Heritage (2 page)

                                                    ***

I woke up to the light shining in through my bedroom window. The rain had cleared up from the night before, and the sun was beginning to peek through the clouds. Jumping out of bed I glanced at my face in the mirror.

“Mirror, Mirror on the wall who is the fairest of them all,” I chanted. I put on the pale yellow dress that I found hanging on one of my bed posts and went back to standing in front of the mirror.

“Well as always, this is the best it is going to get,” I sighed as I slid a golden butterfly clip into my hair. Grabbing my bag from my desk I raced downstairs.

Stepping into the kitchen, the smell of bacon and eggs greeted. Beth was standing at the cooker preparing what seemed to be a bacon sandwich. The Bales house was extremely old fashioned. The kitchen consisted of a row of cupboards with counter tops, cluttered with the essential microwave, toaster, kettle and other appliances. The colour scheme was a combination of greens and yellows, with the wallpaper decorated with pink and yellow birds. Very old fashioned but that was Beth’s taste, She looked old fashioned, with long ginger hair that was always tied back in a bun and her face was always made up. I think if she let her hair down once in a while and wore some bright clothes she could pass for thirty. Ten years younger than she is. Ignoring Robin who was at the kitchen table with her morning coffee, I went to the lower cupboard and took out a breakfast bar. Beth looked up from the cooker and gave me a smile, I did not have time to strike up meaningless conversation as I was already running late for college. Giving her a quick smile back I reached for my car keys and headed for the door to my awaiting yellow Volkswagen beetle.

As I drove around the corner, I could see a row of police cars cutting up my route to college. Just what I need, it is not as if I am running late as it is. Parking up next to the furthest police car, I could not see any wreckage from a car accident. Why else would four police cars be here if, not for an accident? Stepping out of the car I spotted a police officer perched on his car bonnet.

“Excuse me, what’s gone off?” I asked

“Here lady, you shouldn’t be here. It’s not safe,” He replied rising from his position and gesturing for me to go back to my car. Following his extremely rude order, I went back to my car and sat behind the wheel staring at him. Across from the sitting officer were two other officers that looked as if they were senior members. They were talking whilst staring at something at their feet. Leaning towards my window and opening it slightly; just enough so that I could use my extra hearing to pick up what their conversation was about. I was never one for prying, but I was too intrigued.

“Have you ever seen marks like this before?”One of the men asked in a slight Scottish accent.

“Never, she was burned to a cinder. Nothing remained apart from her bracelet and a pile of ash.”

The other man handed over the silver charm bracelet to a man who was collecting objects from the floor, most likely for evidence. As I wound the window back up I went over what they said in my mind, burned to a cinder. That has to be the work of a demon but why would they be around here. It’s not the typical place that demons hunt. There must have been a reason why they set out for this certain person and why they would risk exposure. This person must have been high up on one of their hit lists. No, I was just jumping to conclusions. It was probably a freak accident. Not convincing myself, I decided I’d call Alex during my lunch break, and she could do a paranormal search of the crime scene. Poor girl, I thought as I drove around the police cars and turned to drive a different route to college.

Before I turned the corner, my eye caught the stone bricked building that had been my refuge in the mortal world. Sainsdun College was one place where I felt normal. Like all the other mortals, not having to chase demons and other mythical creatures. I had a group of friends that knew nothing of my heritage and treated me like any other person.  Pulling into the car park, I parked up next to a purple mini cooper which was a funky looking car, I have to admit. I’d love to know who owned it, most likely one of the popular kids that did not care what people thought. You would have to be to drive an attention radar like that. Before I could even reach for the car door handle, the door had already opened and Poppy had begun to drag me out of the car, almost making me fall on to the floor in the process.

“What the hell Pops?” I exclaimed. Ignoring me, she continued to pull me to the back of the mini and there standing against it, was a man who was at least six feet tall with short dark brown layered hair. He was dressed in a Fred Perry jumper with jeans. He looked like something out of step ford wives. He was surrounded by a group of girls looking at him as if he was a god. I’ve seen gods, and he was not one of them. 

“He is such a babe.”

I had almost forgotten about Poppy, who was now literally drooling next to me.

“You can’t be serious Pops, he’s a total Dweep,” I sighed. What an earth do they see in this, well, boy. I pulled away from Poppy’s grip and locked the car.

As I began to walk towards the entrance, I heard Poppy come running up behind me panting. Entering the building, we were greeted by Harriet and Carrie. At college,  I had four close friends. Poppy who was incredibly naïve for an eighteen year old girl, always drooling over ever guy that came within ten feet of her, but she did have a great personality. She was bubbly and bright and was able to talk to anyone for long periods of time without running out of things to say.  Harriet was just like Poppy, but maybe a calmer version of her, she always had some piece of gossip for everyone she met. I could get on well with Harriet as we both shared the same sense of humour so we could have a laugh together. Carrie was the complete opposite to all of us. She was extremely quiet and shy when meeting new people. She is an extremely passionate person and terribly aware of how people are feeling. I am always cautious about her because she always picks up when I am nervous and worried about things. Which were always generally about a demon hunt.

“Where’s Oscar?” Carrie asked, removing a piece of red hair that was covering her face.

“We are going to be late,” She muttered pushing her glasses back in place on her nose so that her green eyes were ten times bigger.  The dull yellow hallways had started to become full of students as we took the short walk to the third floor for English.

“I heard Mr. Hanno is secretly dating Miss. Derris,” Harriet twittered.

