Joella’s chest heaved as she breathed and sweat dripped off her forehead. She was tired but there was too much adrenaline running through her veins to stop. Her gloved fists hovered around her face momentarily before she shot one forceful punch towards her opponent. And another, and more followed in quick succession, far more powerful than Joella realised she was capable of. What was fuelling this crazy energy? Was it anger? Her opponent was cowering, covering her head with her red gloves, but Joella kept going until the girl was on the floor, but even then she didn’t stop. Again and again. She didn’t care if she was killing her, maybe she even wanted to kill her.
Before she could take the girl’s last breath, however, strong arms took her from behind and pulled her back, away from the victim lying in the corner of the boxing ring. Joella fought against her captive but she didn’t have enough energy and she stopped when she looked up and saw what lay outside of the ring. Alistair Johnson sat on a golden throne, a knowing smile fixed upon his soft lips. His brown eyes bore into her and she stood there like a deer in the headlights. By his side sat no other than Caelia Lucan, perched on one arm of the throne, and Kelsey Atwater on the other. They both looked so beautiful, with their hair and faces perfectly styled and wearing sleek sparkling dresses of silver, showing off slim physiques and each with a slender leg poking out from a long slit up the skirt. These two girls wore smug smiles, seductive almost, and their gazes frequently flittered to Alistair’s face.
Joella tore her eyes away from this appalling scene to study the rest of the faces that stood out from the random blur of spectators. Liliana Bannister sat near one corner of the ring, her face a mask as it switched between the two fighters (Joella and her opponent) and a notepad where she appeared to be in serious concentration as though she were scribbling down notes on the match.
Next amongst the onlookers were Jake Manger and Diana Carey, clearly a couple as they stood holding hands and gazing adoring into one another’s eyes. They looked so happy and so in love. Suddenly they turned to Joella and waved, blowing her kisses and showing general gratitude on their faces.
A sudden movement made Joella’s eyes return to Alistair, who was now standing up from his throne. He looked at her very briefly, no longer smiling, before walking away with Caelia and Kelsey following after him. Joella made a sudden attempt to break free from the person holding her, as though she wanted to follow, but he pulled her back again and she found herself looking at the sprawling mess of her opponent on the ground.
Ginger Pierce’s eyes were closed and blood poured out of numerous parts of her face and head. But she was still breathing, although it was very very shallow.
Finally Joella looked down at the arms that are holding her. She knew those arms. She tilted her head upwards and was not surprised to see Jax Donovan looking back at her. Suddenly she realised that she wanted to be held and not fight anymore so she accepted her feelings of fatigue. Her body went limp, falling back into Jax...falling, falling, where had he gone?
Joella awoke with a jolt, startled by the feeling of falling. It took her a moment to get her bearings and she stared up at the ceiling of her four poster bed, wondering what on earth was going on. When the features of her dream returned to her, she felt shocked, and then confused, and then just downright mortified. What kind of sick, strange person was she? Of course, dreams weren’t real and they probably didn’t mean anything but this one had felt just so… so weird, and real, but totally surreal all at the same time.
The fifth year lay in bed for quite some time longer until it was an acceptable hour to get up, wash and dress and then head down for breakfast. She was rather quiet the whole morning but knew if she didn’t brighten up soon people would start asking questions.
Initially she wanted to blot the nightmare-dream from her mind completely but when scenes kept popping up every so often she realised she wanted to know what it meant. She didn’t understand what could have caused such a queer and calculated dream but her brain seem determined to tell her it meant something. But how could it mean anything? There was no one in the world she thought she would want to harm so badly, let alone someone as sweet and happy as Ginger Pierce. In the end Joella returned to the Pecari common room at lunchtime and scribbled down the sequence of events that she could remember from the dream, thinking for the first time that studying Divination might not be so pointless after all.
8Joella CurtisBut what does it mean?295Joella Curtis15