The Give Away

Chapter 8

Later that night I went for a walk, I walked around the courtyard with my arms folded from the night's chill. I walked over to my old secret corner, that wasn't ever going to be secret anymore. I sat down in the corner and stared at the sky, my head leaned on the wall beside me. I stared at the stars, there were so many. I tried counting them but it would be impossible. I gave up counting and stared at the brightest one. 'Hope' I heard someone say as they grabbed my shoulder. I jumped and looked up, it was Ayra. 'Jeez Ayra, you scared me' I said as my heart pounded. She sat beside me and followed my gaze to the stars. 'It's beautiful isn't it' 'Yeah' I replied dreamily. 'How's everything going?' She asked sweetly. 'I'm sorry?' I said confusedly. 'The nightmares' she replied. 'Oh yeah that, Mr Loraine and Robert found a way for me to protect myself' I said. 'Really? How fascinating..' She said 'How?' She asked curiously. 'It's this bracelet, it's more of an anklet for me but if I wear it when I go to bed then Mag...my Aunt can't touch me. Sorry I can't show you, I left it in my room.' I said. 'Amazing..' She said. 'I'm proud of you Hope, being able to go through all of this. You are a strong, brave young girl' she said staring at the sky. 'Oh.. Thank you' I said graciously as my face went red. 'Anyway I should get to bed' I said yawning fakely. It felt weird to talk to her like this, I had to get back. 'Yeah, it's very late. Good night Hope' she said as she waved goodbye. Walking up the path to the teachers dormitories. 'Goodnight' I said as I walked. I went up to my dormitory as quickly as I could but I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was behind me. I thought I saw a shadow and heard a foot step at least 5 times but whenever I turned around, what ever it was was gone. I got upstairs and shut the door. I climbed into bed beside Robert who was sound asleep. 'Goodnight' I thought as I kissed his cheek and stared at the ceiling. I fell asleep, my mind drifting. I felt so happy that I never would have seen it coming.

" I woke up on a road, it was raining and it was dark. I stood up and walked over to the only source of light, a lamp post on the side of the road. It's light flickered. 'How? I thought for sure that I..' I looked at my wrist, the bracelet was gone. 'No! Where is it?!' I cried. 'Having fun there Darlin?' 'Magora..' I growled as my hands turned to fists and I grabbed the post from behind. She stepped out of the shadows, the rain wasn't effecting her in the slightest way. Not even a hair on her head was damp. 'What have you done?,' I screamed in agony. 'I think the question is what have they done?' She smiled. 'What are you talking about witch?' I sneared. She simply gestured to the puddle at my feet. I stared at the puddle, a blurred picture became visible. It became clear and I saw it. It was Sara, Lloyd and Lana sitting on a staircase. 'How annoying is she?!' Sara laughed. 'Yeah! Hope, who can stand the girl?!' Lloyd replied. Tears welled in my eyes. 'I know! All she does is try and fix everyone's problems and whines about her own. Maybe she should try fixing her own problems for once!' Lana cried. 'Yeah and all that whining about how horrible her life is?! Urgh its soooo annoying! I mean how can it ever get better if all you do is sit around acting all depressed?!' Lloyd said. 'Oh yeah and all that crap about being depressed and stuff?! If she had gone through what all of us had been through then I would believe her' Lana said. This sort of talk went on for ages, complaining about me, talking behind my back. I started crying but I gritted my teeth. It couldn't be true, they wouldn't say that. 'I fell to the ground in agony and disbelief as tears rolled down my already soaked face. I felt her cloak over me 'Don't be sad Darlin, I was only trying to help. By seeing the truth we grow stronger inside.' She said comfortingly, it was a pity I couldn't trust her. I stood up, 'you're right. It does make us stronger, but it makes us weaker at the same time. The truth hurts Aunt Magora.' I said. 'Oh I know Darlin, but it always gets better' she said. The road started spinning, my Aunt split in two and I looked up . I was getting dizzier by the second "

