Prolong: Belladonna

"Who are you?" I asked, trying to hide the fear in my voice. Standing tall his eyes glistened, making me tremble

"NO!"

I scolded myself, I couldn't fall for his tricks, couldn't give into my desire... or was it blood lust I felt?

He compelled me, I'll give him that. Making me think of hot white electricity pulse through my veins.

"Bell... My dear Bell flower, I am here to save you..."

Then everything fell black.

Part One: 1 Dreams and Schemes

I woke, sweating, heart pounding, and breathless. My sheets were soaked and tangled, hanging off to one side. Collapsing I breathed a sigh of relief "it was only a dream."

I told myself, but if felt so real, he looked so alive."

Bell... My Bell flower I am here to save you..."

The words echoed uncontrollably through my head,

"What does that even mean?"

I thought solemnly.

My phone buzzed to life, groaning I answered “You better have a good reason calling this early Cosette, or I'm going to hurt you." I heard my best friend sigh on the other side"It's a week before our senior year, we need to go SHOPPING!" she said a little too enthusiastically for my liking. Groaning I rolled off my bed "fine," I agreed "but I am not getting, pink, skirts, or skin showing outfits." I could hear her whimpering through the phone, and imagined her giving me the puppy dog face. "Bells, oh please... Would it kill you to just get one girly item?!"

Sighing I knew I wouldn't win the battle, obviously my silence also allowed Cosette to know the same."Yes! I'll be there in five, so be primped and pretty!" she exclaimed before hanging up.

I sighed as I walked with Cosette, who chatted animatedly beside me. We passed many expensive looking stores before we came to a stop."Hello? Earth to Belladonna!" she said waving her hand in front of my face. "Hum?" I asked, wondering why we stopped.

"Are you paying any attention to what I'm saying?" Cosette asked, glaring at me. My eyes shifted down "sorry, I zoned out...” I said; "well pay more attention. I was just saying did you hear about the induction they're doing for seniors. You know, naming the Alpha, Beta and so on... I wonder who the Alpha will be; I hope it's you and not Kendra. You know Kendra right? Kendra Engle?"

I stared at her, mouth open in a very unladylike manner, "what? Did I say something wrong?"I shook my head, and began walking again. "There is no way I am going to be Alpha, end of story. Now come on, either shop or I go home." I said brushing past her.

Her eyes lit up remembering why we were on the trip. "Oh right, we get to buy you girly things!" she said excitedly pulling me towards a Victoria Secret store, Groaning I allowed her to drag me through hell, looking into the sky, hoping for some kind of prayer "Why did I agree to this torment!" I cried out as Cosette laughed at my dramatics.

"Oh, look, it's nice a silky" Cosette whispered eyeing my mischievously. "Oh, hell no Cosette, I am NOT buying a thong!" I said, horrified that she would even think of something so... so sexy. "Never, never in my life will I buy that, now put it down!" I whispered harshly to her; grinning she put it back"you would make a good nun Bells." she said laughing at me.

As we left, Cosette stopped a sly smile on her lip. "Look Bells, it's your favorite person...” she said, pointing across the street... Slowly I turned, just as Blurr came sauntering up, a Cheshire cat grin on his face. Closing my eyes, I shook my head, today could not be happening.

"Hey Bells, Cosette, What are two lovely girls like you doing on this wonderful day?" he said, eyeing the hidden Victoria Secret bag behind my back, my cheeks burned bright as I shifted my weight. “Hey Blurr, I thought it would be good for me and Bella to go shopping for clothes before school you know, senior year and all!" Cosette was dragging on the conversation with Blurr, I was getting more anxious by the minute, "well we really should be going now...” I said hurriedly as I pushed Cosette towards a store, "shopping and all...” I laughed nervously.

Cosette chatted while we shopped, keeping my promise I allowed her to pick out one girly outfit for me, a purple corset with a black skirt and heels. Though girly, I kind of liked it, with a jacket to cover my arms of course.

After filling our bags, and emptying our wallets, Cosette walked me to my car "Bells, you should talk to Blurr," she said, being sincere, "he really likes you, and he's a good guy you know." I nodded hoping it looked more convincing than it felt.

