“Don’t worry, I marked you present. The hologram teacher will never check. We have until just before lunch.”
His voice was soft and reassuring. I wondered what he wanted of me. I was not scared though. It was actually very peaceful sitting there. Maybe, it was the slight pulsing, but I felt my body relax. My mind seemed to relax too. I felt calm and sort of drowsy, but not in a sleepy way. It almost felt like anything could happen and it would be okay.
“Why am I here?” I heard myself say. It was the first sentence I had ever said to an adult in my life.
“Take your robe off.”
I wasn’t sure if he meant just my hood so he could see my face or the whole robe. I took my hood down and slowly began to pull it off my shoulders.
“No, just the hood.”
I lifted it back on my shoulders and kept my head down.
“Look up.”
I lifted my head, but kept my eyes shut for a few seconds. I knew that because of the black eye make-up it would look like there were cavernous black pits where my eyes should be. I wanted him to see this image of me. When I opened my eyes, he was looking at my face. I thought I was pretty and for some reason I hoped he would think so too. I don’t know why I felt that, but I did.
“It can be anything you want Princess.”
Him saying my name startled me for a second, but of course he knew my name from class, but he had never said it aloud.
“I want everything, all of it.”
“Okay, but that’s what you’ll get then. You’ll see it all. Nothing will be left out. Are you sure that is what you want?”
“Yes, all of it, everything.”
“Okay, stay here, I’ll be right back.”
He stood up and walked to the door, opened it and walked out. I leaned back in my chair and felt a feeling of relaxation flow through me. The walls and ceiling seemed to be changing color somehow. Instead of the bright white, they were turning a brownish gold. The pulsing had continued, but was different now. It seemed to be flowing through me, through my body somehow. Other colors began to come onto the walls. Melting, merging they moved around me. I began to feel sensations in my skin. They felt good. My mind was calm as the walls melted into soft brownish-gold colors. I felt my legs and the sensation shot through me. I felt like when the girl who sits next to me rubbed me and choked me, but much, much stronger. I had never felt anything like it before and I wanted to feel it more. I lifted my robe up over my head and put it on the floor next to me. Sitting in the chair, I began to run my hands over my body. Everywhere I touched was like soft lightening. I saw the colors flowing in the walls and the ceiling and felt the pulsing in the room and the more I ran my hands over my body, the stronger the sensations became. I didn’t want to ever stop. I wanted to do this forever. There was nothing else in my mind except creating these sensations with my hands. I rubbed everywhere and everywhere I touched was like an explosion of pleasure that ran through my whole body. I’m never going to stop doing this I thought. Never, this is all I want to do forever.
Then, suddenly the walls stopped changing colors. The pulsing returned to what I thought I had sensed when we came in. The walls and ceiling returned slowly to white and the sensations I was creating with my hands ceased. It just felt like I was rubbing my hands over my skin, normal.
My mind was calm and my body was strangely cool and soothed. I knew what had just happened, but at the same time, for some reason, I didn’t yearn to go back to it right now. It was as if it was another place, somewhere maybe I’ll go to again, but not right now. I picked up my robe and put it back on leaving the hood down.
I didn’t hear the door open, but I saw it. I saw him come in and sit down across from me.
“It’s beginning Princess.”
“Good,” I said in a soft timid voice.
I looked up at his eyes and recognized that they were a golden brown, much like the colors in the room. I wondered about that.
“We have to go someplace. Will you come with me?”
“Yes.”
With that we got up and left the room. We went back into the same hall, but the doors were closed. He opened the first one and we entered a semi-dark room. I could just make out figures standing around the room. I recognized them as the boys I had seen earlier with the painted faces. "Don't be scared, these are occultists, they won't hurt you."
We all knew about the occultists. There were many stories about them, but I had never met one before. They were supposed to stay to themsleves and people said to avoid them if you wanted to be safe. I didn't know what to do now. But, he had said it was okay and I had no choice other than to believe him.
"Come over here Princess," he said leading me to a long table in the middle of the room.
"Lie down on this," he said as he motioned to the table.
