Gilded Cage

Chapter Two

The forest was silent. I could hear nothing but the sound of my boots stepping over dead grass and branches. It smelled of rain and wood, the trees already bare, and the animals that inhabited the territory hidden somewhere to prepare for the winter. The mountains in the distance were already covered in white; I imagined that it wouldn't be long until the snow arrived here as well. I could feel it in the air.

The first week of classes had passed in a daze. I had been caught up in the novelty of it all, that I had barely paid attention to the lectures. It didn't help that Professor Coleman, the old man teaching introduction to writing for the stage, looked like he was two minutes from collapsing to the ground; not a very good first impression, I might say. His voice, gravel and low, was a background noise to my fantasising. I couldn't stop thinking about those four. I met Christian again a couple of times after the first day, and both times we exchanged polite greetings and nothing more. He was shy, I could tell. There was a sweetness in his smile, though, that made you like him even if you knew absolutely nothing about him. I wouldn't have minded talking to him for real; but he was always with the girl, Paola, who didn't look very amiable, so I never said anything. Those two were attached to the hips, and I was starting to wonder if they had something going on. I had seen Thomas flirting with Paola on more than one occasion, though, even in front of Christian, so I couldn't be sure.

Their relationship was weird. They were always together, just the four of them. It felt like there was an invisible wall between them and everyone else. They seemed more like a pack than a group of friends. I didn't know why I was so obsessed with them. Maybe the fact that they were unapproachable made them so interesting in my eyes. And then there was Alexi. Alexi, who always dressed in dark velvet suits, carried a poems' book everywhere he went and drank coffee at every hour of the day. Sometimes, I saw him sitting on the edge of the terrace that faced the back of the castle, between two small gargoyles. He looked pensive, staring at the distance, his blonde hair ruffling in the wind. I had learned that everyone was more or less in love with him. Girls, boys, professors... His mother was one of the best-selling authors in Sweden, and the daughter of a baron, coming from centuries of pure-blooded descendants and ancient wealth, making her one of the most powerful and richest women in the country. Alexi definitely looked like someone who had his entire life gifted to him on a silver plate. I wondered what it felt like not having to worry about anything. Maybe, I would have been bored out of my mind if the worst of my worries was what shirt to wear under my very expensive jacket — he always wore a button-up left open around his neck, so that the tender flash around his pulse point was teasing and inviting.

I shook my head at the thought. I definitely needed to find someone to relieve all this pent-up frustration, someone who was on the same page as me: fucking around with no strings attached. I wasn't looking for romance. I had tried once, with a girl back in Brighton. We went on a few dates; her parents already thought we were going to get married once school was over. She broke up with me after a month and told me I was cold and uncaring. To be fair, I really didn't care. I was already planning on leaving town, and she was talking about marriage and babies, which... absolutely not. I wasn't going to become an eighteen-year-old husband, waiting for the sweet release of death to save me from an existence I despised, stuck in a place I hated with a woman I didn't have feelings for. I knew I was destined for something more than a suburban life. Did I know what it was? No; but I guessed I had time to figure it out.

Suddenly, a shiver made me realise that it was almost completely dark. The sun had set behind the mountains, leaving the forest in the twilight of the evening. I was about to turn around when I heard a noise coming not too far from where I was. I stopped, holding my breath. It could have been an animal. I didn't know what kind of wild beasts lived in Scotland. I hadn't made any dangerous encounters during my walks, but that didn't mean something couldn't have been hiding in the bushes or under the trunks. I gulped, franticly looking around; I squinted my eyes in the semidarkness, trying to keep my heart steady. I heard the noise again, this time clear as day. It wasn't some animal; it was someone's voice. A low murmuring. Perking up, I followed it, finding myself at the top of a hill. I caught my breath and hid behind a tree.