On the drive home, I kept thinking about what Cosette has said, Blurr liked me... It gave me an uneasy feeling, because he was the man in my dream...

Part One: 2 Family Ties

 

Belladonna Abraxas Cameo! Where the hell have you been??!" my mother’s voice a rising siren as I entered the living room. The posh floors and antiques shone brightly as my mother frantically moved around, dusting every micro inch there was. "I went shopping with Cosette, I left a note, two voice-mails, and a text for you. I guess I should have called again, sorry" I said absently as I walked by.

"Well that's alright, I must have overlooked the note, anyways I went and picked up all the school supplies on the lists, your sisters and brother are in the family room picking what they want now, you may want to hurry before they take all the good stuff." She said with a wink, "and I expect a fashion show of your new wardrobe this afternoon!" she called after me.

There were loud shouts and a lot of bickering as I entered the family room, The oldest of the three, Pandora, was standing up shouting at the twins, Raven and Shadow, who were wrestling on the floor... over a pack of crayons. I sighed,

"you have to love them they are your siblings...”

I thought to myself, but in truth, I loved my siblings, they made my life... entertaining to say the least. I pulled Raven off of Shadow and picked up the now shredded Crayola box, setting it on the table I looked at the twins, "now look here you two, why all the fuss over the Crayons? Mom bought plenty to last us for a year and a half, now you've gone and destroyed a box what will mom say?" They looked at me, then at each other, sad and hurt.

"They have glow stickers Belle; I wanted the glow stickers..." Raven whispered, "Well you should have shared Rave, I wanted some to you know!" Shadow took no time in trying to overpower Raven; I jumped and grabbed him up by the collar.

“That’s enough, now all three of you go wash up for dinner!” I sighed after cleaning up the mess they made, putting my clothes in my room I dropped onto my bed, thinking about the induction ceremony that was to take place in one week. Who was the Alpha going to be? Why was I dreaming of Blurr? What does all of this mean?

I knew tonight would be another sleepless one yet.

Part One: 3 School Daze

As the days followed I slowly began getting ready for the new school year to start, most teenagers would be excited about their senior year however I was dreading it; I didn’t want to know about the who induction, and I really wanted to avoid Blurr.

I jolted awake to my alarm clock blaring, groaning I rolled over and shut it off. After getting oriented I stood up, rubbed my hair, and went to take a shower. Letting the water fall down on me was a relief I needed just to start off my day. After getting out of the shower I put on the outfit Cosette had picked out for me, figuring it would be a good “first day of school” outfit, and after that I could dress as a bum. Brushing out my dark hair, I noticed many red streaks going through it from the sun.

Going down to the kitchen I smelled eggs and bacon, smiling I felt a little better about going to school. As I sat down to eat my mom came in and almost fell to the floor. “Belladonna, you look gorgeous in that outfit, where in the world did you get it?!” she asked, without missing a beat I took a bite of my bacon “Cosette found it for me.” Nodding her understanding my mom sat across from me with her cappuccino, “so your dad isn’t going to be here to send you kids off to school today… however he did leave you a present in the driveway.” She said, looking up I asked “which is?” prompting her to continue with my fathers “gift” for me.  Well he really does feel bad that he couldn’t be here to give to you himself; it’s a gift for making it to senior year without dropping out. So he bought you a brand new 1999 Nissan Skyline GT-R34” She looked at me smiling and handed over the keys.

My jaw dropped when I went out to see my new car, “it’s complete with neon lights on the bottom, you will have the coolest car in the senior parking lot now. Also you can keep your Camry to if you want, he figured you could handle two cars at one time.” My mom said smiling. I didn’t know what to say, I had no words that would even measure the happiness I felt. “Thanks mom!” was all I could manage before running inside to get my bag and get to school. “Be careful hun!” my mom called as I sped out of the drive way and down the street.

