I watch the shadows dance across my curtains under the moonlight. Then I watch the shapes and the colors change as the sun rises on the horizon. Long after the early morning rays steal into my bedroom windows, the alarm goes off. I get up to trudge slowly into the ensuite bathroom.

I do feel a little better as soon as warm water rains on me. Water always makes me feel better. I stay as long as I can in the shower. I'm thankful that I don't have to share a bathroom like my sisters, Madison and Luella.

I get dressed and tie my hair up into a ponytail. I sigh heavily after I'm done. Even tying my hair up takes a lot of energy out of me.

I put my black rim glasses on and give myself a quick look in the mirror. I don't need glasses and I don't necessarily like it but mom wants me to wear it, so I do.

When I finally make it downstairs, everybody is already sitting on the barstools by the kitchen island.

Mom is typing away on her phone, probably answering her work e-mail. Madison is face deep in her cereal bowl. Luella is drinking her green juice- I think I see kale bits swimming around among other green bits- it's supposed to help her keep her figure trim.

Luella and I are both sophomores at Belfountain Academy. We are wearing similar school uniforms; white collared shirts, red ties, blue and white plaid skirts, navy blue blazers emblazoned with Belfountain Academy crest, black knee socks, and black shoes - not that everybody at school is following the dress code strictly. Luella's skirt is way too short, I'm convinced she's wearing Madison's old one.

Madison has an almost identical uniform on except her blazer is dark maroon in color with a black tie because she's still in middle school.

"Good morning!" I force a cheerful smile as I grab an apple from the glass bowl on the counter.

"Good morning, honey," says mom, looking up from her phone.

Madison lifts her face up from her cereal bowl. Her dark blue eyes, identical to mom's, peer up at me. She tries to say something but her mouth is too full. Luella ignores me as usual.

"Aren't you going to have your breakfast, sweetie?" Mom puts her phone down on the counter, focusing her attention solely on me.

"I am having breakfast," I tell her. I take a bite out of the juicy red apple just to prove the point.

"That's not a proper breakfast. Sit!" she says, indicating a stool beside her. Mom is not much of a cook. Pouring cereal and milk in a bowl is the extent of her culinary skill. Our cook, Mrs. McEwan has taken a few days off, so our choice of breakfast has been cereal or toast and jam for the last several days.

I sigh and take the seat as mom slides a bowl of cereal in front of me. I'd prefer to leave now. Acting all cheerful and full of energy in front of my mom is very exhausting. I can feel the weakness seeping in through every corner of my limbs.

Mom smoothes my hair gently back as I scoop the cereal into my mouth. "Your root is showing, darling. I'll set up an appointment with Ramona for you this week."

I don't bother answering her. My hair is originally light blonde, but mom has it dyed dark brown- the same color as hers and Madison's for as long as I can remember.

Luella is also a blonde, almost as light as mine when she was adopted into our family over six years ago. It has darkened quite a bit since then and mom makes an appointment with Ramona every few months for her to lighten it.

"That's it, I'm out of here," says Luella suddenly. She pushes her chair back and snatches her school bag at her feet.

"You're driving Madison today, Luella. Don't forget to pick her up after school," reminds mom.

"But I'm leaving now! I'm going to Jesse's first. And I have practice after school. Why can't Melissa take her?" Luella's chin is set into a stubborn jut and I can see how this is going to play out. They're both stubborn and they'll be fighting if I don't interfere soon.

"Melissa has been doing that for the last two days. You can't expect her to pick up the slacks---"

"I can take her, mom," I cut mom off. "I can drive Madison to school."

I can see mom is about to argue, so I touch her shoulder and say, "I don't mind." I really don't. Madison also attends Belfountain Academy but middle schoolers are in a different building. It is a bit out of the way and Madison's class starts fifteen minutes earlier than ours, I guess that's why Luella doesn't like to drive her to school. Besides, Madison can be a pain in the butt but I quite enjoy her company...fifty percent of the time.

"I want to go with Melissa," Madison chirps in quickly, giving mom a wide-eyed puppy look. "And Melissa doesn't even have to pick me up after school today. I'm going to Erica's to finish our science project, remember?"

Mom sighs. "Alright, but I expect Luella to do her part tomorrow. We agreed that you two take turns in driving Madison to school until she's old enough to drive herself."

Luella snatches her keys and her cellphone off the counter and shoots me a hateful glare before she leaves.

I sigh as I pick up the bowl to put it in the sink. It feels too heavy for my weary fingers.

"Oh, girls, your dad and I won't be around this evening. Mrs. McEwan will be back tonight," says mom when we both get up to leave for school.

