Eloquent Silence

Eloquent Silence - Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

The flow of students tumbled into the hallways from the common rooms, all hurried to get to their next lesson on time and avoid receiving a detention.

This of course made forgetting which class you had next, spinning round and heading in the opposite direction ten times more challenging; everyone avoided going against the grain for fear of being swept into some different class.

I was taller than most of the students at school, which generally cleared up my line of vision. My friend Skye, however, did not share my fortune.

Skye was about a foot shorter than me back then with platinum blonde hair which swished as she sashayed by my side to her next class. We peeled off into two opposite classes and I slid into my seat, which was next to Carrie's.

Carrie was the kindest person I knew at this high school. She was a petite brunette who was extremely conscious about the environment and nature. She gave frequent passionate speeches about these topics whenever I so much as left a light switched on or wasted paper in class. I tended to drift off in these speeches though, which I had always felt tremendously guilty about afterwards. 

I had been sitting at my desk for at least a minute when, unexpectedly, I felt the need to go to the toilet (you may laugh but it is not a nice thing to sit though). I shortly cut off one of Carrie's "be environmentally friendly" speeches - I had been doodling on a blank piece of paper which, once I had had enough, I had tossed into the bin - and scuttled out of the classroom, as fast as I could in stiletto heels. I had about two minutes, give or take, until class started which I figured would be enough.

One minute, two minutes.

I hurriedly washed my hands. I was not going to be late for Mr Kingly again. Once was enough to figure that that teacher was a force to be reckoned with.

That was when a single piece of paper glided slowly through the open ladies room doors, caught in a current of wind. It came to a rest by my recently shined school heels.

Confused, I stared at the piece of paper. It had been strange that just one piece of paper got caught in the wind, not several.

What's more, I had no idea where that draft had come from.

Naturally curious, I hesitantly entered the hallway and rounded the corner, as if making my way towards the science block, and I found one of the windows ajar.

And there the orb was.

Only this orb was not the same as the one I had previously seen - it possessed a scarlet tint. The orb was straight ahead of me, hovering at eye level, framed like a painting by the window pane. It begged to be touched and beckoned to be followed.

That was when it shook and gracefully floated slowly down the corridor away from the ladies, and I followed.

Soon after, I had entered a trance from which I could not shake myself out of.

I had been momentarily unaware of where the orb was leading me but since the huge, heavy fire escape doors were looming into view, I had known I was heading outside and there was nothing I could do to prevent it.

 Adrenaline filled my veins, but it still didn't manage to dampen my increasing heart-rate or quash my rising panic levels. The doors opened a few seconds before I would have walked into them.

My feet dragged heavily across the wooden flooring and soon, still induced by my trance, I was out in the still school quad by the woods. What occurred next should not have come as that much of a surprise, but it still managed to scare me.

The orb erupted into a column of burning red fire before me. It savagely spewed out glowing embers in all directions.

Most of these embers landed on my clothes but they strangely did not set fire to them.

The next thing that I was aware of was the feel of a hand on each of my bare shoulders. These hands were callused and warm but they were also violently shaking me out of my trance.

My eyes started to focus and zeroed in on the worried green pair which were gazing right back.

"Amber? Amber! Are you all right?" His voice grew increasingly anxious as he watched me.

"I'm ok," my response was automatic but by no means correct. I felt sick and I was sure that there was something very wrong with me. The room started to sway and I was starting to see stars.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm ok," I repeated robotically. I tried to move my legs but they would not cooperate, instead they had collapsed inwards and I had ended up falling into Dante. His hands reached up to cup my face. I almost fell into his endless emeralds.

"Hey, take it easy Amber" his husky voice vibrated through me. He sounded deeply troubled.

This distressed me tenfold more than the column of fire had done.

My trembling hand reached up to staunch the flow of tears which were beginning to blur my vision. Dante pulled me towards him and cradled me tightly against his body with what seemed like no intention of ever letting me go.

I was confused and I was beginning to wonder what the orb had wanted from me or why it was leading me towards the woods.

My blood ran cold as I considered what I might have done if Dante hadn’t have woken me up from my trance.

I felt as though Dante knew more than he was letting on and I would not stop until I had answers. I had to ask him what was going on. I had a tornado of questions streaming through my mind.

"What...why…me?" these words seemed to be the only ones I managed to communicate. They just about summed up all of my confused feelings but they did not do justice to the questions I wanted answering.

Dante looked away from me. His body was in full contact with mine as he cradled me tightly in his arms. I looked up and just watched him.

His jaw had clenched and his face had set into a mask of no emotions. His eyes betrayed him though. He knew the answers to all of my questions yet he would not divulge anything. He pulled away slowly, gently plucking my fingers off of his arms.

"I'm sorry" his whisper was barely audible. But I heard it. I also knew what it meant - I would not be getting any answers from him.

I bowed my head and my shoulders hunched in defeat, and this time I made no attempt to prevent my tears from falling.

When I had looked blearily back up, he had disappeared.

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Hope you liked it!

JustIgnoreTheWorld :)