Driven Inside

Of course, it was pouring. Evelyn stared at the gray, wet world outside vacantly from the piano bench with her hands folded in her lap, getting lost in her own thoughts. It was easy to do that on rainy days. The constant pitterpatter of the rain battering against the walls and windows was mesmerizing, and she found herself staring at the little droplets of water as they raced down the glass and the trees whipping around from the fierce winds.

Her own clothes were damp and plastered to her body from when the rain started. So much for walks around campus. Since autumn had began, it had been raining practically every other day. She didn't even know what compelled her to go outside after the incident with Montare not a week past. Evelyn still wondered if she'd reacted too sharply. She'd cut him, but... she felt no real regret. She had her own scar from that brief tussle; a long cut from elbow to wrist along her right arm. If anything, the girl would just say they were even.

For whatever reason, Evelyn hadn't notified any of the faculty. She knew it was enough to get the boy expelled, but how would she explain it? 'Hi, I was throwing knives at trees and got stalked by a werewolf, and I nearly stabbed him a couple times.' In Montare's defense, he never actually tried anything, though it didn't change the fact that he'd been secretly watching her out in the woods.

Besides, she half-suspected they wouldn't care and she'd waste her time. The fact that Montare was allowed to stay at the school after the first time was a startling lapse in judgement on the part of the Headmaster... who had been stabbed. By one of her other teachers. Evelyn wondered if anybody would notice if she just stopped attending her classes.

Of course they wouldn't. Nobody will ever notice me because of my stupid 'gift'. She felt her heart begin to sink again. Evelyn had thought that losing the friends she'd made would be almost a good thing. The girl had been friendless practically her whole life, and she thought there would be peace in her new-found solace... but now she felt herself both longing for them to return to her and shying away whenever she spotted one of them in the hallways or in a class.

Even now her power was in affect. She knew their minds - Jace, Kimply, Lotte, her parents, whoever else - were at work burying all memory of her. That was an unpleasant side-effect that she had once thought of as a blessing in disguise. Right now she knew that they probably couldn't remember her face or voice. Maybe they'd recall a few things; her hair color, her height, her name, but not much else. 'The power to be ignored' didn't sound like much on paper until you considered what it meant to go through life without anybody sparing you a passing glance.

She sighed and looked down at the dusty piano cover. Evelyn had only managed to play it once, and she had only been able to do it with Jayden and Jace present. It would be nice to be able to play it alone, just once, while everyone else was in their dorm rooms... She gingerly lifted the case and moved her long fingers over the keys. A song... It had been so long, she didn't know what to play. Something simple... Ah!

Chopin's most recognizable song - Funeral March. Frederic Chopin had always been a bit of an idol to her, and it wasn't like she knew many other songs. She found the keys and began to play the dark and beautiful piece of music...

The reason behind Penny being here? Well... there really wasn't one. She had just been wandering around the school practically oblivious to all of the things going on inside the works like... you know, the headmaster getting stabbed, the craziness that has ensued due to treason within the school, that sort of thing. And since there really hadn't been many people around her to try to show her around, she figured she would take a grand tour by herself and just before the rain had begun that day, she had managed to wander right into this building. It was a very boring building that's for sure. She didn't really have many talents. She could sing... kind of. Her voice was at least in tune, but she never found her voice pretty in any way, shape, or form. As she had looked through each room that had been unlocked, she found herself walking around for a good hour or two... or three, before hearing the door of the building open and the sounds of the pouring rain echo through the halls. With a curious thought, she decided to go check out just who might have been joining her.

It took a bit of time before Penny finally gave up. She heard the door open, but whoever it was had quickly disappeared. She didn't find anyone even though she had glanced in just about every room. It was only when the piano began to resonate through the building did she finally know where to go. Although that was a little sketchy, it didn't bother her much and soon enough, she poked her head into the room where Evelyn played, only listening to the first few minutes of the song before she interrupted. "That's kind of a depressing song, don't you think?" She asked as she leaned onto the door frame with her head poking in, her legs crossed in front of her and her hands stuck in the pockets of a black jacket with fur lining the hood. It was very cozy and she was thankful her clothes actually kept her warm, especially in the rain.

Evelyn gasped and nearly jumped out of her seat, ending the song with an abrupt slam of the keys. She looked like a deer caught in headlights for a few moments as she struggled to find words, the only sounds being the rain and wind outside. Had she been listening the whole time? The girl drew in her hands and stared into her lap. "...I, uh... y-you..." she said faintly as she tried to find something appropriate to say. "Y-you s-startled me..."

