Arachville's Academy for the Paranormal

Chapter 1

I wake up in a cold sweat, my heart pounds in my ears. Frantically I reach for my bedroom lamp, but I can't find it in the darkness.

The lights turn on and my mom in standing in the doorway. A look of distress fills her perfect face. Almost as if she expected an intruder. Little did I know, that I screamed in my sleep. "Are you ok?"

"It happened again," My voice cracks from the tears streaming down my face. "There was a man chained to the floor, and another man who kept whipping him! Asking where was she?"

Mom sits on my bed and pulls me close to her. My tears stream down my face and onto her golden curls.

"There, there Victoria. It's only a dream."

Her soothing voice seems to scare my tears away. But there was a quiver in her voice. Almost like she was scared too."It seemed so real..."

A soft meow comes from the doorway. My fat, orange tabby waddles his way to my bedside.

"Aw, even Zephyr came to check on you!" Mom wipes away my last tear and then helps Zephyr onto my bed.

He has never been the cutest cat. His chubbiness gives him a spherical abdomen and his face was flat and pushed inward, almost as if he ran into a wall. Not to mention an endless supply of eye crust.

Zephyr purrs and sits on my lap. His weight causes my legs to start to loose circulation.

My mom stands up and helps me get Zephyr off. He growls in protest buts eventually props himself up.

We all walk to the kitchen, through the dark hallway.

The kitchen light flickers before finally turning on. Our small kitchen was decorated with crosses and anything found in the Christian religion.

My mom was super religious, volunteering any time she had to the church and decorating out house in such a manor.

She won't even let me out of the house if the rim of my shirt came down past my collar bone.

The reason she is so religious is because according to her my father wasn't a very religious man. When he disappeared she turned to God to keep him safe. Sometimes she takes it too far, but I guess I understand. If my husband disappeared into oblivion I guess I would turn to God too.

I look out the window and see we are the only one's up at this hour. My starts to heat up some milk, and adding a spoonful of honey. "Here this will help you sleep!"

Her blue eyes sparkle as I drink the last drop. "Thanks Mom! That really helps...." My last few words get lost in a yawn.

"Any word from the academies?"

It was mid-summer and it seemed every kid in our neighborhood was leaving for a private school.

My friends, Karen and Sandra, and I all really wanted to go to AAP, a very high class academy. According to Karen they only accept the rich, but we applied anyway.

Later Sandra's cousin said you can only get in with special connections.

Now it was only a matter of time until they responded. Shepard's Academy for the Gifted already denied me, and St. Peter's Christian school as well. AAP was my last chance.

Everyone else applied to many other schools, except me. I didn't think they would be so picky.

Mom shakes her head, "Maybe they'll send out letters tomorrow?"

My heart churns, if they deny me again, I'll have to go back to public schools. I'd have to go back to school with my enemy, Christi. That orange tanned tramp made school unbearable. I just can't go back.

A sudden urge to sleep for a year or two washes over me. My mom guides me back to my room. Zephyr climbs up and curls up along side me.

As my mom leaves and my eyelids grow heavy, I could have swore I heard an angelic choir.