“Holy mothers of all mothers! Your dad bought you that as a senior present?!” Cosette basically yelled in my smiling face, “Yep, he did. He felt bad that he couldn’t be the one to give it to me though, he had to leave on business.” Cosette gave me a look of pure pity, “can I please come live with you?! I wish my parents would buy me cool things! They just yell at me to get a life and move out.” She said dramatically. Laughing at her face, I put my arm around her shoulders, “well if you want, you can drive my Camry to school, just don’t break it.” I said holding out the keys to my Camry for her.

Her eyes grew three times their natural size, “you’re really going to let me drive your baby? I mean you worked your ass off to buy that Camry Bella, you really wouldn’t mind if I drove it to school?” shaking my head I put the key into her hand, “take it as a gift for getting me this sexy outfit.” I said smiling at her. “You are the best friend I have ever had you know that. Thank you so much! I can finally put my license to use!” laughing I followed her into the gymnasium for the induction ceremony.

Part One: 4 Induction Time

As the induction ceremony began, Cosette and I found some seats near the back, and looked around at all of the other children who had gone to school with us since kindergarten yet never seemed to notice us. The auditorium was loud with all the other students screaming “hello!” and “oh my gosh! It’s been forever since I’ve seen you!” rolling my eyes I sighed, Cosette looked over at me in pity, “Bells can you please try and cheer up, I know you’re going to be Alpha of the school, what’s so wrong with that??” she asked nudging my foot. Rolling my eyes I looked at her “Cosette if I really wanted that position, I would have tried a lot harder my sophomore and junior years; however I would rather not have that kind of power for these following reasons. One, I do not need any more attention put on me. Two, I do not need the extra pressure of the whole student body, teachers, and principal on me to make up decisions that most likely will be shot down and changed without my knowing. Three, I don’t care about the induction ceremony, period; it has not value to me at all. I think it is the most ridiculous thing a school could have. Cosette gave me a droll stare and rolled her eyes, she slumped back in her chair as the ceremony began.

“Welcome back seniors! Today we will have our annual Induction Ceremony!” There was a tremendous uproar from the student body. “Quiet down! We will begin by naming our Alpha, and so on and so forth. So without further ado, let’s begin.”  As the rest of school cheered and shouted their approval, Cosette and I sat there, void of emotion.

“Alright, let’s begin with the Omega and go up from there,” the principle announced a little to enthusiastically, “for the Omega place we will have Surya Styx, and Sterling Styx.” There were a few snickers as the twins walked up to take their place, “heh, everyone knows why the twins got Omega, they suck at everything.” I glared back at James, “shut up, at least they got a place; I don’t see you getting called to the stage for anything important.” I said before turning around to clap for my friends. The presentation went on like that for almost an hour, “finally it is time to name our last but not least, the Beta and Alpha’s will now be named.” There was a silence over the whole gym, everyone was looking around, hoping silently that their name was called, yet wanting to be there for their friends if they got called. “For our Beta place, Cosette Jones, please come on up and take your place with your fellow members!”

Cosette, looked around, wide eyes, and her jaw dropped as the gymnasium escalated into clapping and cheering. Smiling I have her a push “get up there and show off your stuff,” I was surprised to see her walk up there with confidence in her strides, Cosette had gotten her wish for the year, she would be with the exclusives, part of the popular crowd; even though I didn’t want to be part of the group, I felt a pang of jealousy. “For our final call, this year’s Alpha member will be, Tristan “Blurr” Kore.” I watched silently as Blurr walked up to the stage and shook the principles hand, I couldn’t help but remember my dream. The gym erupted cheering and jumping around, thinking it was the end of the ceremony and the celebration could take place.

The principle stood and waited for everyone to settle down, “now that we have announced our members of the senior class, we have a new position to fill, this position is special and is very rarely given out, and very few students are chosen for this position, it is The Shadow.” No one spoke, I looked back at James to see if he knew what it was, and he just shrugged, and sat back. “This special position is going to Belladonna Cameo,” no one spoke as I walked up to the stage, I could feel the cold stares as I took my place next to Blurr, no one clapped, no one cheered, they all stared. The principle took the post one last time, “now this concludes our Induction Ceremony, please enjoy the refreshments, and be sure to pick up your schedules before classes start at noon!”

