Page 5

Won’t get me the one thing I need most in this world. Money can’t buy love, and it can’t buy me.
And it can’t fill the absence inside my heart.
two
PHOENIX
Darkwood Academy,my home for the next several months as I start my senior year. Home of the Ravens, and home to some ridiculous school fucking uniforms.
Seriously, these black and hunter green plaid skirts for the girls are obscenely ugly. Pair it with a white button-down shirt, some white knee-high socks, and black Mary Jane’s and you have yourself the most ridiculous outfit—which, of course, you have to wear five days a week.
What fucking century is this?
What’s worse, my uniforms are used. Not new like all the other rich pricks, used. Donated by students at the end of the year who graduated. Thanks to all those who came before me to wear these atrocious uniforms. I forced my aunt to have these taken to a place and cleaned. I didn’t really want to wear other people’s cooties.
It’s the Friday before school starts, and it’s the day they allow seniors to move into their dorms for the year. Yes, dorms. As in, I’ll have to stay on campus all day and night with people I really don’t want to be around.
This past week, I went online and pulled up a map of this place. Darkwood is huge. This whole place is like a college campus. There are a ton of academic buildings and dorms, and it’s evident this place loves its sports based on the athletic facilities scattered around the campus.
There are five sets of dorms on campus. The Blackwood Tower houses the junior and senior girls, and the Dark Pine Tower sits next door and houses the junior and senior boys on campus. Black Pine Tower is for the freshmen and sophomore girls, while the Forest Edge Tower houses the freshmen and sophomore boys. Then out in the corner of the campus is a set of apartments for the faculty if they choose to live here during the school year.
How weird is that?
As my taxi pulls up to the unloading zone near the gates, I take in the tall stone wall with iron gates and gargoyles perched on stone columns beside them. Creepy ass rich people shit. Turning to look out the other window, I see the parking lot packed with cars I don’t even know how to pronounce. Wait, no, I see a Porsche. Okay, I know how to pronounce that one.
There are cars parked all along the sidewalk outside the school gates. Students with iPads and moving hand trucks circle the others like sharks. There are people talking on walkie talkies, directing others and pointing to areas for the drop off. It’s a fucking circus. I let out a long sigh and open up my door, but the minute I step out onto the sidewalk, I’m attacked by a bouncy blonde girl holding an iPad.
“Hi! Welcome back to Darkwood Academy!” she says as she obnoxiously chews her gum. Her eyebrows shoot towards her hairline, and her eyes stare into me like they’re trying to steal my soul. Maybe that’s why she’s so happy; she sucks the souls from her victims. “I love your hair! Is that a natural red? You have to tell me what salon you went to if it’s not! Do I know you? You don’t look familiar. And I know everyone here! Well, except the incoming freshmen.Oh, you must be a freshmen!”
I reply slowly, “Um, yeah, this is my first year, but I’m a senior. So, just point me in the right direction and I’ll take it from there.”
I take a step back towards the trunk of the taxi. The taxi driver opens the trunk and starts pulling out my bags. Before I can take them, speedy soul sucker is already there grabbing them and placing them on a flatbed cart.
She flips her blonde hair over her shoulder and chimes, “Oh no! That’s what we’re here for. By the way, I’m Lillian Harris. I’m going to help you to your dorm and then someone will be by to show you around campus. I just need your name so I can get you all checked in.” She smiles at me, a wide, creepy, way-too-happy smile. What the fuck do they put in the water here?
“Phoenix Hayes,” I tell her dryly.
“Oh emgee! I love your name. Oh! Here you are.” She scrolls through whatever she’s looking at on her iPad. Suddenly, her smile is a little more forced. “Well, your dorm is in Blackwood Tower. But um, you need to go to the office first, since you’re, um, a scholarship student.”
I don’t understand what that has to do with anything, but sure. “Um, okay, but what about my stuff?” As I ask her this, I hear a door shut, and it pulls my attention momentarily. I turn to see the taxi driving off and turn my gaze back to Peppy Patti—I mean Lillian.
“Well, we’ll have someone bring it to your room. The floor monitor has access to your room for today, so we’ll just stick it in there. But in the office, they will more than likely have your welcome packet that will have your access codes for the room.” She presses the iPad against her chest and tries to keep the smile on her face. “Okay then! The office is that big building there,” she says as she points behind her. “Just follow this path and you’ll find the Forthright Building. The office is on the main floor when you walk right in.”
Before I can say thanks, she turns away and stalks off towards another unaware victim.
I grab my backpack and throw it on. This thing carries the most import of my items: my shitty laptop, a photo of my mom, and the box she told me to hold onto. I glance over at the cart and pray that it actually does get to the correct dorm room. I reach up and grab my locket, watching the chaos around me. The laughter between friends and the chatter of students trying to make sure they have everything. I roll my eyes and press forward.
I need to get to the office so I can find some sanity in the silence of my door room. The introvert in me is not enjoying the throngs of students milling about.
As I weave through all the commotion of students trying to gather their boxes of items, I realize how little I actually brought. One girl has a box stuffed to the brim with shoes. Another has bags of stuffed animals. They all look like they’re trying to pack an entire house worth of worthless crap into whatever size cell we are going to be living in over the next several months.
But I also realize how alone I am. As I watch people hugging their loved ones, or friends becoming excited over seeing each other, I feel a dull pain in my chest.
There’s no one for me. Everyone I once loved is gone from this earth. There’s no one to see me off on a new adventure or my first day at a new school. No one to tell me that they love me, no one to send me a care package. I’m utterly alone in this world.
I bite my lip and force back the tears as I make my way around all the chaos.
I pass through the gates, and I get a sudden chill running down my spine. Something feels off about this place. There’s a dizzying thought that this has been a mistake. That coming here was not a good idea. Then again, none of this was my idea. I just don’t want to be here.