On the way to the Institute, I stopped to get breakfast from McDonald's before continuing driving. Two hours and forty-five minutes later, I was parking my motorcycle. Taking off my gloves, I put them into my jacket pocket before taking off the helmet. Carrying it with me, I made my way to the office. Reaching it, I walked up to the receptionist.
"Yello, ma'am. My name's Andrew Slate, I have a meeting with Ms. Daniels at 10:30." I told her when she looked at me. She asked that I give her a minute to verify my statement before handing me a visitor's pass and showing me the door to go to. Walking up to it, I took a deep breath to calm my rising anxiety before I knocked. A pleasant voice instructed me to enter, so I opened the door and walked through.
"Ah! You must be Mr. Slate. I'm so happy to put a face to the name!" Ms. Daniels was a woman in her late thirties with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a fair complexion. Her voice had a cheerful quality to it, and she seemed like a nice woman overall.
"Please, call me Andrew. Mr. Slate is my dad." I said, chuckling while I shook her hand. "Though I must admit that your offer took me by surprise. It's something that I hadn't dreamed of happening." Saying this, I sat down in the chair in front of her desk.
"Oh? Why do you say that? You obviously have the skill, so even if Dale didn't show me the drawings, you wouldn't have any issue getting in." She asked with a genuine look of curiosity in her cocked eyebrow.
"Bad luck seems to hover around me, so I didn't think this chance would be possible. And can I ask who Dale is?" I answered her question before asking one of my own.
"Oh! Sorry about that. You'd know him as Staff Sergeant O'Harris. We've been friends since we were children, so I never used his title. It still irritates him when I don't use it." Her response was followed by a laugh. After she regained her composure, she continued. "So, I asked you to come here today to sign the registration forms and to meet Mrs. Lovelace. While we wait for her, why don't we get the paperwork out of the way?" As she spoke, she took out the necessary forms along with a Student Handbook.
For the next twenty minutes, I read and signed the papers in front of me before having my picture taken for my new Student I.D. By the time we were done with the formalities, Mrs. Lovelace arrived. She was also in her thirties with bright red hair, green eyes, and tanned skin.
"So sorry that I'm late, traffic was bad by my house." Mrs. Lovelace said while taking the extra chair beside me. Turning to me, she continued. "It's so good to finally meet you. I saw your drawings and they are absolutely amazing. And when Holly told me that you were only 14?! I couldn't believe it!"
Mrs. Lovelace's reaction wasn't what I was expecting. She acted like a high school girl gossiping with her friends. Ms. Daniels kept calling her name, trying to get her back on track. Their interactions helped ease my anxiety, and I felt like I'll enjoy learning from them.
"Right, back on topic." Mrs. Lovelace said once Ms. Daniels was able to redirect her focus. "Do you have any other examples of work that you've done? That way, I'll know what techniques you know and still need to learn?"
"I don't have any with me physically, but I do tend to take a picture of the ones I liked best." As I said this, I pulled out my phone. Unlocking it, I opened the folder labeled Drawings, and handed it to her. Most of them were based on Dragons and Ayakashi in a nature setting. Looking at them, Mrs. Lovelace whistled before handing the phone to Ms. Daniels so she could look as well.
"I don't think there's much to actually teach you on techniques, other than helping you perfect them. Now, I noticed that a lot of them were shifter themed and that your file said that you were one as well?" Mrs. Lovelace asked.
"Yes, ma'am. I'm a Dark Dragon." When I said this, Ms. Daniels asked what my ability was. Even though multiple shifters can have the same element, they have different ways, or abilities, to use them. I answered that my ability was called Mirage, and that I could distort how people saw me. My ability wasn't a secret since it was on my National I.D since I was two, but it was still awkward for me to explain it.
