Balloons (Wattys2017)

Chapter 1

With a dull grey sky and rain pouring to the ground, you'd assume a child would be very upset at the weather. Not Sparrow, not in any way was she sad or upset. With the weather, anyways. The weather was perfect for her, nothing could make it better. Except a cancellation of the boarding school she's being taken to. After the fifteenth argument with her mother (who is always wrong), Sparrow was sent on her way to Ms. Megan's Boarding School for Girls in Virginia. Sparrow sat in the back seat staring out the window, daydreaming about how things would've been if she was adopted by a better mother.

"It might be fun." Her mother said, trying to lighten up the mood. Sparrow gave a heavy scoff before retorting.

"Oh, I bet it'll be tons of fun! I'll braid the hairs of a rat!" She spat. Her mother gave a long sigh as she stared at the empty road ahead of her.

"You do know I'm doing this because I love you, right?" Her mother said, playing the innocent card.

"If you did love me, you wouldn't be sending me here and you would've at least tried to help me make friends." Sparrow huffed under her breath.

Their car pulled up to the mud covered driveway of the boarding school. Sparrow looked up in dismay at the sight of the two story building. The lavender paint was chipped every which way, the roof was filled with holes and looked like it was about to collapse, and the sign looked as if it was stained in every liquid known to man. Even some that came from man. Dried blood was embedded into the letters of the sign that spelled out Ms. Megan's Boarding School for Girls.

'I can't be the only one who sees this...' Sparrow thought to herself as her face was clearly in possession of pure disgust. The double doors of the school opened, letting out a shrill shriek, to show a large woman barely emerge past them. She was wearing an extremely ancient pink dress, a pearl necklace with matching bracelet, and pink shoes. Her skin was riddled with wrinkles every which way, and her hair was put in one of the most messiest arrays of buns anyone could come up with. Around her neck folds aside from the necklace was a pair of black cat eye glasses. Her beady brown eyes peered through the lenses and surveyed both Sparrow and her mother.

"Ah, you must be Mrs. Davis." The old woman said in a shrill and unpleasant sounding voice. Sparrow's mother stepped up and shook the hand of the woman.

"Just Ms. Davis, if you'd please." Sparrow's mother replied. "You must be Ms. Megan." The woman's lips curled into a grim smile.

"Indeed I am." Ms. Megan said with pride. Her eyes landed on Sparrow whom was kicking rocks with her heels. "And this, is the girl, Robin?"

"Sparrow." Sparrow stated through gritted teeth. Her mother sent her to the car to gather her belongings.

"That's what I said." Ms. Megan said in a rude tone. "Come along now, Canary."

Sparrow let out an exaggerated groan as she trudged her bags through the mud. Her mother stopped her and placed both hands on her shoulder. Sparrow was hoping her mother would be coming to her senses and would take her back home. But no such luck.

"It's only for a month." Her mother reminded (herself more than Sparrow). She placed a small peck on Sparrow's cheek before turning around to go back to the car. Sparrow wiped her cheek, and blocked out her mother's 'I love you' before going inside. The interior was much worse than the exterior. Wallpaper was curled and shriveled, the furniture was torn and dusty, the floorboards creaked with every step you took, and the roof leaked even when it didn't rain. There were two sets of stairs that winded upwards but neither looked sturdy. The entire building smelled of blood and sewage.

"GIRLS! FRONT AND CENTER!" Ms. Megan's voice screeched. From the second story, four girls went running down the rickety stairs and gathered in a straight row in front of both. As far as Sparrow could see, they were more or less the same. They all had black hair, grey eyes, and ghostly pale skin. Sparrow had brown hair, brown eyes, and tan skin. It was like the other girls had never seen a girl with different features before because they stared at her in awe. It also seemed as though they'd been in the school for years, all their clothes were from several different time periods before the 2000’s.