September 1st, 2005

Damien didn't know it yet, but he was walking out the doors of his house for the last time.

His life was about to be changed forever.

He had gone out of his house with his brother Finley for the start of the year, but a bad feeling had been settling somewhere in his gut. An ominous feeling had been lurking around with him since morning.

'It's nothing.' Finley waved him off, 'It's probably from all that fish you guys were feasting on. I told you not to eat so much. Those things cause a stomach upset. It'll be alright by the time we're at school.' He scrunched up his nose in disgust.

'You're probably right.' He agreed.

But his gut told him otherwise.

At school, the gut feeling didn't leave him.

Schatten Academy was one of the most prestigious schools in the whole of Europe and America. Like most elite schools, the selections were very precise and only the best of the best were admitted into the school. If you were rich enough, you could easily be enrolled; otherwise you needed to have a very special gift. As the dorm master had said, "Schatten Academy only includes the elites among the elites, and the best among the best. Be grateful of the fact that you are here."

However, no one seemed to take note of the fact that Schatten Academy itself had a very dark name.

Damien however, had been admitted because of Finley, who had received an award for being the most intelligent person in whole of New York- a human calculator. They only wanted Finley for that matter, but Finley refused to go without Damien.

And that's how Damien had wound up here.

Everyone else seemed so cheerful and excited after the holidays. They were all hanging out with their respective friend groups sharing stories with each other during the time they were gone.

Damien never liked the school much. Designed like an eighteenth century gothic castle-with black winged creatures resting on top of its columns and towers with shingles all around, the school gave off really bad vibes. Everything seemed so shady, so ominous, he seemed sure that the school was hiding something; some long lost secret which, when out, would destroy the school.

'Hello Finley and Damien, it's nice to see you after the holidays. ' Damien looked up to see the owner of the voice, Renata.

She was a tall girl of about sixteen with straight jet black hair which ran well below her waist. Her skin was almost as white as alabaster and her eyes were lilac in colour.

Other than the entire school, Renata was the second thing Damien was most suspicious about. She was the daughter of their dorm master, Mr. Bell, and Finley's girlfriend. She looked like a walking talking gothic doll, dressed in black from head to toe. The school dress code just required a bit of black in the clothing- Renata just took that to a whole new level. Plus Renata gave him the 'it' feeling- the feeling where you think that something is off but you can't put a finger on it. The way she talked, walked and behaved around people, didn't seem right to him.

When Damien had mentioned it to Finley, he just waved it off like other things.

'You're probably just creeped out by the fact that she wears so much black.'

'Hi, Renata.' Finley replied as he wrapped his arm around her waist. 'Did you miss me, my cute Gothic doll?'

Damien felt like gagging at Finley's cheesiness. Though Finley was the more practical one, when it came to girls, Damien liked to keep himself clear headed.

'You seem different today. Is everything okay?'

Now that Finley said so, Renata did seem different. She seemed somehow paler- instead of alabaster; her skin was as like wax- pale and translucent like a ghost. Her eyes were darker- a shade of purple rather than lilac.

'I'm fine' she replied, 'just a little under the weather.'

But that excuse didn't seem to convince Damien at all.

***

The first night of the new term at Schatten Academy was always amazing. The grand ballroom was decorated in a most colourful manner, unlike the black gothic theme of the school, with different ribbons and balloons. Various types of cuisines were laid out in one corner of the great hall along with various drinks. Loud music blasted from within the walls and the students could be seen dancing with each other, losing themselves to a wild night one last time, before they returned to their boring curriculum of school.

Damien stood in one corner with a can of coke in his hand, far away from the crowd, watching people dance and occasionally talking once or twice to the students that stopped to rest from the dancing. Crowds never attracted him that much and the unsettling feeling in his gut hadn't helped much either. After feeling that it would be no use staying there, he decided to go back to his dorm and sleep on it. Who knew, the feeling would be gone by the time he woke up?

***

Tick-tock.

Tick-tock.

The sepulchral hour of the night has a strange quality to it. Like the sad eerie winds, the hooting of the owls, the howling of dogs in the distance, all these factors provide an unholy element to it, don't you think? I think that one of these factors was the reason Damien woke up at such an hour.

Or perhaps the fact that he was thirsty contributed to the fact as well.

On waking up, Damien noticed that the door of his room was slightly open and a faint light peeked from behind. He looked at the grandfather clock on the opposite wall. 3 o' clock.

So the scoundrel finally remembered that he's got a room to come back to. He thought.

'Took you long enough, Fin.' He said as he rubbed his eyes. 'Have you freshened up and come?'

No response.

'Fin?' Silence. Even the door didn't budge.

'Finley?' Damien asked as he grabbed his glasses and flashlight and got off the bed.

'Fin, if this is a joke, I swear it isn't funny.' He said as he opened the door only to be met by silence. No Finley, nothing. Just plain, unholy silence. The source of the faint light was a small bulb hanging from the ceiling. The uneasy feeling in Damien's gut had multiplied tenfold. He walked into the common room just in time to see a faint shadow moving out- a faint silhouette of a man. Finley.

'Fin, wait!' he called out as he followed the shadow out of the dorm building and into the main house. It made no effort to stop.

'Fin come on, if this is about me leaving you at the party, then I'm sorry. I was sleepy. You were busy with Renata. If I knew you needed me to wait, I would have. Come on Fin, it's three in the morning. Come on, Finley, I'm tired. Let's sleep we can talk it out in the morning. Fin!'

The shadow was standing in front of the gate of the main building. It stopped there for a moment before going inside.

I swear if this is a joke, I'm gonna murder him in the morning. Damien thought frustrated. 'Fin!' he called out again as he followed the shadow deeper into the building and passed through another door that opened to a flight of stairs leading down. Damien hesitated. He's so gonna get us in trouble. The shadow had now vanished in the darkness of the spiralling stairs. Damien now only went down trusting his instincts and his flashlight. The stairs now led to a small tunnel with light peeking out another door. Damien saw the shadow once again as it disappeared behind the door.

Damien opened the door and to say that he was aghast would be an understatement.

The room was as big as their own dorm room, lit by a chandelier with a thousand candles, filling the room with a golden glow. The room was newly furnished and a fire had been burning in the corner. But that was not what had Damien dumbfounded.

Finley was lying on a raised platform, with all his clothes stripped off him and a knife stabbed through his chest. Blood was trickling down from his sides as his body glowed in a ghastly golden glow. The shadow was standing over Finley's body.

'FINLEY! The cry came out with more pain than Damien knew existed in his body. His eyes stung with tears as he stared at his brother's dead naked body.

The shadow turned. The sadness on Damien's face gave way to shock and horror.

'Y-you!'

And before he knew it, darkness enveloped his eyes as something hit his head.