What did the vice-captain want from me?

Maia Keller was the second-highest ranked in the first years, only behind Caleb Lannister. She was a cold unwelcoming individual, a common trait amongst the high rankers. Unbecoming of her personality, she was recognized as pretty attractive by many of the year 10s. I had no opinion, however.

"What are you doing here?"

It was odd for she was the one asking the question, but I replied honestly, not wanting to cause an ordeal.

"I was bored of my class."

"You're Sonya Moran's little brother, aren't you?"

The vice-captain somehow knew my sister. This sent a shiver down my spine. No one had mentioned my sister's name in many years. She went through this school two years ago.

"How do you know her?"

"She fell in love with my older brother, of course, I'd know her."

I had received a letter from my sister three years ago. It was the only communication I had ever had with my older sister. I had always known about her existence from the textbooks I read as a kid, but only once did I ever read something she wrote to me.

When I eventually left the orphanage, I considered looking for her, but I didn't have a feasible method of doing so.

"What do you want?"

"Jeez, Ollie, you don't have to act so cold towards me... we're basically family."

She annoyed me, I didn't care whether she thought we were family or not.

The concept of family was far distant from me.

"If you have nothing else to talk about, I'll be going."

"I heard she was a really nice girl, you know?"

I continued walking, the exit was in sight. It seemed Maia wasn't going to pursue me any further.

*

"Hey, Ollie, did you hear? the student body vice-captain was in an argument."

"I did not hear of such a thing."

"She's so cool, apparently she humiliated the 11th ranked!"

"Is that so?"

Noah was a relatively nice guy to be around, but even so, he sometimes can be overexcited by the internal affairs of the school.

Ever since Noah entered the school, he had been entranced by the idea of political bouts in the school. His mother was a very talented politician, he always used to watch her on television. He would watch as she used her incredible intellect to persuade others. He strived to become a powerful politician, a powerful leader, someone who could be counted on, someone who could stand side-by-side with his mother.

It was refreshing to see someone which such straightforward morals and ambition.

"Anyways, I was going to run by the store to get some stationary, I'll see you later, Oliver!"

"See you later."

It was nearing the end of the day. At this school, all the students lived on the campus in dorms. The dorms were carefully crafted to meet the needs of every student and to provide the optimal living conditions for the elite children of Valencians High School.

There was a very large courtyard and a path. The path led towards the dorms. There were two extremely large buildings, built with modern sophisticated infrastructure. At the entrance were huge windows and automatic sliding doors. The inside was decorated with articulately placed greenery and bright lights. The bottom floors were administration rooms where students would swipe their ids and then take the elevator to their desired levels. In the buildings, there were large recreation rooms filled with pool tables, arcade games and table tennis tables. There were also multiple rooms for private and public study filled with colourful couches, geometric tables, and several housekeeping staff.

It was truly a high school student's dream.

If you could make it in and stay in, that is.

*

I slowly made my way towards my room. The atmosphere was magical, the bright green trees swaying in the wind, the puffy purple flowers scattered along the short, well-kept grass.

I turned the doorknob leading into my room. It seemed tighter and clunkier than usual, it was probably the wear and tear of the handle… maybe it was someone breaking in? I should probably go out and purchase some industrial oil to smoothen the doorknob.

I entered my room and walked through the small corner kitchen. I placed my heavy bag next to my wooden bedside table. I decided to make some instant noodles for dinner because I couldn't be bothered walking all the way to the cafeteria. I poured some water into my kettle, placed it onto its base, turned it on, and got a bag of noodles from the cupboard.

When I opened my cupboard, I noticed a neatly folded envelope stuck to the inside.

The envelope was blank with nothing on it. I had an idea of who may have delivered this letter. This looked like it was going to be a hassle.

**

Run and Don’t Look Back (1) – Seven Years Ago

I don't really mind it here.

Was the world always so small? I scarcely caught glimpses of the television from the gap between the door.

Ah, I wondered how people in the television feel all day?

Familiar footsteps vibrated the ground beneath me. It was Mom. She opened the door fully and passed me a colourless bowl of mashed vegetables and soup. Her glare towards me was cold and unwelcoming.

I picked up the bowl and slowly consumed its contents.

The food was mushy but it wasn’t necessarily unappealing, I wondered how I’d feel I’d I got to eat some of the food I see on the television. The food on the television seemed to be interesting and colourful and everyone who ate it looked like they were happy.

I didn't know what it felt like to be happy.

I didn't know what life was like out of this room.

I took one of the textbooks out from under my blanket, my mom said they were my older sister's past textbooks. My mom always got very angry when I looked at these textbooks, so I hid them under my blanket.

I wondered if my mother will ever let me go outside and play with other children.