A small smile quickly crossed Penny's face as she tried to stifle a laugh. "Yeah, I can see that. I didn't mean to scare you that badly, though." Pushing herself off the door frame, she strolled into the room and studied the piano as she passed by. It looked like a pretty instrument and the fact that this girl could play it that well was pretty amazing, but it just wasn't her style. Without another word, Penny moved over to where the closest empty chair was before grabbing it and lazily moving it around so that she could sit comfortably close to Evelyn. It was good to finally meet someone else that she could possibly talk to, although she had a feeling that this conversation probably wasn't going to last very long. "So how do you manage to play the piano? I mean, I tried once when I was like... five, but I sucked at it!" she exclaimed, almost laughing at her past failures while trying to start up the conversation.

Evelyn rubbed her arms uncomfortably as the girl pulled up a seat next to her. "W-well..." she started with a blush. How was she supposed to reply? "I-I just memorize the keys, I guess." That sounded stupid, didn't it? It did. That definitely sounded stupid. "But I'm n-not that good... I only kn-know a couple of songs..."

She had never actually owned a piano herself. It had belonged to a great aunt on her mother's side, who lived a good twenty minutes away from their house back in Helena. A genial, witty, and easygoing old woman who, in retrospect, was more like her father than her mother. Evelyn had always known her as Auntie Lake. There was no Uncle Lake, though; she never ended up marrying or having any children of her own.

Evelyn remembered visiting with her parents when she was young, maybe six years old, and first spotting the old thing. It was small, brown, aging, and collecting dust in a corner of a mostly empty room, yet she was enamored at first sight. From then on out she would take every opportunity to go to Aunt Lake's house, if only to look on the piano while her parents chatted away. It was like that for every year, until she was approached one day.

"I see you looking at that old thing, girl, don't think I don't."
"...!"
"Don't be alarmed, now. Do you want to learn how to play?"
"Uh, well, m-maybe..."
"You mean 'yes', then. I'll teach you, under one condition."
"R-really? What?"
"That you come over every Friday after school, no matter what."
"B-but... what if--"
"What if your mother doesn't let you? She's always been a worrying fusspot, ever since she was a girl. Just sneak out then."
"I-I can't do that...!"
"You're what, nine now? Of course you can. You're practically a grown woman."
"But..."
"Your parents won't notice you're even gone. Don't be like your mom, girl, take a risk every now and then and you'll be better off for it."
"..."
"Every Friday, then?"
"Yeah."

Auntie Lake was right on that front, at least. They never did catch her.

"Not that good?" She scoffed, a small smile appearing on her face as she held back a chuckle. "You just played that song they play at funerals plus some and you call yourself not that good? Ha! You don't give yourself enough credit!" Kicking back in the chair, Penny closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. It was a little relaxing finally being around someone and this girl seemed pretty nice too. Maybe a little too shy, but who knew. Maybe Evelyn could warm up some after a while. "What's your name, anyway?"

Evelyn blushed more from the compliments and fiddled with her hands in her lap. "Uh, t-thanks. But the s-song's really s-simple, really..." she said. She turned her eyes up at the girl again from her slouched position, head bowed, as if she was afraid to look directly at her. "I-I'm Evelyn. And y-you..?" Maybe she could make a new friend. The girl seemed approachable and cordial enough. If she was new, then that was even better. It was almost like a fresh start, after losing everyone else.

"I'm Penny. It's good to meet you, Evelyn," she replied rather quickly, not really taking the time to do much more than continuously kick back in the chair. It was a lot more comfortable than it looked and it was very amusing. But after only a few minutes or so, she sat back upright in the chair and looked at Evelyn and decided to ask rather bluntly, "So what is your power?" Her curiosity was killing her and especially since the only person she had really met could turn into a dog, she wanted to know what other powers there were around here. Obviously many of the students were going to be unique but there was part of it too in which Penny slightly hoped that there might be someone here that had the same ability as her. Maybe if there was, they could help her try to control it better. Now granted, she barely even had her power. Heck, she didn't even know if it was going to get better or if her only power was embarrassingly just to have poison spit. Whoop-dee-doo. She can't have a love life...

