A little bit of backstory - Rey
The office was bland with a dull blue wallpaper that looked like it had faded over the years and was now more grey than colourful.
There were stacks and stacks of paper on the desk yet nothing personal, no photos of family members and simply just work stuff.
It unnerved me, why were there no personal items? Why was it all bland and plain? Why did the atmosphere of the whole room just make me want to crawl out of my own skin?
Well to be fair I doubt the presence of Officer Henry Wilkins was helping that last one.
His creepy smile was back, showing all of his teeth as his arms hung down by his side.
I clenched my hands into a fist as I narrowed my eyes, trying to keep my anger in check despite everything in me just wanting to leave this room, leave this building and just leave it all going back to my small apartment with Vanessa and Wade. I'd only spent a few years there and yet it was the closest thing to home I'd had.
And it was gone.
Because of Wade.
Maybe it was unfair to blame him for it all but I couldn't help it. Like don't get me wrong I understand how much Vanessa's death had affected him, how he'd blamed himself for it.
He needed an out. And he blew himself up.
But what about me?
I was six years old for fuck's sake. Who just leaves a six year old like that? He was the closest fucking thing I'd had to a parent and the goddamn bastard left me.
He left me.
My knuckles turn white at the memory, the way I'd sat cross legged at the door of our small apartment waiting for him to come home and tell me what was for tea. The way that when the door open I'd jumped up in excitement only to see a brunette woman with a clipboard and powdered face telling me that I needed to go with her. The way I'd cried and screamed at first before she explained what happened and then I was just numb.
Looking back at it now I can see that I was numb for a long time. In a way it was harder to accept Wade's death than it was to accept Vanessa's.
I guess part of me just thought that he'd regenerate and try and find me. I'd cried myself to sleep imagining him fighting tooth and nail to find me again, to take me away from the care home where I was closed off and didn't talk unless spoke to.
But he never came.
I had stopped crying myself to sleep afterthe first month, instead accepting the fact that I was now an orphan.
Does it count as an orphan when you still have the woman that gave birth to you, she's just imprisoned and was never really a mother?
I don't know.
I'd accepted it then and some of the numbness eased, instead replaced with anger at it all. I suppose that anger never left, instead getting worse and worse with every name, with every time they called me a monster or a freak, with every time they gave up on me fully.
It was all just another brick, another layer to my wall of anger until it became all that was left. An unbreakable wall that only got stronger overnight and everything that could have brought it down only added another layer.
It wasn't until I'd ran away and became my own person, free from the expectations of everyone and allowed to just exist without having to change myself, that the wall fell down.
And once it was down I felt lighter than ever, everything that held me down and filled me with such a rage I could see red just left and for once my mind felt clear.
That clearness became slightly foggy now as I dug my nails into my palms creating little half-moon indentation on the tender skin. I hadn't thought about my home, my first one, in ages and suddenly being at this school brought that out of me.
A woman turned to face me.
She reminded me of Guville at first; that same genuine kindness on her face and easy to read expression.
But then she smiled and I knew that I was wrong. She had that same unnatural smile as Wilkins, the one that just made me want to cringe and recoil from her.
The woman laughed, a sharp grating sound which was nothing like the soft one that I'd liked so much in Guville. "And you must be Rey." She said in an overly joyful tone. "My name is Megan Treallins. I am the Headmistress here." She laughed again.
I forced a smile and nodded slowly along to her words.
"I've been expecting you." She added before offering her hand out for me to shape.
Well that's not creepy at all.