What Lies Under the Bed (IC thread)

[MaiusImperium]

St. Balthazar’s Girls’ School had been built one hundred and fifty years ago around St. Balthazar’s monastery. It was an old, traditional and stringent boarding school for girls of the Catholic faith and the parent’s of prospective girls wishing to send them to the school often had to sell their right arm to get their girls a place in the school. St. Balthazar’s had a near perfect pass-rate and prided itself on taking often unruly children and turning them into prim, prudent and faithful young women ready to take their place in society.

Unfortunately, wherever there are men and women placed in positions of total authority there is also corruption, greed and perversion. On the outside the school is a gleaming example of chastity, but beneath the surface priests and teachers who claim to fight against the devil’s temptations give into them in secret, often abusing and molesting the young women who come through the school’s hallowed halls. St. Balthazar’s is a lifeless but beautiful husk that hides the rotting corpse beneath the exterior. There is such an atmosphere of fear around the place that no girl has dared speak of their torture at the hands of their teachers and a cult of secrecy surrounds the place.

In the chapel sermons on fortitude, the wrath of god and the notion of abstinence before marriage are preached with unnatural zeal by the ghoulish ecclesiastical hierarchs, and after the sermons are over they will lure the girls to ‘confession’ where they will be forced to recant their many sins.

Since the founding of the private school there have been whispered rumours that a demon resides in the shadows of the school’s dark Victorian buildings, he preys on the girls at night, flitting from shadow to shadow, seducing them and consuming their purity. There is more truth to the rumours than those that whisper them know, for a creature does indeed stalk the cavernous halls of the school’s dormitories at night. He feeds from a human’s lust, hatred, fear, and though he prefers females he will feed from either sex.

His body exudes intangible vapours that fog the mind of his victims, robbing his victims of their faculties. He is said to be both beautiful and terrifying in the same breath, his face is pale, unearthly and his eyes are black orbs that pierce to the heart and paralyse. His predations leave no marks on flesh, no bodily fluids and no permanent harm to his victims, though he will deflower those untouched and take great pleasure from it.

The creature, monster, demon, is a product of the corruption and lies that cloak St. Balthazar’s school, and tonight, he thirsts.

As silent and as quietly as the night he stalks, if one were to look carefully they might catch the flit of a shadow or the chill wind in his wake, but he slips unnoticed by and large through the dormitories. On long, almost spindly legs he walked, undulating fluidly, as they were a snake. His black orbs glint in the pale moonlight with menace and an unnatural hunger.

And as the mysterious shadowy figure comes to the door to the girls’ dormitory doors, he does not even open them. His shadowy form melts into a vapour and sinuously slithers under the door. Making no sound the creature slips across the dark carpet towards her bed. Under the bed the black mist goes, until it vanishes out of sight. Then slowly, a long arm reaches out from under the bed, then a leg, and silently the demon slides out from under the bed. Slowly it rises to it’s feet at the foot of the poor girl’s bed.

It’s black eyes shine, the moonlight that falls in through the slit in the curtained window makes his skin seem deathly pale, his short black hair is slick, as if gelled heavily. He is well defined beneath his dark indistinct clothes, not bulky yet clearly very athletic, a unique combination of strength and dexterity that lends him an unearthly grace as well as a steely grip when his victims prove…resistant. Struggle or not, in the morning they will not remember clearly anything other than the feel of their tight stomach tingling and burning with pleasure.

OOC: Closed thread for the moment for BritWitch, Clarisse_01 and wulfette. See the OOC here.

 

[MaiusImperium]

The demon known as Balthien regarded the assembly hall from the shadows that shrouded the long theatre curtains at the front of the great old Victorian building. From the darkness he could see all the girls of the school, prim and neatly dressed in their uniforms, ready for another day of learning and religious instruction.

Had Balthien been in corporeal form a smile would have slithered across his pallid sinuous lips, as it was he was no more than a dark miasma of nothingness. During the daytime he could not take humanoid form, and instead had to dwell in the shadows as a wisp of darkness, it had its advantages, he could hide easily though his predations were limited to the night times when he could step from the shadow.

