SING ME TO SLEEP -- neil perry

chapter one: once again

here's the playlist for this, i love it rn but i'll probably be adding to it:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3ZE7cFBnjjuzMMLLiSASHO?si=rZRX5qabS5CzY4EbMHzyNg

you can also find it on my account if the link doesn't work, @tiernan.harris and the playlist is called ephemeral

Silence muffled the room, laying down on Neil like a thick cloud. The heat of the first of September coming in through the closed windows like water through cracks in the floor. The women were fanning themselves while the boys and their fathers sat there in their thick sweaters and jackets and their stretched collared shirts worn only to look "presentable," as the sweat dripped down their backs and drenched them slowly. Neil didn't want to be here. Ever since the  first year he had gone to Wellton Academy when he was 11, he had begged and begged his parents to not make him come back. Every year he received the same answer.

     "This is a great opportunity for you Neil."

     "You're so lucky you get to go to this school, I never had opportunities like these."

     "Don't you dare be ungrateful, I've worked so hard to get you here."

     "You'll be grateful for this when you get into a good college and become a doctor."

     Neil didn't want to become a doctor, but it's not like that mattered.

     The sound of bagpipes echoed through the room and broke Neil from his stupor. He turned to see the procession led by his friend Charlie who walked slowly down the carpeted aisle and surreptitiously rolled his eyes at Neil as he passed. Neil looked up to the ceiling stifling a laugh, the banners being carried down to the pulpit read, "Tradition, Honor, Discipline, Excellence." Complete bullshit if you asked him.

    Neil wasn't the kind of student who blatantly disobeyed the rules or tried their best to make trouble. In fact he was almost the opposite of that, model student always achieving good grades. All the teachers liked him, he participated in class and seemed to know every right answer. His homework was always turned in on time and everyone at the school loved him. Neil loved learning, the feeling of understanding, of gaining new information and being able to apply it, but this school with all its strict rules and harsh policies, forcing students to behave exactly as they believed was correct, was an absolute hell for Neil Perry. The only reason he was doing so well was because he was adept at acting. He knew exactly what the teachers wanted to hear and so that's what he would say. Neil felt a harsh tap on his shoulder and looked over to see his father glaring angrily at him and motioning towards the front of the room.

     Mr. Nolan, the headmaster, had started his speech, the same one he made every year that all the parents and most of the students seemed to eat up with delight like dogs begging for treats. They all believed they were getting the best education possible, learning how to do the most advanced arithmetic and understand science better than anyone else. It was a school filled with future doctors, lawyers and businessmen. Supposedly, the students who graduated from this school were some of the smartest in the country. All that, but they weren't being taught how to think. They had to blatantly accept whatever the teachers said, follow the exact set curriculum and gain an absolute understanding of the course material. But should they deem it necessary to present their own opinions and form their own ideas, they were shot down by their "elders" immediately.

     Neil sat up straight and looked directly at the pulpit, his eyes were wide open, but his ears were closed. He didn't want to hear any of this.

     "One hundred years ago, in 1859, 41 boys sat in this room and were asked the same question that greets you at the start of each semester. Gentlemen, what are the four pillars?" Mr. Nolan said.