Evelyn suddenly felt very uncomfortable at the dreaded question... or more uncomfortable than she felt already, anyways. Even after all this time, it felt like it was personal, like talking freely about some defect or complication. In the past she had tried to convince herself otherwise, but she secretly never bought the whole "gifted" name they gave to the "special" children at Beata Academy. Maybe the rain was just putting a damper on her mood, but she felt bitter.

Oliver had asked her the same question over six months ago and she'd felt the same, but Evelyn had thought she would have grown out of it by now. The only difference was that her dormmate was now gone and some other girl was there in his place.

The girl rubbed her arms and hesitated, not answer for a few awkward moments. "Well, h-hm..." she started. What are you waiting for? You can't hold it off forever. She cast a nervous glance up at Penny, the words sticking in her throat. "It's like... invisibility, s-sorta, but I can't control it... T-the school calls it 'p-p-perception bending.'" Did she want details? Evelyn's power wasn't that straightforward, with all of its little clauses and side-effects. "J-just... you might not want to, uh... look r-right at me... It'll hurt after a little while..." Her voice trailed off as she looked off to the side and at the hardwood floor.

That was definitely a new one Penny had never heard of. Heck, when she thought of abilities, the only things that really popped into her head were the usual-- elemental powers, flying, super speed and strength, but perception bending was not anywhere close to being on that list. Although the idea of it hurting to stare at Evelyn for too long was a little strange and to be completely honest, Penny couldn't understand how. If she wanted to look at Evelyn, she could, right? Eh, whatever. Quickly, moving her gaze to the general area that Evelyn had moved hers, she began to speak as if to save the girl from all of the stress she was dealing with. It was obviously a very touchy subject, but Penny regretted nothing. It was cool to know what others could do. "That's awesome! I haven't heard of that one before!" She giggled for a moment before leaning back in the chair once more. "See, you're lucky. You get the cool ability while I'm just stuck with fatal spit. heh..." In Penny's eyes, it was honestly embarrassing for her to have to reveal her "gift." I mean, who would care to know that she couldn't kiss anyone? At least she could actually spit on someone and actually do some damage instead of it just symbolizing a petty insult... "I don't think there's a real name for it, but yeah. I guess I'm like a snake in that respect. My spit... is poison. Stupid, right?"

Her eyes closed for what seemed a little too long for a standard blink as Penny spoke, returning her gaze to her lap. What did she know? It was no use explaining that she couldn't control it. She couldn't just flicker in and out of existence like a superhero. If only it was that simple, that useful. "Y-yeah... it's pretty c-cool, I guess..." she said with a resigned voice. "Y-yours isn't so bad... I k-knew somebody who froze everything he t-touched, like King Midas. A-and a girl who could use hypnosis, b-but her eyes bled afterwards."

Maybe it was just Penny's friendliness and approachability, but the resentment Evelyn was feeling towards Beata seemed to make it easier for her to talk. "You'll be g-glad f-for that poison... W-when you get sorted, t-they give you weapons and muh-make you go on missions." While she still stumbled over her words and her voice was still faint, it was about as loud and clear as Evelyn got. The stammer had effected her for as long as she could remember, thought it was once much worse... her father had made her read aloud every night to try and make her get over it, but eventually he gave up. "I-I only w-went on one, a-and t-two people got s-shot a-after we killed t-the..."

Evelyn stopped, mouth still hanging open as she realized she was rambling, before she shook her head and gave a nervous laugh. "Hehe, sorry... I-I don't know why I t-told you all that..." There was plenty she could go on about, like how the math teacher, who also happened to be in charge of defending the school from the enemies she still knew nothing about, got stabbed and killed by another teacher. Or how the secretary and principal were also stabbed, and some other kid ended up in a coma from the whole ordeal somehow. But the girl was new, right? She probably wasn't looking to hear about all of that drama, just looking for new friends. Stupidstupidstupid...

As Penny listened, she slowly began to grow a little more confused. But on the bright side, at least someone thought her own power was cool. Everyone else she had told basically seemed to be disgusted by the only little thing she could do. What was even worse was how she found out she had "something special." At least that's what her mom called it. Ha.. something special...

shaddup.. it's backstory time...

"Mommy! Mommy!" A little eight year old Penny shouted as she ran back into her house from being outside in the rain. The poor blond girl was nearly drenched from head to toe in water even underneath the giant rain coat that swallowed her and the little-too-large rain boots. With hair sticking to her face and dirt covering her tiny cupped hands, she took off through the kitchen, tracking mud everywhere until she found her mother making dinner.