“Piety, Fortitude, Humility. These things will you learn during your time here at Saint Balthazar’s. To our newest pupils, welcome…” The headmaster intoned, who also happened to be the papal Minister as well. Balthien paid special attention to the new faces in the columns of school girls who were assembled for morning prayers, over the years he had come to recognise every single girl who came to the school, over the next year he would sample all of those who were of age, the younger ones did not interest him. He knew that the ministers and teachers had a taste for the younger girls, and Balthien took a sadistic pleasure in thinking that what he gave the girls, by the time they were eighteen, was a mercy compared to the crude cold gropes of the wrinkled priests they had endured in their earlier years at the school.

Balthien almost felt a soft pity for the new girls, he could see the innocence in the new girls, he could always tell when a priest or a teacher had their way with them, he could see it in their eyes. Of course he was also indebted to the corrupt ministry here, for without their blatant hypocrisy, their lies and conceit, he would not exist at all. Without the evil in this place Balthien would fade to nothing more than a cold whisper in the hallowed corridors St. Balthazar’s.

“Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name…” Began the Minister who stood by the side of the headmaster, his right hand man and consort in the depravity they wrought. Balthien laughed inwardly, a low, long laugh that no one could hear but himself, though the theatre curtains on the stage at the front of the room did move as though stirred by a gentle draft. He smirked smugly as they prayed to their parasitic god for protection. The light would protect them, but when the shadows closed in and the sun went down, the school was his domain and his alone. The almighty would not protect the girls once night came.

It was the start of a new year at St. Balthazar’s school for girls, and with it came a new set girls, not just the junior year, but girls of all ages, unruly teenagers transferred from other schools by frustrated parents, they entrusted the upbringing of their disobedient spawn to these monsters in cassocks.

The headmaster continued his droning speech about humility, justice and the wrath of god upon sinners once prayers were over, Balthien had listened to his monotonous drivel for years and he didn’t pay much attention to it any more. The Headmaster was a depraved fool, and more than once the demon had thought of consuming the aged man, though in truth Balthien would take no pleasure from such an act. The demon needed young flesh, innocent and pure, virginal was the most delicious and sustained him the longest, a wizened, impure creature such as the headmaster or any of the teachers would be sickly and unpleasant.

Still, Balthien could have taken the man’s life, and he often wished to, but the Headmaster was tolerable, for his reign of sin in the school meant that Balthien was strong and could manifest with ease. Should he kill the headmaster they could easily bring in a purer man of heart, one who would put an end to the depravity and molestation, and that would not be good for the demon at all.

As silent as a wisp of cloud he flitted to the shadows under a stack of chairs by the hall’s exists, from here he would study the girls closely, as they filed out of the hall to their classes he would become acquainted with the new girls, perhaps he would find one to his liking, perhaps he would find more than one, it was not uncommon. Balthien always took the purest and most delicious girls first, and would slowly work his way through the rest throughout the year.

 

[Britwitch]

Evelyn Moore was an orphan, so it seemed only fitting to her dramatic soul that she was sent away from the home of her guardian to attend St. Balthazar’s Girls’ School. It might as well have been the workhouse or an orphanage for she cared. Her parents had been killed in an accident, both lives wiped out by a driver who was too drunk to know he was too drunk to drive.

Their Will had provided amply for Evelyn's future and placed her guardianship with her mother’s sister. An unmarried spinster who had never really gotten on with the spirited young girl; and so almost as soon as she had arrived at her Aunt Sylvia’s house following the funeral, Evelyn was informed that she would not be staying. She would be going somewhere her Aunt described as being, “A place fit to deal with unruly, godless girls,” such as Evelyn was. In her Aunt’s eyes at least.

Her parent’s had not been religious, one of the reasons her Aunt and mother had never gotten on. Aunt Sylvia was a devout Catholic, and it seemed her beliefs were now going to be forced upon Evelyn whether she liked it or not. Her arguments that she was now 18 and surely free to do as she wished fell on deaf ears, her parent’s Will had entrusted her guardianship to Sylvia until she reached 21 and all Evelyn could do was obey.

She had arrived, unaccompanied at the school gates, everything she cared about crammed into a small suitcase. Her dark brown curls pulled back in a low ponytail hanging between her shoulder blades, curious dark blue eyes peering through the wrought iron gates before her as she waited to be met and escorted inside. In those moments, stood surveying the rather ominous looking building before her, she knew this was not going to be an experience she was going to enjoy.

After having been at the school for a little over an hour, she was already trying to figure out a way to run away. Her suitcase with photos of her parents, her books and other personal items had been taken from her once she was inside with no word of when, if ever, she might see them again. She had been handed a uniform and told to change into it ready for morning prayers.

