No Return

Chapter 1

We waited in the utmost silence, hardly daring to breathe. Frozen to our seats, locked in an aggravating fear that brought a settling chill over the classroom. We all knew what was next. It was the one thing we all dreaded the most.

A small, twitchy girl with milky blonde hair stood trembling in front of us all, pale and shining with sweat. Mademoiselle towered above, descending upon her with a tureen of angry, biting remarks.

“You are an absolute disgrace, young lady!” she bellowed. “You don't deserve to hold a place at such a fine school as this!”

My heart melted as I watched this scene. That poor, innocent girl; so nervous and frightened. I wanted to run right up on to that stage and engulf her in a warm hug. I wanted to tell her that everything was going to be okay. But everyone – myself included – knew that that wasn't the way things happened around here. It wasn't going to be okay at all.

I glanced quickly at the girl on my right, my best friend Zoelle. Her chestnut brown eyes connected with my emerald green ones. I could see the uncertainty, the frustration and the annoyance blazing behind her eyelids. She wanted to help this girl too, and offer her reassurance that didn't exist. But we were both powerless. Everyone else in the room, all the girls waiting with baited breath, were powerless to stop this from happening. Some of them were probably secretly enjoying it, I thought in disgust. They were just grateful it wasn't them.

“Now what shall your punishment be, Ariana?” Mademoiselle asked, smiling cruelly. Her mouth was stretched so tight you could see the cracks in her red lipstick even from the back row of the auditorium. I shivered. There was only one type of punishment at Mersey Academy. The punishment we all tried to avoid, if possible.

Ariana gulped, a highly visible bead of sweat trickling down her forehead.

“Not the Cupboard,” she croaked. “Anything but that. Please!”

Mademoiselle continued to smile. “Not the Cupboard you say? Well, we'll see what you make of it anyway!”

With a harsh laugh, she beckoned to two stony-faced teachers standing solemnly on the sidelines. Taking an arm each they dragged her out of the room kicking and screaming, begging and crying. I blinked several times to stop the flow of tears escaping. I simply had to stop being so sentimental.

“But watching someone being carried off to await their own doom is enough to make anyone sentimental,” Zoelle pointed out.

She was right. The Cupboard sounded a harmless enough name, but every girl at Mersey Academy lived in fear of being sent there. Every girl who had entered the Cupboard so far had never returned. Once the door closed behind you, that was it.

Some say it sends you insane. You lose your mind being holed up there day after day and are eventually packed off to some mental hospital specializing in teenage girls.

Others say you waste away, your body left to fester and decay in the dank, dark depths of solitary confinement. Personally, I wasn't sure what went on when you entered the Cupboard and I was determined never to find out.

Silence followed for a few minutes before row by row, the girls started to file out in neat, single lines. The hair and uniform on each girl was immaculate, for none of us would dare to dress sloppily when Mademoiselle was on the warpath. None of us would dare to dress sloppily, period.

Once we had escaped the uncomfortable security of the auditorium, a loud outburst of talking began almost instantly.

“This place shouldn't be called Mersey Academy. It should be called Mercy Academy!” grumbled Zoelle, hooking her arm through mine. I laughed weakly. “Yeah, it should.” We both grimly pictured Ariana's terrified face, and walked in silence the rest of the way to our dormitory.

“Hey Jazmyn, wait up!” I turned to see Ursula Minnows rushing up behind us, with her friend Abigail Haynes at her heels. I smiled warmly. “Hello, Ursula!”

She grabbed me in a quick, one-armed hug before swiftly pushing me back to acknowledge my appearance. “Gracious girl, you get prettier by the day!”

I blushed. Lots of people complimented me on my looks, but I couldn't see the startling beauty others claimed they could. My hair was long and a natural shade of red, which I greatly loved. My eyes were bright green. 'Cat's eyes' Zoelle called them. My skin was a startling shade of white, flawed only by a few shockingly pale freckles across my nose. I was of average height, not too tall but not too short either. I wasn't ugly, but I never considered myself as pretty. I didn't spend hours in front of the mirror perfecting myself so the reflection showed somebody unrealistically beautiful.

“You're not too bad yourself!” I replied, cheeks still flaming. “Why do you get so embarrassed? You're almost as red as your hair!” Ursula added loudly. A group of Year Nines from Mercury House passed us and giggled. My face felt as if it was on fire.

“Shh!” I hissed. I loved Ursula to pieces; she was a great friend of mine but sometimes she could be a little overbearing, to say the least.

Abigail looked on shyly. She was an extremely quiet, timid girl – graceful and polite in her demeanour but not overly friendly. She surprised us all by saying, “I think it's good that she gets embarrassed. Not because I like seeing her feel uncomfortable but because it shows she isn't arrogant and self-absorbed. It shows she possesses modesty.”

It was the longest speech anyone had ever heard her make. It was her turn to blush when we all stared at her in amazement.

“You're quite right of course,” Ursula said sheepishly. “But, you know, she shouldn't be embarrassed about her natural distinct beauty!” Rolling my eyes, I held open the door to Venus House and motioned for the girls to go through. Abigail smiled politely and Ursula being Ursula, blew me a kiss. Zoelle simply uttered “thanks”. I could tell she was still worrying about Ariana. When I finally had a moment to myself, free of Ursula's constant flow of conversation, I made my way over to where Zoelle was sitting miserably in the corner and perched on the arm of her chair.

“Hey, what's up with you?” I asked. She sighed unhappily. “I'm just thinking. What if that had been Tamzin? Or Maia?” Tamzin was Zoelle's younger, twelve year old sister while Maia was my twin. At this mention of my sister, I wondered where she was. Probably lounging around Pluto House with that dreadful Ophelia.

“Listen,” I said, gently. “Tammy and Maia are sensible girls. They would never allow themselves to put in a position like that. Maia is sixteen after all – the same age as us! She isn't a baby, and neither is Tamzin.” “I understand that. It's just...you know, the thought of...of losing...never seeing them again...” she let out a little sob. I put my arm around her shoulders comfortingly. “I know how you feel, honestly, I do. Just don't worry about it, Zo. That will never ever happen, I promise.”

But I really shouldn't have promised that. Because I didn't know what tomorrow was going to bring.