Page 9 of Gothikana

A clap ofthunder shook the castle walls.

Corvina stood under the awnings of the admin wing, just having collected her books and some stationery items, her hands full as she watched the breathtaking view from the top of the mountain.

Even after a week of being at Verenmore, she couldn’t stop herself from halting in her tracks and admiring the view every chance she got. It was unlike anything she could have imagined before. Growing up, she didn’t watch a lot of movies or access the internet to see sights such as the one before her. That was one of the reasons why not having a phone or internet at the university didn’t really bother her. She’d never had them. There had been one telephone line foremergencies and to order supplies. All other business she’d done through the town library once a week. Her mama had taught her self-sufficiency.

She hugged the books to her chest at the pang the thought of her mama sent through her, and then she shook it off. It wasn’t the time to get nostalgic.

Wearing one of her black full-sleeved tops and brown maxi skirts, a black ribbon choker around her neck, Corvina felt like herself. The brown lipstick on her mouth, black liner outlining her odd violet eyes, she had her hair in her favorite fishtail braid, silver danglers hanging from her ears. A silver ring pierced her nose, and the multi-crystal bracelet she never took off except to recharge adorned her left wrist. Sure, people stared at her as she walked by. But at Verenmore, their gazes were more curious than antagonistic like they had been her whole life.

Over the last week, she’d learned through observation, limited interactions, and her greatest sources of information — Jade and Troy — that most students at Verenmore had some kind of past, more tragic than not. They all had their secrets, which was why they mostly respected that in others. Sure, there were some shitty students, but they were few and far between. On the whole, students minded their own business and kept to their friends.

And she loved that.

She loved the acceptance she felt there every day in the single nod the lady in the common dining area gave her, or the toothy grin Troy the Asshole gave her every time he saw her, or the affection withwhich he or his friends had taken to calling her ‘Purple’, or the random hugs Jade gave her out of nowhere every day.

Life had been looking up and for the first time, Corvina was excited for the possibilities in her future. While she still wasn’t as open with them — she doubted she ever would be or trust anyone enough to tell them everything — she was learning to accept their hand of friendship with grace. Even though a part of her wanted nothing more than to find someone who would take her secrets without her having to make constant choices.

It was exhausting being alone.

It made her think of the man playing the piano. She never told her roommate about her little adventure that first night to the tower room, as she was calling it in her head. There was no reason. She’d not seen the silver-eyed devil since that night, and though classes were to begin in an hour, and she knew she’d inevitably cross paths with him, there was no reason for Jade to worry about it, not after what had happened to her previous roommate.

‘Fuck, fuck, fuck.’ The girl in question came barrelling toward her, her own books hugged to her chest, wearing a yellow top and jeans shorts (as Corvina had discovered was her favourite), her green eyes wide.

‘What?’ Corvina asked, frowning at the apprehension on her face.

‘I fucking forgot!’

‘What?’ Corvina asked, confused. ‘What did you forget?’

‘It’s the year of the Black Ball.’

Corvina felt her brows pinch together. ‘The what?’

‘God, you don’t know—’ Jade shook her head and began walking toward the academic wing, cutting through the gardens in between. Corvina had not been to that particular wing during the week, even though she’d seen it from afar while going to the dining hall or the Main Hall as they called it here.

The entire academic wing was the largest part of the entire castle, right at the back of the grounds, nestled on the highest point of the mountain. Troy had told her during dinner one night — after planting himself on her table and telling her they were going to be great friends — that the back of the block was nothing but steep, lethal cliffs, which she’d be able to see from the windows. She was excited to venture into the new physical territory.

‘I don’t know the exact details.’ Jade’s voice from her side broke through her musings as they made their way to the classes at a steady gait. ‘It happens every five years. It’s a masquerade ball tradition that’s been a part of the university history since its foundation.’

‘Okayyyy,’ Corvina drawled, willing her to go on. ‘And that’s bad because?’

‘Because every Black Ball, someone goes missing.’

Corvina paused at her words, glancing sharply at her friend. ‘What the hell?’ she whispered, gauging the seriousness of Jade’s statement. She looked sombre as fuck.

The other girl started to walk toward the building as clouds clustered in the sky, casting a gloomy grey over everything.

‘From what I know,’ she continued after Corvina joined her, ‘the first noted disappearance was about a hundred years ago. They said the guy went into the woods and got lost. Until the next disappearance that happened on the same night five years later. It’s been like a hundred years and almost twenty people have gone missing on the same night. It’s just really spooky, okay?’

It was spooky and really weird.

‘Wait.’ Corvina shook her head. ‘Haven’t the police investigated?’

Jade gave a humourless laugh. ‘What can they investigate? There’s no evidence of foul play from what I know. Girls, boys, faculty members, even townspeople all go missing. No bodies have ever been found. And because it’s spread out over so many years, people just assume they’re either runaways or lost. But trust me, I know from experience running away from here isn’t easy, especially at night.’

‘Yo, freaky eyes,’ one of the girls from her tower, Roy, called out to Corvina. Yeah, not all people were nice.

‘Fuck off, Roy,’ Jade yelled, giving her a middle finger as they rushed to their class. God, she loved this girl.

---