“Piety, Fortitude, Humility. These things will you learn during your time here at Saint Balthazar’s. To our newest pupils, welcome…”
Stood in the assembly hall listening to the Headmaster’s introduction, Evelyn shivered. The faces of the teachers looked less than caring, in fact they looked almost sinister. She couldn’t help but notice how the eyes of some swept across the feminine curves of the girls before them, clad in the demure school uniforms.

To Evelyn the prayers and words spoken in unison by the pupils and staff were strange and unfamiliar. She mumbled her way through the service, trying not to attract attention to herself, sighing inwardly as things eventually drew to a close and she filed out with the other girls, heading to her first class. As she passed through the doorway she felt a chilling breeze dance around her neck, sending a trickle of discomfort down her spine. Glancing around, seeing no others affected by what she thought she had felt, she hurried to catch up with her new classmates.

 

[Clarisse_01]

Fiona O'Hara listened absentmindely to the incessant droning of the headmaster, twirling a lock of red hair around her finger. She was the daughter of a prominent Hollywood actress and a controversial director, whose last picture had alienated the public but enchanted the critics. Fiona's parents did not want their only daughter raised among the "excess, indulgence, and superficiality" of the Hollywood circle. That's what they told the press. But Fiona knew that her strict, isolated upbringing had more to do with her parents' obsession with one another and with their careers than with any moralistic ideals. Just like the facade of the school, so did her parents present their own artificial face to the public. Their "old-fashioned values" in regards to their daughter were simply their longest-running publicity stunt.

The young redhead was the image of her mother with soft wavy red hair, transluscent skin, and lively green eyes. But the similarity ended there. Fiona didn't bask in the limelight or enjoy getting swept up in one dramatic event after another. She had a quiet disposition and an intense passion for her studies. She possessed a keen analytical mind and liked to observe things around her, liked to find out how things worked beneath the surface, and what made people tick.

Fiona had been unceremoniously thrown out of the last school she had attended for "licentious behavior." She was discovered in the gazebo after curfew with a boy who had finally worked up the nerve to press a very tentative kiss to her shy, pretty lips. At that innocent, inopportune moment, the pair had been discovered and the entire incident blown out of proportion by the school, her parents, and the media. The one beer they had shared earned notoriety in the tabloids and conjured up phrases like "underrage drinking" and "substance abuse." The whole thing was ludicrous and overblown with the fondness Hollywood and its counterparts have for a scandal.

Fiona found the amosphere of St. Balthazar's to be particularly cold, even menacing, although she couldn't put her finger on what it was about the school that gave her that impression. At her former school, there was always some sort of mischief on the first day but there was not a trace of frivolity in the opening mass, not a hint of insubordination among the girls. And for a place that cost so much to attend, it was dreadfully stark and drafty. Fiona shivered in the thin white shirt and pulled the navy blue cardigan over her shoulders while she scanned the crowd of girls for at least one friendly face.

 

[wulfette]

"Piety, fortitude, humility, these are the things..."

Stifling another tired yawn, Jade Tsai glanced around at her future classmates, tugging on the stiff, starchy uniform compulsory of her new school. Surprisingly, this one managed to beat her previous in the number of rules and regulations it had. Having just turned 18, she was looking forward to the light of freedom that gleamed at the end of the tunnel, but cruel Fate decided to turn that light into a train.

She touched the fringe of her freshly-cut hair, as regulations demanded, uncomfortable with the feeling of nakedness it left her head with. With straight, flowing jet-black hair cresting her soft, regal-looking face, the Chinese girl had inherited her mother's pale complexion and her father's glinting blue eyes. To match, she had a slim, athletic body honed by years of rigorous exercise and sports. As a matter of fact, she had been eyed as one of the cutest girls in her old school. To those who looked over her casually, she seemed like your everyday innocent schoolgirl, quiet and studious.

However, it was the very opposite of that which got her expelled from her previous school in the first place. She couldn't blame the principal, really. When two girls are dragged into your office, still trying to tear each other apart, you really have no choice but to kick them out, no matter that both were among your best tennis players.

Speaking of tennis, Jade was a tennis player. Though she had been state nationals-level before, she had put it aside when her father had threatened to send her to St. Balthazars, and the result was a noticeable decrease in her skill level. It was of no surprise that, after she was expelled, she spent increasing amounts of time working herself back to shape, to her father's dismay at her once-again dropping grades. Eventually, he had no choice but to follow through with his threat.

