Chapter 2: Gifted?

The next morning Karlee woke up sometime around 11 AM to her parents calling her to the dining room. She groaned and got out of bed, putting on whatever her hands first touched from the formless pile of clothing in the corner of her room. She took her time getting downstairs, taking two steps down and one back up until she finally gave in and strode through the arched entrance to the dining room. Her mother and father were standing at the window on the other end of the room, holding Karlee’s envelope. It was completely intact.

“What the heck?! How did you get that?! Were you going through my trash?!” Karlee was seriously freaking out. On top of the whole boarding school thing and the creepy reappearance of the un-ripped envelope there was the possibility that her privacy was being invaded.

Her mother raised an eyebrow. “What are you talking about? This came in the mail just today.”

“…While you slept the morning away,” said her father, finishing his wife’s sentence.

“But… but how?” Karlee was confused.

“Don’t act so clueless, Kareliana Hortense Milifiori. This is one of your little tricks isn’t it? We never applied to any Ravenrock School… although it almost sounds like a good idea now,” said Karlee’s mom.

Karlee cringed at the sound of her puke-inducing middle name.

“It’s either that or some sort of advertisement,” said her dad.

“It’s neither,” said a misty voice. Nonna entered the room. “Ravenrock is a prestigious academy for the gifted.” She looked straight at Karlee. “I went there myself when I was a young girl.”

“Why haven’t we heard of this academy, Nonna?” asked Karlee’s father, who was the wrinkled lady’s son. He looked slightly betrayed.

“Ravenrock tends to keep a low profile. For the most part only those with the necessary gifts to attend know of its existence. You Oliver, my son, never possessed those gifts. But Kareliana here is full to the brim with them, although she tries to deny it.”

“Stop this at once, mother! Even you with all your oddities should know it’s rude to make a person feel inferior. You always did… make me feel inferior.”

“I’m trying to do nothing of the sort. Gifted or ungifted, all are human beings; sharing the Earth in equality. But it is no use trying to deny the difference between the two. You should know what I’m talking about… Kareliana.”

Instantly Karlee’s mind was flooded with a memory she had repeatedly tried to forget, pushing it to the back of her mind due to its impossibility. The man with the knife at her window. His awful threats. He approached her, a predator after prey. But then there were the flying objects… and the flashing light. Then the blankness… and her parents telling her that it had all been a dream. But it wasn’t. Karlee regained her consciousness of the present and held back the choking feeling that was tickling at her throat. It couldn’t have been real… it was just all of Nonna’s talk getting to her. Only a dream.

“But it wasn’t a dream… was it Kareliana?” asked Nonna.

Karlee’s jaw dropped.

Her dad sighed. “Mother… why do you try to put such thoughts into the children’s heads?”

Karlee’s mother got back to the subject at hand. “Well, we really know nothing of this school… and if it isn’t state certified… well, I’d prefer that Karlee stayed here; where we can keep an eye on her.”

“I don’t think that is such a good idea. Kareliana needs to go to a school where she can develop her gifts. She cannot do that here. If she waits much longer they will begin to shrivel and wither away. She will go to Ravenrock,” Nonna said in a persuasive and determined tone, locking eyes with Karlee’s parents.

When the connection was broken Karlee’s mother and father looked a bit dazed. Her mother was the first to speak. “Well, Nonna, perhaps it is a good idea to send Karlee to this school. If it will help her shape up…”

For the second time that day Karlee’s jaw dropped. Her mom?! Giving in?! This was not normal! “What the heck is going on here?! I don’t want to go to boarding school!”

“Truly that is not up to you, Kareliana. Anyway, do you not like being different? You are a hypocrite, denying your unique gifts. Being gifted is a way to guarantee your own special nature shines forth. You have it easier than others in that respect.”

Karlee opened her mouth to reply, but then closed it. Nonna had given her a stumper. It was something to think about.