Saving Joelle

Chapter Two

The plane ride pretty much sucked. Apart from the old lady I was sitting next to that told me she was going to visit her grandchildren. She told me their names, showed me pictures, then told me about her days when she was a nurse during Vietnam. She was nice, but even her talking didn't keep my mind from wandering off to dwell over the fact that my life seems to be one giant suck-fest.

After the long flight, I got off and found a taxi, giving the driver the address my Aunt gave me. I couldn't believe this was happening to me. It's just so unfair. I don't know if it was because I was raised differently or what, but all of the things I've done I thought were just a part of life. Drugs, sure they're illegal, but they were created by this God that everyone seems to worship, so obviously they're supposed to be enjoyed. It's man made laws that make them bad, not His laws.

I know I can swing this any way I want at this point to make me feel better. After all, I have no clue what the Big Man Upstairs wants me to do, never really had a conversation with him or given him the time of day to let him to be frank. My parents weren't religious after all. Dad was raised fully Catholic, but when he married my mom, who is an unpromising Christian, religion just kind of went out the window. There was a short period of time when we went to a Christian church and I even went to church camp, didn't last long though.

So, in short, going to this school is going to be something completely out of my element. I'll probably have to go to mass and go through the classes to finally be Confirmed, including all that goes with it. It'd be an understatement if I said I'm not looking forward to anything that will come to being in this place.

Coming out of my thoughts, I just registered my surroundings outside the taxi. We were driving down a long narrow two way street, surrounded by nothing but trees. There were no other buildings or houses, just trees.

Great, this school is in the middle of fucking no where.

Looking through the front windshield I saw a giant building. No, not giant or even a building, more like humongous castle.

"That's not the school is it?" I asked the taxi driver, dumbfounded.

"Yes it is, ma'am. I drive kids your age here all the time." The driver replied in a heavy Mexican accent. I flinched when he called me ma'am.

"Please, never call me ma'am, even if you never see me again, call me Elle." I hated being called ma'am, it made me feel old. A feeling I'll never like to experience.

"Alright, Elle." He obliged. "What did you do to come to this school. You look perfectly normal and I've seen some messed up kids come to this school."

Great. What is this place, secretly a psych-ward for crazy people that need healing from the devil?

 "I didn't do anything. My Aunt has the crazy delusion that I'm headed down the wrong path in life and need saving." I scoffed.

"Well, if that's true then you should be out of here in no time." He smiled at me. God, I hope he was right. The sooner I can get out of here the better, to go anywhere I want, be anything I want, and not have to live under any rules.

The taxi stopped finally on a giant circular driveway, right in front of a fountain of an angel. I stared at it, rolling my eyes.

How cliche of them.

Getting out of the car, the driver opened my door for me and went to get my bags out.

Looking at the giant building there's only one word that I can use to explain it: Victorian. Like Sixteenth Century looking, which obviously it wasn't made then, but it sure looked like it. There was too much building for me to look at and I didn't even know where to start. The front doors were two huge wood double doors and right when I looked at them they opened. Out came, none other then a nun.