Fool's Warning (Part 3)

It was the next day when I was walking about the castle still trying to process what I had learned the day prior, about the plans that some of the knights had for the king. Now I know I said King Asgore wasn’t that bad, but I lied a teeny tiny little bit. He sucks sometimes, he really does. Like he calls me Jingles, Giggles, Clownie, all the offensive names to jesters, plus I know he's the king and all but he acts like I’m a fly stuck to a piece of gum on his newly polished shoes, and it’s not just me! He does it to the cooks! The knights! The maids! The servants! And he used to do it to the queen herself!! (Well before she divorced him, I heard she’s doing amazing now, own kingdom and everything, good for her, she was always really nice,). 

I decided to skip down the halls, I did not care you could hear the bells off my outfit jingling from a mile away, I AM A JINGLY MENACE AND I TAKE MY ROLE WITH PRIDE HEEHEE! Oh sorry sorry, getting a little distracted there, anyway, you could hear the bells from a mile away, in fact it was starting to annoy people. By people I mean Brutus, he was on hall patrol and eventually saw me, but he definitely heard me first. “HEY! CLOWN! Quit the jingling!” He bellowed, annoyed. I stopped my skipping and turned to face him, I then made sure to speak in the most condescending voice possible, “Aww, is Bruty a little grumpy? You wake up on the wrong side of the bed?”. I heard him actually scream out “OH MY G- WHY ARE YOU SO ANNOYING! AS SOON AS THERE’S A NEW KING I’M SURE HE’D END UP HAVING YOU EXECUTED YOU’RE THAT ANNOYING!”. The last comment caught me off guard, would the new king really have me executed? Well, actually I can’t be executed… Well not like I’m immune but… It would take a lot for me to! Cause fun fact, jesters have a lot more freedom of speech than others! But it doesn’t mean I can’t get executed, but I mean everyone likes me too much for that!

After some back and forth banter with Brutus, well more like me antagonizing him I left him alone, but something I noticed was that even though he shouted I was annoying, I saw him pick up one of my bells that fell off my outfit, and then tied it around the hilt of his sword… Huh.. Guess I can’t be that annoying then if he wants a reminder of me on his person at all times, that’s kinda… Interesting. I kept going about my day trying to figure out what to do. I could try to tell the king again but he’ll probably just laugh again and Brutus would kill me if he knew what I knew, but I mean if he doesn’t listen to me it's his own fault and if he laughs at me it's definitely his own fault. So I suppose I’ll find out who’ll be laughing when the king is overthrown at the All Hallows Eve revel.

Story by Nico Ventre (S3)

It all started with my phone alarm blaring  “Only girls” beneath my pillow by 8:10 in the morning after I snoozed it about five times. My mum burst through my door screaming “good morning sweetheart, are you excited to start your new school!”. I groan and pick up my phone. A message from my best friend Isabella 

I already miss you. Have fun at your new school, tell me all about it when you can!!!

Oh great. Thanks for reminding me. 

My phone buzzes again;

I’m getting grounded so i won’t be able to reply till tomorrow.

I put my phone down and look at my mum with a scowl on my face. She beams even more and says “Come on May May, it’ll be great”.

That's what she calls me May May, I’m getting a little too old for that don’t you think?. After about 5 minutes of arguing and moaning -mostly from me- I finally decided to get out of bed, get dressed in the ugliest shirt and tie known to man, pick up my bags stuffed with everything I own and head down to have breakfast. Can’t be moody on an empty stomach. My mum is humming along to some old timey song. I scarf down what's left of the stack of pancakes and head out -not fast enough given that my mum had time to give me about a million kisses, hugs and goodbyes, don't forget the tears- with her blabbing about phones. I insisted that I get a cab to the boarding school myself, I can't have her embarrassing me on my first day. Can I?

When I get there, I head to the principal's office (I've been here before on Saturday, so I basically know where everything is). I knock on the door and see a happy bald man with a crooked smile staring at me. I say “hi sir…Mr Neil. A….Mr A um-”. He laughs but it doesn't quite reach his eyes   “ Neil. A is fine”. Weird but ok. He continues “So Maya Rivers, your dorm is on the top floor”. He hands me some keys and before I can even let a word out, a short blonde girl around my age  with dull green eyes stalks through the door. Principal Neil. A says “ Maya this is Leah Crook, she'll be showing you around and to your classes, won't you Leah?”. Leah replies almost robotically “Yes sir. Of course sir”. We walk out the door and I manage a weak smile. It's not mutual, Leah's face stays neutral “So what brings you to Blackwood high ?” she starts. I say “oh nothing,just family stuff. I don't really want to talk about It”. After that we don't really talk much (or at all). When we get to my dorm. It's greyer than grey itself, everything is either grey, white or black. There's a lingering smell as well but I don't know what it is. Leah notices my reaction and hesitates then says “ the smell? Oh don't worry about it.. it's from um, an old human student, they left”. I'm about to ask a ton of questions and one of them being can I move dorms but my phone buzzes in my blazer pocket. It's my mum.

May may, how's your new school, have you got settled yet. Call when you can.

Leah says, “lunch is by one, don't be late. They hate it when lunch is late. Also your phone needs to be handed in by Lunch. no phones allowed”. I say “They?” She doesn't reply, she just  saunters off. It's around 10am when I call my mum and tell her that everything is fine and why didn’t she tell me that phones aren’t allowed. She says she did and asks if I've made any friends. I tell her I just got here, then I say bye and hang up. 

I take another good look and breathe in. Yep, it smells like death. I slowly unpack my stuff while sitting on my bed. I text Isabella

I miss you too Izzy. This school is awful. My room smells like death and mold. SEND HELP.

I decided to go for a walk around the school, I’m sure as hell that this isn’t what it looked like on Saturday. People stare as I walk past them. I say hi but they don’t respond. I look at my phone at 12:30pm. Izzy still hasn’t replied.

By 12:50 I go to the toilet, but there aren’t any mirrors, so I head to lunch, but end up getting lost, I can’t find anyone else here. Then I remember; Don’t be late. They don’t like it. 

When I finally found the lunch hall at 1:05, the bell had already rung. My phone is taken off me and put somewhere “safe” by a teacher with two different coloured eyes . As I walk in, every single head turns. Not the casual glance, no. Their heads do a full 360 towards me. I freeze in horror, my bones as stiff as wood. They all make a loud hissing noise, like an angry cat but not an angry cat-you know what I mean. The principal-or what I think is the principal, he's an eerie shade of green with blood red eyes-comes through the double doors and spits “you were late.” I stutter “why…who are you?”. He repeats  “You were late Maya. We're hungry”. Suddenly I'm surrounded they come closer. They're now all green with blood red eyes. I can’t move.

The principal announces “My friends it's lunchtime.”

I can’t breathe, it feels like there's a giant knot where my lungs are supposed to be and it's being pulled tighter and tighter. The principal stiffly laughs showing off his crooked yellow teeth “My dear, we haven't eaten properly in decades. Our race is dying”.

Leah smirks revealing her pointed teeth.

That's when It clicks like a puzzle piece. This isn't a school…He isn’t a real principal.

 Neil.A. 

The last words come out as a scream "You're an Alien!”

And it all goes dark.

Short Story by Gabriella Iwobho (S4)