short story

last update:

16-1-2025
Hello, I am someone they call the watcher. They know I'm here but not where I am or who I am. You may be wondering who I am referring to when I say they. I am talking about a group of 7 teenagers. It's no fun explaining like this so let me just tell you their story instead.
It begins with a kid named Raven. Raven was a child of 2 very rich parents. Their father owned a large business and their mother was the manager of a big store in town. Raven was 14 years old when their parents decided they had enough of them and sent them away. "Noo, Mother please don't make me go to boarding school! It's stupid and probably has a bunch of stupid rules!" Raven begged. "No, You have to go. I have had enough of your stuff. This school will be great. You will learn manners, you won't be bullied and maybe they can even teach you to fit in better." "Mother, I don't care that I get bullied and it's not even that bad. Just let me stay here and don't bring me to a place with only fancy people!" "You are also a fancy person Raven. It is better trust me." So even with Raven begging to not get sent away their mom still sat them in the car a brought them to the boarding school. When arriving Raven and their mother were greeted by an old-looking woman. If Raven had to guess they would say she would be around 50 or 60 years old. "Welcome to Woodsview boarding school, and you must be Miss Raven." The woman welcomed the two but instead of replying Raven just stared at the woman because she called them 'miss Raven'

21-11-2024
“You are in the Sparrow house, focused on kids who do not fit in at regular schools.” The woman explained. A tall boy came walking towards them. “Sorry that I am late miss…” The boy said looking a little nervous. “Oh there you have Mathew he will be your guide for a few weeks. He is in the same house and I am sure you two will get along.” The boy looked at Raven like he was a little shy. “Why don’t you show Raven to her room Mathew.” “Alright miss.” With that, he signalled Raven to follow him and lead them to their room. The whole walk Mathew and Raven didn’t say a word so the two just awkwardly walked to the room. “Uhm here is your room.” He said. “My room is number seventeen on the other side so if you need help you can find me there.” “Okay… thanks I guess…” Raven looked at their door and saw the number ten standing on it. It was the highest number in the hallway and also the last room in the hallway. The boy was about to walk away when Raven asked “Uhm where is your room if it only goes to ten here?” “This is the girls' hallway. Numbers eleven to twenty are in the next one also the boys' hallway.” He explained. “oh okay…” After the awkward interaction, Raven walked into their room. It was a small room with one single bed, a closet, a nightstand, a desk and a little shelf above the desk. Raven put down their suitcase and started unpacking it trying to accept their fate. While unpacking Their thoughts started to spiral. They started worrying about their parents and thinking about the woman who greeted them, the way the boy looked nervous, the fact that he was late. Why would he be late? It's not like the travel time is that much. Why does that woman look so scary? Right before Raven felt like they might go insane from the thoughts someone knocked on the door. When Raven opened the door 4 girls were standing there looking excited, one with brown hair, one with black hair one with blond hair and one with dark blond hair. “uhm… hello?” “Hii! You are Raven, right? We heard you were new here and wanted to welcome you.” The girl with blond hair said. “Okay? You said hi so you can go again. So you know I don’t think I will stay here long and I am also not looking for friends so don't try it.” “Sure but I think you won't survive without friends this place is boring as shit if you don't have friends to share rumours with,” The dark blond girl replied. “Talking about rumours I heard that two boys from another house have kissed but they deny it.” The girl continued before the one with black hair joined in on sharing the rumours. “I heard that a girl in this wing might be pregnant from a boy in another house” “What? Don't tell me its Britanny she’s only sixteen” The brown-haired girl asked. “It is” All the girls looked shocked.