I hear Madison snickers when she hears this. Our cook is a nice grandmotherly old lady. I think Madison is conflicted between being happy about having a nice home cooked meal once again and being wary because she thinks that the old lady is spying on us- reporting everything to mom when she's not around. Did I tell you that my fourteen-year-old sister is big on conspiracy theory as well? She's suspicious of everything from the government to aliens and spaceships to our parents.

Our mom can be over-protective but I'm almost positive that she's not an alien. She seems to be more protective of me than of Madison who is younger. Luella who is almost a year older than I am is allowed to do as she pleases...pretty much. I'm not allowed sleepovers like Madison or hanging out with friends and partying like Luella. I don't think that is fair at all since I've never given her any reason not to trust me but nothing I can do or say could change that.

Mom kisses our foreheads and hugs us both as if she's leaving us for a week instead of just one evening before we go.

Mom is a lawyer, she tries to be home more for us, but she's always very busy. Dad is also a lawyer, but being a partner in a prestigious law firm means he's hardly ever home. Well, that and him being a workaholic might have something to do with it too.

Closing the front door, I drop the cheerful act. Keeping up the act is exhausting. Madison eyes me curiously as the car automatically unlocked itself and we get into my brand new dark blue BMW Cabriolet Convertible. It's two months old, to be exact. My parents' gift for my 16th birthday. I relax a bit as the smell of leather engulfs me.

We live just outside the city. It's almost half an hour drive to school. Our nearest neighbor is half a mile down the road. I can't deny that I love the open field, the lake, and the wooded area behind our house. We wouldn't have all that if we lived right in the city.

By the time we reach the highway, Madison is singing along to the song Old Town by Lil Nas X. She's moving her body in a jerky, erratic way to the music. Her voice is out of tune and her arms are flailing everywhere. If I didn't know any better, I'd say she's having an episode. A singer and a dancer, she is not. "Are you still not feeling well, Melissa?"

I shoot her a look and she says, "You look sickly and you're not singing along to Lil Nas X like you always do."

"I look sickly?" Personally, I don't think I look any different physically. Something inside that is wrong with me. Very wrong. "I'm just a little tired, that's all." I've been trying to hide it from everybody but Madison seems to know. Madison might be weird but she's observant.

"You're always tired now. Maybe you should go see Dr. Sulivan," she says.

Dr. Sulivan is our family doctor. I've heard about him but I've never met the guy. He treated Madison, Luella, and even mom and dad plenty of times in the past, but not me. I've never been sick my whole life.

"It'll pass, Mads." I wave it off. "I'd probably feel better by tomorrow."

Madison looks skeptical but she lets it go. "I'm glad you're driving me to school. I was trying to tell you that I wanted you to this morning. Luella treats me like crap whenever she drives me. Did I tell you that she made me walk from Jesse's house to school last week? That's like a mile and a half!"

"A little exercise wouldn't hurt you." I smile and pat Madison's stomach playfully.

"I was all sweaty and five minutes late!" she huffs, slapping my hand away. "And I'm not fat. I'm fabulously curvy!"

I laugh at her outburst. Madison can be dramatic. She's not fat or even curvy. She's skinny, just like me. Luella's the curvy one.

"Well, this is me. Thank you for your service. The cheque is in the mail," says Madison when I stop the car right in front of her entrance.

"Madison, wait!" I frantically grab her arm before she opens the door.

"What? What???" she yelps, jumping in surprise. Her eyes are big with alarm.

I put the car back into drive and move the car a few feet forward. Then I stop and say," Okay, you can go now."

Madison sits and stares at me for a full minute. Speechless. Then she frowns and shakes her head. "And I thought I was the crazy one in the family. You are so weird!" she mutters as she gets out of the car.

I watch her run off to meet her friends, Erica and Wren by the entrance before I drive away. Her dark, curly, shoulder-length hair bounces as she happily jumps up and down with them. I didn't tell her that there is a scally, serpent-like creature slithering on the sidewalk near where I stopped the car the first time. It has dark red tiny wings on its back. Its hard and luminescent skin changes color when you look at it from different angles. Its malevolent, dark eyes are following me as I drive by it. Its thin, black, forked tongue flicks out once. Twice.

*****

I close my eyes and rest my forehead on the steering wheel. It's still early and I'm so tired. I wish I could lie down and not go anywhere till next year. I could sleep right here, in my car.