I didn't know what was going to happen, but I decided to trust him. I don't know why, but I did. I lay down face up on the table. I could sense people moving around me. Looking up, I saw the boys forming a circle around me. My real teacher was also in the circle. They began to make a noise somewhat like a chant. There seemed to be words, but I couldn't understand them. They were all chanting the same thing. As I was on my back, my hood was pushed back and I could easily see them. The chant became louder. I smelled something. It was a sharp smell, but not unpleasant.
Suddenly, the chant stopped and I saw my real teacher pull out a long, silver knife. He was staring at me with a strange look on his face. He lifted the knife and pointed it at his cheast. He nodded and two of the boys lifted my robe until it was up around my neck. The chant began again and the strange smell grew stronger. I saw my real teacher open his shirt and place the tip of the knife against his skin. I noticed small scars on his chest. He cut himself lightly and turned the knife so that some blood covered the tip of it. The boys had raised their hands above their heads as they chanted and now they lowered them and placed them on my body. It was strange to feel all these hands all over my body. They were not moving but were just on me and I could feel some type of energy going through me. I saw my real teacher move up to my head with the blood covered knife. He reached down with it and made a slight slit in the shape of a triangle under my left breast. He then rubbed the blood on the knife into the triangle, mixing it with my own blood. I felt something, but wasn't sure what it was.
I smelled the smell and heard the chant and began to feel drowsy. It seemed as if there was a mist around me. I thought I heard my real teacher’s voice, but it seemed to be in the distance somehow.
“Your body is feeling heavy, you are sleepy. You are sleepy…you are...”
He seemed to repeat himself and as he did I began to drift off. I don’t know what happened next, but I remember a word “catchall,” before everything suddenly became clear again. We were in the room and I was still lying on the table. The boys were gone and I felt a slight chill. I looked down and saw that my robe was still up around my neck. I saw my real teacher standing beside the table. He was looking at me with a strange, contented look. I thought about pulling my robe down, but as I looked into his brownish eyes, I decided not to. We stayed like that for maybe two minutes. Just looking at each other in silence.
“Okay, Princess, that was more, do you still want to go on?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, come with me.”
I got up and let my robe fall to its usual height from the floor and followed him toward the door. I didn’t put my hood up.
“I have a question.”
He stopped and turned toward me.
“What is it?”
“ Do you know about suicide clubs and the internet?”
“Yes, they both exist, but you are to stay away from them.”
“What about other students being killed, not suicide club stuff? Do you know about any of that?”
“You’ve been going places, haven’t you?”
“Maybe,” I answered softly.
I didn’t know if I should tell him about Seven and the parallex room and the people there. I was beginning to feel a certain allegiance with them and the room. I felt that if I could get any answers about the death of the students it would help.
“What if it became dangerous to go to where you’ve been, would you still go there?”
I’d never been asked a question like that before. There had never been anything dangerous in my life. I hadn’t really had to avoid anything, except maybe the bots in the halls. But, I was never in the halls when they were there. I had never thought about danger to me before. I didn’t know what to say so I just looked at him and smiled slightly.
“Come on, we have to go. There is more to for you to see, but we have to go back to the school now.”
“Okay,” I said lifting up my hood and lowering my face.
We got to the security door and he pushed a button to open it. I walked out into the halls. The electronic signs on the walls said “lunch,” so I walked toward the cafeteria I ate in. I wanted to see Seven. I wanted to tell him what had happened, but I wasn’t sure if I should. Something said to wait.
As I entered the cafeteria, I saw him walking to his usual table across the room. I ate at my table, but kept glancing up just enough to see him. When he finally stood up to leave, I also stood up and moved toward the door, angling it so we would both get to the door at the same time. He didn’t say anything and as he walked down the hall, I walked beside him, maybe half a step back. As we got to my class he slowed up until he was right next to me. His voice was almost a whisper.
“Another Moonbeam’s been killed. We have to go there tomorrow.”
“ Okay,” I said softly.
Class was normal. My real teacher looked at me when I came in, but I lowered my head so he could only see the top of my hood. The girl next to me didn’t react when I sat down, but then she moved one of her hands to her side and made her fingers into the shape that I think I had seen the painted boy make toward me in the hall with my real teacher. She then put her hands back on the desk. I’m almost positive it was the same finger sign as the boy had made in the occultist room. I wondered what it meant.
