c h a p t e r 5
d a r e t o
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NATASHA'S POV

"Arghaaagh!" I let out a battle cry and charged after her. Today, I was going to kill her. Pushing past everyone, I tried to reach for her, but that Godzilla ignored me and left the dorm.

"Let go of me– I’m going to kill her! I’m telling you! Waking me up this early...she dies today! Dies!" I screamed and struggled to get out of Selen, Josie and Kate's hands as they tried to hold me back.

I take my words back. I would rather be at home than here. This place was a freaking mental institute. All the people in here were crazy and I’d rather be in a prison cell.

Since the past week, I had not been able to get proper sleep, bath, or breakfast. This place had turned me into the walking dead. A zombie, even.

Let me tell you something about myself: I am not a morning person. Hell, not even an afternoon person. The only time I could act remotely close to a human was if I had a belly filled with food and a body cooled down after an hour-long cold shower.

This place, however, was depriving me of both.

The stupid schedule that went around here made me want to strangle someone to death. Who the fuck wakes up at 5 freaking AM!

What the fuck birds were so excited about at 5am, I wonder yet again.

For the past five days, I had to tolerate this torture. Everyday I was forced to wake up early in the morning and walk downstairs where the commune bathroom for Emerald House was, where I had no more than fifteen minutes to take care of my business. I had banged my pinkie toe while trying to rush out of bed so many times that I bet it can do a full split now.

Another really unfair part of my life at the moment, was that I had to say goodbye forever to long showers.

There were no more than ten shower stands in the bathrooms, and each girl only got eight minutes to take a shower, because this school apparently thought we lived in a post-apocalyptic universe where everyone's bathroom time needed to be mapped.

As if waking up at 5AM for an eight minute-shower was not enough pointless activity; they expected us to get dressed in less than five minutes, too.

Normally, I had no problem with dressing up fast as I didn't like spending tedious hours on getting ready. But this was hardly a normal situation, as I was still too sleepy to perform such an advance task of putting layers on myself—when the only layer I wanted on me was my thick comfy blanket.

"Jeez, N! Pull yourself together and get going. If you don't get showered and ready soon, you’ll have to skip breakfast again." Josie shook me, then sat down on her bed to fix up her hair.

How some of the girls managed getting ready every single morning was beyond me. It wasn't even 6 o'clock yet and she was already in her neat uniform. Not bothering to make my bed like everyone else, I grabbed my bathroom essentials from my wardrobe and stalked downstairs.

After making two girls hammer at the door for fifteen minutes, I finally stepped out of the shower, wrapped in my bathrobe, ignoring their glares. I simply headed back upstairs, about to get ready for another painfully boring day.

Back in the dormitory, I wasn't thrilled to know that I was yet again the only one in the room still getting ready. I quickly buttoned up my long-sleeved shirt and stepped into a gray sleeveless, pleated dress that reached my mid-thigh. The dress had a tie and a deep-V neckline.

Once my shirt and dress were in place, I threw on my blazer with the school's emblem embroidered on the right hand side. I folded up my cuffs around the blazer sleeve and carelessly hung my striped tie around my neck, not bothering to fix it up. I almost tripped over when I tried to wear my knee-high maroon socks before stepping into my shoes.

Knowing I was late, I headed for the breakfast hall to find it empty again. Then I dashed towards the lady behind the counter who thrust a sandwich in my hand. Cursing aloud, I rushed to the assembly hall while taking a huge bite of my sandwich.

I could already hear Ms. Famina, our principal, asking the girls to get ready for the morning prayer. "Join your hands and close your eyes, girls, and ask the Lord—"

I rushed my steps, anger building up in my chest. "What the fuck is this hellhole!" I pushed through the assembly gate with a half-eaten sandwich in my hand.

Every pair of eyes turned to me. All the teachers looked scandalized, their mouths hanging open, while the Godzilla looked like she wanted to bitch-slap me to the moon and back.

"In my office, Ms. Glazer." Ms. Famina spoke rather loudly, gritting her teeth, trying to control her temper. Then the Godzilla shoved me out of the hall, closing the door on my face.

I let out a string of curses and kicked the door before angrily biting my sandwich and sulking off to the headmistress' office.

"Miss Glazer, using profanity is not very ladylike," Ms. Famina said while giving me a disappointed look.

