Masked

Chapter 3-Speaking Letters

Chapter 3-speaking letters

“Wake up Frey!! Come on…………………Freya darling, you’re going to be late for school!!” Mrs. Montgomery’s voice broke through the semi-conscious dreams of Freya and she immediately sat bolt upright, the brightness blinding her for a moment. Freya rubbed her eyes and looked up at the leaning figure of Sam, who was shaking her shoulder. “I am up!” she said, her voice weak and her eyes still drooping with sleep. Mrs. Montgomery gave her a bemused but kind smile. “you spend the whole night here on the sofa. It 7 in the morning ….come on get up!!!” Sam said and went back to her conventional hostel tour schedule. Freya gazed round the common room and suddenly a thought struck her. JOB DETAILS a voice screamed inside her head and all her mental sirens went up.”Oh damn damn damn damn damn” she mumbled as she grabbed her DVD and ran up the stairs to her room. Her mind went to complete auto pilot mode, washing, brushing, and dressing of its own accord. In matter of minutes she was rushing {more of a tripping, stumbling, and cursing} down the stairs to the foyer. Skidding to halt at the main door and fumbling with the handle, she ran out of it straight to school grounds, not even waiting to catch a breath. The worst she was expecting to face today was not detention but losing a job. She really was not ready for that…

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“now I want you all to conjugate avoir,etre and aller………you have been doing it since primary classes I don’t expect ANYONE of you to cheat!” Martin Holloway, Freya’s French teacher explained the next exercise of the day in his strange accent {it sounded more like Spanish than French}.

Don’t expect anyone to cheat! Freya mimicked his voice inside her head as if he really expected anyone to listen. Freya smiled knowingly and looked around the classroom. All were busy either cheating from the reference books or sitting on the last seats checking their toenails or helping courier love letters from one end to other. Cheeky, the last one. Freya diverted her attention back to the plain white sheet in front of her and started scribbling, but actually half of her brain was trying to decipher how the details were going to reach her. He-who-does-not-have-a-name did not ask for her address, or her phone number or even her twitter handle! (It was a totally different issue that she actually did not own one). How was anyone supposed to contact her? Had he asked about her details from the coffee shop? They surely had her record. Maybe………possibly. It made sense. She recapped her pen and rested her back against the seat. She should probably stop thinking so much. It was the employer’s headache to get to her. Not hers. She got up from her seat and submitting her exercise sheet, exited the lecture hall. She strolled idly outside waiting for her friends, Diana and Anna to finish their tests. She turned around as she heard her friends approaching. “God! What is with Holloway and pop quizzes!!”Diana was saying. “I am really serious! I feel like throwing him out the window someday!” replied the redhead walking beside her, Anna that is. “I feel like jumping into the tyrant bay.” Diana replied and they cracked up. “Hey guys!! How did the test went?” Freya interjected into their conversation. “Boring!!!!” they both answered in unison and they all laughed.

“So Diana what is your next?” Anna asked.

“Gym with……… Garry………oh no” Diana could not keep the horror from her voice at the realization.

“Don’t worry………the Garry garbage needs proper disposal for the sanity of people.” Freya placed a hand over her friend’s shoulder to comfort her.

“If he troubles you, I would surely punch a hole through him…it is the least I can do.” Anna added with a smirk.

