You know what they say about the first day of school- it will be scary, but you’ll enjoy it. It’s safe to say that I did not enjoy mine in the slightest.
I should probably start to explain. I suppose it’s not technically school, it’s college. But not college as in the American college, as in the British college… which i think is American high school? Do correct me if I’m wrong there. Three days ago, I began my new life at the Rutherford Institute, and this brief time is all it took to realise how freaked out I am stuck in this place.
The first day began with roll call, but something about the class was incredibly strange. There was no chatter amongst anybody. I said hi to the person seated next to me, and was met with an oddly blank stare. That might not sound strange, I know I’m not the most sociable person ever, as many others are I am sure; but I figured I would at least try for this first day, the least I could receive was a smile. But no, his face remained completely blank, and the only part of his body that made any attempt at movement was his neck, his eyes locked in a dazed stare.
To make this experience stranger, almost everyone in the class was male. Aside from two others, I was the only girl- or at least, the only girl who appeared conscious. This dead silence shortly passed, as the teacher entered the room the hubbub began. Quite the opposite to what I have been used to. The teacher seemed immensely unbothered, his eyes flicking robotically from face to face. I locked eyes with him and immediately my blood ran cold. I could have sworn his entire being flickered in and out of existence for a brief second, but I averted my eyes so quickly I was sure I imagined it. Right? Someone please tell me I imagined it, or I think I might actually go crazy.
At 11:01 a.m, the lights to the entire building flew out. As in, literally flew. One second they were here, casting the headache-inducing LED light onto the student body, and then- nothing. Whispering and growling surrounded me, coming from the walls. In the blackness, it almost appeared as if the walls were writhing like a horde of venomous snakes. A hand landed on my shoulder, and I had to throw my hand over my face to prevent myself from screaming. As I spun around, the lights came back, and my attacker’s face was plunged into blinding light.
The boy, about a head taller than me and piercing eyes grabbed my arm, and started pulling me along behind him, occasionally glancing over his shoulder in a frenzied sort of paranoia. Once we were safely tucked in an alcove, he finally released me from his iron grasp.
“You look normal, are you normal?” he interrogated, almost falling over each word.
I was bewildered by this question, but after giving it some thought whilst writing this, I don’t think it is an entirely odd question given the experiences during that day.
“Yes, yes, yes! I am normal.” Now I was the one actually stumbling over my words, breathing a sigh of relief as my heart rate began to slow down.
“Oh thank fuck!” he gasped deeply “Okay, so quick run down. This place is strange, I have no idea what is going on or why everyone else is a robot, but you are the only person who has a single shred of humanity behind their eyes. Nobody talks unless an adult is in the room, and nobody seems to realise I exist- well aside from you of course. Oh, and I’m Matt.”
I have something to confess. My brain is not the quickest at the best of times. Even though I am more of an english person than a maths person, my processing can happen at a snail’s pace at times. After blinking a few times at his panting face, I extended my hand.
“Glad it’s not just me. I’m Amelia.”
He nodded at me- for what reason I could not tell you, and then threw his arms around my neck, smothering me in his scent that was reminiscent of a coffee shop. As I wrapped my arms gingerly around him in response, I began to think that perhaps all these other occurrences weren’t all that strange in comparison.
The minute I got home after my first day, I began to research this college online, yet I found nothing. And I mean nothing. Not a single online profile, a news article, or even a school website! I was getting incredibly creeped out by this point, and not a single piece of this puzzle seemed to fit together. So I began writing this. I do apologise that it is simply a brief summary, but my mind is so full of potential theories or reasoning behind all of these strange happenings. The moment I began writing is the moment the storm began. I’m not talking about a slight wind and some rain here either, I’m talking about heavy, black clouds, rain lashing at the windows so viciously it sounded like knives trying to tear my bedroom apart.
Now, I don’t have a lot of time to finish writing this, as there is something banging, scratching and howling at my bedroom window. Somehow I think it is aware I’m telling you these things, and it really does not want it to get out into the knowledge of everybody else. I guess it’s too late now, as I could really do with some advice on this.
So far, all I have done is sit quietly and peacefully in my lessons, got lost around the huge campus- avoiding anywhere that looked slightly too dark in the sunlight- and waited for the days to end with an aching pain in my head. I don’t want to go back to the Rutherford Institute (or as I’m debating to nickname it- the Clusterfuck Institute) but I suppose I will have to.
The sooner I can learn about these happenings, the sooner I can put together a list of rules to help anyone else who is unfortunate enough to attend this place.