That night, I didn’t take a dream pill, just the normal sleeping pill. I dreamed about the girl in my class. She came to me like my real teacher had in that dream so long ago. It was the same shading and things were somewhat woozy, but I knew it was her. She began to caress me like my real teacher had done in the other dream. I copied her caresses, but like with my real teacher, I couldn’t really feel her body. When I woke up, I felt the same sense of repose I had felt after the other dream.
As I arrived at my class, I saw Seven walking toward me. I slowed down, but he didn’t stop. As he passed me he touched my wrist, pulling it lightly in the direction he was going. I suddenly didn’t know what to do. Why was I hesitating? It was almost as if I had to make some sort of decision. I looked at the door to my classroom and then turned my head back toward his retreating figure. I turned and began to follow him. I knew I had to, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to. Something confusing was happening in my mind.
We walked for awhile until we came to an open classroom door. As we walked in I saw that the room was empty. Some of the classrooms were empty at times, but the bots patrolled them after the chimes to begin classes. Seven walked over and pushed against the wall. We entered the parallex room. This time things looked familiar. It was the same misty atmosphere with the same types of people sitting at tables or on the benches against the walls. Most were talking quietly. We walked over and sat down at a table with the same group of people as before. This time Seven didn’t take my robe down. I wouldn’t have minded if he had, matter of fact, I sort of wanted him to. I noticed another girl at the table who hadn't been there before. She looked younger than me and I was probably the youngest at the table. Her robe was down to her waist and I could see that her little breasts had just started to form. They were little more than small pointed cones with pink nipples at the ends. I looked at her exposed face and saw that she was perhaps the prettiest girl I had ever seen.
“This is a Midnight, Princess. She’s just joined us.”
I lifted my head and pulled my hood down. I wanted her to see my face. I smiled at her and she smiled back. I heard Seven begin to talk, but I couldn’t stop staring at Midnight. She was the most beautiful person I had ever seen.
“Our mega-group says the occultists are definitely involved. We don’t know why, but they are somehow masking the answer. They might not even know what they are doing. They might be being used, we don’t know, but they’re involved.”
I didn’t know if I should speak up. Should I tell them about meeting the occultists? Something told me to be cautious.
“ Are all occultists bad?” I heard myself say.
Everyone looked at me, but Seven answered.
“We don’t know for sure, we don’t know enough about them. But, we know they are involved in the killings somehow.”
“Can they really cast spells on people,” I asked.
“We don’t know about that either. But there are stories of them controlling people somehow. We just don’t know.”
A silence settled over the table. I stared at Midnight again and she smiled at me.
“ We need to find out more about the occultists. If anyone finds out anything, you have to let us know”, said Seven.
I didn’t think he was talking to me directly, but the thought crossed my mind. Still I decided to wait and see how things played out. Something inside of me said that was the way to go.
The group was once again silent. I looked at Midnight. She smiled at me again. She was so pretty.
“I want to kiss Midnight before we go,” I said.
“ Is it alright if Princess kisses you?” said Seven.
“Yes,” she said in a timid voice.
I got up and walked around the table to her. I lowered my head and kissed her on the lips. Her lips were soft. I reached down and rubbed my hand over her small breasts. They were firm, but the nipples were soft. I stood up looked down at her. She smiled at me. I went back to my seat.
“It’s probably time for Midnight to go, it’s her first time here,” said one of the boys as he stood up.
As they left, Seven took my hand and said, “Do you want her as your friend?”
I wasn’t sure what a friend really was. I’d heard the word before, but nobody had such a thing as a friend. I guessed it would be okay, whatever it was.
“Okay, what do I have to do?”
“Nothing, she will do it all.”
“Okay.”
They talked some more at the table. They didn't mention the killings. They talked about school stuff and I began to talk also. At first it was strange, but I soon became comfortable giving my own thoughts. It was fun talking to people and listening to what they had to say. I liked being there.
"We should go Princess."
"Okay," I said as I stood up.