Ugh! Old people and their disappointed looks. I rolled my eyes and threw my legs over the armchair, sitting like a model in every photoshoot with a chair. "You know, studies have shown that intelligent people swear more than stupid mutherfuckers." I smiled innocently at her.

She shook her head and leaned back in her chair, frowning at my sitting posture. For a tense minute, she kept looking at me as I played with her paperweight.

Then I sighed loudly.

"Did you know that your grandmother studied here, Ms. Grazer?" Ms. Famina asked, joining her hands together as she took in my shock.

"No, I didn't. They…" I adjusted myself in my seat.  "I mean I knew that she attended a boarding school, but I didn't know…" I shrugged off.

"Well, now you do. She was an exceptional student; she was my senior. A lot of girls, including me, used to look up to her." Ms. Famina smiled warmly when she spoke about my grandmother.

"I am not my grandma." I bit my lip and started playing with my untied tie.

"No; you are not," she said bluntly, making me snap my eyes at her. "Tell me something. How do you want to live your life?" She placed her hands on the desk and leaned in.

"I want to live my life like a bear." I smirked. "Eat when I want. Sleep when I want. Kill people in the woods when I want."

"Well, I don't believe bears complain a lot, either." She quirked her brow at my retort.

I leaned back in my seat and smiled. She was different than what I thought her to be. Much more smart and witty. Unlike other principals I had met.

Yes. Principals. Plural. What can I say? A personality like mine was not everyone's shot of vodka after all.

"I would suggest you find a way around your problems. You seem quite a smart girl. I do believe you can find a way to adjust to our system, Natasha." She got up from her desk and gestured towards the door.

Did she just dismiss me without any punishment involved? It didn't sit well with me. Like there was a sour note in an otherwise perfect tune.

Not that I wanted one, but still…why wouldn't she give me one?

Halfway across the room, my gaze flitted to the empty photo frame. "Ms. Famina, why do you have an empty frame here?" I asked out of curiosity.

She looked up from her paperwork and eyed the frame. "Let’s have the conversation on that topic later. Run along to your class. You’re already five minutes late." She turned her attention back to the papers.

So I rolled my eyes and walked out of the office, heading in the direction of my class with an empty stomach and a bitter attitude.

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The first Friday night of the year was here and the excitement of all the girls were obvious. They were practically bouncing up in the air all around. All the girls had eaten their dinner early today, and we were gathered in our Emerald House dormitory.

Apparently, on the start of every year, all the girls of all the houses played a game of truth and dare. It was their way of welcoming the New Year and breaking the ice.

Since it was also the only night when all the wardens and matrons—along with sisters that resided here—had a meeting till late in the night with the headmistress, leaving the school prefects in charge of watching over all of us. So, it was convenient to do whatever we wanted and get away with it.

I was sprawled out on my bed watching some game being played. All the questions were boring and all the dares were dumb.

I could have easily whipped out my bottles of vodka and showed them a fun way of playing the game, but I didn't want all the tattletales to go off screaming 'She brought alcohol!' all over the campus.

"Well, your dare, Susan…is to eat three chilies!" Maria, the so-called Queen Bee, passed on three green chilies with a glass of water.

"Seriously! This is so lame!" I voiced my thoughts out loud, getting all of their attention.

"Says the girl who isn't even playing," Queen Bee shot back.

"Oh, I'll play. When you upgrade your kindergarten level dares to something more challenging," I taunted, enjoying the way it bothered her.
Looks like the Queen Bee wasn’t used to getting snarky replies.

I turned my attention back to making holes in Ester’s sheets laying near my bed while she was engrossed in the game. They all started whispering stuff; no doubt coming up with names and tags that I would never care about.

"Alright. You want the hard level. Then how about the school’s one and only dare that hasn't been completed, the one that’s impossible to do. Up for that challenge?" Maria addressed, and she got my attention.

Intrigued by her choice of words, I sat up straight and faced her, looking her in the eyes. "Elaborate." I tilt my head to the side.

"Well, ever since the first game was originally started, there has been one that no one ever dared to take part in. A dare which those rare brave souls failed miserably at. You think you have it in you to take up the challenge? Would you dare to, N?" Queen Bee asked, flashing a torchlight at her face, being all dramatic.