The gymnasium emptied out quickly as students rushed to get the best deserts and drinks; I sat on the stage, blankly staring out into nothingness. “Earth to Bella, are you coming for some cake or not?” Cosette asked, looking up I nodded “yeah, but could you bring it to me, I don’t really feel like being around the rest of the senior class at the moment…” I said. She nodded her head in understanding and walked away.

Part One: 5 The Beginnings

After a few weeks of the glares and snickers I got walking down the halls, my senior year had just begun and everyone seemed to want to kill me, I started getting into the jest of things. I especially enjoyed my Ancient Greek History class. Cosette and I had most of our classes together, and the ones that we could sit next to each other, were the focal points of the day, in which we passed notes and doodled on notebooks.

“This week we will be continuing our lesson on the Early Greeks, beginning with the Minos and Mycenae’s,” Mr. Bryon began talking as he passed out note sheets for us to fill in while he went through and talked. Cosette and I took our papers and looked at each other with droll stares; unlike the other students, Cosette and I had a firm understanding of this class, due to our mothers teaching us all about Greek history since we were two years old.

“Wanna bail? We could go hang out in Mrs. Montague’s room until lunch.” Cosette whispered as maps of the two civilizations were hung onto the whiteboard, “Cosette, we haven’t been in school for more than three weeks, and you’re already wanting to skip class” I whispered back rolling my eyes, but smiling at my friend.

After what felt like a life time of fill in the blank Mr. Bryon finally began talking my kind of work, “okay students, you guys can work in pairs to fill in your graphic organizers and if you finish that early, then begin coloring in the maps I have given you. Please make sure to read the instructions thoroughly so you don’t make any mistakes, I don’t have any extra copies!” he warned as he went behind his desk and began tapping away on his computer.

It took Cosette and me a whopping ten minutes to fill out our organizers and color in the maps, so we got bored, and started talking about what we would be doing for the weekend. “I have to study for my physical science test, that’s on Tuesday, but I should be able to go out Saturday as long as I don’t have to babysit for my mom again.” I told her while she was making plans for another big shopping trip while the sales were still good. “Mr. Bryon, why does Cosette and Belladonna get to talk and not do their work while the rest of us are hard at work?” Kendra asked while sneering in our direction; our eyes rolled simultaneously as Mr. Bryon looked up from whatever important work he was doing on his computer, “girls, could you be a little quieter while you worked, please?” he asked, I nodded my head, but Cosette had other plans, obviously.

“Mr. Byron, I don’t mind sitting here quietly while doing my work; however Bella and I have finished the graphic organizer and coloring in the map, as well as answer the exit questions and read the chapter we will have for homework this weekend.” Looking over at Cosette I gave her a look and shook my head, hoping she would be quiet, “I find it difficult for us to just sit here with nothing to do, I do apologize, Kendra if we were bothering you, while you are texting and obviously not doing the work that was assigned,” I wanted to melt after that.

Glaring Kendra opened her mouth to spit out her venomous words, but Mr., Byron got to her before she could, “Kendra, bring me your phone please, so I know that you are doing your work, rather than texting your friends. Cosette and Belladonna, please bring me your work so I can see if you have done it correctly.” As all three of us begin to walk up there, I could feel the tension. Kendra, of course, had no issue making a statement, “the teacher pets should go first,” she said snidely, as we reached his desk, I could feel myself getting angry, but I couldn’t understand why I wanted to punch her in the throat so bad.

I rolled my eyes, as I waited for Mr. Bryon to finish looking over Cosette’s work and to begin looking over mine, Kendra was behind me, kicking my shoe just enough to where she knew it would annoy me, “so teacher’s pet, what’s it like being The Shadow? Does that mean you’re cursed?” she asked, snickering. I ignored her comments as I turned my papers over to the teacher, Cosette was walking back to her seat when Kendra grabbed her arm, and pulled her close, “You know Cosette, you really need to learn to shut your mouth, before it gets you hurt.” She threatened, Cosette rolled her eyes, “Kendra, you don’t stand a chance at getting an A, much less fighting me, you don’t have the smarts or strength.” Cosette said as she showed off her grade and went back to her seat smiling smugly at Kendra.