After a while, I open my eyes again and just stare at the old building in front of me. Belfountain Academy is beautiful. The morning sun hits one side, making the dark roof gleam and the stone walls appear almost golden. The stone gargoyles on every corner of the building look sinister but the creatures hanging onto them are even more terrifying. The parking area is filling up fast and more students are loitering around outside due to good weather. Everyone seems oblivious to the creatures walking or crawling among them.

I've seen them all my life, I should've gotten used to them by now but I'm not. When I was little, I didn't realize that nobody else could see these creatures. I've learned the hard way years ago not to mention them to anyone anymore. I've learned that if they didn't know that you could see them, they would leave you alone. So now, I try to pretend as if I didn't see them. It's not always easy, though. Some of them are so unnerving or appear out of nowhere and totally make me jump and that gives me away.

To be fair, not all of these creatures are ugly or scary looking. For instance, if I look close enough, there are a few hiding behind the leaves and peeking around the branches of the big, old, oak tree in front of the building that are very pretty looking. They are tiny and their wings are the color of fall leaves. But I don't know if all of them are bad or if some of them are good. I never stay around one long enough or try to make friends with them to find out.

I've also grown to realize that I've never seen any of these creatures in our house or anywhere in our property.

A loud thumping sound on my window makes me jump. "Hey, Mel!" My best friend, Hailey is knocking on my window.

"Hey!" I open the door and Hailey pulls me up. "Wow, this is new," I say, staring at her shoulder length jet black hair that now has pink and blue stripes on the side bangs.

"Yeah, I feel the need to express my individuality in this constrictive environment," she announces. I try not to laugh. Hailey has the need to express her individuality every day. She resents the school uniform and comes up with something new every week, much to Mr. Abernathy, our principal's displeasure. She's traded her Mary Janes for a pair of black combat boots a long time ago. Her worn, denim backpack is filled with writings and drawings- to express her artistic voice and of course, individuality. Hailey is also a drummer in a band, which makes her pretty popular.

A screech of tires on the paved parking lot announces the arrival of Lauren Hastings, another one of my best friend. She drives like the devil. Students scatter away, running for their lives as she drives in. We're so used to it, we don't even blink. Her cherry red Maserati fits right beside my car.

"Mel!" She swings her arm around my shoulders as soon as she gets out of the car. Lauren is looking chick today with a red cloche hat that matches her tie. Her long, shiny, light brown hair is curled at the bottom. Her uniform is neatly pressed and she's carrying the latest red Hermes bag. I'm not even sure if it's out in the market yet.

"Did you miss me?" she teases, puckering up her lips, pretending to try to kiss me.

"Leave poor Mel alone, Laur," says Hailey. "And what's with the hat?"

"What? Are you the only one who's allowed to express her individuality?"

"Alright!" says Hailey, holding her fist up. Instead of bumping the fist, Lauren grabs Hailey by the shoulders and lands a kiss right smack on her lips.

"Ewww...let go of me, you crazy woman!" Hailey yelps, pushing Lauren away and wipes her mouth with the back of her hand.

I join Lauren, laughing.

My two best friends are like two walking clichés of Belfountain Academy. Belfountain Academy isn't a very big school but kids from wealthy families or scholarship students come here and Lauren Hastings comes from one of the wealthiest families in the Belfountain area. Hailey, on the other hand, manages to attend the academy because her aunt teaches here. Lauren blends right in as much as Hailey sticks out.

A bone white skeletal-like creature suddenly crawls out from under Lauren's Maserati and I gasp. It looks up at me before I manage to look away and bares its teeth in a semblance of a smile. I slide my gaze up to Lauren and try to pretend I didn't see it even though it might be too late for that.

"I love your hair, by the way," Lauren is saying to Hailey, smiling, showing off her straight white teeth that her father spent a fortune on. "Hey, listen!" she lowers her voice as if she's imparting some top secret information. "I heard that there are two new students coming in today."

"So, let them. What's the big deal?" says Hailey, rolling her eyes. "And how do you even know this? We're not even inside the school yet!"

"CeeCee texted me." Lauren waves her phone in front of our faces. "It's a big deal because they're boys and they're hot as in H-O-T."

"Okay, let's get inside, girls." The bony creature is now holding on to the front tire, getting uncomfortably close to us.

"Good idea, maybe we'll get to see the two hot boys inside," says Lauren.

*******************************

Hey ya, dearies!

Thank you for reading, commenting, voting, following, and the love. My next update will be next Friday evening(est).

If you want to read a chapter ahead, just go to https://inkitt.app.link/RA_Nicoleridd3y

I hope you'll have an amazing weekend!

XOXOXO

Nicole♥