"Our father..." a new voice ringed out.

Jade looked up for a moment, putting a mask of false awe and obedience on her face, her mind wandering off again. But eventually, it was over. A relieved sigh rippled throughout the assembled girls, and she bent down to pick up her sling bag, filing out drearily with the others.

Edit: I changed the name 'cause Roseanna was just too long for my liking

 

[MaiusImperium]

From the darkness he watched, it was his only friend and constant ally, it hid him, kept him safe from prying eyes and was his weapon when the time came to scare these girls into submission. As the girls filed out past him he was assailed by their collective thoughts, the older girls who had been through the drill before were fearful, obedient. The new girls were nervous, apprehensive, soon they would be fearful like the rest, Balthien had seen it all before.

Their feelings were like a rich fountain, he drank from the emotions as they flitted past in orderly single-file. Now and then he would spy out one that held particular interest, an untouched purity, a sharp mind, a rebellious streak. He did not know their names, yet, but for the moment he would categorise them as Brown, Red and Black, the colours of their respective hair. As they passed out into the corridors of the aged building he devoured their soft budding curves, the merest suggestion of their breasts hidden in the formless, starchy white shirts and the soft curves of their ankles and calves in their conservative skirts.

The hierarch’s tedious sermonising was done with, much to Balthien’s relief. With a concentrated effort Balthien began to flit from shadow to shadow once more, navigating the corridors of the school, he followed in the wake of the girls, and in particular the three he had earmarked as the finest specimens. He followed in their wake as a light breeze, listening to them closely. After a short time their names were revealed to him, Evelyn, Fiona and Jade. Delicious names for delicious girls, he smirked inwardly.

The school itself was quite large, old, ornate even. It was hard to see where the extortionate tuition fees went, St. Balthazar’s was expensive, yet it was clear that little money was spent on it’s buildings, they were all old Victorian-era buildings. Gargoyles sat perched on gutters and sandstone angles stood on tiled roofs, eroded by a century of acid rain. The school had everything a modern school did, a large sports hall, computer rooms, science labs, but the school focused a lot more of it’s energies on preaching and religious doctrine than it did on more practical subjects. Much of the girls’ time would be spent reading from the bible, reciting passages and a great deal of instruction would be doled out on the values of sexual abstinence and the terrible sin of promiscuity.

For the rest of the day he would follow them, watch them, learn their personalities by observing their actions, and when the night came he would feed. The girls were lead by senior prefects to their assorted classes for the first morning. Usually the girls would be expected to make their own way to their lessons, but for the first week the prefects would show them where their classes were.

As fortune would have, Balthien’s chosen three happened to be in the same form, they would attend classes together and this meant he could follow all three of them quite closely for the rest of the day. First classes were, surprise surprise, religious instruction. The demon was quite sure any more zealous drivel would send him to sleep, but he was quite looking forward to watching his new girls.

 

[Clarisse_01]

Fiona's first class, Religion, proved to offer more of the same puritannical rhetoric she had heard earlier in the morning's assembly. As misfortune would have it, Fiona found herself placed in one of the front row seats based on where she fell alphabetically by last name. The teacher offered a monotone and chilly greeting to the three new students. "Please welcome Miss Moore, Miss O'Hara, and Miss Tsai, our three transfers." Each girl was asked to stand in turn. Fiona rolled her eyes--what was this, the Dark Ages? She thought she saw the pretty brunette glance back at her in sympathy and accord. Fiona smiled at the other girl with the glossy black hair and delicate Asian features. At least she wasn't the only new girl and she hoped at least someone here was finding this religious babble to be as nonsensical and ridiculous as she was. It was so over-the-top that, if someone had told her about it, she would have believed it was a joke. But as the teacher interrogated the girls on the various types of sin and their root causes, Fiona realized that they were indeed very serious.

By the end of class, Fiona was stifling one yawn after another. They had a short break before the next class and Fiona was pleased to see that on her schedule--until she realized that there was yet another hour of religious instruction after the break!

The girls shuffled into a small, dimly lit lounge. The furniture was dusty and old fashioned and thick draperies obscured much of the light from outside. It was dreary. There was a quiet, subdued hum of conversation, nothing like the typical bubbly chatter she was used to on a first day. She found herself standing with the two other new girls.

"Hi," she said with a quiet smile, "I'm Fiona. I'm from California, which I'm sure they consider to be a den sin and depravity in the New World. This place is like something out of a Gothic novel. Where are you two from?"

