The Host of Hyperion

Chapter 3 - Elisabeth

Hey Echo here. I just wanted to apologize for taking so long to post this chapter. I'm also going to be making a quick announcement, being that I won't be post as frequently as I would like to because school has started. Actually it started 4 weeks ago but I'm stating this now so if I'm ever absent for a period of time, blame school and its crappy homework situation. Thank you!

If there was a time machine that I could use to go back in time to tell my past self not to be an idiot, I wouldn't hesitate to take that time machine and do just that. After breakfast with the new gang, Kennedy and I began walking to our first class of the day. I noticed Kennedy looking a little spacey, like she was lost in thought.

"Hey are you alright? You seem kinda out of it," I questioned, raising an eyebrow.

Kennedy's head snapped in my direction her eyes slightly wide.

"Oh, yes I'm fine. I was just thinking about how Carter didn't come down to breakfast this morning," she looked at Dorm A with an uneasy look on her face. "I mean, don't you find it just a little strange?" 

I shrugged, "Not particularly, no. He probably just got sick with something and went up to the nurse's office."

Kennedy shot me a look, "He was perfectly fine yesterday. He can't just have suddenly fallen ill! Something weird is going on here, can't you feel it?"

I raised my eyebrow, "Not really. I don't think that this is anything to worry about. If I'm to be honest I would think that  you're being slightly over-dramatic."

Kennedy glared at me before she turned her head towards Dorm A once again, with a troubled look on her face, and we continued walking towards our class in a heavy silence. 

We kept this silence until we got to Mr. Wright's English classroom.

Throughout the day, in every class, the teachers would take role call like they normally would, teach their lessons like they normally would, and assign homework, unfortunately, like they usually would. Well, almost normally.

In every class, the teachers would, while calling role, skip over Carter Jobal's name and refuse to acknowledge that he even existed. Whenever this happened, I got a bad feeling in my gut but I would always brush it off, trying to convince myself that everything was fine and that Carter was just in the sick bay.

I was able to get through the last period of the school day without spontaneously combusting from all of the apprehension I was feeling. I sped out of the classroom and pedaled out of the building and I slowed down when I was nearing the line of towering dorm buildings.

When I came up to Dorm A, I lingered for a second in front of the eery building before continuing towards Dorm E.

I hiked through my dorm up to my room where I immediately threw my school bag onto the floor next to my bed and flopped face down onto the bed. I internally groaned and heaved myself off of the bed and automatically fell into my usual routine after I finish my classes.

As I reached to grab my bag from the floor, all I could think about was the teacher's strange behavior. The more I thought about it, the more I started to believe what Kennedy had been saying earlier. Thoughts whirled around in my head, causing my breath to quicken and my hands to start shaking. I closed my eyes and shook my head. 

'That's not possible. It's just me being paranoid. New school, new teachers, it's understandable Lissie' I thought while grabbing my school work out of my bag.

I continued the rest of my daily routine then headed down to the cafeteria, avoiding the calculating gaze of the teachers stationed outside of the entrance, to have dinner, then beginning the long trek to Dorm E.