Gothicana

Her wet hair reaching her waist, she picked up her herbal shampoo from the basket on the slab just as the lights suddenly went out. The sound of glass shattering echoed in the wide space.

Corvina paused, blinking a few times to let her eyes adjust to the darkness, and turned the shower off. Wrapping the towel around herself again, she opened the door slightly and looked out in the area. Only a little light filtered in from the single arched ventilation window at the side.

She crossed the communal space to the switchboard, surprised to see all the switches were on. It must’ve been a blackout of some kind. Her eyes went to the mirrors above the sink. There were four of them, each one wide above two sinks, in an ornate, antique metallic frame that just looked extra fancy to be in a communal bathroom.

One of the mirrors had shattered and the pieces lay splintered around the sink and the floor underneath it. Curious to investigate the cause, she stepped in front of the sinks and looked up at her reflection in the beautifully framed mirror beside the shattered one.

Wild, pitch-black hair surrounded an unusual face, with natural sun-kissed skin, high cheekbones, a wide mouth, a silver ring glinting on a short, straight nose, a long neck, petite shoulders, and prominent collarbones above an ample pair of breasts. And tilted eyes, a shade of purple so odd to others who had never seen it before. They were her mother’s eyes and her father’s hair, from what her mama had told her once.

“Hair the blackest of black like feathers of the Raven,” she’d said, telling her why she named her Corvina. 

Shaking her head at herself, Corvina stilled as she saw something in the mirror. Her eyes in the reflection slowly turned black, the whites dissolving into the black holes that expanded from her pupils and crept to the edges. Heart thumping, she watched, her grip on the towel tightening as her reflection stepped closer to the mirror with those terrifying eyes, a tear falling down the reflection’s face.

‘I know you can hear me,’ came the feminine voice with the rotten scent.

She took a step back, shaking, unable to believe whatever she was seeing. It wasn’t real. It was her brain. But even if it was her brain, the illusion was terror-inducing.

The reflection stepped closer to the mirror, and suddenly the whole thing cracked like something had smashed into it from the other side, the mirror bulging in the shape of someone’s hands trying to get out.

A scream left her throat as she fell back, sliding away from the mirror, her hands cutting on a few fallen shards of glass on the ground.

“Corvina!” a loud shout from the door had her eyes flying to find Roy and another girl standing there, watching her with concern. They turned the lights on, and Corvina looked up in surprise, her heart ru

“What the hell?” Roy came into the bathroom, her eyes on the sink. “What’s going on? Did you break the mirror?”

Corvina shook her head frantically, swinging her gaze up to the mirror that had smashed with her reflection.

It was intact.

Trembling all over, she somehow managed to get up to her feet, her knees locking in place as she saw the only broken mirror was the first one. What had happened to the second? Had she imagined the entire episode? She was sure the light switches had been turned on without any electricity.

She needed to get out of there.

“Hey, hey,” Roy snapped her fingers in front of her face. “What happened? Did someone do this?”

Corvina swallowed. “I don’t know. I was just taking a shower when the lights went out.”

“Maybe it was Alissa,” the girl with Roy joked.

“Shut it,” Roy glared at her, turning back to an ashen Corvina. “Grab your stuff. We’ll wait here.”

That was nice of her to do, really nice.

Securing her towel tighter around herself, she went back to grab her basket from the stall and joined them again, walking out the bathrooms with them. She headed to her room, her mind messed up over the entire incident and felt Roy accompany her on her way to the stairs.

“Roy,” Corvina began, biting her lip as the other girl paused. “What did she mean about Alissa?”

Roy rolled her eyes. “You know the rumor mill. Give a bunch of kids a castle and a death, and they like to think everything is haunted.”

“Dude,” the other girl retorted. “This tower is totally haunted. I swear I’ve seen felt someone behind me so many times, I have a permanent crick in my neck from looking over my shoulder.”

Roy shook her head. “Whatever. Are you feeling okay now?” she turned to Corvina.

“Thanks,” Corvina appreciated her intervention more than she could say.

Roy and her friend gave her a nod as they stopped at her door.

“Is there any news about Troy?” she asked the girls, turning her doorknob.

“Nothing yet,” Roy informed her. “It’s truly a tragedy. He was a good guy.”

Yes, he had been.

“Never thought he was suicidal though,” her friend mentioned. “He was always so chill.”

Roy looked towards the stairs. “We can never really tell, can we? Everyone deals with their pain in different ways. He could’ve been in a lot of pain, and no one could have known.”

“Poor Jade though,” the other girl muttered. “Gotta be so hard on her.”

Roy looked to Corvina. “Keep an eye on her, just to be safe.”

Corvina nodded, already having pla

“Hey, Roy,” Corvina called as the girls were almost to the stairs. “Is there anywhere on the campus I can get a phone? For an urgent call?”

Roy exchanged a look with her friend, before turning to her. “I mean, lots of kids keep cell phones here, but the signal is dead nine times out of ten. There is a landline in the Admin Wing they use for official purposes, but students aren’t allowed to use it without permission from the Board or the faculty.”

Corvina thanked her for the information.

“Just be careful around here, freaky eyes,” Roy told her quietly. “This castle is... I don’t believe it’s haunted but it’s something.”

Corvina nodded and stepped into her room to find Jade sitting on the window ledge, her white hair hanging limply on her head as she looked out, lost in her thoughts.

“Hey,” Corvina greeted her and she jumped, her green eyes flying to her.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you,” Corvina apologized, going to her cupboard to find clothes. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know,” Jade replied, her voice despondent. “It just feels surreal.”

Corvina understood that. “I’m here if you need to talk, okay?”

“Not right now,” Jade spoke to the window, watching the rainfall on the glass, the gargoyle on the wall outside spewing the water out. Sad to see her usually bubbly friend so dull, Corvina stayed quiet as she rummaged through her cupboard, intent on getting dressed after the incident in the bathroom.

All her woolen skirts lay in the dirty pile, and Corvina sighed. Laundry day had been yesterday, and with everything going on, it seemed so mundane. Exhaling, she browsed and browsed, realizing her only option was the one plaid red and black skirt that she’d bought on a whim once upon a time. It was short for winter. Shit. She started rummaging inside for stockings to keep her legs warm.

Finally finding one, she turned to the mirror in her bedroom, flinching at her reflection.