“That’s not true. Is it?” Carrie was extremely gullible I think this is probably why her and Harriet were best friends. Harriet must love telling all her stories to someone that believed them. As we approached the classroom, I noticed that the same group of girls that were crowded in the car park had made their way up to the third floor. I wondered if they kept the crowded form all the way up the stairs. Now I bet that was not easy I chuckled quietly to myself. As we got closer to the group, I could see what had caught their attention. For the second time, the step ford wife wannabe was standing, leaning against a wall. He must think he is some sort of super model. If he continued to flick his hair like that he was going to cause himself whiplash. Entering the English classroom, I could not help notice that his eyes were on me, glaring into the back of my head. I’m probably just feeling paranoid. Why would a guy like that have any interest in me and why would I want him to be. He seemed big headed and extremely vain. I’m sure there is no room in his mind for anything other than his beautifying routine. He gave me the creeps though, there was something about him that I did not like, and I could not put my finger on what it was.

In English, I sat by the window so that I could dream about hunting, as anything I study in college I have learnt before. Mr. Hanno our English teacher came in and began to write something on the board. His blue and purple vest had a tear in the back, and his brown trousers were stained. If anyone were dating him they were bound to be blind, as his semi bald head did not scream desirable. I felt someone pull the chair out next to me and turned to see that Oscar had finally made an appearance.

“Late again Oscar Green,” I said sternly, giving him a disapproving look.

“Missed the Bus Elle Bale,” He replied with a mocking smile. Oscar was also one of my best friends.  He had a heart of gold, but no one noticed it as he kept it hidden with boyish immaturity.

“You always miss the bus.  Why not get an earlier one? Or easier why don’t you let me give you a lift.”

“Because that would mean getting up early and I need my beauty sleep. Especially if, I’m going to keep up with the latest talent,” he gestured to the guy from the car park. I sniggered as the Zac Efron wannabe crossed the classroom to his many awaiting fans who were fighting for a seat next to him. He continued to stare intently towards me as he took his seat, his intense stare made me shiver.

“You are right, the talent just gets better and better,” Poppy sighed dreamily.

“Thanks Pops, that’s boosted my ego,” Oscar laughed.

“I think you have enough beauty sleep Oscar,” A long fair haired girl giggled as she sat on our desk in a low cut blue and white dress.

“Thanks… Emma,” Oscar replied trying to look  anywhere apart from at the girl, who had now started batting her eyelids so much, I was surprised she had not started a gale wind.

“Hey Elle, nice outfit. I think my mum used to have the same one. Didn’t you wear that last week,” she smiled.

“Thanks for the advice,” What a Bitch, one of these days I will curse her and make her hair fall out. Every week she commented on my appearance and to be honest my patience was wearing thin. Emma was one of my top ten annoying humans that if one day I was allowed to use my powers to muck around with their lives, she would be who I chose. She was a stuck up rich bitch, who dressed as if she was attending a hooker convention every day.

“You’re welcome... So Oliver, I was wondering…”

“Right! In your seats class,” Mr. Hanno interrupted, and she went to sit down unwillingly.

I watched as she sat in the seat on the far side of the room.  Where I’m guessing she had a lovely view of Oscar. I could see Oscar squirm as he realised where she had sat. Running his hand through his short hair, he slid lower into his seat to hide.

“I think you have an admirer Oz,” Poppy mocked as she waved to Emma across the room.

“She’s cute…In a Barbie doll sort of way,” Carrie whispered.

“Yeah, In a sell your granny for a boob job kind of way,” I whispered as Mr.
Hanno had started babbling on about Of Mice and Men. We were sat near the back of the room as it was easier to talk back there, which was the way Poppy and Harriet like it.

“Shut up. She’s just a girl that’s lives next to me. I swear she looks through my window when I get changed,” Oscar shuddered, and we all burst out laughing which caught the attention from Mr. Hanno and he gave us a disapproving look.  Of course,  she would be the girl that wanted one of my best friends. She was the type of girl who always wanted what she knew she could not have. Oscar wasn’t her usual type of boy crush, so I honestly did not know why she was flirting with him all the time. Not that Oscar was not a decent looking boy because he was, he was just definitely not her type.

Oscar spent the next two lessons avoiding any contact with Emma, much to our amusement. When it finally came to lunch we had all made plans, when they were getting married and how many children they would have.  It’s the simple things like mocking one of our friends that made me feel happy and safe with mortals. I grabbed an egg sandwich from the cafeteria and sat down at
our
usual table in the middle of the courtyard.  Whilst the others were getting their lunch, I decided to call Alex and see if she knew anything about the incident on Rover road.

“Hey.”

“Hey Elle, are you, not at College?” She asked.

“Yeah I’m just calling about something that I saw on the way. I need
you
to check something out for me. There was an incident on Rover road a girl was burnt to a cinder, and I don’t know whether it is a D or just a normal thing.”

“Well, there is nothing normal about that. I’ll check it out for you and let you know.”

“Thanks Alex, I owe you one.”

“What are friends for?”

She hung up just as Harriet came to sit next to me,
followed
by Carrie and Poppy. Looking around I spotted Oscar by the drinks machine talking to Emma. The look on his face suggested that he would much rather have the earth swallow him up than continue the conversation.

“Shouldn’t someone rescue him,” Carrie suggested. We all looked at her and began to laugh.

“Nah!” We laughed together just as Oscar came to the table with a flustered face. We continued to laugh as Emma walked past our table and gave Oscar a cheeky wink. Poppy fell off her chair from laughing so hard as Oscars face went as bright as his shirt.

“That girl has issues,” he said as he looked down into his lunch.

“What was she saying to you up there? What colour boxers are you wearing,” Poppy laughed.