^ Carter ^

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T h e   H o l l o w s   O f
H I R A E   T  H
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"My name is Jameson Fahr, I am here to take you to 'The Academy of Zasolnište'—you must come with me."

I raised my eyebrows at him, "I don't even know who you are." The boy sighed and pulled an item out of his jacket pocket. It was an ID card, except not the usual you'd be expecting.

It displayed his date of birth and name, though did not state a nationality, and held the word 'Guardian' in big, bold letters.

I frowned, "I still don't get it." I told him and the guy—Jameson—rolled his eyes as he stuffed the card back into his pocket.

"Look, I know it seems weird to come with me, but I'm just going to lay it out for you—if you stay here; and don't come with me, you'll be in much more danger." His expression remained hard.

"How am I in danger?" I questioned, folding my arms over my chest.

"There are people out there after you. Come with me and more will be explained on your arrival." I narrowed my eyes at him.

I planted my feet firmly to the ground. "I am not going anywhere with you." I told him defiantly, sticking my nose up in the air.

Jameson clenched his jaw, before fishing around in his bag and pulling out a folder.

"Here's all the confidential documents regarding the Academy, proving that it is legitimate and will provide safety for you. In amongst that are verification slips and certificates for my role in the Academy to prove that I am who I say I am." I glanced between him and the folder, before taking it and flipping through.

My mum worked in the law, and so I knew all this stuff was legitimate from the moment I laid eyes on the first document.

I closed my eyes and sighed. He was telling the truth.

I opened them and handed him back the folder, "okay," I said.

"Okay?" He replied.

I swallowed, "I'll come with you to this...Academy."

Jameson nodded, his expression remaining the same. He was either lifeless, or he was trained to be this way.

"Nice car." I commented as we reached his car, which was parked on a side road.

"They're given out to Guardians on every mission." He told me, which I raised my eyebrows at in response.

"This is a mission?" I asked, overlooking the 'Guardian' part of his statement. Jameson started the car and buckled his seatbelt.

"We will arrive at the Academy in approximately three hours." Jameson did not reply to my earlier comment but instead hit me with a bombshell.

"Wait, three hours?" I groaned, "why so long?" Jameson pulled out of his parking spot and started to speed down the road.

"Suck it up." I gritted my teeth at his response, before proceeding to ignore him.

About an hour had passed and I was sick of sitting in silence. The streets had passed us by in a blur and we were now speeding past corn fields, where herds of cows and sheep had gathered.

I turned to look at Jameson, "what does Zasolnište mean, anyway?" I asked, messing up the name slightly; Jameson appeared to find my mispronunciation of the name funny.

"Glad I amused you." I huffed, crossing my arms over my chest.

"You are very amusing." Jameson responded in a deadpanned tone, almost as if I was not amusing.

"And as for your question, it translates to 'The Safe Haven' from Macedonian."

"The Safe Haven? Isn't that a little vain? And pretty bland." I retorted.

"Are we describing a place or food?" I nearly laughed. He was quite funny, but I didn't want to admit it.

After that, we pretty much sat in silence. I continued to watch as the fields sped by and Jameson continued to drive and remain an annoying zombie douche. Yes, that's a thing.

Again, the silence haunted me, and so I clicked on the radio. Jameson turned to look at me from the corner of his eye.

"Eyes on the road, JJ." Although it was a small reaction, I could see as Jameson stiffened at the name.

"So, JJ–"

"Don't call me that." He commanded with a dejected tone, but I ignored him as if he never interrupted me.

"–how long now?"

"One hour and twenty-five minutes."

"Got it."

I started tapping my finger against the armrest to the beat of the song, until, of course, it ended. To subside the boredom, I fished my phone from my school bag and began flicking through my notifications.

"You're going to have to throw that out." My head snapped up.

"What?" My eyes widened as I tried to fathom life without my phone. "Why?" I asked, my grip tightening on my iPhone as if he'd snatch it away from me.

"People will try to get in touch with you, we don't want to risk you getting found." I remained silent after that, realising that I would probably never see my friends and family ever again. I could feel the tears building up in my eyes, and so turned towards the window so that Jameson wouldn't see them if they fell.