The girl who had touched me looked up and smiled at me. Bye, she said. I said bye to her and it felt good. I followed Seven to the door. Soon I was entering my classroom and my real teacher looked at me. I lowered my eyelids, making the black circles appear. I lowered my head and turned on my pyro-rock. As he left the room, he walked passed me and taking my hand from my desk, pushed a piece of folded paper into my palm. I closed my hand I glanced at the girl next to me. She had her head down as did the others in the class. I took a chance and unfolded the note. "Don't go right to sleep tonight," in neat handwriting. I reclenched it in my hand and held it until I got to my cubicle. Once again, I flushed it down the toilet and waited for my dinner. We ate dinner in our cubicles alone. After dinner, I listened to music and waited. Eventually, I lay down on my bed, but I didn't let myself fall asleep. Suddenly, my cubicle door opened. This never happened. I sat up in bed and saw my real teacher come in. He motioned for me to lie down and I did. He had some kind of strange box in his hands. It had buttons on it and he began pushing some of them. The camera which they could monitor me had a light on it and it suddenly went out. This had never happened before either.
"It's okay, you can get up, they can't see you."
"How did you do that?"
"We have our devices. Until I turn it back on they will just see the last picture of you lying in bed. They'll think you're sleeping. Come with me."
He turned and I followed him out the door. We began to walk through deserted halls with cubicle doors on either side. We walked down a few halls and came to a staircase. We always traveled in elevators, but just like that time with Seven on the way to the parallex room, here were stairs. We went down two or three flights. We could be under the school, but I couldn't really tell. We had no real notion of height as the elevators were silent and it was impossible to determine if you were going up or down. The floor markings were in symbols not numbers or letters. You pushed the button for the symbol of where you wanted to go.
We finally came to the bottom of the stairways and there was a door. He used something small which he pushed into a little slit in the door and turned. I'm not sure what that was, but I had never seen one before. All our doors were electronically controlled by the school.
We went through the door and I saw that we were in a somewhat dark room. I could make out faint figures standing against the walls.
"Don't be afraid Princess, no matter what happens, don't be afraid,it's all catchall that's all" I heard him say in a reassuring tone.
"Okay," I said peering at the figures, trying to make them out.I felt different somehow, but I didn't know how.
I felt him lift my hood from my head and then put his hands on my shoulders as one of the figures moved away from the wall and walked toward us. I recognized her as one of the girls with the white painted face and body. She walked up to us and placed her hands on the sides of my face. Her hands felt cool, almost cold. She looked at me with blank gazeless eyes and began to move her face closer to mine. I felt her lips lightly touch mine. A sudden chill ran through me. Her lips were very cold. I had never felt anything this cold. She moved her face away and the chill left me. It hadn't felt bad, just different. She returned to her place by the wall and another figure came toward us. She also had white paint on her face and body. She walked up to me and put her hand on the front of my neck. Her hand was cold and I felt the same chill run through my body as with the other girl. It was a strange type of chill, not bad though. She moved her hand down a bit and the skin that she touched began to tingle with the coldness. Slowly, she reached lower down my robe and everywhere she touched the cold tingling became more intense. I had never felt anything like it, but I didn't want her to stop. As her hand slowly delved deeper down in my gown, I looked into her eyes. They were vacant, blank with a far away stare. I had never seen eyes like that. Her hand continued until she reached my breast. As she touched my nipple, the cold intensified like nothing I had ever felt. It seemed like something was going to explode inside my breast. Maybe, I should kiss her I thought. I leaned my head closer to her and she looked deep into my eyes with that gray, vacant stare. I pushed my lips lightly against hers. Her lips were frigid, colder than anything I had ever felt. The cold was intense. It sent deep chills through me. I felt her other hand take my robe at the shoulder and push it down. She pushed it off my other shoulder and it fell to the ground. I still had my lips touching hers and she was still gently touching my breast. Her hand and lips were sending deep chills through me, but they were not bad, more like a sensual numbing. She lifted her other hand and began caressing my other breast. Her hand was frigid and sent more chills through me. The other figures against the wall began to move toward us. Slowly, as if in a dream they advanced. There were a number of them and as they reached us they put their hands on me and began to slowly rub all over my body. Their hands were freezing cold and each sent deep sensual chills wherever they touched my skin. The feelings were intense, but not bad. My body felt numb rather than cold. I couldn't move, and didn't really want to. The girl who I was kissing moved her head away and another one put her lips to mine. She moved away and another, and another, and another kissed me.Their lips were the same, frigid. I felt one of them begin to rub between my legs. If felt even colder than the others and I went numb down there. The numbness felt good, it engulfed my body. The sentation was something I had never felt before. Suddenly, I heard my real teacher speak.
