Letters to Romeo. Chapter 12: Invitation in the dark

Chapter 12:Invitation in the dark

Music Recomndation: Let my ho be my gallows- Hans Zimr

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After the boys who were involved in the fight left, the lunchroom returned to its peaceful state. Julie had not missed the way Roman had made eye contact with her, and when her eyes moved, she noticed even Eleanor didn't miss it because the next mont, she glared at her. Sothing told her that she would need to be careful from now on while visiting restrooms or alone.

"What do you think triggered the fight?" asked Conner while looking over his shoulder at the place where the fight had taken place.

"Who knows," replied lanie in a nonchalant tone and getting back to finishing her al. Julie realized that lanie ate slowly. "They are always getting into fights for God knows what reasons. And once the fight is over one person goes to the infirmary and the other goes to detention. It is a never ending process."

"Maybe there was a reason. There cannot be smoke without fire," said Julie, and Conner nodded his head.

"We should have gotten the table there," said Conner as if he missed an important gossip.

"Anywhere near the fight will only end up with sothing or soone getting broken," stated lanie.

Julie wondered what had ticked Roman off to end up beating a guy today. While the injured boy had been carried out of here, she had noticed his bloody face that left a chill down her spine.

If sothing like this happened in the last place she studied, they would have been expelled after one warning. But then, this place was like a delinquent university except for a few students.

Julie said, "I am going to the library. I need to make notes for the anatomy class as Mr. Jackman said he has a test prepared for the coming week."

"I will co with you. I need to get the notes prepared too and maybe we can swap later?" suggested lanie, and Julie nodded her head.

"Yeah, that would be great. It will save our ti," replied Julie.

As the trio left, Eleanor and her friends stared at the new student from where they sat while pinning Julie to be a threat.

Reaching the library, Julie went on her way to find the book in the racks. Pulling out the book, she got back to where lanie was sitting. Two hours passed where Julie continued to make notes as she read the textbook.

When she looked up to ask lanie sothing, she noticed her friend wasn't sitting there anymore. Her eyes looked around, and she noticed there was not a single soul in here. The books on the table had disappeared, and the sound of the pages being flipped had disappeared.

"lanie?" Julie called her friend's na, but she received no response.

The lights that had been lit in the library did in and out, making her stand up from her seat.

The racks that stood on either side vanished as if they weren't here at all, and when she called her friend's na again, her voice only echoed. Suddenly, she heard the doors behind her open and in ca so n dressed in black robes with their faces covered and carrying torches of fire. Behind them, one person carried soone in his arms, who looked unconscious.

The man walked forward and placed the unconscious person on the ground.

'Get the knife,' one person demanded, and Julie's eyes went wide. Were they planning to kill the person on the ground?! Soon she started to hear whispers of incantation-

"Julie? Wake up."

Julie's eyes snapped open on hearing lanie's voice, and she woke up from her dream. A little disoriented, she sat straight in the chair. Looking around, she saw so students sitting there and studying.

"I fell asleep," said Julie and made her hair proper.

"You did. You were sleeping so soundly that I didn't have the heart to wake you up," said lanie scrunching her nose. Julie couldn't believe that she had fallen asleep and looked at her watch on her wrist. It was nearly two in the afternoon. Her friend inford her, "I am going to head to the dorm."

"I will finish this and et you at the dorms," said Julie, not wanting to keep her friend waiting. lanie nodded, picking up her books and leaving Julie to complete her notes.

The dream that Julie dreamt a few minutes ago evaporated while she tried to work on the rest of her notes that she would need. An hour passed before she was done, and she returned the book. It was afternoon, and the sky was covered in clouds that turned the weather gloomy and cold as if it would rain.

While passing the Blue Block, Julie caught sight of Roman, who leisurely sat at the stairs with one hand holding the cigarette and the other rested behind him. As it was Sunday, the building was empty with no students or teachers in there.