“Wow Bella, you seem to know your stuff about Greek History, you’ve even added more than what was required. Maybe I should move you into AP Greek History.” He said smiling as he handed me my now graded papers. I felt a sense of nervousness and panic as I walked back to my seat, AP History? There was no way I could take on that high advanced class.

“Did Mr. Bryon tell you to?” Cosette asked as we were sitting at lunch, I was picking at my triple layer ham and cheese sandwich, while Cosette ate her super peperoni pizza from the cafeteria. “He’s placing us in AP Greek History!” she seemed super excited for the move up; I was a different story. “Yeah he told me, I just don’t think I want to go through with it…” I said, biting off another piece of sandwich before Cosette could ask why, “I think I’m fine being in a normal class, where I can keep up with the pace.” Cosette rolled her eyes, and glared “Belladonna Abraxas! We both had more information than any of the other students on our papers and all the extra notes we had, none of the other students will even be learning, not even in AP History, so we will still be ahead of the class, no matter where we are put, but in AP we will be able to do more work, so we aren’t sitting there bored contemplating skipping to Mrs. Montague’s room.” I smiled at the last part, and shook my head,

“I like Mrs. Montague though; she’s like another mom to me.” I said. Cosette rolled her eyes and pretended that she was choking me, “fine, then we will set up a very secret schedule to add your skip days in so you can visit Mrs. Montague, now will you join AP with me, please?!” I laughed at her begging face and nodded in agreement, “but I better have a lot of skip days.” I said as the bell rang for us to go our separate ways.

“See you after school!” I called out as I headed up the stairs to my Honors English class with Mrs. Montague. 

Part One: 6 Fiery Chaos

English; it’s probably the only subject I look forward to in school, it’s the only time I feel like I am really being myself. Walking in the class, there were about five other kids sitting around the desks talking before class began. Mrs. Montague was a new teacher at the school, and a lot of the kids were already beginning to take advantage of that by sitting with their friends and moving name tags around. I sat in the back and started to doodle on my notebook, already adorned with rose vines and stick figures sword fighting.

As the bell rang, a medium height woman with long hair walked in smiling, everyone else didn’t seem to notice her, but something about her made me want to pay attention. “Hello class. I am your Senior English teacher.”  No one seemed to be paying attention; they were too “busy” making plans with each other to care. “I want you all to write out a short essay today, on your life. It will be due in 15 minutes.” I slowly pulled out a piece of paper and began writing, but I didn’t know what to write. I couldn’t possibly tell this woman that I don’t know that well about my abusive past or my alcohol problem I had. She would send me to child services before she even finished reading my paper. I sat there doodling and daydreaming, before I knew it, I only had five minutes to write. I quickly jotted down something about my future, and how I wanted to open up my own daycare and become a published author as well. I hoped that one day I could leave a mark in this world. I quickly scribbled my name and the date and turned it in. Mrs. Montague smiled at me as I walked back to my seat.

"Yep, there is definitely something different about this teacher." I thought as I sat down and opened up a book to read while the rest of the class slowly turned in their papers. Zoning into my book I forgot about everything else. It was like I was transported into the book and I was living the story out on my own. Someone bumped into my desk, shaking me from my thoughts, looking up I saw Ethan and Sterling devilishly smiling at me,

“What do you two want?” I asked a little perturbed that they interrupted my reading and made me lose my focus. They looked at each other then stole my book bag and ran to the other side of the room. Rolling my eyes I got up from my seat to retrieve it. “Belladonna, would you mind sitting down please? We are about to discuss the book that we are going to read.” I looked at her, then back at Ethan, who was still smiling while Sterling put something into my bag. Sighing I sat back down and rested my head on my hands.

Mrs. Montague passed around the books we would be reading, The Lord of the Flies, the name seemed interesting enough, but the title seemed very strange. After she passed them around, she had her back to the class, Ethan snuck back over and tossed me my bag before winking and running back to his seat before he got caught. I glared at them before reaching into my book bag, curious to what they stuck into it. There was a little note attached to a box.