26-11-2024
“Oh wait we haven't introduced ourselves yet.” The girl with blond hair says. “oh yeah that’s right.” The dark blond girl starts “Well my name is Bridget, that blond girl is Lexi and she-” “We can say our own names, Bridget.” The black-haired girl cuts Bridget off. “My name is Zoë.” “And my name is Madilyn but you can just call me Maddie.” The brown-haired girl finishes before Zoë starts talking again. “Has anyone heard how Estella and Meredith are doing? I haven't seen them together in some time.” “Do you think they broke up?” Bridget asks. “Maybe, but I think-” “Can you guys discuss this in another room I want to unpack my bags.” Raven asks annoyed. “oh yeah, sorry.” Lexi says before the girls leave the room and close the door.
Raven goes back to unpacking their bags being happy that at least their mind wasn’t spiralling as much anymore. After a few minutes, there was knocking on the door again. “Oh my can’t those girls give me a break.” Raven walked to the door and opened it “I said you girls needed to leave!” A boy was standing in front of the door. “Uhm I didn't mean to upset you?” “Oh shit uhm, I’m sorry I thought you were someone else.” Raven was a little embarrassed. “Is Mathew here? He isn’t in his room and I heard he was your guide so yeah I thought he may be here?” “uhm no he left some time ago, why?” “I need to tell him I am pregnant.” “Uhm what the frick? I am sorry but you very much look like a guy.” “Yeah I lost a bet, I am not really pregnant you dumbo.” “What the fuck is wrong with the kids at this school,” Raven said to themselves. The boy thought for a second before saying “Hey what if you help me find him?” “Why would I?” “It's fun you can see his reaction.” Raven thought for a second. “It's not like I have anything better to do. I will help you I guess.” “Yay!”
Together they walked around in the building to find him. “My name is Ashton by the way.” “Amazing I totally care.” “Well, you can be a bit nicer what's your-” Raven cuts him off whispering “Hey sh, I hear something” They both listened and heard a woman's voice coming from the next door. “You need to be stricter with your schedule. This is a bad representation of the school, it makes people think we make their kids lazy. Do you know how fast parents take their kids out of this school because of lazy mistakes from people like you?” It was silent for a second before the woman continued “Huh? Answer.” Someone answered but so softly that they could barely hear it “Uhm I don’t know… Not that quick?..” “Wrong! To fricking quick, don't do this again. You understand?” “Yes ma’am…” Raven looked at Ashton trying to signal that they needed to go away before the people came out of the room. They ran back to Raven's room.
“What the hell was that?” Raven asked. “It was the woman that runs this house. Kind of a Head of the house or something but I don't know who the other person was.” “Why was she being so rude like that person almost caused the downfall of the whole school.” “That’s because she believes that person did. She is crazy, if she is around you better be on your best or expect to get a scolding like that.” “How is someone like that in a school?” “Don't ask me I have the same question.” They stood there in silence for a bit. “Hey, maybe Mathew is outside.” The boy suddenly jumped back to wanting to find Mathew. “Why do you want to find him so bad don't you wanna let this process for a little or something?” “Nah you get used to it after some time. Come on let's check outside.”
He ran outside and Raven followed him not running because who is so excited to find someone for a lost bet? While outside they somehow find Mathew. “Hey Mathew dude, I have news,” Ashton said. Mathew looked at him a little confused and then at Raven more confused. “He dragged me along,” Raven said before he could ask anything. “Okay, so Mathew… Big news, I am… Pregnant!” “Dude what?” Mathew looked really confused for a second before realising something. “You really have to stop making bets with Oscar, Ashton.” “But if I won I would have gotten twenty euros!” “You know you almost never win because Oscar cheats most times.” “Ugh, I just want to have fun and make some money in the meantime.” Mathew looked disappointed. “Why did you even drag Raven along?” “Oh, so that’s your name. I dragged her along for the fun and I originally thought you were in her room. Oh, and we heard the head miss scold somebody.” “Do you know who it was?” “No the person spoke really soft and we left before we could see who it was.”
Raven looked a little annoyed at Ashton “Why did you tell all that have you never heard of not telling everything?” “It's just Mathew?” “Yeah, so? Have you ever heard of not trusting everyone? You yourself said you need to be at your best when that woman is around but have you ever thought about it that someone might snitch that you were listening to the conversation?” “Gees why are you so paranoid?” “Just survival instinct.” Mathew just looked at Raven arguing before walking away knowing it was not going to help that he was there. “What kind of weird survival instinct do you have weirdo?!” “Why are you calling me a weirdo? You are the idiot who tells everyone everything!”
The argument turned into a fight and soon enough they were both in the room of the head of the house. “Why were you two fighting?” Raven didn’t reply as they were too mad but Ashton almost instantly replied. “I am sorry miss we got in a disagreement.” “And you two were too stupid to just talk it out?” “Yes miss we are very sorry.” Raven looked at Ashton as if he was crazy. Ashton looked back as if he was saying that Raven also needed to say sorry. “Uhm sorry?” Raven said not meaning it at all. “You are lucky that it's your first day other you would have been grounded for a long time. Also, tell Mathew he needs to be a better guide and not let you get into fights.” “Sure I guess” “Say it formally.” “What?” “This is a formal school say it formally.” “Uhm… Yes, ma’am?” “Good now go again.” They both left the room again.
Raven went to the girls' hallway before Ashton stopped them. “Aren't you going to Mathew?” “Why would I?” “Uhm she said you needed to tell him something.” “Yeah? You actually think I am going to do that?” “I would do it before she gets mad.” “What is wrong with this school.” Raven said to themselves. “Fine, I will go.” Raven walked to the boys' hallway. They realised they had never actually seen it before, not that it was that different but still. They knocked on one of the doors in the middle of the hallway room seventeen. Mathew opened the door. “Oh hi, what are you doing here? Do you need help?” “I needed to say that you need to be a better guide and not let me get into a fight anymore or something.” “Oh okay…” “uhm yeah good night…” “You too.” He closed the door and Raven walked back to their room.
They felt completely exhausted and beaten up. Raven laid in bed thinking about the day. They felt abandoned and confused. How could anyone leave their kid at a school like this? A kid that did nothing wrong.
Raven was in their pyjamas in bed still thinking when there was suddenly knocking at their door. “Who is even knocking at this time? And why can’t they leave me the fuck alone.” Raven walked to the door. “Hello, who is there?” It was a boy one they had not seen before. “Hello I am Wilson, You have been invited to join the Good Kids Society.” “What? A good kids' society? What’s that and why now?” “I can't explain unless you join.” “What does it mean if I join?” “I can't tell you” “Yeah seems really trustworthy, goodnight.” Raven wanted to shut the door but the boy put his foot in the door opening. “Wow you are good, you already passed the first test.” “Test?” “To see if you are worthy of joining the society.” “Ugh, I don't want to join.” “Wait! You don't want to be here, right?” “yeah?” “Then join we are going to leave this place.”

