Born to Die

I was discovered on day 1.

Thursday, June 24th 2010

I was currently in the library with my face buried into a book. I hadn’t really had much alone time since dawn because all my friends were fretting over the summer ball. The whole school was in a varied mood, counting down the days until it was here. I myself didn’t really care. I did want to have an escort and I did want to have a good time, but all the extra fuss like dying my hair a rainbow of colours or trying on a million dresses was just not something I was not too fond of. So I had kindly excused myself from the department store after I was asked to try on a clingy piece of fabric that just happened to be able to cover all my necessary bits. Of course my friends threw a tantrum but I swiftly walked by them and landed myself back in school and into the library. Honestly, I preferred to have peace and quiet with no attention rather than everyone’s eyes on me, questioning my every move. No one was here seeing as it was a beautiful warm night outside and very stuffy inside. However, I found a seat near the window and the temperature was just right. Occasionally, I did get hot but anticipation for a night’s breeze was what would keep me glued to where I was. And it would soon after appear, ruffling through my chocolate brown hair and making the hair on the back of my head stand on end from the sudden coolness.

A couple more minutes had passed and I was close to discovering why the main character had decided to abandon his wife when I could hear ruffling of bushes and a distant scream followed straight after, so high pitched that I was aware that the painted glass of the library could shatter any second. My head whipped up and in the process, I hurt my neck momentarily, but I continued to stare on ahead not aware of what was going on. My shoulders were tense and every muscle within my body was alert including my heart which was hammering ever so rapidly that I could hear it echo through my ear drums. My blood streamed through my veins and my pulse quickened with every breathe I took.  The book I had once been pulled into was now lying on the ground, the pages fluttering in the wind. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10! I counted 10 seconds in my head just like we were taught and ran with a sudden adrenaline rush, hurrying across the courtyard and stumbling into the west wing of the main building. I bolted upstairs and yanked open my door, slamming it behind and quickly locking it before staring ahead, panting uncontrollably. Another attack within a month? And this times another girl.

“Attention, students! Make way to your dorms now. I repeat, make way to your dorms.” A sudden siren filled our rooms just like it had done the other day and I looked up at the ceiling, towards the little speaker, as though it was my death bell.

A loud banging pulled me out of my thoughts and I stared at the door unsteady with fear, not sure who was waiting on the other side. I dreaded it would be another professor, coming to inform me that a friend had been taken or was slowly dying in the infirmary and I should go pay my respects now seeing as there would be no later to do so as she would have to be killed because of the contact made between her and it. On the third bang, I took a few steps towards the entrance before rethinking my actions. What if it’s a student too frightened to go the dorms? I ran towards the door and flung it open to reveal Abigail, my friend. I snatched her wrist and pulled her into my pristine room, bolting the door shut once more.

“Oh, my God! You will not believe what just happened!” I registered the fear in her eyes and the way her voice wavered as she spoke and turned around, afraid that I was mirroring her features.

“Someone else died, didn’t they?” I was surprised at how even my voice was but was perplexed at how I had managed to say it with a straight face whilst Abigail wept silently.

“You know Farina Carter, the girl who we used to laugh at for breaking up with her boyfriend every ten seconds, Oh, God.”

I enveloped Abigail into a warm hug, mostly because I needed some sort of human contact right now and because I felt just as bad, if not worse. We had always sat in front of Farina in Physics all through first year, and then she got moved because her lab partner thought she was trying to purposefully hurt him. But we all knew he was just trying to end up sitting next to Holly.