Typical aggressive Anna Freya thought. Diana had a falling out with Garry in the eighth grade. He dated her for a freaking one week. He still tries to catch hold of her, with only Anna’s red hot right hook keeping him at a distance. Freya herself would have been a part of the violence party on Garry if he did not have the advantage of knowing her history. Ravine was both Garry’s as well as Freya’s hometown and the news of her mother’s disappearance could not be kept hidden for long. Everybody knew in five days time that Jocelyn had vanished into thin air; even her body was not to be found. The rumors kept flying until the court declared her dead. Without even any evidence that how a person could possibly go lost while on a job tour to Paris. Garry knew it all and possibly would have vomited about her mother and Freya’s jobs to the whole school had Freya not agreed to be a toy of amusement for him. He can break the hell lose on her and she would just be silent and watch her destruction. This was the way Garry functioned. Finding a weak spot, penetrating and bam. You wouldn’t even remember the exact moment it all fell apart. So, playing safe was all everybody at the academy did. Anna was an exception because she was outgoing and did not have any secrets. She was an open book. No crack in the armor. The trio reached the locker room and began stuffing there bags with the books for the next class. Freya walked up to her locker and sighed, Staring at the words stamped on her locker door with black ink, hello loser. “And the garbage Garry strikes again!” Anna said sulkily from behind. “Would that jerk stop this?” Diana demanded in defeated voice. She was too forgiving; she did not know how to maintain a grudge on people. Freya expected her to not even know the meaning of enemy. Dolefully, she opened her locker door and found the unexpected. Besides the neat stake of her books there lay an envelope, white as the snow. ”Uh……………………” was all Freya able to say.

“You coming Frey!” Anna called from the entrance of the locker room. They both had chemistry together. Diana was already gone for gym. “Wait for me in the class, will you?” She said her eyes glued to the envelope. “I have a job to be done.” she smiled at Anna who shrugged and went down the corridor. Freya was not exactly lying was she?

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Freya entered the hall right before Mr. Bijwaria entered the class. “What happened!!?Why are you so late?!” Anna bombarded Freya with questions just as she arrived at their appointed practical table. “Um………tell you after class?” she offered and got to work at the equation at hand. She needed to balance it first, but her mind was doing hyper multitasking. The envelope was stashed carefully in her light brown sling bag and her hands were itching to get to it. Ok so we need 2HCL to make…………Anna was trying to keep pace with her supernova powered partner but was losing. That envelope was surly the job details but how did it reached her locker? Not that the loser stamp made it evident……………actually it did, but still? Her eyes squinted as she poured the solution into another tube containing a solid metal and fumes of hydrogen gas were exhausted. Voila Freya thought. At the same moment Mr. Ranjit Bijwaria said “ok class your time is up! Who was able to finish the task?” Only two hands, Freya’s and Anna’s {who had no idea if her friend had been possessed by Einstein or De Broglie in the past one hour.} went up. “As expected………Freya and Anna you can skip tomorrow’s class and as for the others, come prepared.” he said and walked out of the classroom. His exit was accompanied by communal groans. “Next time, you are my lab partner, got it…” Anna said, astonishment and daze still etched on her face. Freya smirked.

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Just as the bell for lunch time rang Freya was out of the chemistry lab, looking for a safe place to open her envelope. No one should know about it. Not even her best friends. She turned many corridors when she finally came up to the storage room. It was the place where all students’ records were kept. Checking the hallway for any onlookers she slipped into the room. Switching the light on, she knelt against the door, just to be aware of someone’s arrival. The room was occupied by dozen shelves holding leather bound files containing information about every student-from their biggest achievements to weirdest facts.

She looked around the room, to be sure that she was alone and then directed her gaze at the envelope. Her name was written in a curly handwriting on the front.

Freya Willows

D/O -Richard Willows and Jocelyn Greyheart Willows

Subject-job appointment letter [confidential]

Freya’s eye widened. No one except her and her father knew about her mother’s second name-Greyheart. It was Jocelyn’s surname before marrying Richard. How could a total stranger who Freya had not even met yet know about it? She swallowed the fear rising in her. It just did not fit. Jocelyn was an orphan. The surname was given to her by her caretaker in the orphanage. Impossible Freya thought. Gingerly she opened the envelope and pulled out ……………………………………………an empty A4 sheet? She flapped it about, looked on both sides but it was just empty………………empty? ”What is this? A joke?” she spoke out loud glaring at the ceiling as if the gods above could hear her accusation. Then suddenly the surface of the page rippled and words started scrawling themselves on the sheet like an invisible hand was writing it down.

Freya stared with awe and surprise as alphabets made themselves clear on the page, answering her question.

No…it is not a joke…………

   

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