The first thing Molly did when she had gotten herself to calm down was unpack. There was a large wooden dresser in the room to put her clothes in, and an empty bookshelf. A desk with a black laptop was sat in the middle of the room, against a wall. The one window in the room looked out to flat grass plains for about a mile before the land dropped into rough mountainous terrain. Molly pulled out the fragile wooden chair, sat down and opened the laptop. The screen came to life and burned her eyes for a moment, displaying a background that showed the front of the school. In the left-hand corner was an icon that said online non-magickal documents. She did not want to worry about non-magickal classes right now.
She moved her mouse around aimlessly, thinking about clicking on the other small icon on the far bottom right of the screen. It was a search engine for the internet, but there was nothing she wanted to look up.
Biting her lip, she closed the laptop and took off her shoes. The parts of her room with the hardwood flooring were cold on her feet. She placed her shoes by the dresser and opened a drawer that she decided to designate the spot for her dirty clothes since she did not have that many clothes yet and had no hamper. A rug in a calming blue gave her ease when she stepped onto it. It was set under her bed and extended in a giant square for two feet on each side.
She was disappointed that there was no bathroom in her room until she realized it was because she was scared to go back out into the hall, which was stupid and made her feel ashamed. She couldn’t be afraid to leave her room forever.
It felt like being little all over again; finding out that only she could see spirits and then being too frightened to leave her safe space of home. It had taken her years to begin going anywhere without making up excuses that she couldn’t.
She took her phone out of her days-old shorts, and realized that, more than anything, she wanted to shower and change into her pajamas to try to rest. She didn’t want to wait until tomorrow morning, not when her day had started so early, and she was never that good at getting sleep.
She wondered if the app she used before on spirits would work on the spirit things she saw in the hallway. But she didn’t want to use an app yet when she didn’t know if anyone used apps or anything like that at the school. She knew they used old magick, so they might look down at cell magick, but if she knew for sure no one was looking, maybe she could try. No, with her luck, someone would catch her. What if they thought she was lame and a cheat when it came to magick?
She went to her dresser and grabbed one of the tank tops and pajama shorts that Kren had bought her. She could try to go a couple of days without using one of the magickal apps. The spirit thing had hurt her, but it didn’t seem to be trying to take her over. When it touched her, it didn’t send her back to that place with the purple ice.
She put her phone in the bottom drawer of her dresser so she wouldn’t lose it and wouldn’t be tempted to use an app. Then she went to the door. She patted her pocket first to ensure she had her key and wouldn’t get locked out before opening it. She didn’t know where she would put it when she was showering, but there had to be a place.
Stepping out into the hallway, she was greeted by the smell of burning feathers again. It assaulted her nostrils, making her sneeze. The hallway felt warmer than it had moments before; even the carpet under her bare feet felt hot.
She headed back the way she had come before. Not far away from where she had seen the spirit things come out of the floor were two pairs of doors on opposite walls, with a gentle glowing hue coming from inside them. On the left side, a boy symbol was engraved in a black marble square on the wall, and on the other, a gender-neutral symbol. On the right side of the hall was a girl symbol and another gender-neutral symbol. So, she had three choices. She decided to go with the girls today.
The warm glow welcomed her as the flooring transitioned from maroon carpeting to gentle stone. The walls were a soft brown brick that was so spotless that she wanted to run her hand across it.
She turned into a large room with mirrors set over black bowls of marble sinks sitting on a long white marble stand. Stalls, seaweed green in color, were lustrous in the now-white light that differed from the illumination of the hall. There were four standing showers at the end made of stone with sea-green curtains decorated with white petals. And there was—
Molly let out a scream, dropped her clothes and jumped back.
There was a thing lying over one of the green stalls. A monstrous thing that looked like a lopsided ball. It was the size of a large stuffed animal with hair. Pink hair. So much pink hair that it poked out every which way. The blob was staring at her with blue eyes as it stretched its mouth wide into a yawn and showed her its sharp teeth.
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It finally shut its mouth but Molly could barely stop shaking. The thing kept watching her lazily, then blinked.
Molly gathered up her clothes and ran out of the restroom to try the gender-neutral bathroom next door. But there was another creature there, this one a little smaller, with brown eyes and hair a darker shade of pink.
Molly wanted to cry but decided to shower there. What choice did she have if they were in every bathroom?