5-12-2024
“Are you serious?” Raven asked, not really convinced because the boy looked like a geek. “Of course I am serious, why wouldn’t I be? ” “You don’t exactly look like the type who could escape this place.” “That’s rude but do you want to join or not?” “Fine, if that gets you to shut up.” “Okay! We have our next meeting tomorrow night in the boys' bathroom see you then.” The boy left excitedly. “Ew wtf who holds a meeting in a bathroom,” Raven said before going back to bed.
The next morning they were waken up by a loud alarm clock. They thought back about what happened the previous night and was questioning if it was real or a dream but was pulled out of the confusion by a knock at the door. “Why can't I have just one second of peace in here?!” A boy's voice could be heard at the other side of the door. “Oh I am sorry but I need to be here as your guide in case you need help.” “And you need to stay at my door for that? Can't you just do your thing and I find you when I need help?” “No, it’s school policy.” “Stupid.” Raven went to the bathroom with a pile of clothes in hand. They took a shower and afterwards got dressed. They walked back to their room and saw Mathew still standing there. “Wow, you are really going to stand there the whole time.” “Yeah…” “Well if you are going to be here might as well help. I assume we are going to have classes today so what do I need to pack?” “Oh just your books they should already lay in a drawer, I will help you get them.” He walked into their room and opened a drawer before he got a few books out of it. “Here these are the books for today.” “Thanks.” Raven grabbed their backpack and put the books in there. “So uhm what do we do now?” Raven asked. The boy checked his watch. “Uhm not you just do something you want before breakfast what is in 7 minutes.” “Okay.” Raven sat on their bed and started scrolling on TikTok. After 10 seconds Mathew was still just standing there. “You can sit down you know?” “Oh yeah, I just didn’t want to be weird.” Raven wanted to say that just standing there made him look weirder than if he had sat down but held it in. The boy sat next to Raven on the bed and also went on his phone. Raven was curious and took a look at the boys' phone. They saw he was playing some kind of game. After a few minutes, he put his phone away and stood up. “It’s time for breakfast.” “K.” Raven stood up and followed him to a dining room.
There were already a few kids seated. Raven recognised a few of them. They saw Two of the girls who shared rumours the day before They thought their names were Bridget and Zoë. Ashton was also already seated next to someone who Raven did not know. Raven sat down at the first chair they saw. It was a few chairs apart from Bridget and Zoë. Asthon sat a little bit in the middle of the table and Mathew went to sit at the other end of the table. Slowly more people started coming and sitting down. In the few chairs in between Raven and Zoë and Briget Madie and Lexi sat down. Raven looked towards where Mathew was sitting and saw that there were also sat more kids down there. One of the kids was the boy who asked Raven to join a society last night and suddenly Raven realised it really happened and they were part of a random society for real. Everyone was chatting and Raven just kind of stared in front of them. Right across from them were sitting two girls kind of close together. A few seconds later they got all cuddly and Raven looked away awkwardly. They looked at what Mathew was doing and he was also just looking in front of him like Raven was before.

