9 Days till the fall of Almadel

Behind the door was a tiny waiting room. Two pairs of wooden chairs faced each other outside a second internal door. The top half of the door was a frosted glass pane. Behind, Dean could make out the shape of what might be a bookshelf, perhaps a desk, maybe a person sitting behind it.

Jeremiah steered Dean into a chair on the left of the door, and Trix into one opposite, then he knocked on the inner door. He opened it a crack without waiting for a response and leaned in. “A word, please, Mrs Pooley” he said, then went inside and closed the door behind him.

Dean watched his blurred shape move into the room through the frosted glass. He could hear a muffled conversation with a female voice, but however hard he strained his ears he couldn’t quite make out what was being said over the pounding of his heart in his ears. He looked down at his hands in his lap. They were shaking, so he clasped them together tightly and tried to breathe through his nose to calm down. He was concentrating so hard on his hands that he didn’t notice Trix slip into the chair next to him.

“I’m Beatrix, but call me Trix” she said, causing him to jump.

“Uh, I’m Dean” said Dean.

“Yes, I know” said Trix.

“I think you should go back and sit on that side, I think Jeremiah put you there so we wouldn’t talk while he told the head teacher...”

“It’s fine” said Trix, “listen. You saw that too, right? It wasn’t just me?”

“Please, couldn’t you just go back and wait over there? I’m in enough trouble as it is.”

“Relax, we’re just chatting. Anyway, you haven’t answered me yet. That thing. You saw it up close, right?” said Trix.

“I guess so, it was only for a second”

A commotion from inside the office interrupted their conversation. They both leaned forward to try and see more of the room through the door. Two shapes were now standing opposite each other and the female voice was shouting. The very tall shape of Jeremiah sat back down and waved an arm. Mrs Pooley looked like she had stood up. She slammed the desk and shouted again, and Dean thought he could make out the word "expelled", but that might have been his imagination. The two voices returned to their previous buzzing murmur. It was strange, he thought, that the voices were so muffled. Surely they should be able to hear much more clearly through a single wooden door. Everything they said seemed to be made distorted and sibilant without being reduced in volume. He sunk lower in his chair and let his head fall to his chest.

“So anyway, what did you see in that room earlier” she asked again in a low whisper, “what did it smell like? Did it make any noises?”

Dean ignored her, “I’m going to be expelled” he said, the thoughts that had been parading through his mind for the last few minutes suddenly all flowing out at once. “They’re going to expel me and I’ll have to call my parents and tell them, and it’s too late to take any of the other offers we got, so I’ll have to go back to that horrible shitty school I just managed to leave.”

Trix snorted, “What are they going to expel you for? If anything you should be angry at them for leaving some sort of wild creature in the school behind an open door”

“I’m sure it wasn’t a wild creature, probably just an animatronic or something---”

“OH COME ON---” said Trix loudly before catching herself and dropping to a loud hissing whisper “oh come on! I saw it, it moved. Just before the door closed I saw it start licking its paw, it moved exactly like a cat. I know, I’ve got a cat. Back at my mother’s place.”

“Maybe you’re right, then. It’s just a cat, with red eyes. Maybe that happens. I’m not an expert” he wiped his hands on his trousers yet again to try and dry off the sweat on his palms “Let’s not talk about it, OK?”

“How can you not want to talk about it!” said Trix, her voice rising out of a whisper again, “I’m pretty sure it smiled at---”

The door opened and Jeremiah emerged, smiling. “She’s ready for you now. Go on through.” He made to leave then stopped, as though suddenly remembering something, “Oh, by the way. Maybe we shouldn’t mention what happened in that room just before we arrived. Probably best for all involved. I have ensured that it is locked, as it ought to be.”

The inner door opened fully to reveal a short and somewhat plump woman. She had a circular face, made more round by the bob-cut of her hair. Dean found it hard to imagine her shouting and slamming tables.

“Oh delightful! New students!” she said. “Please come in! Welcome to Almadel! You are the last two we were waiting for. You must be Beatrix, dear?” she said to Trix, who made no response, “wonderful, and you are Dean?” she said, turning to him.

“Dean.” he said, still shaken and unsure what to say.

They entered her office, a room that managed to be both neat and cluttered. Every surface was covered with papers, folders, nicknacks, painted stones, souvenir mugs from different countries, pictures of smiling people, cards. All the folders were carefully squared, the piles of paper topped with post it notes explaining what they contained...there was just so much of it all. It looked more appropriate for someone planning an invasion than a head teacher.

“Do please sit!” she said, pointing to a floral sofa opposite her desk. “We usually kick the day off with an assembly, where I will tell you a little about the school and the school year, but there are a few bureaucratic little nonsenses that we need to handle first, then I can show you to your rooms and you can put away your things before assembly”.

Trix raised her hand in what Dean assumed was an attempt to show respect, but immediately started talking without waiting for permission. “I have a question first” she said. Dean sat down and bounced his leg nervously.

Mrs Pooley raised one finger and her eyebrows. “I prefer to conclude all the paperwork before answering any questions, if you don’t mind, especially if such questions were to pertain to any aspect of the school itself, such as malfunctioning equipment in classrooms that might cause surprising lights to blink in unnerving ways that might be misconstrued as something fantastical.”

Dean caught Trix’s eye and shot her a pleading glance. Just drop it he thought, we might get through our first day, wouldn’t that be nice.

Trix sighed and rolled her eyes at Dean. “Never mind, then.”

“But first, if you don’t mind I would need a single drop of blood from each of you” said Mrs Pooley, smiling reassuringly.