"Where have you been Princess?"
"To a room," I heard myself say. I didn't want to answer him, but somehow I couldn't stop myself.
"Was it a parallex room?"
"Yes."
"Did he take you there?"
"Yes."
The girls kept rubbing their cold hands over me. Some began to kiss my skin while they rubbed my body. Everywhere they touched was an exquisite, shocking numbness and I wanted more.
"Does he know who is behind what's going on yet?"
"No, nobody does."
"I think someone does, but they're not telling you."
I didn't know what he meant or why he was asking me these questions. I also didn't know why I felt compelled to answer them. Suddenly, he said something I didn't understand and the girls stopped what they were doing. As they stepped away from me, the numb sensations stopped and I heard him speak again.
"It's over, come with me."
I felt different somehow and I wasn't sure what had just happened I remembered a feeling of some sort. I saw the white figures against the wall, staring at me with their blank glazed eyes. I realized that my robe was on the floor, but that didn't bother me. I reached down and picked it up.
"Put it on and come with me," he said watching me.
I looked at him, but didn't want to put my robe on right away. I liked him looking at me, but he turned and began to walk away. I hurridly put my robe over my head and let it drop to the floor. I didn't put my hood up though.
We walked to a door and out into the hall.
"Follow the hall to the end and go through the door there, you'll be back in halls you know."
"Why do I have to leave, aren't you coming with me?" I said.
"It has to be this way now, Princess. Just be very, very careful though."
I looked at his brownish eyes and wondered what secrets they held for me. I didn't want to look away, but eventually I did. I pulled my hood up and lowered my head.
"Bye," I heard myself say. He did not respond and I turned and walked down the hall.
When I opened the door at the end of the hall, I found myself in the hall with the doors to the cubicles. I found mine and was able to open it and go in. I lay down and soon fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning I ate breakfast in my cubicle and went into the halls earlier than usual. I wanted to see Midnight and began looking for her walk among the silent, hooded figures moving about. There was still a good amount of time before classes and some students choose to walk the halls. I usually didn't, but this morning I did. Then I saw her ahead of me walking along silently. I hurried until I was next to her. As we walked along, I brushed up against her lightly. I saw her lift her head slightly to look at me. I lifted mine and we could see each other's faces. I smiled and she smiled back. We both lowered our heads. She leaned in toward me and I could feel her arm against mine as we walked along. I moved my hand and took her hand in mine. The robes covered our hands so others didn't see them. As we walked, her hand felt soft and warm in mine. I wanted to talk to her, but I didn't know how or when. As we came to a corner she gently pulled me into a hall I usually didn't go down. I knew we had time as it was earlier than usual for classes. We continued down the hall and I noticed that less and less people were in the hall. Soon, we came to a classroom which wasn't being used. The door was open as were all the classroom doors before class. Midnight led me into the empty room. We walked to the corner where people passing by the door couldn't see us unless they came in the room itself. She let go of my hand and reached up and pulled her hood down. Her face was just as beautiful as I remember it. I reached up and lowered my hood. Her deep blue eyes stared at me.
"Hi Princess," she murmered. Her voice was lryical and as beautiful as she was.
"Hi Midnight," was all I could say.
"Did you learn anything new?"
"I don't know, there have been strange things going on with my real teacher. I'm not sure what they mean, but he knows occultists," I said without thinking. For some reason I felt that I had to tell her everything I knew. I didn't feel the hesitation I felt talking to others about what was going on. Quite the opposite. I felt compelled to tell her everthing.
"Did he show you the occultists?" she said in that same soft tone.
"Yes, and they did something to me."
"Show me."
I reached up and pulled my robe from my shoulders. I let it drop to the floor and pointed to the small triangle scar below my breast. She looked at it without expression.
"Did he do that?"
"Yes."
"Did it hurt?"
"No."
I watched her looking at my body. I didn't want to pick up my robe. I liked her looking at me.
"I don't want you to get hurt Princess. If you need any help at anything, you can always come to me. I'll always be there for you."
