Arcadia: Amorphous

Chapter 3: Your Future Starts Here

I'm back, did you miss me? No? Fine. Let me catch you up. I finished packing said my goodbye to my dad and sister, you know all that boring stuff. Didn't finish till like 10 pm or so, anyway, as I passed through the portal again, it was still like midday, over there. Time shit I guess. I unpacked a little, notice someone showed up while I was packing and claimed one of the beds. Few minutes go by and some alarm goes off, and the door opens up with a portal. Jumped on in cause that's what I do now? And Blam. Here I am in front of a big ass castle with a ton of other kids, doing nothing. And that is what you missed on the last episode of, "As The World Turns, Stops And Turns Again".

Ok, so a lot of these kids look about as confused as I am, and more just keep showing up. This is either some kind of freshman orientation assembly, or we're all about to get culled. Normally, I'd say time would tell, but $5 says it's a dude in a long black cloak.

"Ooph. sorry." I heard and I was slammed into from behind. Turning to see, my assailant appeared as a young girl, now seated less than elegantly on the ground.

"Naw, it was my bad for standing still." I reached a hand out and helped her to her feet.

"Ya, sorry." Damn it, why do I suck at first impressions? "Hi, my name is Shonta, Shonta Crow." She reached out to shake my hand, despite the fact that she was already holding it...

"Well Shonta Shonta Crow," I said shaking her hand. "it's nice to meet you. So, Are you ready for the reaping."

"The what?!"

"Reaping, culling, selection, it's a joke. I hope."

"Oh, reaping, I thought you said... Something else."

This girl was weird, "you're weird you know that," but in a good way.

"Oh, um, ok." Fuck, fuck, fuck I couldn't get two minutes into a conversation without ostracizing myself. "I'll just.."

"My name is David. Not as interesting a name as Shonta, but it works just fine. You seem to know what's going on here, besides like how to walk but this is some kind of orientation right? I'm in the right place."

"I can walk just fine." she snapped. Had to say, I liked this girl's spunk. " I mean, I'm just not used to being in crowds, that's all."

"Is that all?"

"Kinda, more or less, maybe I'm a little nervous, new school and all."

"Tell me about it, 24 hours ago, I didn't even think magic was real. Now, I'm jumping through portals, and getting body checked by strange girls."

"I said I sorry."She started the snap again. Shit, Shonta, keep it together. Remember, good first impression. It was hard to make out what she muttered next, but it sounded a lot like "Aw fuck it." Her next words were far more audible. "My name is Shonta Crow, and I am 14, single, have 2 sisters, I love books, hate discrimination, I work hard and think everyone is redeemable."

"Cool." It took me a moment to realize I had said the wrong thing. The first indication was probably Shonta's face look as she slowly turns away from me with a look the can only be described as stepping in raw mystery meat.

It likely would have been a smart move to say something else, unfortunately before I had the chance a stage with a figure on it appeared in front of the castle gates.

"Greeting!" he said, obviously. "I am Professor Reagan Hornswoggle headmaster here at Arcadia, and as such it is my duty to say a few words to all incoming students." He was a rather unassuming man, looked to be in about his mid 40's late 30's. "Firstly for those of you who do not yet know, our humble school exists in a time a place quite distant from where you all grew up. As this is the case, your keys are your way back and forth through time. Keys will only work, for those who they are assigned for, and only those in possession of their key may pass through their portals."