"What is it, sweety?" her mother asked as she looked up from the pot of boiling water only to see her eight year old soaking wet and holding something in between her muddy hands. As she took one good look at Penny's face, it was also obvious that she had been crying. Although her cheeks were already covered in water, the red in her eyes completely gave it away. Immediately, her mother crouched down to her level, a deep concern crossing her face. "Honey, what's wrong? Why have you been crying?" Other than the crying, Penny seemed to be okay. No physical injuries.

"Something happened to Mr. Hoppykins! He won't wake up!" She wailed as she opened up her hands to reveal a rather motionless toad. It was pretty large, but definitely dead, and as soon as she looked at the toad once again, Penny began crying, her sniffles growing louder and more frequent as she tried to hold back the tears.

Instantly, Penny's mother backed up as she stared at the little unmoving creature. Appalled that Penny would even think to bring it into the kitchen, she took a deep breath to calm herself since her daughter was quite upset. "Penny, what happened? How did Mr. Hoppykins end up this way?"

Immediately Penny grew quiet as she began to think back on when the toad stopped moving. She actually looked almost embarrassed. "I-I..." She started, trying to get the words out. "I watched Princess and the Frog... and-and I thought that maybe Mr. Hoppykins could be a prince. And so... I kissed him on his tiny little head. But-but... but..." her voice trailed off as she fought back the tears once more. "Then Mr. Hoppykins freaked out... and after a few minutes, he went to sleep.. and I can't wake him up! You have to help him, Mommy!"...

But as Penny continue to listen to the stories that Evelyn told, the more she furrowed her brow until it got to the point of just being crazy. Missions? People getting shot? Killing the-? Wow. She wasn't satanic or anything, but having not experienced that before, it kind of sounded like fun. At least this wasn't as boring as she thought it was going to be. Maybe she could actually enjoy her time rather than hate it like she was expecting. Letting out a small, amused laugh, Penny pondered on what she had been told. "Wow, this is going to be awesome!" she exclaimed as she jumped out of her chair onto her feet. At this point, her face just screamed excitement. "I thought this was going to be hell, but I guess you can't judge every place by how it looks... Just saying, this school looks really creepy and boring from the outside. I don't know what you think about it."

Evelyn was aghast. She hopped to her feet as Penny did, staring at the girl with wide eyes. Awesome? She didn't get it. "T-the school's d-dangerous...!" she said with a disbelieving tone.  "A t-teacher got murdered not f-four months ago! By another teacher!" The fact that she had been in Mr. Spion's class, even if for only one brief session before he kicked her out, still mortified her. "And Ms. L-Laine and the Headmaster w-were stabbed, and the shield's down, a-a-a-and..." Was she crazy? This wasn't fun! This was the worst place on the planet! Evelyn wasn't sure what she was trying to accomplish by changing Penny's mind, but...

Okay... so Penny was normally used to weird things, but this was a little over the top. She couldn't help but be utterly shocked by what she was hearing. There was no way that was all true. If so, wouldn't have someone heard about it on the news by now? The school had to have some connection to the outside world... the school would at least be shut down while they figured this out, right? Of course. This girl was just silly. That was impossible. They definitely wouldn't have let her come in with all of that happening, but she couldn't be confident about her disbelief. "Okay, okay..." she began with a nervous laugh. "You can't joke around like that. You'll go a-and freak people out. I mean, that's all a joke, right?" she asked, a small hint of despair hiding in her voice. At this point, it was pretty obvious that Penny was growing uncomfortable. What kind of school was she sent to? Yeah, she liked to tease people, but this was a little ridiculous...

If there was ever a time that Evelyn wanted to slap someone, it was now. She clenched her fists and took a step closer, desperation clear in her eyes. "W-w-why would I lie?" she replied more quietly, her voice quavering now. They hadn't told this girl anything. Not about the missions or the monsters or the recent killings and attack of gifted communities. Penny had been kept in the dark, as everyone else had. This place really was evil. "T-this place used to be run by a lunatuh... lunat-t-t-teh..." Evelyn closed her eyes as she stumbled over her syllables, looking clearly frustrated and upset. This happened whenever she got too worked up. "A-a... lu... natic... He'd b-butcher t-the disobeying s-students t-to steal their p-powers, a-and he kept his d-daughter and wife frozen somewhere in the b-basement..." The girl slowed down now, realizing how much of a scene she was making. Just stop...