Fiona hoped that the other new girls found St. Balthazar's as strange as she did--because if they didn't, and she was the only one who felt that way, it was going to be one long year.

 

[Britwitch]

Religious Instruction.
The two words meant almost nothing to Evelyn as she followed the rest of the girls into the dusty classroom. Seated on the front row due to her last name Evelyn tried to avoid making eye contact with the teacher before her. She did not want to let on just how limited her religious knowledge was, although she knew it would no doubt be discovered sooner or later.

"Please welcome Miss Moore, Miss O'Hara, and Miss Tsai, our three transfers."
Evelyn's eyes shot up as heard that she wasn't the only new girl in the class. She stood, smiling shyly before returning to her seat, her eyes watching a lithe red-head and captivating dark haired girl each stand after her. She gave each what she hoped was a friendly, sympathetic, smile. After all, this was the sort of thing she expected to happen at the age of 8 not 18.

The lesson passed with painful slowness, the teacher's sermonised passed mainly over Evelyn's head although his attention seemed to be focused on ensuring the girls from last year had not forgotten anything rather than probing the new girls. She knew that would happen eventually. She sighed as she trooped out with the other girls, her eyes seeking out the two other girls who'd been invited to stand.

"Hi," the red head said with a soft smile, "I'm Fiona. I'm from California, which I'm sure they consider to be a den sin and depravity in the New World. This place is like something out of a Gothic novel. Where are you two from?"

"I'm Evelyn," She replied, returning the smile. "I'm from New York originally, somewhere else I'm sure these guys have never been but know all about..." She rolled her eyes. "This place cannot be for real..." Evelyn's eyes drifted around the aging decor. "It's...it's beyond strange..." She allowed herself a quiet laugh at that but after a few of the other girls threw cold, almost suspicious glances their way, she stopped. "I'm here because my guardian thinks I'm godless..." One of Evelyn's eyebrows quirked. "...My parents didn't go to church and so neither did I...all of this stuff is like gibberish to me...I only hope I don't get asked any questions before I can get to the library and 'learn' some of this stuff..." She lowered her voice, not wanting the other girls to hear her admission, hoping Fiona and the other new girl were not as pious as the others appeared to be.

 

[wulfette]

Wringing her wrists, Jade barely glanced at Fiona, inclining her head almost imperceptibly. She then looked at the other brunette, studying her features briefly. By chance or sheer bad luck, Jade managed to land on the seat to the right and back one of Fiona. Glancing at the sign of the class on the glass panel of the door, "RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION", now reversed when viewed from inside, she yawned.

Having slept at nearly past three in the morning, it was of no surprise that she soon found herself nodding off in class, and propped her knees up against the desk, scribbling in her notebook as if taking down notes, where in reality she was sketching what the teacher would look like as a cartoon devil. By the end of class, she was folding up the drawing of a horned and many-eyed teacher being chased around by flying spiked baseballs.

"Hi," the red head spoke as the three new girls started to walk side by side, "I'm Fiona. I'm from California, which I'm sure they consider to be a den sin and depravity in the New World. This place is like something out of a Gothic novel. Where are you two from?"

Patiently waiting for the brunette to finish talking, she grinned at the other two. "This place needs some lightening up, and I've just the -perfect- idea how to do that. I'll need to go shopping first, though.. And I'm nearly out of money. I'll have to head to the bank this weekend," she grimaced, before carrying on smoothly, before letting the other two interrupt, "As for the topic of church and religion.. Well.. I personally think that's only for people who have no confidence in themselves. Oh, my name's Jade, by the way. Jade Tsai, of Texas. Good to meet the two of you."

She flashed the two of them a grin, shrugging her book bag into a more comfortable position on her right shoulder, now weighed down by the thick, fat, Religious Instruction textbooks. They were hardcover, leatherbound things with their pages yellow and mellowed, with the only detail on their cover a big, embossed golden "RI".

 

[MaiusImperium]

“What is your opinion of the new transfers Michael?” Asked the suited man, the black leather chair he sat in was so large it seemed to loom in around him. His black hair was of medium length, slickly gelled away from his face, he was younger than most at the school, which meant he was in his thirties as opposed to his fifties.

“Godless sinners and heathens, but they will be broken none the less.” Replied the cassocked priest in an Irish twang that would have been comical and clichéd if his eyes had not burned with an unsettling fire zeal.

