Lovers: Boarding School

_fall

Oh boy.

WARNING: This update has content that can be triggering. If you're sensitive to this kind of subject matter...how did you reach this point? Are you okay?

ALSO: Forgive the atrociously rough writing of this chapter! I need another year (or two) to edit this beast of a book. Enjoy!

Walking down the vaulted ceilings and striated halls of Amantes Mortem never felt as alien to Violet as it did when she returned to the game from a days-long dream sequence she never wanted to wake up from. That dizzying ride of complete rapture, wonder, and romance with her on-again lover Gin had come to an end, and the cozy, endearing hospitality of the tiny town where their relationship reignited had shifted into an eerie, menacing dread that permeated the cold air of their cavernous boarding school.

She had been very reluctant to re-enter the game after her holiday with Gin; she predicted that her next log-in was going to be another downward dip in this hostile melodrama of a plot as it was almost a universally accepted law that nothing good ever lasts. But as she shuffled her feet across another chessboard hallway knowing what she knew while still remaining as an active participant, Violet blindly hoped the bad would be just as transitory. And that her next encounter with Jack would be a plateau and not a valley.

Violet sighed. She had Gin to thank and curse for her newly resurrected optimism. If only she had returned to the game with Gin at her side.

Where is he anyway?

Her anxiety was slowly encroaching past her ears when she had come across another empty hallway absent of any human like fodder that could cushion her flourishing paranoia. Minutes after re-entering the game, Violet had been walking down deserted hallway after deserted hallway without a soul or soulless NPC in sight.

Are there classes going on? Violet suspected. Was she still on holiday?

"Where is everybody?" she whispered despite being the only "soul" in the vicinity.

She reached a corridor that had windows facing a courtyard, her lower lip caught in between her teeth and her eyes focused on the grim scenery outside. Contained within that courtyard was a large, gnarled tree that was completely black against the white, pillowy snow and the gloomy, sheet white sky. The presence of multiple footprints in the snow both relieved and unsettled Violet, assuring the poor girl that she was not alone while at the same time unnerving her for the exact same reason.

She stopped right before the window facing tree, her hand resting on the sill as she tried to calm her popping nerves.

It's alright, she told herself, Nothing's going to--

Violet had almost let out a scream when she heard ringing coming from her pocket. Shaking like a dried leaf clinging onto a branch, Violet took out her phone and peeked at the screen.

❤️Asshole❤️

The tension in her body dissolved instantly and she took the call without hesitation.

"Gin?" she said quietly.

"Where are you?" said his crackly voice through the phone.

Violet took a moment to survey her surroundings. "I think I'm in the West Wing of the school."

"How did you get all the way there?"

"I don't...know."

Over the phone, she heard him take a deep sigh. "Just stay where you are," he ordered. "Once I'm done with my business I'll come get you."