“In three minutes, the fire alarm will sound, take your bag and go the opposite way down the stairs and out of the back door into the woods. No worries, you won’t miss any of class, this will last the rest of the period.”

I looked over and began shaking my head no, but it was too late Sterling had already raised his hand and asked to go to the bathroom. Within seconds the alarm sounded and all hell broke loose after that.

Part Two: 7 Hidden Past and Secrets revealed

While everyone else ran through the halls, looking for their friends and chatting about the disruption from class, even though none of them really cared cause it meant they would be missing most of the period anyways. I snuck through the halls silently avoiding teachers as I made my way to the back entrance closest to the woods. As I reached the door I saw Sterling saunter out of the boys bathroom, like nothing had happened. Winking at me he walked down the hall to catch up with the others.

I opened the door to the stairwell and slowly started walking down, trying to be as quiet as possible. Then I heard voices from the first floor, heading towards the stair case. I climbed over the rail and hid “I don’t understand, there wasn’t supposed to be a fire drill today. Why did it suddenly go off?” I heard Mrs. Kaminari babble while they walked up. I held my breath as they passed. After two minutes, I jumped down and grabbed my bag, running out of the door and into the parking lot, there were students and teachers scattered everywhere; teachers were searching for their students, and students were hiding from their teachers. I ran along the fence and climbed over hopefully before anyone could see me.

I slowed myself down, panting I sat my bag on the ground, wondering what the hell those two have gotten me into. Looking around, I tried to recognize my surroundings, to figure out where I was. The sun was slanting, burning through the trees. There was a small, old looking cottage. Walking up to the stairs I looked in the dark space, it looked as if it had been empty for years. I sat on the stairs and reached into my bag to pull out the box. Opening it I saw documents that dated back to the 1960’s, curious I began looking more thoroughly through the pile of papers.

There were newspaper clippings, birth and death certificates, and almost burned up journal entries. I began reading them, wondering what importance they had in my life. It wasn’t until I saw a news clipping with the title

“The Shadow: Protector or Enemy of Grand Council?”

I began looking at the pictures of burning bodies and children that were hanged. There was a loud crashing sound, jolting me back into reality and out of the nightmare that was laid before my eyes. Shoving the papers back into the box, and into my book bag, I took off back towards the school, figuring that whatever happened was already over with and I could go home to do more research about this “Shadow” figure that gave apparent fear to everyone around.

Getting back to the school took no time at all, Ethan, Sterling, and Cosette were all in the parking lot, sitting in a circle sharing a bag of Skittles. Jumping the fence I walked up to them, keeping my body language guarded. “What was your master plan you guys?” I asked as I took the box out of my bag, “are you trying to tell me that I have some mystical evil power in me and I’m going to burn people and hang little children?” Cosette shook her head and handed me some Skittles.

“No, we just thought you would want to know how powerful you really are. I mean I know you don’t like talking about it, but you ARE adopted, which means you have different blood from the rest of your family. You have power Belladonna. You just have to find it in yourself and begin using it.”

“Look, maybe we should go talk somewhere else. Belladonna your parents aren’t home at this time right?” Ethan asked, I shook my head “no, but Pandora, Shadow and Raven will be home soon, and I have to be there before they get there.” I said, they all gave me expectant looks, like I was the keeper of some magical key to the world where we could talk privately. Sighing I gave in “fine, but you guys are not to mention any weird crap around the little ones.”

As soon as I pulled into the driveway I was greeted by three very upset kids, “Belladonna! Where were you, we missed our snack time and favorite shows!” Shadow and Raven groaned at me, I shrugged my shoulders and patted their heads. “I think you guys will be okay,” I said pulling a bag of candy from behind my back and handing it over to them, “You can have this, but don’t show mom and you better eat all of your dinner.” I said as I lead the way for everyone in the house. 

Impressum

Texte: Amber Jonas
Bildmaterialien: Amber Jonas
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 08.04.2012

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