“Do you think they can be broken? They are outsiders, of the school and the faith...” The headmaster’s tone was cold, clinical, he sat in the leather chair with his fingers steepled in standard villain pose.

“If God wills it, my lord.” Came the cryptic reply from the greying hierarch. He was a pallid man, more ghoul than human, he was scrawny and his skin seemed to hang off his bones, making his face look gaunt, his veins were thick and varicose beneath his translucent skin. The headmaster did not like the hierarch, he was…emotional, and with emotions came unpredictability, but the firebrand had his uses.

“See to it that they are suitably…cowed, within the week Michael. If they are not subdued within the first week it will be difficult to keep them in line.” The hierarch nodded his ascent and left with a dismissive wave of the headmaster’s hand. The priest glided in his flowing cassock to the door, the door closed behind him with a quiet thud, leaving the headmaster alone with his thoughts.

If the headmaster had had his way there would be no transfers from other schools, younger girls could be moulded, shaped so much easier. A rebellious youth used to a liberal comprehensive school would come into St. Balthazar’s with preconceived notions such as equality, human rights and, perish the thought, atheism. The headmaster suppressed a shudder at such heinous concepts and uttered a prayer to the almighty God, the new girls would seen learn their place at St. Balthazar’s school for girls.

------

Once the break was over a stuffy-looking prefect with thick rimmed glasses and an arrogant streak a mile wide walked over to the new girls. Clearly the prefect had been assigned to them so they would not get lost for the week, and she didn’t like it one bit.

“Break is over, it’s time for P.E. The gym hall is this way.” The prefect motioned for them to follow and lead them through the main building. It was old, and very cold, all the ceilings were high, every room in the school seemed to be vaulted high and draughty. The entire place was painted in horrid, cheap paint in greys and mint greens which made it seem even colder.

The three girls were lead out across the main yard and into another ancient-looking building which constituted the gym hall. Though the building’s exterior was old, mercifully the innards were newer, at least they were properly furnished. The girls were given their gym outfits which comprised of a thin strip of navy blue material that apparently constituted gym shorts and a loose-fitting grey t-shirt. They were each given a pair of gym shoes, apparently the school knew their feet sizes and measurements better than the girls did themselves.

The gym was filled with a low murmur of chatter as the rest of the class got changed, but there was no giggling, no girlish pranks of jokes, no cheeky whispers about boys or sloping from classes early. Only the droning of girls debating religious doctrine or chunnering about their homework in hushed, meek tones. It was quite unsettling.

Once all the girls were changed they filed out into the gym hall, where they automatically filtered into rows. At the front of the hall stood three instructors, all clad in grey t-shirts and long shorts. At first they said nothing, then one by one they started walked between the ranks of girls, they looked at them as though they were eying a cut of meat, appraising them as a farmer might look at cattle. Most of their attention seemed to be drawn to the girls’ shapely legs, now all but exposed by the gym shorts they were wearing. It really was an odd choice of garb for a school that supposedly prided itself on modesty.

The man who seemed to be the head instructor, a taller, trim man in his late forties with receding short brown hair suddenly came to a stop in front of the three new transfers.

“You three are the new girls.” He stated flatly, but his eyes leered at their bodies openly. The man seemed to be thinking something over as he stared at their ripe young bodies, whatever he was thinking of doing he decided against it and continued to walk down the line of girls without another word.

“Gym will be Eleven to twelve, every day for the rest of term. Follow the instructors’ lead at the front of the hall.” There was no chit-chat, not small-talk, no words of encouragement or even chastisement. The lead instructor simply pointed to the front of the room, most of the girls turned to face the front, as if this was a drill they were very familiar with. From the front of the hall one of the instructors turns the large tape-player on and a dull soulless beat came from the large speaker, it echoed and reverberated around the room. The instructors dropped into a simple aerobics routine that the girls immediately mimicked, the lead instructor simply paced up and down the lines of girls, correcting them or berating them when they made a mistake.

All the while the demon watched from the darkness at the back of the hall, amongst the hobby-horses and springboards there was enough clutter to create shadow for him to hide in. He found the entire ritual tiring, and boring, but he certainly could not complain at the view, with dozens of firm behinds on display for him now, and he would enjoy taking every single one.

