12 Seek for Answers

"Okay, let's begin," the girl, says as she clasps both hands together after putting down the first aid kit.

She pulls out a stool that was conveniently placed under my bed. Then, she opens the kit, pulls out some kind of maroon canister, and grabs a pair of scissors, a pack of cotton, and two rolls of white bandage.

She places them neatly near my sides and motioned to give her my arm.

For a moment, I hesitated, but then I gave in and reached over to her with my left arm.

She opens the small compact canister and I think it was some kind of ointment; she then scrapped a good amount of it with her fingers and began to apply the ointment on my left arm. The contents left a trail of cool sensation as she rubbed it on my injured areas.

As she was applying the content, she began to speak as well.

"Let me start off by introducing myself first," her voice was flat and honestly, I felt somewhat intimidated by it.

She pauses for a moment as she looks up at me with blank eyes.

"My name is Vivian Rodriguez. Nice to meet you," she gives me a weak smile before looking back down and continuing to apply the ointment on my cuts gently.

It made me feel extremely guilty and awkward when she looked at me with such empty eyes. For some reason, it felt like it was off character for her to act like that, which was a bit crazy considering the fact that we just met and I have not known her for that long to know these kinds of stuff.

Nonetheless, it made me feel weirdly guilty to make her have such a sour mood all of a sudden.

Biting my lip, I replied by introducing myself.

"I'm Levi..." I trailed, my voice a bit more quiet than I wanted to.

"Look I'm S—" just as I was about to apologize for my impulsive behavior earlier, she stops me, "Stop, you don't have to say sorry—" she suddenly stops what she's doing and looks up at me with a sheepish smile.

"Look, I understand where you're coming from and I should know better. If I were in your shoes, I would have done the same. So, no need to say sorry," she says with a kind smile.

"But I was too careless a-a-and impulsive, it was wrong of me," I argued, a bit perplexed by her example of humility.

"No, it's fine, I understand," she says lightly a soft smile now displaying on her mouth.

"But I—"she cuts me off by shushing me and continuing on her job.

"I told you, it's fine.." she trails. She picks up a cotton ball and slightly dabs it on the ointment-applied skin, probably to remove excess products.

"I know you have a lot of questions, so just ask away and I'll try to answer them as best I could," she says not looking up at me, seeming to be focused on the task.

I paused for a moment, formulating questions in my thoughts, careful to not have a similar outburst like earlier.

With a deep breath, I began to ask.

"Uhm, well, first of my name is Levi, Levi D'emillo—" I briefly stopped noticing how Vivian seemed to halt for a moment after hearing my name. I found this a bit weird and suspicious, but I continued to not raise suspicions.

"Yeah, I know.." she quietly said that I found it a little unsettling.

"Where am I? I mean, what is this place," I asked.

She carefully wraps the bandage all over my left arm as she answers me, "I'm sure that the head mistress had briefed it to you before this, but since you seem to forgot... You are in the girls dorm rooms of DR Academy."

She says in a low but clear voice.

I nodded, more to myself since I was checking if my memories were right or not.

"Uh-huh...?" I pondered for a moment briefly recalling my previous memories.

I remember that devious looking head mistress, Miss Pilgrim, was it?

She left quite the impression on me. Sure enough, I had to watch my back whenever I'm around her. From what I've known so far, she seemed like the unpredictable kind, but very much dangerous.

It's hard to tell what's going on in that head of hers. One thing is for sure though, this place is not to be taken lightly. I have a feeling that everything is just getting started and I had to prepare myself for something.

From the very beginning, I already felt that something might be off and I just had to know what it was.

My eyes trailed down towards where the letter was hidden in. My mom, my mom left me a letter. After 16 years of existence, I suddenly received some rather sign that my parents actually existed?

After 16 years of being parentless, suddenly, they decide to throw this at me. Out of nowhere!!

I was holding in the urge to scream my heart out. My mind was wondering too far and it was giving me the frustration of a lifetime. No matter how I look at it, nothing made sense.

Why was I even here?! As far as I know, this school looked far too expensive for me to attend to. Does this mean that my parents were rich? Were they well off? According to what I heard, one of the reasons why orphaned children being abandoned is because the family is either going through crisis or are about to go there.

So if they had the money to have me attend this school, then... did they not want me?

Before I could realize it, tears began to form at the corner of my eyes. Quickly, I blinked them all back and brought my senses back at the task.

I cleared my head and thought back to Vivian's answer.

"So, uhmm… Does the 'D. R.' have a significant meaning? Is it an acronym of something or..."I trailed.

Again, Vivian seemed to pause and this time it was longer and more prominent than earlier. Oddly enough, I felt a bit uneasy waiting for Vivian's reply.

She places the bandages back to the kit and looks me straight in the eyes.

"I know that this may be a bit... unsettling... But—trust me--" she starts in a hurry.

She looks at me for a moment before speaking again.

"It's a rather unsettling name indeed, but D. R. Actually stands for... Deathrow..."

Quote of the chapter!!!

"Every picture tells a story…"

-Unknown-