"What do you think you are doing, Roman? Dante asked us to clean and I am doing the damn work all by myself," said another guy who ca outside from the building with a mop in his hand.

"I am taking a break," replied Roman in a calm voice. He blew the smoke into the air. With the number of tis Julie had caught him smoking, she could only believe that he would die because of lung failure.

Julie was still walking as she had to walk past the Blue Block, hearing them speak.

Griffin looked flabbergasted by Roman's words, "Break? You didn't even touch the mop yet. Looks like you prefer to stay in the dungeon."

Overhearing them, Julie asked, dungeon?

"Go ahead," said Roman, a smile on his lips. Julie realized they were being punished for causing a commotion in the lunchroom. Deciding not to get involved in it, she quickly walked away from there. Right now, she had enough on her plate, and she didn't want to be where trouble was breathing.

Roman and Griffin's eyes were quick to fall on the student who was walking away from the outer side of the building, and Roman grinned, "Looks like it will be you and not spending your ti in the dungeon if she caught what you said."

At night, when Julie was in her dorm, soone knocked on her door. When she opened it, she saw a girl standing there, whom she didn't know.

"This is for you," said the girl, handing the envelope to her.

"Wait!" Julie stopped the girl. "Who gave this to you?"

"I don't know. I was only asked to deliver it to you," replied the girl, leaving the front of her room.

She took a peek at the corridor and saw so of the girls in their own world, who were talking and laughing. Closing the door shut with one hand and in another holding the letter, Julie looked at the window left open by her. How unlike her letter-giver, giving it to soone and then give it to her, she thought to herself.

Opening it, she read it to herself, "If you don't want your secrets to be known about the rules you have broken, co to the forest where the bonfire took place yesterday. I will be waiting for you."

It was ten in the night, and this person wanted her to step foot outside the dorm? And in the forest?

Julie pursed her lips with a small frown, wondering what more this person knew about her apart from her breaking the rule by sending the letter to her uncle. She didn't want to go, but this mystery bully had decided to show him or herself to her. If she went, she would know who it is and settle this matter once and for all.

Wearing her sweater and grabbing the flashlight, she made her way out of the dorm. As easy as it had seed when she had walked with lanie and Conner, Julie realized the path in the forest was confusing, and it took her so ti to reach the place where the fire had been lit yesterday.

She noticed soone standing there, a girl. When the person turned, Julie's eyebrows raised.

"Eleanor?" questioned Julie with her eyebrows knitting together.

"Surprised to see ?" asked Eleanor with a smile.

"More than anything. Were you the one who sent the letter?" asked Julie, her eyes looking around to see no one but them in here.

"Of course it was , who else do you think it would be? Roman? Because you think you shared two choco sticks and now you are a thing in your head?" Eleanor scoffed at the thought of it. "You small town girls like to dream big. Did you think I gave you an empty threat this morning?"

"Give the letter back to ," demanded Julie.

"Back?" questioned Eleanor, "I already gave you the letter which is why you are here, you ditz. As we don't have a phone, letters are the best way to communicate."

While Eleanor was looking down at Julie, Julie tried to add up to the girl's words wondering if this was a mistake. It was possible that Eleanor was not the one who had the letter that she had written to her uncle, and it was soone else.

Julie sighed. She had co here for no reason. She turned around, ready to leave when she heard Eleanor speak,

"Where do you think you are going?" At the sa ti, three girls stepped out from behind the trees. "I didn't tell you to leave and we aren't done speaking to you."

"You can speak to tomorrow. I can make ti for you all depending on how important the matter is," said Julie to the girls. "Haven't you heard what happens when you enter the woods at this hour of the night? Soone gets killed," she said with a straight face.

"We have been in this place longer than you, Julianne. To learn to not to be scared about such stupid things. We aren't even in the danger zone," replied Eleanor and then smiled, "If it is anyone who is going to die, then it is you."

"Looks like all of you are aiming to end up in jail rather than graduating from here," remarked Julie while looking at the three girls who held a baseball bat in their hands.