Once gym was over the girls had an hour for lunch in the cantine. The food was much like the rest of the school, cold and miserable, just like the sullen students who sat at the tables poking at their food doubtfully. It was as if the place were trapped in a surreal bubble, cut off from the rest of the world, were individuality was crushed and sapped away. f

 

[wulfette]

"Did you two see the way those -freaks- were staring at us?!", Jade animatedly quizzed the other two, as they stood in line, holding their empty trays, waiting for their turn to the food counter. She glanced about what passed for the canteen. It was a massive hall with gothic architecture and ancient chandeliers and candelebra; of all the places she'd seen so far, this was the darkest, dreariest, and gloomiest. Tables were barely enough to seat four people with some squeezin, and the cold, rusted steel chairs had no backrest. This was possibly worst than that old Japanese restaurant just a few blocks down from her old school.

"Next", came the call. Without waiting for a reply, she stepped forward and began to gesture to the man at the counter which of the assorted foods she wanted. But before she could, a plate was dropped unceremoniously on her tray, full of gooey slush that looked like a cross between mash potatoes and mud, topped with two, soggy biscuits and a small, bony, indecipherable lump of meat.

"Well I-"
"Next", she was interrupted. She gave the weary-looking man at the counter a cold glare, before moving off to collect her drink from the next counter.

//Sorry, don't mind if I steal the scene descriptors.

 

[Clarisse_01]

By the time lunch rolled around Fiona was feeling uncharacteristically grouchy and irritable. Gym class had consisted of wearing a uniform that was too tight for her, especially in the bosom. She wasn't a particularly big breasted girl but the miniscule top was at least two sizes too small for her. She had the unsettling sensation that the gym teacher was eyeing her in a most inappropriate fashion, which was confirmed by the lusty manner in which she caught him gazing at her classmates. This place was infuriating! Its excellent academic reputation was marred by its preachy doctrines and the girls who had attended the school previously all behaved so sheepishly that she doubted any of them had an original thought in their heads.

She was grateful for Jade and Evelyn's presence; at least they seemed as appalled by the atmosphere as she was. At lunch, they sat together, barely touching their food, which was as unappealing as the rest of the school.

"Is the food always like this?" Fiona asked the prefect who was accompanying them through the first day.

She shrugged. "You'll learn soon enough how unimportant the physical is when compared to the spiritual aspects of life."

"Don't you think that's a bit old fashioned and unrealistic," countered Fiona, hoping at the least for a bit of lively debate.

"No, I don't," glared the prefect.

Fiona wanted to continue the conversation that had begun earlier with Jade and Evelyn about the peculiarities of the school but she refrained. They were certainly in the minority. She did hope that she and her new friends could liven the place up a bit. Fiona wasn't naturally rebellious or outspoken but this place was bringing out the more fiery side of her temperament.

What she wanted right now was to finish this miserable day, get to her room, take a warm, comforting shower and settle down with a good book.

Jade was absolutely right though--what this place needed most desperately was a little dose (maybe a big dose) of mischief.

 

[Britwitch]

Evelyn pushed the plate of 'food' away from her and after lifting her elbow up onto the tabletop, she rested her chin in her palm, letting her gaze drift around the quiet dining room. Despite being full of so many young girls, there was hardly any chatter, no laughter. It was as if someone had pressed a mute switch and it had effected everyone in the room. She kept feeling as if she was being watched but she had yet to spot the pair of eyes responsible for the sensation.

The hour of gym had been little more than an excuse to get the girls into ridiculously short shorts and badly fitting t-shirts and have them bounce around in front of the openly lecherous instructors. If she had thought her Aunt would have cared in the slightest she would have already begun planning a letter to send, informing her of the observations Evelyn had made so far about her new school...her new home...
How could such things be allowed in a school that was apparently renowned for it's religious ethics? Evelyn didn't know much about the faith that was being preached to them but she was certain that there was something inherently sinister in some of the eyes of the staff, something lewd and lascivious burning in their thoughts.

As she listened to Fiona's attempt at engaging their accompanying Prefect in some conversation, Evelyn began to let her mind drift towards possible methods of escape. She could write to Adam, a childhood friend who had wanted to become something a little more romantic but whom she had gently turned down. It had been awkward and strange the few times they had tried to go out together as anything more than friends, they hadn't even kissed although they'd attempted to more than once, both pulling away at the last moment, unable to go through with it. She was certain he'd be able to help her think of a way out. Smiling slightly as her vivid imagination began to paint pictures of dramatic midnight rescues, Evelyn sipped at the stale water she'd been given and wondered what other 'delights' the staff at St Balthazar's had in store for them.