The Scarlett Story: How it all started

Chapter 2, part 2

"It was an accident! I swear!" Thama pleads. Thama starts freaking out, but not because Mathias is currently drawing but because this is going to ruin his birthday. "Now we will have to go home," He pouts. "Or to the hospital" What in the actual fuck is wrong with this boy?
"Thama, you speak another word and I will kill you with that rope there!" I point to the rope. I then look around at the Adults around us. "Is nobody going to help?" They all look at each other. "Really? Nobody?" I hate this family so much. I will stop wasting everyone's time. I run and jump off the platform. It is terrifying because it's a much longer drop than I anticipated. It seems that time slows down, until I hit the water below and everything snaps back into place. The water is freezing. I look around the water. The salt is burning my eyes. I look down at the bottom of the pool. Mathias is thrashing around trying his best to swim to the top. Mathias was never a good swimmer. Between me and Mathias, at least 12 feet of water. I started swimming. As quickly as I can. Two feet, five feet, nine feet of water, eleven feet of water. I grab Mathias hand. Now Mathias has stopped moving. He's not dead yet, I can feel his pulse against my hand. I pulled him up. Around five feet of water left, my chest starts to get tight. I swim faster. I break the surface. I take five deep breaths and pull Mathias up. I pull myself onto the nearby rocks. I pull Mathias up. I check Mathias pulse, it's growing weaker. I put my hands over each other and push against his chest. I am so glad that Aunt Grata made me take CPR classes. They were mostly so if Thama, her, or Remy choked I would have to save them. But right now is the first time I have needed to use CPR. One, Two, Three. I pinch his nose and breathe into his mouth. I push against his chest again. One, Two, Three. I continue this six more times before Mathias starts to breathe. He chokes up the water and gasps for air. His breath is harsh and he is coughing harshly. I hear the loud sounds of people banging on the glass that surrounds the enclosure. I look up and at the glass. A woman in her mid-twenties, a young boy, and a lot of other people are at the glass. I can't hear their voices, they are all pointing to the pool of water. I follow their fingers to the water. The biggest snakes I have ever seen are leaving the pool.
"Uh, Mathias we might have a problem" I say and slide back a bit. Mathias sits up slightly and looks up. I guess he thought I was talking about how we are supposed to get out.
"Yeah, these walls are really tall. I mean we could climb the…"
"No! Mathias looks at the water!" I say and grab his chin and turn his face to the water. Mathias jumps back a few inches. I follow closely. I Lock eyes with one of the snakes. It is the weirdest feeling looking deeply into a snake's eyes. "Why are you here? This is our territory." The words ring through my mind. I am so confused. I decide to answer, I am probably going crazy.
"We didn't mean to. We don't want to be here, we want to leave but we can't figure out how to leave." I say. The words seem strange, like I don't understand myself anymore. The same voice rings through my head again. "We don't mean any harm, go up the rocks on the left. There is a secret door they think we don't know about." I look up at the rocks. I narrow my eyes and actually see the faint lines of a door. Why couldn't they make the door more noticeable? What are snakes going to do?
"Come on, Mathias" I say and pull myself up. I reach down and help Mathias up. He put his arm around me to steady himself. He walked slowly and helped him up the rocks.
"Kerrie, what happened with the snakes? You were talking to them, and they seemed to understand you?"
"I don't know brother. It's strange, but you're okay, that's all that matters." People finally show up and open the doors. People in blue uniforms come in, right behind them is Aunt Grata, Uncle Remy, and Thama.
"Oh, Thank goodness you two are alright!" Grata says trying to sound sad.
"Like you care. You would have let Mathias die before you even thought about jumping off that platform." I say, keeping my tone low. I don't want to start an argument right now. My entire body is soaked with salt water, and so is Mathias. But Mathias definitely has it worse. Grata glares at me.
"Well… I am scared of heights. And I can't swim." She says, like any of what she is yapping about is going to make a difference. They stood around and let Thama push my brother off a platform into a 13 feet deep pool. Nothing was going to make this better. Personally I want to slap the shit out of him.
"I don't care, can we go home?" Mathias says. I just realised Mathias' entire body weight is against me.
"But it's my birthday and I want to continue looking around the Aquarium" Thama wines. I swear this kid. I have every reason to push him into the pool, and I hope the snakes attack him. Even the men in blue are staring at Thama.
