Months passed after the Vigliancos landed their feet to the lands of Madreign, they found it hard to adjust themselves in this new environment. They were so lucky that the Louises were their only neighbor. This made their atmosphere much easier than expected. However, they often needed to go to the city to make money and to buy goods for their living.
Aside from documenting everything they witnessed in Madreign, they were also taking care of their horses. The ship’s crew landed their horses somewhere else near Madreign’s pier where no Madreese can witness them, to avoid suspicion.
Felix also enrolled Renata into a school, and because they were pretending that they came from Delural, they bought a wig to change their hair color.
~*~
“Five more minutes,” Renata’s writing teacher announced.
Renata was having a hard time doing the task her teacher gave to her. In her class, she was the last to finish her task.
Her hands were trembling while writing. Her grip on her pen was tight. In her class, she was the last to complete the task.
This was the first day of school. For Renata, this was so difficult and she couldn’t even challenge herself or have some fun doing this, knowing that her enemies were scattered everywhere.
“Oh my god!” Her teacher almost jumped when the window beside her suddenly opened because of the strong wind.
Renata’s classmates were also flabbergasted, but Renata remained stable. She did nothing but stare at her pen while struggling to write.
It’s so hard to write when my enemies are looking at me, Revi thought. She took a deep breath. I know how to use a pen, my mom told me how to. I just couldn’t bear Madreign’s pen. It’s . . . it’s disgusting. This pen was made by the ones who killed my mom. How could I hold this properly knowing that they made this filthy pen?!
While having those thoughts, her teacher closed the window and said, “sorry for that. You may now continue. 3 minutes left.”
Renata tightened her grip to her pen and tried to write. She was sweating and uncomfortable because of the atmosphere. Until the wind blew again, then darkness conquered the place.
Renata was stunned after the wind touched her skin. She slowly gazed above and saw nothing but darkness. Her teacher and classmates were nowhere to be seen. She was completely alone.
Where . . . am I?
In the middle of the stygian, a tremendous bang together with crazy screams and gunshots entered her ears. The sounds triggered her soul.
“N-no . . . please, stop.” Her eyes were bloodshot. Just like the leaf, her fragile body wavered when the wind intensified. “S-stop,” she muttered. The sounds of the past were damaging her soul constantly.
She gritted her teeth and covered her ears until she could no longer hear anything. She slowly lowered her hands and gasped for breath. She’s still in the middle of stygian.
“T-take me back, please. Take me back to the past—” A tremendous bang again entered her ears. Snakes suddenly appeared and wrapped her body.
“S-snakes! Stop!” she screamed, “I said stop!” Her voice echoed in the stygian.
She screamed and screamed until a black soul appeared in front of her and took her breath away. She gasped for breath. “T-t-take . . . take me back!” She closed her eyes.
“R-Renata, what’s happening? Are you okay?” Revi opened her eyes and her teacher kneeling in front of her first came into her sight.
“W-what . . .” Revi felt a tremor of unease inside her. She frowned at her teacher. “What?”
“You were shocked and afraid when I approached you. Is there something bothering you? We can talk about this, Renata, just tell me.”
Revi slowly shook her head. “N-nothing.” She averted her gaze and tried to write again.
The teacher sighed. “I will let you pass your seatwork after your art class. Be sure you’re fine.” She stood up. “Okay, class, it’s already time. I need to leave the room since your art teacher is here. Goodbye!” She smiled.
It’s obvious that I’m not fine, tsk.
The room became noisy. Her classmates’ constant chatter irritated her, yet she couldn’t do anything since she was just a mere child.
Another teacher entered the room and approached her writing teacher. Renata saw her teachers whisper something to each other and took a glance at her. Because of it, she secretly clenched her fist and gritted her teeth. After that, the art teacher let the kids in the room watch some cartoons about art and made them paint something. All of the students enjoyed the class except for Renata. For her, it was nonsense.
A few hours later, the class had ended. Their art teacher let them eat for break time while Renata excused herself to breathe some fresh air. She showed no interest in any class she had for the first day of school.
She sat in a place where no one was around. There she found some peace and fresh air. She reminisced about the terrifying moment earlier. That was peculiar. There were snakes, horrifying black ghosts, and memories she had in the ambush. Was she hallucinating? Or was that a sort of trauma or a nightmare?
Renata was in deep thoughts. She can’t get that peculiar moment out of her mind. Even though the next class was about to start, she didn’t come back to her classroom.
Then suddenly, something entered her ear. She became wary because of that. She immediately looked around and saw a young girl approaching her. That girl seemed to be older than her by three years but she’s not that tall. She had a fair skin complexion, black hair, thin eyebrows, and dark brown eyes.
Renata stood up as soon as she saw the girl. When the stranger finally approached her, she spoke, “isn’t your class about to start? Why are you still here?”
To be continued . . .