Nobody had ever said anything like that to me before. I didn't know what to say. I had never needed anyone to help me, or to be there for me. It felt strange. I liked it even though I didn't understand what I would need her for. She reached up and took my face in her hands. Leaning toward me she gently pulled my face toward her and kissed me lightly. I responded and the kiss lasted longer. I liked kissing her and didn't want to stop. But, she stopped and pulled away from my lips. She looked into my eyes and once again said, "It's okay Princess, I'll be there for you."
With that she smiled and turned and headed toward the door. I didn't know what to do or think. I didn't want her to leave, but I knew we had to get to class. I reached down and picked my robe up from the floor. After what had just happened I didn't want to put it on for some reason. It felt good to be standing in the empty classroom without any clothes on. I began to move toward the door. Soon, I could see people walking in the hall past the open door. I stood there naked, watching them pass by. I began to rub myself between my legs. It felt good and it was somehow exciting standing in the open dooor just a few feet from the passing students knowing that anyone could look up and see me. I found the spot that felt the best and rubbed harder and faster. I could see the students walking by only about three feet away. I continued to rub myself faster. I began to feel the surge of feeling build inside me. I continued rubbing as the feelings continued to build. I began to moan as the feeeling got stronger. I felt myself beginning to shake. I looked again at the students walking past and then suddenly there was an explosion inside me and my body shook as waves of passion shot through me. My hand was wet and something was running down my leg. This was the first time I was able to do that to myself. It felt wonderful. I now knew how to do it to myself. I watched the people passing by for a minute and then lifted my robe over my head and let it fall into place. I pulled my hood up and lowered my head. I wondered if anyonwe had glanced up and seen me. I moved out into the hall and headed for my class. I didn't know why I did what I had just done, but when I thought about it, thoughts of Midnight took over.
I got to my class and my real teacher looked at me briefly. I lifted my head and closed my eyes. I knew he saw the black make-up on my eyelids. I lowered my head and put on pyro-rock. I glanced at the girl next to me, but she also had her head down and seemed to be listening to music. The class went on normally and when the chimes sounded I went to lunch. I looked for Seven, but didn't see him until I was already seated with my food. As I was leaving, I saw him walking with a girl. I hurried up and caught up with them. I glanced at her and she turned toward me and lifted her head enough so I could briefly see her face. It was the girl who sits next to me in class. I wondered why she was walking with Seven. The three of us walked along and I heard Seven say very quietly, "come with me."
We turned a corner and there were less students in the hall. The girl moved so that she was between Seven and me. I felt her lean into me. We walked on until we came to a row of bathroom doors. The bathrooms were individual rooms where one person went in at a time. Someone had said that in earlier times school bathrooms were large multiperson rooms with many toilets. Apparently they built individual rooms because of something that began to happen with the suicide clubs and the bathrooms. I'm not sure what it was, but that was the story.
Seven opened one of the doors and went in. The girl pushed me gently and both of us also went in. There were no cameras in the bathroom and the door couldn't be opened from the outside until you left. The room was average size with a toilet, sink and full length floor to ceiling mirror. I looked in the mirror and saw that the two of them were now standing behind me. They both pushed their hoods back so their faces were revealed. His face was handsome and hers was somewhat angular and very pale. She was pretty, but not as pretty as Midnight. She had black make-up on her lips and eyes and it served to offset her pale, white skin. Seven smiled at me, but she did not.
" You were supposed to tell us everything you learned," he said in a calm voice.
"What do you want to know?" I was able to say quietly. I didn't know what to tell him. Why was I so unsure, I liked him a lot. He was the first boy I had known. But, something was making me hold back. The girl took the shoulders of my robe and pulled it down so it fell to the floor. Seven reached around me and rubbed his hand lightly over the small triangle under my breast. I watched his hand in the mirror. I looked at their faces and saw that they were both expressionless. The room was silent. Then the girl reached up and with the outside of her hand gently stroked the side of my face and lowered her hand. Seven removed his hand from the triangle and looked at her. I watched the two of them look at each other in the mirror. They stared at each other for a few seconds and then both turned and walked out the door without saying a word or looking back.
I didn't really know what to think. I wasn't upset, but somehow felt strangely calm. I put on my robe and went out into the hallway. I walked to my class and took my seat. The girl next to me was already there. She had her head down and was listening to her music. My real teacher began to talk without looking at me. I put my head down and turned on my music.