clandestine

TWO

I woke to the sound of muffled sobs the next morning, Amaia seemingly crying quietly as I was asleep.

"Amaia, you okay?" I ask, turning to face her bed.

"Hazel," she responded, seemingly surprised I'd woken up. "Hey. Good morning."

I looked across the room and found her sitting on the edge of her bed, tissue in hand, staring at the floor. Our dormitory was one of the better ones in the girls' building, the two of us sharing one room with a large window boasting views of the town down the hill. White wood panelled the walls, and we each had our own desk, bed and chest of drawers. Amaia's side was closest to the window, mine closest to the door.

"I'm fine by the way." She says, sensing my unconvinced stare. "It's just the whole like last night thing you know? Anyway it doesn't really matter. We're forgetting it ever happened, isn't that what you told me?"

I roll my eyes, and then scan her figure, attempting to find anything abnormal in her frame. Out of concern I ask, "Is your arm okay?"

She smiles, "Much better."

God she's such a liar.

"Good." I respond, picking out an outfit from my drawers. "Gonna have a shower." I signal towards the bathroom. Amaia nods.

Entering my shared bathroom, I find my bloodstained clothes scattered on the floor. Clearly I had enough consciousness to change into pyjamas last night. Glancing into the mirror I realise my face is still splattered with remnants of blood, and so I use water to clean anything else that remains. As happy as I can be with my appearance, I decide to take a shower, to wash off any reminders of the experiences we'd encountered mere hours before.

As the warm water rushes down my back, I find I am remarkably calm about the near death experience I had faced the night before. The lifeless head of Markus Raz plagued my dreams, but in such an unnightmarishly way that I don't feel so fazed by it. If anyone had glanced my way, they wouldn't have known what I had witnessed mere hours previously.

The bathroom is filled with steam as I get out, courtesy of the lack of fans in the older building. Cracking open the small window above the toilet, I stare into my reflection in the mirror above the sink. What happened last night?

I can recall moments, snippets in time in which the events of the night previous float in my vision, a black staircase, heavy metal music, an extremely painful headache. The blue hair of Markus Raz, the gash on Amaia's arm, the befuddled look on Collin's face as he took us in.

We had left after Amaia was content, sipping on her iced tea and smirking smugly at her cousin. We promised to fill Collin in later, seeing as we had to sneak back in the school, and the security cameras were almost always cut off exclusively at three am.

Snapping back to reality, I got dressed and ready for the day, pushing the memories of the previous night so far back in my mind, that I'd almost forgotten them. If anyone found out we snuck out, went to a literal murder scene, almost died, we'd be in deep shit.

𓆙

Eyes follow me as I make my way to breakfast, something that doesn't immediately strike me as weird, seeing as my school has a terrible staring problem. Amaia insisted on coming later, as she needed to 'get her bearings' or whatever the fuck that means. The dining hall is filled with the sounds of cutlery and conversation, students huddled around circular tables eating their respective meals.

I make my way to where the food is, and pile up my plate with toast and bacon and eggs.I find Khoi at a small table near the windows at the back of the hall, staring blankly at the view of the lake.