9-12-2024
Raven thought that the guy probably would have had more friends as he was their guide, but it seemed like he didn’t. When everyone sat down, they began grabbing bread and other stuff on the table. The whole time during breakfast, people were chatting. After breakfast, Raven followed some kids to the first class. The entire day went very quickly, with nothing much happening apart from what seemed to be normal for this school.

After dinner, Raven sat on their bed thinking about the boy from last night. They weren’t sure if the whole thing with the meeting was real or not until they heard a knock at their door. Raven walked to their door not knowing what to expect. The same boy as last night stood in front of it. “You coming to the meeting?” Raven thought for a moment before answering. “Sure I guess.” Together they walked towards the boys' bathroom. “Why is the meeting in the boys’ bathroom?” Raven asked. “The founders are all boys and up until you there weren’t any girls.” “Of course, only boys could think of something this stupid.” The boy slightly offended walked into the bathroom.
“Hello guys the new kid is here.” The boy signalled to Raven to follow him inside. Inside were three boys. Raven was unimpressed by the number of members and how they all looked like geeks. “Is this everyone? Kinda small club, I expected it bigger.” One of the boys looked at Raven. “Oh no this is not everyone. There is one person who couldn’t make it.” “Okay? And uhm, do you guys also have names or are you going to keep that a secret or something?” The boy who was speaking before answered first. “No need to rush we were going to tell it. My name is Theo.” “My name is Brandon and he is Thomas but he doesn’t talk much.” Another one of the 3 boys explained reverencing to the other boy. Finally, the boy who led Raven there answered. “And my name is Aiden.” Aiden stood next to the other boys. Raven decided to stand in front of them and when Raven did that the boys formed a circle to discuss. “So uhm what are you guys going to do now?” Raven asked. “We are going to discuss our plan and then talk about things that can go wrong or that need to be adjusted,” Theo explained.
Brandon began, “Okay so now we have a plan to sneak out at night and follow the road to the city and then ask for phones to call our parents and get them to pick us up and bring us home. Does anyone have something to add or bring up?” Aiden put up his hand, “What if we can’t find phones?” Thomas took a notebook out of his pocket and wrote something on it before showing it. It said, “Then we find somewhere to sleep and try again the next day.” Raven looked if anyone else had something to say and then started talking, “How do we know if there isn’t an alarm at the doors at night? And calling our parents to pick us up is stupid, they brought us here so why would they just miraculously take us away if we escape? I am telling you that’s not going to happen. So we need to think of something else.” Everyone thought about that for a second and then Theo spoke up, “Do you really think they have alarms on the door? And the fact that our parents wouldn’t take us home? They are our parents of course they would take us home again. Why are you so negative?” Raven looked at the boy like he was stupid, “Don’t you want to fix possible loopholes? Isn’t that the point of this?” “Yeah, but we are not going to change a whole plan just because someone is too negative.”
Suddenly the door opened and someone else walked in, “I think Raven is right, we need to think of stuff like alarms and the fact that our parents probably won’t take us home.” The boy was Mathew and he joined the circle. Brandon looked at him, “Hey where were you, dude?” “I was busy.” Theo looked annoyed, “You too Mathew? Can’t you all stop being so negative?” Raven replied, “If you can’t handle it make your own group or something.” “Fine I am going to do that and I bet that we get out of here quicker than you guys.” With that Theo left he looked back if anyone was joining him but nobody did.