Eleanor laughed at Julie's words, "Don't worry, I didn't an it in a literal sense, but you sure as hell will regret getting any close to Roman when we are done with you here."

Julie didn't want to break any part of her bone, and she took a step away from the three girls and near a tree. She clutched onto the flashlight in her hand. She said,

"I have no interest in him. You can keep him all to yourself. What happened yesterday was just a simple ga and nothing more than that. You know how the seniors are," she tried to convince them.

"Break her legs so that she cannot use them," ordered Eleanor in a calm voice. Soon one of the girls swung the bat at Julie, but in ti Julie stepped away from her place, and the bat hit the tree. Dried leaves fell on the ground.

These psychos!

Hearing the sound of the tal bat hit the tree in force, Julie's eyes went wide. Her friends were not joking when they said so of the girls were crazy. These girls needed therapy! Even though she had co to notice that things in this place were extre, being beaten by a baseball bat was sothing she had never considered.

They were four girls with tal bat in their hands, and she was alone with just a flashlight in her hand. That was right, realized Julie. When one of the girls ca closer to her, ready to swing her hands, Julie pressed on the switch of her flashlight, and the white light fell right on the girl's faces, montarily blinding them.

Quickly Julie started to run, and the girls chased her further into the forest. Thankfully the other girls were much slower than her, and it made it easier for her to dodge the baseball bat from breaking or damaging any part of her body.

"Why are you running slow! Don't let her escape!" Eleanor ordered her friends from behind. The ring leader was much slower than the other girls, and Julie shook her head.

"Why don't we all take a mont and sort this out. I doubt you want to end up in prison," shouted Julie, her shoes lifting the dried leaves for a second because of the speed she ran in before they fell back lifeless on the ground.

"Do you an to say who will end up in the hospital? When we are done with you, you won't be studying here anymore," Eleanor shouted back while pursuing the rest of them.

"I don't want any bad blood, so let's just drop this!" yelled Julie. As she continued to run, she raised her hand and tried to read the ti on her watch. It was forty past ten, and there was only twenty more minutes left before she would break one of the rules. She didn't want to break any more rules than she already had. "You were only bluffing! You know nothing!"

"Of course, I do," replied Eleanor, and suddenly one of the girls caught up to her. Julie had no clue where she was running anymore, and she took a quick left. "You think people are deaf that they didn't listen to what you were speaking to Roman?"

"I thought people had their own business," muttered Julie under her breath.

Which was the way to get out of here?!

"Everyone heard you challenging Ro. You crossed your line there," stated Eleanor.

Julie felt a drop of water fall on her forehead, and within the next few seconds, the rain started to pour down from the sky. While the girls had been chasing her, none of them noticed that they had stepped into the deeper parts of the forest, missing the danger signs that had been nailed on the trees. The rain blurred any and every sound in the vicinity, and she couldn't hear the girls' footsteps chasing her anymore. Did the girls leave?

She felt breathless because of the non running, and now that it was raining and water blurred half of the vision, Julie stopped for a mont to see where she was.

When she turned around, right in ti, she caught sight of one more girl who had not given up on chasing her hunt. Julie staggered back, bringing her flashlight forward, but that only broke when it ca in contact with the bat.

"Finally, you have nowhere to go," ca Eleanor's voice from behind her.

"Don't you think this is foul play? Four against one person and not to ntion the choice of weapon," said Julie, huffing for air and noticing the other girl's huffing too.

"Haven't you heard everything is fair in love and war, Jules," said Eleanor, crossing her arms against her chest.

Eleanor got hold of one of the bats and advised, "Close your eyes, it will hurt less." But before anything could happen, they heard a scream in the forest, which gained everyone's attention. "What was that?" Eleanor snapped her head, looking behind her.

Another bone-chilling scream was heard, and the girls suddenly beca worried. Julie looked around, counting the number of girls in here. There were four girls and then her, everyone was here. So who scread?

