I jerked awake to a ceiling I still didn't know. It's been two weeks since we moved here and my body still woke expecting the old house. 

We oughtn't have come here.

That was my first thought seeing it - our new house, with its sagging roof and windows like hollow eyes. My second thought was the water . The whole town was ringed by it, cut off like an island. My third was when Mother said, “No telegraph in the house. If you needed a wire sent, it was the town office. And we shared the telephone exchange with three other families. 

So much for a quiet life.

But I had agreed to it. A fresh start. No bullies. No names carved into desks with my name under them. I was no scholar, just middling. B's and C's and getting by. That had seemed possible here.

"Elijah!"

Mother's voice came through the wall sharp enough to pull me from bed.

"You'll miss the bus if you dawdled."

Right. 

The omnibuses. This side of town had two in the morning. Miss one and it was a 4-mile walk through mud, and Mother despised me arriving with dirty boots.

She had taken the position with the town council -Urban Development, they called it - because the government offered it. She would have refused if my sister and I had objected. My sister hadn't cared. She was scarcely home anyway. 

I bolted my breakfast and went out with mother. 6:59 by the station clock. The yard was already full. Twenty minutes later the bus rattled in and we all crowded on. Those left behind waited in the damp for the next. The bus dropped us at Portcullis High first. And I admitted it - for a small town, it was grand. Brick and ivy and iron gates. The sort of place that whispered _scholarship. A hand-painted cloth hung over the gate:

“WELCOME AND WELCOME BACK TO PHS”

A banner that carried warmth enough to put me at ease. Cardboard arrows, ink still fresh, pointed new pupils toward the hall. As if we could go anywhere else. The whole student body was flowing that way.

Inside, the student president addressed us. Starched collar, straight back, voice like a metronome. Discipline personified. After came the prospectuses and the rules. Then we were sorted into groups.

Please, not his group, I prayed. 

I was grouped with 29 other students and we started our march. The prefect assigned to our group was named Angel, and indeed she was an angel blue as bright as the sky, black hair set down in soft waves. She had a kind face. The kind that made you trust her. 

As our group moved on I couldn't help but notice that the school had a lot of hiding spots, or what I'll personally like to refer to as personal spaces. It was perfect, this school might be the first good thing that has happened to me since coming here. 

I was deep into my brief daydream when I spotted a familiar face, it took less than a second for me to recognize who it was. It was my former history teacher in the city.

"What was he doing here?" I asked myself as I tried my best to hide in the crowd. If he spotted me he was sure to me a scene which would definitely ruin my whole year in this school, but my best wasn't enough he seemed like he was approaching our group. Without thinking twice, I slid into the nearest empty class and hid.

"And now, our next destination will be the school's library..." I heard our tour guide Angel say as my group moved along and I managed to lose two things. Firstly was to lose Mr. Bridge and secondly was to lose my tour group. What a pain, now I had to find the library myself.

“Hey, are you lost?” I heard a voice call out and it was to me.

 “Umm… A bit I… I got a little carried away and lost track of my group.” I replied, running my fingers through my hair, almost biting my tongue.

 She let out a faint giggle then directed me to the library where I had told her was our next destination.

 “I didn’t get your name.”

 “Oh, right. Sorry. I’m Elijah.”

 “It’s a nice name. I’m Annabelle.”

 “Nice to meet you, Annabelle.”

 “Likewise.”

 Luckily, I easily spotted my tour group. I gave my gratitude to Annabelle and quickly joined in. The rest of the day went faster than I expected, mostly because it was uneventful, just me and my thoughts. 

Teachers mainly revised on what they had done the previous semester, tried to make jokes or engage in a conversation with me, their only new student in the 10th grade first semester which I totally messed up because of my lack of good communication skills. 

School hours came to an end and I heard some of the students say that the coach comes in at about an hour later so there was plenty of alone time for me, since I managed to make no friends. I proceeded to the spot I mentally considered the best ‘personal space’ in the school. It was a riverside behind the recreational building. 

I sat on the bank and watched the water move slow and dark, at least this town was beautiful. I stayed there for what felt like ten minutes, so lost in thoughts that I didn’t notice something emerging from the water.

Not an eel. Not a water snake. Too slow.

I wasn’t sure so I decided to get a better look by getting closer, so I did and it was neither.

It curled up my leg, such a strange animal, I thought, I haven’t seen anything like that before. It was slimy and brown and looked completely harmless so I let it stay on my leg a little longer, watching how peaceful it looked on my leg. Maybe it was lonely, just like me and needed someone to cuddle. I let myself smile briefly and I relaxed, feeling myself grow more tired by the second, then I noticed something my slimy friend was beginning to look lighter, maybe shorter. It wasn't on my boot anymore…

Was it…

Was it going into my leg? 

The realization hit me stronger than a brick as I tried to wriggle it out.

I panicked. 

“Don’t move!” I heard a loud voice that seemed muffled call out behind me.

And before I knew it.

My world went blank.