I woke up crying. I stood up, amd walked into the bathroom. I closed the door and turned the light on so it was dim. I let my back fall against the wall and I slid down the wall. I started coughing, I was drenched. I was choking on tears. I tried pulling myself together and calming down but it just made it worse. I hid my head in my knees and wrapped my arms around my shins. 'Hope?' Robert called. 'Yeah' I sniffed. 'Are you ok?'he whispered caringly. 'Yeah, don't worry about it' I coughed. 'May I come in?' He asked. 'Sure' I replied coughing and sniffing at the same time, I ended up choking as I sat up. He picked me up off the floor, he wrapped a towel around my shoulders and sat me on the bed. 'Whats going on?' He asked. I decided to show him rather than say it. I had never done this before but I tried. I showed him what I had seen and heard in the nightmare. He sat there for a minute, speechless. 'I....no it can't be true. That's not possible' he said. 'Its just what I saw' I coughed. I fell onto the pillows, my head pounding. Heart racing. Robert collapsed beside me and we fell asleep facing each other side by side, holding hands. I woke up in the morning to someone stroking my hair, I didn't open my eyes. I didn't need to because I knew it was him. A few seconds later I opened my eyes just a crack so that I could see through my eyelashes. He was staring right at me and smiling softly, not a creepy smile. A loving smile. I fluttered open my eyes finally 'Good morning' we said in unison. I smiled and kissed him. 'Thank you, so much. I love you Robert' I thought to him as a tear rolled down my cheek. He wiped it away 'you're welcome and I love you too Hope' he replied. I kissed him until my heart started beating so loud that it rang in my ears. I pulled away from him, letting my lips stay on his for as long as I could. I got up and dressed behind the screen I came back out and brushed my teeth, brushed my hair and grabbed my books. I walked out of the room, shifting my long fringe so that it covered both side of my face. I stared at the ground as I walked. I got to class, I had science. I sat outside the science room, I slid down to the floor and picked up my book. I started reading, I felt tears well up in my eyes but I blinked them away. My friends wouldn't say that stuff right? That wouldn't. I shook the thoughts off my mind and kept reading. A while later the bell rang. I went inside amd sat at my desk, my book sat in my lap as I kept reading. I heard Robert's muffled voice talking to someone, it didn't even sound like he was talking English. I heard Sara, Lana and Lloyd's voices as well. All of them argueing about something. I kept reading, blocking their voices. I wasn't going to interfere. Mr Loraine called the roll. 'Here' I responded after he called my name. I put the book away and rested my head on my right fist. I used my fingers on my left hand to flick the corner of my book where it was getting weaker and weaker by the minute. I did my work and as soon as the bell went I grabbed my stuff and turned to leave. I got outside and walked to my dormitory the same way I had left. My eyes glued to the ground. My hair hiding most of my face. My books held tight to my chest. I walked up to my dormitory and locked the door behind me. I sat my books on my bed and sat in my chair beside my desk. I turned in the chair so I faced the desk, grabbed a piece of paper and a pen then began to write. I wrote a letter to home. When I finished the letter I cealed it in an envelope and put it in the shelf outside my room. Every night and every morning a staff member went around to all the dormitories and collected the mail that students put on their shelf. I went back imside my dormitory, grabbed my books and headed off for English the same way I had been all morning. Besides Linking with Robert early that morning the only time I had talked was when I responded to my name in the roll. I walked to English, books in hand, eyes glued to the ground, hair covering my face. When I got there my teacher Ms Silvers was already setting up. I sat at a desk in the front close to the board. I opened my book just as the bell went. I was reading my mum's old book, it was worn all over. The spine and cover were faded, the pages had yellowed and the edges of each page were starting to curl. I read pretty much the whole day besides doing my work. After my classes and after everyone had left, I walked around the courtyard. I saw Mr Loraine walking up to me. I looked down again. 'Hope?' He asked even though he knew it was me. I looked up slowly 'What's going on' he asked as he pulled me over to my favourite bemch beneath the cherry blossom tree. I told him everything, I didn't actually say it, I Linked. I told him the dreams, I told him the random visits I had gotten from my Aunt Magora, I told him what I had been through this year alone. He asked me lots of questions and listened to the answers. After a while I actually started talking to him, not Linking. He finished talking to me and wished me a good night. He had shown me a new way of looking at things compared to how I had seen things before. I thanked him, I was very grateful. I sat under the cherry tree for about half an hour, listening to the breeze while feeling it's chill around me, watching as random cherry blossoms drifted slowly to the ground. One fell onto my lap, I held it gently in my hands. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, I opened my eyes. I could feel them glowing the crystal white the way they always did when I used my powers. Water dripped off the huge tree in the centre centre of the garden, over looking everything else. The water flew towards me, it stopped and surrounded the stem of the flower. I froze the outside of the water so some of the water was still in liquid form on the inside. I carried the flower to my dormitory, I sat it on my bedside table and grabbed a bowl from the bathroom. I filled the bowl with water and carried it back to my bed. I sat the bowl full of clear water on my desk, I raised my hand and the flower, caressed in ice, floated over to me. It dropped gently into my hand. I melted the ice and laid the flower in the water, creating ripples as soon as it touched its surface. I got into my pyjamas and got into bed, turning off the lamp. Robert wasn't with me tonight and he wasn't going to, as far as I knew. I fell asleep, with no nightmares.