Astra Chronicles

Chapter 6: Academia Secrets

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"I thought about how there are two types of secrets:

The kind you want to keep in, and the kind you don't dare to let out." ―Ally Carter

Year 2113. 12:00 AM. Academia Astra, A City.

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I didn't know when it started or how it actually began.

But I knew that something pivotal happened when I was ten.

Because. . . well, that was when every memory seemed jumbled.

Whatever transpired that year must have been so intense.

It had my memories shuffled or messed in a way that I could not make much sense of those childhood recollections anymore.

It could have been a trauma like what the academy doctors said.

That would pretty much explain my chronic anxiety. But a nagging feeling told me it was something else.

Maybe the Academia had kept secrets from me or us. A truth, which I didn't hope to find out.

I would dread to consider this but the whole Academia set-up had always been tad too weird for a school.

Once, I had read that there were two types of secrets. One that was meant to be kept and the other was something no one could dare to let out.

My hopes were that mine was something I would have wanted to keep to myself. Like an embarrassing moment or a naughty deed that may lead to another detention slip.

But later on, things became more apparent that the secret would likely be the second type.

"Are you sure about this?" Lexi whispered, her bushy eyebrows creased together resembling a crested owl.

The grey in her eyes reflected the light from my torchlight.

"Do we have a choice?" I hissed as we continued to walk grudgingly towards the west wing.

It was the midnight after the regular health checks and I was certainly not in the mood for extra adventures. Yet we were forced out of our comfortable rooms to take part in an exploration dare, as they called it.

Carefully, Lexi and I tiptoed passing by Scarlett's room until we turned to another corner to reach a small dark lobby.

"You arrived late, Skyler," Travis sneered. "We thought you were goin' to chicken out."

Around twelve other kids were gathered in the lobby, some were from different classes.

I recognized a blonde with blue eyes who bullied Lexi and me last week. He was leaning on a wall away from the crowd and was staring at something outside the window. Maybe trying to act cool.

I clicked my tongue in distaste.

These boys were pigs.

The other kids laughed while Travis placed both hands on his hips and flapped them as he made cackling sounds to imitate a chicken. Lizzie giggled from her seat on one of the benches.

I would have found it funny seeing his semi-bald head glimmer under the moonlight as he made poor attempts to irritate me but I had been in a foul mood since morning.