The Seven Keys

Birdie- 2

It had been several weeks since I found the key. They had passed in a blur and I often wondered if I was dreaming because what was happening to me was so bizarre. First of all, my parents suddenly decided to move. Without any warning we left the life that we had in Australia, our friends, home, everything to move to Ithaca, New York in America. My parents say that we are moving to be closer to Slate, my brother who is going to college there. I feel like they are lying, they never meet my eyes when they explain our move, but can’t imagine why they would.  But, whatever their reason, we packed up our entire house into boxes and shipped them on a plane to our new home.

If the unexpected move wasn’t enough something even more strange was happening to me. Everytime I close my eyes I hear voices whispering in my head. I am afraid that I am going mad but for some reason I feel like I can’t tell anyone. Each night I lay in my old bed in a new room and listen to the voices. I have tried to figure out what they are saying as if they could tell me what to do, but they don’t make any sense. All night I stay up, listening to the voices and when I do fall asleep they follow me into my dreams. ...need to schedule... why won’t she just shut up... who said I had to... pourquoi New York est si fort...  just fall asleep already... love this song... thinks he so cool...   

    “Here you go honey!” my mom’s voice jolts me out of my self pity. She sets a plate of eggs on toast in front of me. This is my favorite breakfast but I don’t enjoy it. Today is my first day at my new school, Parksburg High school. All of my life I had gone to the same, small school, so this is going to be another huge change. I just hope that it’s for the good.

     I got to the giant school building early, but got lost in it’s maze of halls. By the time I got to my first period, I was running 5 minutes late. I rushed into the classroom, hoping that the teacher wouldn’t get mad at me on my first day of school. I stop short, the only two people in the classroom were a sleeping old man and a girl who was sprawled out in a chair with earbuds in her ears. She glances up at me when I walk in and smiles slightly to herself.  

    I sit down stiffly in a random desk. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, I take out the only thing I have to read, a science textbook.

Wait is that a textbook she’s reading?!  

    I look up, wondering if I had imagined the voice

It is! Haha America is so weird!

My hearts starts to pound. I’m  definitely not imagining it. Maybe the stress of moving was making me go crazy. Should I go talk to someone? No, something told me that was a bad idea.

Yeah everyone’s got something to hide, except me and my monkey! I hear the words along with someone humming the tune. I have never heard the song before.

The world starts to spin and I fall to the ground.

The first thing that I notice when I come to is that it smells like disinfectant . I open my eyes slowly but when I do all I can see is a white ceiling. Suddenly, a girls face slides into my vision. She is tan, with long dark, wavy hair, that she has thrown over her shoulder. Her makeup is perfectly done,she looks like the kind of girl that has tons of boys chasing her. I immediately think of the the super popular girls that I’ve read about.

“Hi! I’m the school nurse’s assistant, Summer! It’s good to see that you're awake, you passed out about an hour ago.” Her tone made it clear that she thought I was beneath her.

Eww, what IS she wearing! That looks like my grandma’s clothes!

      I look down at myself self-consciously, starting to blush.

     “Well, I didn’t ask your opinion, did I?” I say angrily.

She looks shocked, did I say that outloud?

“Yes, you did!” I cry as I turn around and dash out of the classroom, not caring where I went next.

“WAIT!” I hear a shout come from the classroom, how did she know that?

I rush down the hallway, blindly wandering. I had just started to calm down and wonder what I should do next when I hear a voice.

“Hey, I’m pretty lost, could you tell me where room 489 is?” I turn around to see a tall, athletic looking boy with dark brown hair and a shy smile.

I hesitate a second before my words tumble out in a rush. “Actually was there not that long ago, but you don’t want to go there. Its deserted except for an old sleeping guy and...” I stop abruptly before adding, “I’m new here too.”

“Ohh,” he said, looking pretty uncomfortable. “Um, my name is Peter.”

“Mine’s Birdie. Birdie Wilson.”

Cute name.

“Thanks,” I said, blushing a little bit.

“What?”

Shoot, I could feel myself starting to faint again. What on earth was wrong with me?

“Are you ok? You look really pale.” He sounded genuinely concerned.

I absently wondered if he would catch me if I fell.

That thought jolted me back to reality. Fainting once was bad enough, but twice in one day?! I needed to get a hold of myself.

“I’m okay.” I had meant to sound convincing but my voice came out frail and wispy.

“Are you sure? You don’t sound okay. You should go to the nurse.”

    “ No, I’m fine. Really. I should go now... to my next class.” I turned around and started off in a random direction, forcing myself not to run.