me to my bed, anchors me to my reality. Now this is real. This is definitely real.

*****

"Okay, okay! Text me when you cross the state line," Karen fusses over me, straightening every fold that she finds. "And when you arrive at the school. And call us when you settle at your dorm, okay? I'll be waiting."

"We'll be waiting." Makayla corrects her. Ryan and the little ones nod in agreement. "I promise I'll keep you guys updated, alright? But you'll have to do the same." Suddenly, the reality of this hits us all at once. I'm leaving and I won't be back for almost four months. I can see in their eyes how much they don't want me to go. All I could do is give them all a tight hug. "Be nice to Karen. Don't fight too much and definitely do not go in my room. I'll know if you did." Tiny arms wrap around my waist, hugging me as tightly as I am hugging them.

I hold back my tears as I pull away. If the sight of the munchkins didn't push me over the edge, the sight of Karen holding herself would've. I wrap my arms around her neck, pulling her close. "I'll be okay, Karen." I whisper in her ear. "Everything will be okay." I feel her nod against my shoulder. As I pull away from her, a gray car pulls up to our house. I eye it warily as the driver parks in our driveway behind Karen's minivan. My bags are already on the porch, and anything that I decided to take with me is in my backpack that's slung over my shoulder. "These people are right on time," Karen side-eyed them, "I would've liked some extra minutes with all of us together."

A woman steps out of the car and meets us on our porch. "Kelly Foster?" I don't know why she asked. I'm the only one that is equipped to leave. "I'm Miss Goudman. I was sent by the headmistress. Will this be all that you're taking with you?"

"Yes," Karen answers for me. "Come one, guys. Help Kelly take her luggage to the car."

She shoos us down the steps, practically shoving my bags into our hands. "She seems nice," Allison says in a quiet voice. "Do you think she'll be one of your teachers?"

Ryan opens the trunk with one hand. "Did you notice how she didn't even say 'good morning'? That's not nice, Allison." We haul the suitcases inside the trunk. Allison pouts at Ryan's reproach. "She is too! She made it all the way here, didn't she? Is that not nice?"

"Can we please not start? I haven't even left yet!" I shut the trunk with a slam. Karen and Goudman's are suddenly right next to me. I didn't even notice when they walked over. "Are you ready, honey?" I nod my head, eyeing both of them curiously. "Remember what I told you, okay? And please, don't cause any problems, okay?" Karen reminds me with a hard look in her eyes. As if that ever stopped me before.