From Embers

E I G H T

The sound of a phone ringing brought me out of a deep sleep. I opened my eyes and already felt groggy. I lifted the phone from the receiver beside me and put it up to my ear. 

"Good morning Maximus! This is your friendly reminder to wake up this morning for your meeting with Headmaster Pearce. A car will be waiting outside for you to take you to the Trinity." A joyful female voice said.

"Thank you. I'll be out in a few minutes." I responded.

"You are very welcome Maximus!" She stated.

The line went dead, so I put the phone back onto the receiver. I threw on some jeans and a black t-shirt, and my tennis shoes. I grabbed the light jacket out of my duffel bag and headed downstairs. After going down the stairs the living room was much nicer than I had thought it was last night. The windows had bright sunlight shining through. I continued past the couches and headed down the hallway to the front door. I didn't see or hear any of my roomates, strange. They're probably in class or something by now, I thought. I opened the front door and another sedan sat waiting in a parking spot. It looked like the same car, or an identical twin. I opened the door and inside sat Mr. Trenton.

"Good-morning Mr. Carter, I hope you slept well. Hop in and I'll take you to your meeting."

"Morning Mr. Trenton. I slept alright, still jet lagged from the flight last night, but I'll survive." 

He chuckled and backed out of the parking spot and started towards the Trinity. This place was more beautiful in the daytime than it was at night. Everything was extremely pleasing to look at. The drive only took a few minutes and was almost entirely silent. We pulled up to the front of the building and stopped. I opened the door and stepped out. Mr. Trenton rolled down the passenger side window.

"Enjoy your meeting Mr. Carter. I will see you again soon." He stated from the driver's seat.

"Thank you for the ride Mr. Trenton. Until next time." I responded.

"Goodbye Mr. Carter." He said.

The window rolled up as he drove away. I looked at the massive scale of this building as I stepped inside. It was like a skyscraper in the middle of the forest. I walked through the lobby to the front desk and asked the woman where I could find Headmaster Pearce. She pointed over to the elevators and told me to go to the top floor. I called the elevator and it arrived in mere seconds. The doors opened and I stepped inside. There were seats around the outside of the large box. I pressed the top floor and sat down in the one closest to the door. A seatbelt engaged around my waist and the doors closed to the lobby. My stomach dropped as the elevator shot upwards and stopped at the top floor in seconds. In a matter of seconds I was nauseated. The seatbelt disengaged and I stood, but almost fell from the unsteadiness of my head. I felt like I was spinning in circles. I stepped off the elevator into a large room. There were couches and tables on each side, and a walkway that went straight from the elevator to a door on the other side of the room. Huge windows stretched from the ceiling to the floor. You could see the entire campus from here, and more beyond the trees. The mountains in the distance seem smaller than this building. I continued down the walkway towards the set of double doors. My nausea faded away and I felt much better. When I reached the door, it opened before I could raise my hand to knock. Another small room opened up in front of me, it was an office. Bookshelves filled to the brim with old books completely covered the walls on both sides. A small sitting area was off to the right, decorated with the same furniture as the previous room. There was a fireplace burning in the wall to my left. A man with a sweater, blue jeans, and a pair of leather boots sat in a large leather chair behind the desk that seemed to be as large as the room itself. Two more leather chairs sat on my side of the desk. He was tall with short black hair, and had a well kept beard that was trimmed down to his face. He looked up from the computer he was typing on and spoke.