The Blessed

CHAPTER SIX

The Director ordered Amero to get me a Prefect who would get me a uniform and show me around.

He was to return to the office after calling an emergency meeting with the Council.

We left the Director’s office and stood at the shores of a receding sea of people.

“Wish!” called out Amero.

A short girl who was walking in the opposite direction looked back. She run-walked towards us. Her eyes were seductively low. Her nose was small and compact. It was perfectly placed above a pair of full glossy lips. Her breasts were round and generous to her small yet chubby form. The long hills that were her hips and thighs filled out her pants to the brim. The badge on her shirt was green. Her pendant had two interlinking hexagons, just like Tanaka’s.

“Good afternoon Deputy.” she said.

Her intonation was light and graceful.

Amero pushed me forward. Something that I noticed that he was in the habit off.

I caught a whiff of her scent. It was sweet and warm, like the aroma of a bakery.

“This is David. He’s a new student, get him a uniform and show him where he’ll be sleeping.”

“Yes sir.”

Amero entered the Director’s office and banged the door shut.

“My name is Wish”, she said, “I’m the Head Prefect for girls at the Academy.”

“David”, I said, “And I don’t know what the hell is going on.”

She giggled,

“I’d be afraid of you if you did, come on.”

We exited the foyer through the left. As we walked down the corridor, I peeked into the four classrooms to my right. All of them were packed with students attentively listening to the teachers upfront and taking notes.

The teachers, I realized, had bronze badges but no pendants. The last classroom on the block however was different. Instead of desks and chairs, it had rows of long white tables and tall stools. It reminded me of the lab from my high school where we did science lessons. On the tables in front of the students were large, black rat-like corpses on silver trays. The students picked up the tiny blades next to the trays as they listened to the teacher upfront who was pointing at different parts of a diagram on the whiteboard.

We ascended a flight of stairs after the science lab. Finally, we arrived outside a door on the second floor. It was placed in between the four classrooms, serving as the third door on the corridor. We entered after knocking. An elderly lady with pins in her mouth was measuring a long brown cloth that hung from a mannequin with a female anatomy.

“Good afternoon Ms. Luceal.” said Wish.

“Hey Wish.”

She looked at me.

“Stray huh.” she said.

She walked over to a large closet that covered the entire left side of the room. She opened it. It was tightly packed, nearly brimming, with coats, shirts, and pants in groups of varying sizes.

“He is?” inquired Wish as she analyzed me, “How’d you know?”

“I can smell the confusion off of him.”

I wasn’t quite offended by her words. She was right. Even though I was beginning to digest the reality of the Association’s existence, I was still trying to mull over the taste of the revelation.

She handed me the clothes then proceeded to a large metal trunk on the right side of the room. I noticed through the wall length mirror that there was a lesson in progress in the next room. Upfront was voluptuous yet elderly south American woman with long white hair and eyebrows of the same colour.

“Here.”

Ms. Luceal handed me a pair of boots. I noticed that her badge was also bronze. She returned to her work.

“Thank you ma’am.” said Wish.

We left the room.

“Sure thing. Fix your face kid, the older students don’t take kindly to Strays.” called out Ms. Luceal.

As we ascended the stairs to the third floor, Wish said,

“Don’t let Ms. Luceal scare you. The Academy has a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to bullying. Us prefects will enforce that policy, strictly. So if anyone tries to mess with you, you look for me.”

We climbed two more flights of stairs. The second and third floor were identical to the first. On the fourth floor, opposite the floor-to-ceiling windows, were three doors.

“These are the boys’ dormitories and the showers”, said Wish, “On the top floor are the girls’ dorms.”

She opened the first door.

“This is where all the boys bunk, but since you’re a first year you’ll be sleeping here.”

The large room was divided into four by walls with a doorless entrances. Long rows of bunkbeds lined each side.

On the bottom bunk of one of the beds to the left were two figures hunched over something that emitted a strong colorful light. The two didn’t even notice Wish and I approaching them until we arrived at the foot of the bed.

“Use Sklerokenisis man!”

“Chill bro, I got this.”

The one playing what looked like a fantasy videogame, a lanky guy with thick curly hair and yellow skin immediately shut the laptop.

“Really guys? What did I say about playing games after lunchtime.”

“It’s already lesson time? Did you hear the bell?”

Curly hair asked was a few shades lighter than me in complexion. He had a neat fade cut and a chin beard.

“Hmm, can’t say I did.”

“Aren’t you two in charge of ringing the bell this week?” asked Wish.

“Oh yeah…”

“Anyway, this is David.”

“Sup man.” said curly hair.

“Yo.” said chin beard.

“Wassup.”

“David, this is”, Wish pointed at curly hair, “Daniel. And that’s Dwayne. They’re also first years”

“Finally, someone to add to the group.” said Daniel.

“Why did it have to be another guy though…”

“Show him around. I’ve got assignments I need to get to. I don’t want to catch you playing games during lesson time. The deal was you play in the morning and late at night. don’t make me confiscate it, you know you’re not supposed to have it anyway.”

“Yes ma’am.” they said in unison.

Wish left the dorms.

I looked at my cracked phone screen. The battery was almost out and there was no signal whatsoever.

“You’re lucky Wish brought you here. If it was another Prefect they would’ve taken that away."

I changed into my uniform.