"Clearly, because I hadn't stepped a foot here yet. Come on; tell me what it is so I can get it done with." I rolled my eyes and snickered. I was always up for a good challenge, and the way all the girls got worked up hearing me agree to it, told me the dare must really be a big deal ‘round here.

"Fine. Your death.” Maria made a face. “The dare is to go to St. Joseph's all-boys school." She flicked her hair back and narrowed her eyes at me, giving me a smug look.

I waited a couple seconds before bursting into laughter. Surely there was more to it than just that.

Then they all looked at me like I had lost my damn marbles.

When I realized there was nothing more to the ridiculously simple dare, I was laughing even louder. "That's it? Are you kidding?" I choked out in between laughs. "So lemme get this straight... No one in past—what, 15 years or so? Has ever been able to complete such an easy dare?" I snickered and grabbed the torch from Queen Bee’s hand. "I’ll do it. Piece of cake.”

No one talked back.

So I continued, “Actually it’s like stealing a piece of cake out of a sleeping infant’s hands," I muttered, enjoying their blank and shocked faces. I pulled on a jacket and grabbed my shoes.

"Have you seen the gates and the security? It’s impossible to get out of here. How would you possibly reach St. Joseph when you can hardly get out of St. Mary's?" Ester questioned me, pacing in circles now.

I rolled my eyes and took hold of her shoulders to halt her anxious pace. "There’s a clear path from the graveyard all the way to the woods that leads to the main road, which oh-so conveniently has no tall gates or security cameras guarding it," I explained.

Ester's eyes went wide after hearing the words ‘graveyard woods’ and ‘main road’. Selen and Josie shared the same look of shock, their lips forming an ‘O’, while Kate smirked to herself, seeming impressed with my plan.

"Yeah. But...but...are you really gonna walk through the graveyard? It’s gonna be midnight soon," Selen argued, looking frightened out of her wits. I shook my head at the lot and took the camera from one of the senior girls from House Topaz.

As per the rules, I would be needing to take a picture with the boys as proof that I really did go all the way into the St. Joseph’s boarding school.

"You know if you pull this off, you become a legend," Kate stated while I wore my shoes.

"All the more reason to do it, then." I winked at her.

Clutching the torch and slinging the camera around my neck, I blew a goodbye kiss to all the unsure faces, then sashayed out of the dormitory.

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Want another reason why I think this place is all kinds of whacked up? Then here’s one:

There’s a graveyard right in the middle of the elementary and secondary campus which leads to the thick woods.

As if this place wasn't haunting enough with that tiny Godzilla of a warden sister Meredith, walking around with her hawk eyes glaring at us.

I was told that when the castle was originally built, this was where they buried their dead. And then years later, the ruined castle was taken up to be rebuilt as a Catholic educational institute; the holy nuns didn't want to disturb the resting place of all the dead’s bones and instead allowed it to remain as a part of the campus.

I bet they all thought themselves to be clever, knowing that they only needed the front gate to be secured, as no girl in her right mind would even dream of going near—let alone through a graveyard.

Good for them…considering how well their plan had worked for so long. Too bad, though, that they didn't expect someone like me to take advantage of it. This just made the whole thing so much easier.

I was an atheist and that meant I didn't just not believe in God, but I also didn't believe in anything spiritual. So I was not afraid of walking through a graveyard—they were only bones. Of dead people. And not ugly see-through ghosts that were gonna crawl up and claw at my feet as I walked through.

Reaching to the graveyard was easy since there was no one on patrol, and walking through the graveyard and into the woods was easier. Finding my way out of the thick woods was admittedly hard. I somehow managed to find my way around to the main road.

I checked my wristwatch to see that I had only an hour left to reach St. Joseph’s, take a picture, and get back before it was 12:30, because that's when the meeting would be over, and then sister Meredith a.k.a. Godzilla would be coming back to do rounds.

I turned off the flashlight, seeing the ample streetlight on the road. If Selen's words were to be considered as accurate measurements, then the all-boys school was no more than 15 minutes away. But still not wanting to lose time, I ran ahead to reach St. Joseph’s, the idea of accomplishing the silly dare running circles through my thoughts.

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Ever been to a graveyard a night?

Peace out bitches 💋