"That's amazing! We have a few shifters here with the Darkness element, but a majority of them either Teleport or they have the Hide ability." Ms. Daniels said with raised eyebrows. Hide is where a shifter can blend into their surroundings, eliminating their scent and presence. Mirage is a rare ability, so not many have it and a lot fewer have heard about it. Magnis also has the Hide ability, but my family decided not to have it added to my I.D since having two abilities is unheard of.
"All right, Andrew. I believe that we are done here." As we were talking, Ms. Daniels was typing on her computer. With everything finished and my Art Institute I.D in my wallet, I grabbed my helmet. Thanking the two women for their time and the opportunity to study from a teacher here, I left to make the two and a half hour drive again..
On the drive home, I stopped at Sonic for lunch. I ordered a burger with all the toppings, fries, and a Pepsi. Sitting at a table to eat, I texted my family to let them know how the meeting went. They were happy that it went well and that I was able to have this chance. My mom said that she would make a celebration dinner tonight and forbade me from entering the kitchen today. Laughing, I told her okay and that I would be home in about two hours. Today was Friday, so this was the last weekend of summer vacation.
Finishing up my lunch, I put on my helmet, started the GPS, and played a Five Finger Death Punch playlist. Driving helped me clear my head and think, and by the time I got home, I had an idea of a picture to draw. It was already 4 in the evening, so I went upstairs to start the picture while mom cooked. She still wouldn't let me in the kitchen, but she was happy, so I let her be. Up in my room, I grabbed an older sketchbook and began drawing. The idea for the picture actually came from Magnis, and it was a cool idea. It was of Magnis on his hind legs, with his wings spread open while he was breathing fire. I decided to do a night setting so that the fire stood out more.
I was about a quarter of the way done with the outlining when my mom was done cooking. She made venison steak from a deer that I had hunted a while ago, with mashed potatoes, asparagus, and strawberry shortcake for dessert. Mom went all out with this dinner and it was delicious. The venison was juicy and tender, the potatoes were creamy, and the asparagus was well seasoned and soft.
During dinner, my brothers kept telling me how happy they were for me. Art and singing became an escape for me when I was hospitalized. That's actually how I discovered that they were talents of mine. When the hospital psychiatrists tried getting me to talk about what I went through, I would draw it instead. Singing came later, after my fifth kidnapping. I was in my hospital room listening to a song called Hell Is by SayWeCanFly, when I started singing along. They were talents that I didn't show to others often, but my family was just happy that others could see how good I was.
After dinner, my brothers and I went to the music room. We spent about two hours playing songs from Disturbed, Five Finger Death Punch, Avenged Sevenfold, and SayWeCanFly. By the time we were done, it was around 8pm. Deciding to call it a night, I told my family goodnight before going to my room. Picking up the sketchbook and my pencil, I finished the outlining before getting ready for bed. Ms. Daniels had told me that she would call my school tomorrow to let them know that Mrs. Lovelace is a private art teacher for me, so my classes with her would start on Tuesday. Not only that, but my therapy would be every other Tuesday at 4pm.
I could see my schedule already: Monday-Friday from 7:30-3:00 I would be at school, come home to do homework, then dinner, an evening training session, then bed. The weekends would stay the same, being my free days. Normally I would wake up at 5:30 to go on a two mile run in the mornings, and I was going to keep doing that. Even though I hated my scars, I was still proud of my 6-pack abs.
When I had gotten home today, Donny had given me some sleeping medication that he wanted me to try. He said that they might help reduce the nightmares so that I could get some decent sleep, so I took one before turning off my lights. I didn't have to wait long before it started working and I drifted off into the first dreamless sleep in a while.
The weekend went by uneventfully. I spent it by finishing the drawing of Magnis, reading, singing, and watching TV. By Sunday night, I was dreading waking up. The medicine that I had been taking at night has worked, and it doesn't prevent me from waking up to my 5 o'clock alarm. However, I was dreading having to go to school. I had begged my parents to let me do homeschooling, but they kept refusing. Resigning myself to my unfortunate fate, I went to sleep Sunday night, silently praying that the next day went well.