"It's not fair," I huffed. "I don't know who you are, yet your declaring things that I should and shouldn't do; you're messing up my life." I rose my voice, almost shouting.

Jameson's jaw tightened, "I'm protecting you." He stated calmly, though, sounding as if he was teetering on a thin wire between control and insanity.

"Protecting me from what?" My voice broke, despite my attempts to not sound weak. Jameson ignored me, but I could see I had affected him when his knuckles turned white as he clenched the steering wheel.

"If you don't tell me what's going on, right now, I'm getting out." I told him adamantly. I could see the cogs in his brain whirling as silence fell. Of course, I believe the first thought would be: how the hell could this girl get out? You know, since we are speeding down a road that reaches out for miles.

Before I could consider his next thought, I reached out and grabbed the steering wheel. Jameson swore as we swerved, and I fell back and hit my head against the passenger window. We screeched to a stop on the edge of the road, and Jameson parked up on the grass.

I shook, both in fear of what had just happened and in fear of the future.

Jameson did nothing for a while, but soon enough started the engine once more, before we set off again to hell.

"When's your birthday?" Jameson asked suddenly. I wiped away all evidence of my tears before turning around to glance at him. When our eyes met, his may have softened as they met my teary ones—but I chose to ignore it.

Too distraught to consider fighting back, I responded, "twenty-third of August—you care because?"

"We could have a slumber party." I think he was trying to cheer me up. It worked.

"Yeah, we could braid each other's hair and everything!" I gushed and the corners of Jameson's lips turned upwards.

"No, but seriously."

"But seriously, we could have a slumber party!" I mocked him, then smiled as he laughed—though it only lasted a few fleeting seconds.

"Why do you ask?" I questioned, my eyes set on him.

He shrugged, "just curious."

"My god, all that because you were curious?" I had to restrain myself from shoving him since that would kill us both.

"Yes, Sky, and don't blaspheme."

"'Don't blaspheme.'" I mimicked, scoffing. I relaxed into my seat, finally feeling comfortable in Jameson's presence. Though, I swear his face only holds two expressions: straight face, and the 'I'm only slightly amused by what you're saying' face.

"Are you thinking about me?" Jameson's comment surprised me and it took me a few moments to regain the little trickle of composure I had left. I hoped he wasn't this cocky all the time—he didn't suit it.

"Are you now thinking about me thinking about you thinking about me?" Jameson's eyes flickered in my direction as he added more confusion to my life.

"Well, that depends: are you thinking about me thinking about you thinking about me thinking about you?" I asked him in response, to which his lips twitched at.

"That depends—are you still thinking?" Jameson replied and I chuckled. He's kind of funny.

"Are you thinking about me again?" Jameson asked suddenly.

"Don't even go there."

"Nowhere else to go; we have arrived." His input caught me off guard and it took me a while to look up and around at my surroundings.

"Wow. Grass." Defines exactly all that I could see. If you call camping protecting me, then I guess this is a good spot.

Jameson rolled his eyes, "well, obviously this is the disguise." He told me as he got out the car.

"Obviously." I muttered loud enough for him to hear. Then I got out of my side, hitting Jameson with the door in the process.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" I jumped out of the car as Jameson pressed gently onto his arm—I'm guessing to spot any major injuries.

"It's fine. Just remember, next time, I'm opening your door." I nodded as I pulled my school bag from my seat and slung it over my shoulder.

"Such a gentlemen."

With that said, Jameson guided me through 'the disguise', and he was suddenly right. The grass was a disguise. For, in front of me, was a well-built, stone building, that reached high enough that you'd think you'd spot it.

But you didn't.
Along with grass and trees, the Academy also seemed to be shrouded in mystery.

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Hello I have arrived

I felt like I should post the second chapter, to avoid confusion.

There will still be confusion.

Oh well, I tried.

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Next update: hmm, some time this week.
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T H E  H O L L O W S  O F
H I R A E T H P L A Y L I S T:
(A playlist of songs that relate to the plot of the story, worth checking out to understand the story further)

(I have the link copied and pasted into my About on my profile, and also on the description of this story, you can copy and paste it into a search engine there ☺️)
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Edited:
20/06/18