Mathew started talking to the others, “Okay so we need a few more members for my plan to fix this. Okay, so my plan is that we break a window escape through there and then run to the nearby city where we gather supplies before we travel towards my parents' summer house a few cities further.” Aiden put up his hand, “Are we going to walk all the way there? And why do you need more people for that plan?” “Yes we are going to walk that way people will get less suspicion and it's easier and we need more people for safety. If we have more people we can take shifts sleeping and holding watch.” Raven nodded, “I think that’s a great plan, but who are we going to ask to join?”
“Great that you ask. I was thinking Estella and Meredith.” Suddenly Brandon spoke up again, “What?! The couple? I don’t want to hear them having sex.” “Too bad but they can work together really well I am sure it's going to be useful.” Thomas showed something he wrote down again. “I think Ashton would be good.” Raven shook their head, “No not him. Asthon will spill the plan 100%” “How about Oscar?” Aiden asked. “No, he won’t work. Lucas maybe?” Mathew suggested. Thomas nodded and so did Aiden. “Ugh fine.” Said, Brandon even though he didn’t fully agree. “Okay Aiden you ask Lucas, Thomas ask Estella and finally Brandon you go ask Meredith. Okay, see you all again in 2 days.” Mathew said and after that, everyone started slowly walking back to their rooms. Raven left too because they were terrified of being seen in the boys' bathroom.

16-12-2024
The next day went by very quickly but one noticeable thing was that Brandon seemed a little less social and the other boys didn’t look like they wanted to talk to him. Raven couldn’t really find their place in the class and was happy they were planning to escape. At the moment Raven just followed a few kids around the whole time but It didn’t feel like they were a part of the group. The next day Estella and Meredith seemed a bit nervous around each other like both were hiding something. Lucas was a little more loud than usual, or at least than what Raven was used to in the few days. Mathew has also stopped with “helping” Raven in the morning. Instead Raven now had a printed-out roster to know which books they had to pack in their bag. Raven also looked if Mathew spoke with people in classes or stuff because they now knew he was also in the group. While Raven expected to see him talking with the other members most of the time, he didn’t talk much with others. He only spoke a little when he had to work together with someone or when something happened in the class.
When it was night again Raven went to the boys' bathroom. They were a little terrified that there wasn’t a meeting but luckily there was. However, only Mathew was there. “Where are the others?” Raven asked. “They come later with the newbies.” First Aiden came with who apparently was Lucas. “Now we just wait for Thomas,” Mathew said. Aiden looked confused, “What about Brandon?” “He stopped, last night he refused to ask Meredith so I kicked him out. I don’t think he cares, he didn’t like the plan anyway.” Raven was actually a little happy that he left because he seemed so annoying. After some time Thomas came with two girls it were the same girls that Raven had earlier seen sitting close together at breakfast the first day.
“Nice that you all joined us Lucas, Estella and Meredith.” Lucas looked annoyed, “Why are those two here? You plan on escaping with that couple.” “Do you have a problem with two women in a couple?” Raven asked angrily. “Well, I don’t think they should rub it in our faces every day.” “They don’t, they just act like a regular cringe couple, but you wouldn’t understand that as you never went to a regular school with your rich fancy ass.” “You say it like it’s a bad thing. At least I didn’t get school shootings.” “That’s in America you dumb ass.” “What do you have with ass?” “I don’t know okay.” Mathew looked amused while Aiden just looked annoyed, “Can you please stop arguing?! We need to finish our plan.”

