The yellow school bus rattled. As it drove over the potholes in the road, it swerved and chattered, the odd noises it made even louder than the students sitting in it, who were, in my opinion, a force to contend with.
The rain drizzled down the window pane. A few drops even spilled onto the seat next to me. I didn't even want to know how.
The grey woods outside the bus looked peaceful. The dense clutter of long, spindly pine trees stretched for miles along the dirt road. Dust blew up around the wheels, sending big puffs of it up into space. I could imagine animals running through these woods: wolves. Their lithe bodies stretching, as they bounded towards the moon.
"Hey, Arya," said a voice behind me. Not even bothering to turn my head to see who was speaking, I tried to drown them out, but failed.
"Arya, I'm talking to you," they continued, obviously not wanting to let up. A loud snickering, followed by a creaking, right next to me.
I cocked me head, just slightly, and saw a burly figure sitting beside me. The red t-shirt he was wearing seemed far too thin, and too small, but maybe that had the desired effect. Looking at his face, I sighed.
"What do you want, Dean?" He widened his eyes, in mock innocence. He gestured to himself with a questioning hand, before looking around the bus like, 'Who, me?'. I grit my teeth. Smiling a sly, lopsided grin, he mumbled, "So, Arya..." He let his voice trail off, as he slid a sweaty hand around my shoulder. Making a face, I pushed it off with my own, and slid closer toward the window, away from him. Shrugging, he laughed again, before slinking back toward his own friends.
Shaking my head at their idiocy, I felt a weight lift as the school bus glided to a stop, just outside a set of closed iron gates.
"Here we are," said Mr Frey, addressing the students from the front of the bus. "Welcome to the Institute."
__________
I had to work so hard to get my Dad to sign this note, I thought as I walked off the bus, unimpressed. I had asked him so many times, just to get him to think about letting me travel to this 'Institute'. I didn't know what his problem had been with the idea, but he had had a big one. I shook my head, now, looking at it, thinking that the alternative; the written assignment they offered, sounded better at this point.
The gates were the nicest looking thing about the place, and still, they were ugly.
The grey metal was wet with the rain, just a slow drizzle now. They were laid with a high, swirling pattern, one that continued to twist above my head, stretching three metres from the ground.
Behind them, was the main lab. A small, grey weatherboard shack, sitting, crooked, in the middle of the marshland that surrounded it. A green moss had grown, encroaching the roof. It's slimy looking tendrils wrapped around the peeling paint, making it look old AND abandoned.
Snorting at the house, and at the blind enthusiasm of the teachers as they stumbled towards it, I walked through the gates as they opened with a creak. Just inside them, was a middle-aged man, wearing a pristine lab coat, that contrasted starkly with his dark surroundings.
"Welcome," he said in a small voice. He sounded tired, bored. I couldn't blame the guy; I'm sure we all looked the same after a while. He skin was pale in the morning sun. Even though it was hardly sun; and it seemed like the morning had already passed, replaced by the dark sky of the evening. But still, he was pale by any comparison. His white hair stuck out every way, making him look like he'd just stumbled out of bed. His crooked glasses sat on his crooked nose. He pushed them up with his finger every so often, but they fell down again as he talked. His eyes were the deepest cobalt blue. They were small, like slits, but not hostile. They darted, like the eyes of a small animal, being hunted, however I highly doubted a group full of mostly hormonal teenagers could scare any person that much. A small bead of sweat formed on his forehead, and slid down his pasty cheek.