"Thama, Mathias and I are completely soaked in water. Mathias almost downed. We are going home now." Thama lowers his head. Grata and Remy try to help me carry Mathias but I refuse to let them touch him. I don't trust them at all. When we get back to the car Mathias and I sit in the boot. I never let go of Mathias, I keep replaying the scene of Mathias thrashing in the water. The entire car ride is silent. When we get home I force Mathias to shower off the salt water. I wait for him to get out of the shower. He comes into our room and slumps down onto his bed.
"How are you?" I ask. I get up and close the door, I lock it quietly.
"I feel off. That water seems to have messed with my brain. But I will be fine. I just hate this family, well everyone other than you." Mathias says and buries himself under his sheets.
"Speaking of that, remember earlier when I said I had something to tell you." I lower my voice. I walk over and sit in my bed. Mathias peaks his eyes out from under the sheets.
"Yeah? What about it? Please tell me we are not actually related to these people!" I can't help but laugh. I regain my composure and take the letter from Evermore Academy out from under my pillow.
"No, it's not that. But it is a way for us to get out of here" I hand the letter over to Mathias. He pulls the sheets off him and sits up in bed. He looks over at me curiously but opens the letter. He reads it quietly.
"This would be amazing, but I have never heard of this school before" Mathias puts the letter down and looks at me.
"Me neither, but it's worth a try. It's better than staying here."
"You're right, but how would we even get to London? Then we don't have any money for food or school supplies" Mathias lays back down.
"Uh… about that…" I say. Mathias shoots up straight and sits looking directly at me.
"Kerrie, what did you do?"
"Okay, don't get mad, but I have been stealing money from Aunt Grata for years. I have enough money to get us to London, and live there for the next six years. Just based on the expenses." Mathias rolls his eyes at me. "What?" I protest
"Kerrie, why are you just now mentioning this? We could have been better taken care of!"
"It's not like I, a 14 year old girl with no job, can just start paying for things without Auntie or Uncle asking questions. I had to play it safe" Mathias rolls his eyes again and lets out a breath of frustration.
"Okay, I understand that. So are we actually thinking about going to this mystery school?"
"I say it's our best option. I would rather go to a school nobody knows about. One that we somehow got a private invitation to attend to. Than stay here in this house another day"
"I completely agree, but how are we going to do this? We can't just walk out the door"
"Actually we can." Mathias eyebrows come together. "We have to be at the train station in two days. Tonight we leave at midnight. Nobody will be awake to stop us. There is a bus station that runs at night just outside of our neighbourhood. That will take us into London. Tomorrow we will go school shopping. Then we must find a place to stay until Sunday"
"How long have you been thinking about this?"
"I have always wanted to run away from here. I know every way in and out of this house, I can make it to London on my own. I just never wanted to leave you, so I stayed. Now we are both leaving. But anyway, go to sleep. We are going to be travelling all night." Mathias rolls his eyes again.
"For you being the younger sister, you sure do enjoy bossing me around." Mathias says and lays down in his bed.
"Okay? If I didn't boss you around then nothing would ever get done, now go to sleep!" I get up and pull the sheet over Mathias.
"Are you sure you want to go through with this plan?" I roll my eyes at him now. I push his hair back out of his eyes.
"Yes, I am sure. Now take your scar faced self to sleep, we leave at midnight and not later" Mathias chuckles and pushes me away and turns on his side. I chuckle slightly. I gather a change of clothes and go to the shower. I turn on the shower and lock the door. I place my clothes on the counter and take off my shirt. I look at my back, the hideous dark red scar that zigzags down my back. It looks just like Mathias's just a lot bigger. I tie up my hair and finish removing my clothes. I step into the shower and let the warm water run down my body. The heat is so nice. I have been practically frozen since the 'swim' in the Snake pool earlier today. I scrub the scent of salt water off my body. I step out of the shower and dry off. I put on my new clothes, which are just Mathias old clothes. Auntie and Uncle refuse to buy me and Mathias clothes so all of Mathias clothes are Thama's old clothes, and all of my clothes are Mathias's old clothes. I walk out of the bathroom and go back into my room. I keep quiet trying not to wake Mathias. I lay down in my bed and try to sleep.