Lotus Academy

It all started with a nightmare, as such things usually do.

The night was cold, and it was hard to see anything, even with the moon shining bright. I blinked my hair out of my eyes, which almost seemed golden in the moonlight. My eyes had only just started adjusting to the dark when I heard a noise. I didn’t know who it came from. I didn’t even know where I was. All I knew was that I had to run.

I woke up with a start. I was shaking and sweating all over, as if I had not been in my bed for the last five hours. As if I had actually been running. I have always had nightmares, but this one felt so vivid, so real. I shook my head as if to toss it away and hopped into the shower.

It was only 6 a.m., and I had stayed up late last night.

After showering, I changed into some fresh clothes and headed out of the house into the garden. I stayed in a two-story house with my guardian, Jane.

My room was upstairs, along with two other guest rooms. Jane’s was downstairs, along with the huge living room and kitchen.

The house had belonged to Jane’s late husband. I guess they had huge plans for their family before her husband, Nate, suddenly died in a car crash.

Jane had always wanted a family, so after her husband’s death, she adopted me and raised me like her own child.

I walked on the grass, still wet with dewdrops. I was letting my hair out of the towel, meaning to air-dry it, when Jane walked out of the kitchen. The back door of the kitchen led into the garden, which was convenient, as Jane liked to grow her own vegetables. She didn’t trust anything she couldn’t make herself.

“There you are,” said Jane, smiling as she hugged me.

“Good morning,” I replied, embracing her even tighter. Morning hugs were kind of a ritual for us.

“You are up early!” She raised her eyebrows.

“I am always up early, and you know that,” I said, pulling away from her.

“Are you having nightmares again?” She scanned my face. She somehow always knew when I had one.

“Yes,” I said, feeling the shiver all over again. I had been afraid, terrified of that dream, and I was trying not to think about it.

“That bad, huh?” asked Jane. She must have read it on my face.

“It’s nothing,” I lied. But Jane stared at me with her cattish eyes, and I knew she wouldn’t stop pestering me until she got it out of me.

“Yes, it was. It almost felt like I was there this time. And something was chasing me. I don’t know what, but I wanted to run away from it. As far as possible.”

My nightmares had always been unpleasant, but this one was way over the top.

“And I had blonde hair! Can you imagine?” I pointed to my yet drying, very brown hair.

“Oh no. Not your hair!” she always said, and I quote, my brown tresses were my best feature.

“I am sure it’s just a bad dream, Ellie.” She smiled her everything-is-gonna-be-okay smile.

I nodded. Jane was the only one who called me Ellie. Everyone else just called me Noelle, which is my name, obviously.

I didn’t have a lot of friends, as I wasn’t very good with people. So Jane was basically the only person in my life. She was everything to me — a mother, a sister, and a friend.

I headed into the kitchen with her to make breakfast. We always made breakfast together before I left for school. She opened the door, and I followed behind her. Only I didn’t.

There was a flash of lightning, and I closed my eyes as a reflex.

When I opened them again, they stung like eyes do when you’re on a beach during a windy day.

I had sand in my eyes.

I struggled to make sense of what lay ahead of me.

It surely wasn’t my kitchen, unless my kitchen had suddenly moved to the middle of nowhere and into a desert.

Hey guys! This draft has been sitting with me for ages. Honestly, I wrote it when I was 16 and the writing was all choppy. I have had to rewrite it completely. And I am planning to go ahead with this version. Thank you for reading. Let me know what you think in the comments below and don't forget to rate and review 💌