"No, we're not suppose to be doing this. " I said in the darkness. "I want to leave here."
"You can't leave, not until we do what I want and then we'll both leave together."
Something was very wrong. His voice had gotten louder. My mind was reeling with everything he said. I reached my hands out in the darkness, but I couldn't feel anything.
"You can't go anyway, I'll tell them about the killings. "
What will happen then I thought? Nobody ever did anything that was wrong and so there was never any need to do anything to anyone for doing something wrong. It might even be that no one will care about what he said I did. But, even so, I can't imagine that I had actually done what he said.
"Come on," he said as I felt his hand take my wrist. He seemed to be behind me. He must have moved around me.
"It won't take long and then we can be parents and leave the school. "
I didn't know what he wanted me to do, or what he might do to me, but I knew I didn't want to be a parent yet. I pulled my wrist away and put my hand out in front of me. I began to walk slowly. I had only taken a few steps when I felt the wall. I stopped with my hand on the wall.
"Princess...Princess."
His voice was low, but when I heard it I knew where he was. I began to walk away from him, running my hand along the wall as I moved.
“Princess,” I heard his voice take on somewhat of a pleading tone.
“Don’t go, I had to do it. I had to get out of here. I had to use you. You didn’t do…I did.”
I had gone about what I thought was twenty more steps or so when I felt my leg bump into something soft. It must have been one of the figures seated against the wall we had seen on the way in. I could still hear Sevin's voice as he called my name. I knew that I had to do something. I leaned down and as quietly as I could I whispered, "how do I get out?"
Nothing happened. I leaned even closer to where I thought the figure was.
"Please," I whispered.
I stood up. What should I do? Suddenly, I felt a hand on my lower leg. It didn't grip me, but seemed to gently push me in a direction, then it was gone. I immediately began to move slowly along the wall in the direction the hand had motioned. I could still hear Sevin calling my name, but I was moving away from him. I moved slowly, keeping my arm stretched out to keep me as far from the wall as possible while still touching it. I figured I might be able to pass the figures without tripping over them. They had looked like little black balls with their legs tucked up in their robes. I must have passed by them because eventually it began to get a little lighter. I could begin to see the walls and floor and then the figures. I moved my hand off the wall and began to walk in the middle of the hall. I walked faster. I wanted to get out of there.
Soon, the hall was as brightly lit as usual and the figures were still there. As I walked past them, suddenly three or four stood up and moved in the direction I had come from. They didn't say anything or lift their heads. Each moved to where another had been, keeping about twenty feet or so between them. They sat down and tucked their legs under their robes. The only sound was my bare feet on the hall floor. I continued to walk, faster now. Soon, the figures began to be spaced further apart. Then they were very far apart and then suddenly I passed the last one and the hall was empty.
The hall finally ended at a "T" and there were two empty halls to choose from. I could see a small figure walking toward me in one of the halls and when I looked down the other, I also saw a lone figure coming toward me. They were both far away as the halls can be very long. I stood still and glanced back and forth as they came nearer. Suddenly, I recognized the walk one of the figures. It was Midnight. My heart sped up. But, before going toward her, I heard my name echoing in the hall. I turned around and saw that the other figure was my real teacher.
"Princess, " he said again, getting closer. "Come here."
I turned back toward Midnight. As she got closer, she reached up and lifted her hood, letting it fall to her shoulders. Her face was more beautiful than any I had ever seen. She then smiled at me and I wanted to run to her. I wanted to touch those lips with mine. I wanted to hold her so close and feel her body melt into mine. I began to turn toward her as she came closer.
"Princess...catchall."
When I heard what he said my body suddenly stopped. Midnight had also stopped. I felt him take my arm and begin to turn me away from her. I looked at her and wanted to go to her, but my body was being turned gently away. She looked at me and then reached up and pulled the shoulders of her robe down. The robe fell to the ground and I saw her perfect little body. I pulled against his arm, trying to move toward her.
"Catchall," I heard him say again. This time my resistence seemed to dissappear. I felt myself being turned away. We began to walk down the hall away from Midnight. My mind was strangely blank. The further we walked, the less I thought about what had just happened. As we walked on I wondered where we were and why there weren’t any students in the halls. There were doors, but they were all closed. I lifted my head slightly and glanced at my teacher as we walked along. He wasn’t looking at me, just looking straight ahead and walking. Suddenly, I heard his voice, but he didn’t turn his head toward me.
“You know a lot, but there’s also a lot you don’t know. You’ve seen a lot, but there are some things you will not be seeing. Maybe what you’ve seen isn’t going to be good for you, but the other choice is worse. It’s going to be difficult at times for you now. “
He stopped and took my arm in his hand. Pushing me, he slowly turned me sideways and pushed me gently back against the wall. He reached up and pulled my hood down. I lifted my face as he stepped in closer to me. Our faces were only inches apart. I looked into his soft brown eyes.
“Never be afraid to follow your feelings. You have a lot to do,” I heard him say in a quiet voice. He then turned and without looking back walked away from me.
For the first time in my life feelings of real uncertainty entered my mind.