A brief excerpt from my Novel- Enjoy!
Prologue
I remember the day they came.
The day they took me away from my parents.
My first day of school.
I turned five years old that very day. My parents had tried to keep what was about to happen from me, but I knew. Everyone did. The minute you turn five, that’s it. They come. They take you away from your family and send you to school, where you will stay until you turn eighteen.
I kicked. I screamed. My parents cried. They knew it was pointless to try and save me from my fate.
As the guards led me outside, I turned back briefly to look at my parents. It would be thirteen years until I saw them again, and I needed to remember them. I looked at my mother’s face, stained with tears, her wavy auburn hair falling around her shoulders in disarray. My father, doing his utmost not to cry , his face crumpling under the pressure. It wasn’t the image I wanted to remember. I wanted to remember the good times, when my father would carry me on his shoulders and make me feel like I could do anything. Or the times spent sitting with my mother on the porch as she tried desperately to teach me the skills ‘all young ladies needed to know’ as she put it, whilst I stubbornly refused to learn. All those memories seemed so far away now, faded like an old painting.
Outside, everyone had gathered to have their one final glance at me before I left. I could feel their eyes on me, desperate to remember me as the little girl I was now. I would be very different when I came back. Those that came back always were, no one knew why. It wasn’t just the physical change, it was as if their very souls had vanished and only a glimmer of the innocent child they once were remained.
“Get in” The guard ordered.
I obeyed.
As we pulled away, I looked only ahead.
Chapter One
The sound of the horn woke her from her sleep. Once again it was five a.m, and once again it was time to run. Arwyn sat up in bed and surveyed the other girls In the dorm, frantically searching for their gym kit. In particular, her best friend Roisin who was furiously searching her under bed drawer, throwing out every piece of clothing as she went. It was the same every morning, no matter how many times Arwyn reminded her to find it the night before, she never did.
“Found it!” Roisin called, triumphant in her victory.
She ran over to the bathroom to get changed, as did Arwyn whose gym kit was perfectly placed on the chair next to her bed.
“Do you not tire of being so perfect?” Roisin questioned from the cubicle opposite.
“I’m hardly perfect. Remember last week?” She replied, grimacing.
“Ah yes, seven strikes across the knuckles for seven minutes. Why were you late anyway, it’s not like you?” Roisin questioned.
Arwyn looked at her knuckles. She had wanted to forget the caning, but the scars were a constant reminder. She had never been late In her life except for that one day. That was the day she first heard the music, the soft, angelic music that filled her and distracted her from what she ought to be doing. The music had guided her away from class, and caused her to be late. She could hardly tell Roisin that that was the reason so she lied, saying she had simply lost track of time between coming In from their daily run and getting changed for class.
They continued to get dressed in silence, before heading down the main staircase to the entrance where matron was waiting.
