Audra Farley.

There were some things in my life that just didn't add up.

I found it a mystery myself. Some parts of my life were blurred, there were memories I just couldn't get myself to remember and faces I knew but couldn't identify. I've said words I didn't know the meaning of, in a language I'd never heard before.There were few things people didn't understand about me, not even my mother.

My life started from when I was fifteen, I couldn't remember anything before then. Birthdays, Christmases, parties, new years, I couldn't remember a thing about them. Occasionally, I would try to but the best I'd seen were blurry images or voices I didn't recognize. It was something I kept to myself. My mother, who was the closest to me, didn't know and I didn't mention a word about it.

Everything that I happened in my life took place in just two years. I remember the day I woke up in a small room with no idea where or who I was. My mind was empty and my heart void of emotions. I didn't understand what was going on or why I was where I was. That was the beginning of my life. From that point, the house became my home and the woman became my mother. No one explained how I got there or why I didn't remember my past.

Although, I wasn't the most popular kid and once in a while, I got picked on but I would consider high school the best part of my life. It was a pity I didn't enjoy every time I spent there. I guess they were right when they said you wouldn't understand the value of something till you lose it. If I knew what would happen after those few weeks of peace, I would've held on to those moments.

The voices came, whispers in my ears in a language I didn't understand. Dreams followed, I would see myself in the midst of creatures, ones I'd never seen before, and like a warrior in a battle, I would fight till it feels like I'd lost every bit of energy in my body. I would wake up with sweat on my skin and tears rolling out of my eyes. Just like I kept my past a secret, I tried to keep it a secret. I didn't want anyone to think I was insane, neither did I want to get locked up in a mental asylum. I was scared of what would happen if I mentioned a word about it so I kept my mouth shut. I continued to ignore them but as days passed, the voices got louder and the dreams, I would wake up screaming or crying out.That was the moment things went down. I would feel the urge to leave the school to somewhere I had no idea about. It didn't matter how hard I tried, there was always this feeling inside.

To find home.

Samara Shaw

It was a few minutes from twelve.

The stars twinkled in the dark sky as I sat by my bed, staring at the hands of the clock. It was almost time and like never before, my patience was running out. Everything in me was fighting the urge to get up and leave the room. The walk downstairs would take nothing less than thirty minutes and could be more, considering how dark it would be. I didn't think of how scary it would be to sneak out the dorm till that moment. The last time I walked through those passageways, I saw Astra and the stranger I thought died fifty years ago. Although, I knew Astra didn't actually didn't die, it wasn't possible that she was in the walls of the school. Besides, what I saw that evening was a younger version of the woman I saw in the picture. It means it was taken after Astra left Thorne.

With the picture of Astra in my hand, I placed my feet on the cold wood and heard a loud creak beneath me. Fearing the noise would wake Lucy, I stayed that way for a few seconds and was relieved her snores were still as loud as before. If she woke up and saw me leaving, surely Vince would know about it and things might not end up the way it did between them earlier that day. I wouldn't like to be the reason why the feud between the brothers would grow worse or why someone gets injured.

My steps to the door were slow and careful. I twisted the knob and opened it gently and like that, closed it behind me. The passageway was cold and empty, even worse than I expected it to look. The candlelights were dim, I could barely see the floor but my curiosity was greater than the fear so I courageously started my journey outside. I'd never taken such a step in my life, I was risking my sanity for the truth.

It was worse than that evening when I first saw what I thought was Astra's ghost, the first day I got an idea of what the queen looked like. I had a feeling I would see her again and although it was something that would frighten me, I wanted to hear what she had to say and maybe then, I would get more understanding of what was actually going on. The real truth.

I was out of the dorm successfully and was about half way into my journey. I still had a long way to go and I'd barely reached the place where I saw Astra. I stood in the middle of the passage way and looked down into the darkness. I stood beneath the candlelight, that was the last I could see. I didn't know what but the others had been removed. Stepping out of the comfort of my room was the most I could do, I could not walk down to the exit in darkness.

"Samara"

My head snapped to the side and before I knew it, a scream left my lips. Just when it tore through the place, I felt a palm clamp my mouth shut, an extremely cold palm. I was shivering in fear and my whimpers echoed through the passageway. It didn't take long before beads of warm tears slipped out of my eyes. I could not see who it was through the dim lights. All I saw was the sickly pale arm protruding out of the darkness,one that looked familiar but I couldn't remember where I saw it. I couldn't identify him by his voice either, it was just a little above a whisper.

It had to be that whoever it was was one of the ghosts lurking in the school. The last time I saw them, it was as if I was nonexistent but this time, it knew me so well, it called me by my name. I was curious to see them again with the thoughts it would be just like the last time and I could slip away without any of them noticing but I'd gotten myself in a mess I couldn't get out of. There was no one there to help me and if I screamed the highest I could, no one would hear my voice. Regret settled in, I realised I shouldn't have risked so much.

"Calm down, it's me"

Accius removed his palm from my mouth and stepped into the light. The arm belonged to him, he was the only one in the school with skin so pale, or at least one of the very few, and I remembered it was one of the things I first noticed about him. Knowing I was no longer in danger, a sigh of relief escaped my lips. My back met the cold wall and slipped down to the bottom where I crouched down. My heart beats were still fast and so were my breaths. It was just Accius but I couldn't bring myself to think about what would've happened if it wasn't him or of I lost my life that night trying to find the truth.

"Figured out you wouldn't be able to make it past here without my help so I waited here for you"

"You scared me, I thought I was going to die"

"Why would anyone want to take your life?"

"I don't know"

"Look, no one here wants to kill you and I'm sure of that. It's better we leave here as soon as we can c_"

"I'm not going anywhere"

"You came all the way here just to turn back?"

"As much as I'd like to hear what you have to say, I can't risk my life because of it."

"You're not risking your life, I'm with you, and even if you were, you should've thought about that before leaving your room at the first place. In case you haven't noticed, I left my room also and came all the way here to help you through this, don't you think I risked something too?" The journey from the male's dorm down to where we were truly was a long one. I could remember earlier that day, when Vince and I walked to the female's dorm and I also remembered how long and tiring those minutes were. He had risked something too and I easily gave up after a scare.

"Okay, but how do you think we'll make it h_"

"Wait"

It seemed to be that he was trying to hear something. Through the deafening silence, I didn't hear a thing besides my heart beats thumping in my chest and my fast uneven breaths. I was beginning to think there was nothing but when I opened my mouth to speak again, he silenced me. I tried to detect the slightest sounds and concentrated more on what my ears could pick but even then, I didn't hear a thing. At that point, I concluded he was hearing something I wasn't.

"Get up, someone's coming"

I stood up swifty and followed him. We didn't walk straight into the darkness like I thought but back in the direction of the female's dorm, where I came from. Knowing well that if I spoke, I would cause more trouble, I silently followed. We took a turn to one of the many windows in the school and stood in front of it. The cold night breeze rushed in through the widely opened glass. From there, there was a perfect view of the forest beyond the tall walls of the school. He looked down through it and in curiosity to know what was going on, I looked down too. The ground was far from where we were and just a sight of it made me shiver. Still, I didn't understand why we were in front of a window or what help it could do.

"What are we going to do?"

"Jump"

"What?"

"Jump, we're going to jump"

That was the last I heard from Accius before I felt the push behind me and my body went out the window.