Julie walked near a tree, staring at it, which had the warning sign nailed on the tree's bark. "I think we are in the restricted area of the forest," she said, gulping down as thunderstruck up in the sky and lights flashed.

Having already heard two screams that possibly ca from a female, Julie and the other girls quickly started to run with no actual direction, not realizing they were getting into the deeper side of the forest. It was past eleven in the night, and Julie had successfully broken another rule from the list, passed the dull thought.

"Didn't you say, you were well aware of the paths in the forest," demanded Julie when she caught up to the girl.

"I have never strolled this far. Do you think I like to take a walk in here?" Eleanor retorted as if this wasn't her fault.

As expected, Eleanor was all words, except with the bats. Julie ran further before coming to a halt. She looked around, not knowing which direction would lead them back to the dormitories.

They didn't know in which direction the scream ca from because the voice had echoed. One of the girls said, "It must be the wild animals in here. It must have attacked soone!"

That was a possible answer, thought Julie to herself. She blindly walked forward. The more she walked, she noticed sothing on the ground. Stones placed upright. It was an old graveyard…

Did this graveyard belong to those lords who once lived on this property? From where she stood, the tombstones looked old and greenish moss covering so parts of it. Realizing this was the wrong path, Julie turned around, walked to where the rest of the girls stood.

Her heart was quick to drop from her chest on seeing the watchman of the university, who stood with Mr. Borrell and another teacher.

"What do you think you are doing here?" Mr. Borrell glared at Eleanor, who looked down at the ground.

"W-we got lost, Mr. Borrell," replied one of the girls. "We were walking in the forest and then couldn't get back."

Mr. Borrell looked more than angry at them, and when his eyes fell on Julie, it narrowed. "Back to getting into trouble. All of you will serve detention tomorrow. Failing to follow the rules and wandering in the night."

"What was that scream? We heard soone scream," asked Eleanor and the other teacher who was with Mr. Borrell said.

"It was possibly an animal's cry," replied the man with blonde hair with a smile on his lips. "We don't know what strange creatures live in these woods." That was not true, thought Julie to herself. What were the two teachers even doing here? She knew even if she said anything in her defence, she would only be receiving one more detention, and she didn't want the buy one get one free offer.

"But Mr. Evans-" Eleanor began to say sothing, but Mr. Evans ca and stood in front of her.

The man placed his hand on her shoulder and looked straight into Eleanor's eyes, and said, "You did not hear or see anything in here. But you did break the rules that we placed and for that, make sure you go to the detention room tomorrow."

Mr. Evans walked to the other girls, repeating the sa things that he had told Eleanor. He then ca to stand in front of Julie. She knew the girls were dumb, but she doubted they were dumb enough not to understand the first ti he said it because he repeated the sa things. His light brown eyes stared into her eyes, and he said,

"Forget everything that you saw or heard in here. Now you will go to your room without discussing a word with anyone and visit the detention room for lurking outside past eleven in the night."

Julie didn't know why, but she felt a chill run down her spine when he looked right into her eyes. Mr. Evans then stepped back from them and offered, "Why don't I lead you young ladies back to your dorm? Co on now."

The rain had stopped, and on their way back, the girls didn't speak to each other as instructed by Mr. Evans. Now only if the girls had listened to her just like they listened to Mr. Evans, there would have been no problem. She couldn't believe she had gained another detention.

Stepping away from the thicker grown trees, Julie was finally able to see the buildings. While looking at the trees as they walked in the quiet night, her eyes fell on soone who stood on a branch of the tree.

It was Roman. How co people like him didn't get detention? Their eyes t for the briefest mont before she looked ahead as if she didn't see him.

"Now get back to bed and don't break any more rules," smiled Mr. Evans when they reached the front of the dormitory, and the girls went in.

Julie got inside her dorm, locking the door behind her and drawing the curtains. Her clothes were drenched in rain, and she changed herself into fresh clothes. Mr. Evans had told them to forget everything. Did he an not to speak about it to anyone? And who scread?