A story in two parts by Tanya Gupta, Class IX B
Part 1
The wind was blowing violently. The trees were shaking vigorously. The night became colder as if it would freeze anything that came under it. I was going to my new school St. Josephs near Thornfield, a town in England. As I walked, I came across a tall building. It seemed as if it was very old with dull walls and crooked windows. I took up my luggage and went inside. A plump lady with silver rimmed spectacles was standing at the door.
“Hello Miss Emily Lockwood,” she said, “I am your head mistress Mrs. Michelle Rivers.”
I smiled at her and went inside. We passed through a narrow passage and ascended some stairs. Then finally we came to a corridor. She guided me towards a small door and knocked. The door opened and a short woman with curly hair and pale white skin appeared.
“Miss. Bronte, she is a new student and she will be in your dormitory. I hope that she adjusts well here in St. Josephs.”
Then she smiled and walked away. Miss. Bronte commanded me to get inside and closed the door. The room was quite large with a row of beds and cupboards in front of them.
I unpacked my luggage and went to sleep. The next morning I was woken up by a group of girls who stood around my bed.
“Good morning Sleeping Beauty! It is already late,” said a tall girl. I felt sheepish and apologized for getting up late and introduced myself. The girls hardly bothered and went away. Suddenly, I saw a girl standing at a distance and staring me. She had blue eyes and thick golden hair. I went to her and asked, “Are you new too?”
“No, this is my second year,” came the reply.
I introduced myself and got ready. Then we went downstairs and had our breakfast. She detailed me about the timetable of the school and told me that the girl who had spoken badly to me was the leader of our dormitory and her name was Amanda. Then we proceeded towards our class. The class was a small room with ten small desks and a big table for the teacher. There was a huge window from where one could watch the beauty of the playground during boring lessons. I sat on the front bench.
A bell rang and Miss. Bronte came in. She was our science teacher. She introduced me to the class and started teaching.
I could understand all the lessons and I did well in my exams. That horrid Amanda and her group became polite and soon became my friends. We played, studied, ate and also went to the town at weekends. Everything was going on well but one night something strange happened.
That night we heard yells and screams. We could feel smoke coming out from somewhere. Everyone woke up in amazement. Miss. Bronte went out and ordered us to stay inside. We all sat anxiously. After a minute the door opened and Amanda came in. She had gone to the matron as she was not feeling well. She told us that there was a fire near Mrs. Rivers room and the whole room was in flames. There were important papers in that room related to St. Josephs and it seemed as if someone had purposely plotted to burn those papers. Police officers had arrived and they were questioning Mrs. Rivers. Just then Miss. Bronte arrived and told us to stay away from this matter and she switched off the lights so that we could sleep. That night none of us could sleep. We all had the same question in our mind,
Who could have set that room on fire?