When she walked past the creature, she remembered that Koz had warned her about not being scared of a creature in the bathroom. Did he call it a vigilplunk? How could she not be scared of the thing that was following her with its gaze wherever she went?
It still gazed at her as she walked to the showers, pushed the curtain away, and noticed the small clear safe box with the design of a key etched into its glass.
There was a little square indent on the side of the key impression with another etching of a thumb. This must be where she put her key.
She grabbed the tiny handle and pulled the glass container open to set her key right-side-up inside of it into the stand to hold it in place. Then she closed the door, put her thumb where the thumb print was, and watched the box glow yellow before it faded to clear again.
The water spouted in the shower that instant, and a shelf extended from the wall below the box holding a white towel, a washcloth, soap, a comb, brush, and anything else she might need to clean herself, along with a place to set her clothes. Her house was nice but nothing like this and nothing this modern or advanced.
She looked over her shoulder at the vigilplunk, then started undressing. It averted its eyes. At least it wasn’t rude. And the longer she looked at it, she began to think it was kind-of cute.
***
Molly patted her hair with the white towel, then headed to her room. It felt nice being in her clean pajamas. She couldn’t wait to throw the old ones in the designated dirty drawer. Too many things had happened while she had been in them the last two days.
Stutter-stepping momentarily, she realized that the maroon carpet was turning a light blue beneath her wet feet. Behind her, where the carpet was drying, her footprints were starting to disappear.
She sighed in relief to be back near her room and put her key into the lock.
She was happy that she hadn’t run into anyone else. Although she was desperate to make friends and fill the emptiness inside her, she was not ready. Not tonight. Not after those spirit things. She was not ready to make a fool out of herself again. Not before tomorrow when she would be around so many people.
She put her dirty clothes in the drawer, pulled out her phone and fell onto her bed, exhausted. She laid the phone on her stomach as she looked at the twisted silver light fixture above her. It was dark in her room, but she did not want to turn the light on. What she should have done, though, was get out the charger in her bag to plug in her phone for the night if she happened to pass out, but her body was telling her it was too late.
She lay there, listening to her heartbeat in the empty and quiet room.
She already missed home. She had that sinking, sick feeling in her gut that she had gotten at summer camp before when she had only wanted to go back where she had always been. It made her want to run to the bathroom and get sick. It probably didn’t help that she had only eaten a few nuts on the plane.
She rolled over onto her side, letting the phone fall off her onto the bed. If she figured this out and learned quickly, she could go back home and live normally for once. Or at least as normally as she could pretend to be. Then she wouldn’t have to worry so much about losing her friends and everyone again. She also wouldn’t have to worry about completely losing herself…
That was her biggest fear.
Losing herself in that large body of water. Drowning and never being able to breathe again.
She heard a rummaging and a click.
Molly grabbed her phone and shot up straight to see two spirit things with their thin blue bodies floating into her room then begin to roam around.
She wanted to hide and scream, but she had nowhere to go. She also knew if she screamed, she might draw attention, which she didn’t want.
So, she held it in.
The spirit things looked as though they were trying to find something. They looked at her empty bookcase, pulled open her drawers, shifted around her clothes, then grabbed her bag. They pulled out her charger by its prongs, lifting it to the ceiling. Then they let it fall. She cringed when it clattered, then cowered when they turned to her, scrambling under the bed’s covers to hide as she whimpered.
“Please leave me alone. Just go! I don’t have anything for you!”
But then that stabbing pain returned, going into her back. They could reach their fingers through the sheets.
She couldn’t do this. She couldn’t. Another one jabbed her legs, and warmth entered her calf before it withdrew, making her cold and tight. She turned on her phone and went to that screen she had used to get rid of spirits before throwing off her covers to direct it at them.
The lines were there that she was supposed to navigate, but the square in the corner that told her which lines to move was blank. It was black and empty, shredding all her hope.
She threw the phone at the creatures instead. It hit the rug on the ground as she scrambled for her bag. She grabbed it by one of the straps and swung it. It went through one of the spirit things floating close to her face.
Although the bag had passed right through it, the blue creature still looked disturbed.
The other one tried coming toward her, and she swung the bag once more.
That one shook its head after the material of the bag and its body didn’t mesh or collide.
After a few more swings, Molly found herself sitting on her bed. She swung all night until the blue-spirited beasts finally gave up and went away. By then, Molly couldn’t check the time on her phone, plug it in, or wipe away the angry tears from her cheeks. She dropped the bag to the floor and passed out.