8-1-2025
The next day went by very quickly but one noticeable thing was that Brandon seemed a little less social and the other boys didn’t look like they wanted to talk to him. Raven couldn’t really find their place in the class and was happy that they were planning to escape. At the moment Raven just followed a few kids around the whole time but It didn’t feel like they were a part of the group.
The next day Estella and Meredith seemed a bit nervous around each other like both were hiding something. Lucas was a little more loud than usual, or at least than what Raven was used to in the few days. Mathew has also stopped with “helping” Raven in the morning. Instead Raven now had a printed-out roster to know which books they had to pack in their bag. Raven also looked if Mathew spoke with people in classes or stuff because they now knew he was also in the group. While Raven expected to see him talking with the other members most of the time, he didn’t talk much with others. He only spoke a little when he had to work together with someone or when something happened in the class.
When it was night again Raven went to the boys' bathroom. They were a little terrified that there wasn’t a meeting but luckily there was. However, only Mathew was there. “Where are the others?” Raven asked. “They come later with the newbies.” First Aiden came with who apparently was Lucas. “Now we just wait for Thomas,” Mathew said. Aiden looked confused, “What about Brandon?” “He stopped, last night he refused to ask Meredith so I kicked him out. I don’t think he cares, he didn’t like the plan anyway.” Raven was actually a little happy that he left because he seemed so annoying.
After some time Thomas came with two girls it were the same girls that Raven had earlier seen sitting close together at breakfast the first day. “Nice that you all joined us Lucas, Estella and Meredith.” Lucas looked annoyed, “Why are those two here? You plan on escaping with that couple.” “Do you have a problem with two women in a couple?” Raven asked angrily. “Well, I don’t think they should rub it in our faces every day.” “They don’t, they just act like a regular cringe couple, but you wouldn’t understand that as you never went to a regular school with your rich fancy ass.” “You say it like it’s a bad thing. At least I didn’t get school shootings.” “That’s in America you dumb ass.” “What do you have with ass?” “I don’t know okay.” Mathew looked amused while Aiden just looked annoyed, “Can you please stop arguing?! We need to finish our plan.”

16-1-2025
Mathew starts talking about the plan: “Okay, so I say we will escape in a few days so we have time to prepare and do the things we still want to do. Then we leave from a window that we throw a rock in during the day.” Some people look a bit sceptical. “Okay, just hear me out. If we throw something through it during the day, pretending it was an accident, we can easily escape through the window at night. There is no way they will have it replaced that quickly. Then we will just travel toward my summer home and live there I guess. To ensure we all make it there and don’t get caught we need to disable locations on phones or just leave them behind entirely and not contact family. Does anyone want to add something?” “Uhm what do we need to pack?” Lucas asked. “I will slip a list under your doors. Okay, that was the only question?” Some people nodded. “The list will come tomorrow and I would say that now is the time to say goodbye and ask people out I guess. Goodnight.”
Some people started leaving and Aiden walked up to Raven. “Hey, Raven… Do you maybe want to help me ask out Ashton before class tomorrow?” “What do you want me to do?” “Uhm I don’t know… Maybe just be there for me I guess.” “Sure.” So like agreed the net morning before class Raven walked up to Aiden. “So are you ready for it?” Raven asked. “I guess so.” Together they walked up to Ashton who strangely enough also walked up to them as soon as he saw them. “Oh hey, Aiden I wanted to ask you something,” Ashton said both excited and nervous. “Really? Me too.” “That’s a funny coincidence. You know what you can ask first.” “Really?” “Yeah, go on.” “Uhm alright…” Aiden took a deep breath trying to gather the courage to ask it. “Do you… want to go out with me sometime?” Ashton looked shocked. “Oh uhm… I was actually planning to ask out Zoë…” “Oh…” “Yeah… I don’t really like boys, never did.” Ashton walked away and left Aiden behind embarrassed. “Hey it could have gone worse,” Raven said. “How? How can I be worse than this?” “If he wanted to ask out me for example.” “That doesn’t make this better.” The rest of the day Aiden was a little sad he almost looked depressed if you would ask Raven. What made Raven giggle a bit was that Ashton also looked sad like Zoë rejected him.
When Raven got to their room there was a little bit of paper that was slipped under the door. On it, it said what Raven needed to take with them. A flashlight, if you have one a map, money, clothes, food, blankets, and your phone with the charger. Raven already packed a few things like money and some clothes. It was said the date and time they would be leaving, it was in 2 days at 1 in the night. That night there were a lot of loud noises in the hallway and outside as well. It was so annoying that Raven couldn’t sleep. Not that much later there also went a loud alarm and even more talking and stuff outside their room.