Amity

Chapter 11: Welcome to Amity

Dré felt as though he were seated in an airplane during take-off. It felt like his stomach was going to sink into his feet from the velocity of the flight. He heard the wind blowing in his ears, felt his hair dancing with it. He tried to open his eyes, but they refused. He couldn't even move any of his toes or fingers. His whole body was paralyzed.

Then a faint light slowly began to creep up on him. He could feel warmth cloak him. It suddenly felt as if he was falling. His eyes shot open to the ground coming towards him. "Oh, God, it's all over!" he cried as he covered his face with his arms. His descent slowed to a crawl as he gently landed on solid ground.

Panicked, Dré uncovered his head as he looked up. He gasped as he saw the tall onyx gate in front of him. Gleaming in the middle of the gate was a golden pentagon with a silver fox's face. On each side of the gate were cemented walls that stretched as far as he could see. He could see what looked like two stone towers perched high above the gate. Dré turned his back to the gate to see a path that shone like opal heading towards glass buildings that reached the skies. Megumi and Isaiah stood on each side of him, Megumi looking just as amazed as he was. "Holy crap. What is this place?" Dré whispered in astonishment.

"Heaven, probably," Megumi said.

"Don't say that. I don't want to think that the candy killed us."

"That was a figure of speech, Dré."

"We ain't dead," Isaiah interjected. "We're home." He pointed to the gates behind them. "This is Reiax Academy. We'll be going in here."

"I see. So, how do you think we get in?" Megumi asked, knocking on the gates. The gates creaked open, displaying a narrow cobblestone path in between two large gardens.

The wind swayed the flora, making it appear to be a sea of violets. The garden stretched about half a mile before it, along with the large concrete wall, curved. Directly in front of him, however, was a large building made of white brick. A white door stood between the group and the mystery of what awaited them, beckoning them.

Walking ahead of Megumi and Isaiah, Dré walked down the path, his heart thumping in his chest as he neared the door. He pushed on it with all his weight; it opened far too easily, making Dré topple over his feet and land on the stone floor. He jumped back on his feet as fast as he fell, readying himself for a monster that wasn't going to show.

Instead, he found himself in a foyer at least twice the size as wide as the one in his high school. The walls were painted a pearly white, with five flags hanging from the high ceiling. A flame-red flag, which had a silhouetted image of a phoenix taking flight, was hung to the immediate left, followed by an ocean blue flag that bore the silhouette of a sea lion. In the center was a tan flag, which had the image of a turtle. The flag to the right of it was green and had an image of an eagle's profile. The final flag was white and had the same image that was on the gates outside of the school.

"What are you doing?" Megumi asked him as she strolled in, Isaiah following.

"I was testing the gravity. It's still on."

"Come on, man. You're embarrassing us," Isaiah said as he passed Dré.

Under the flags were three gray double doors, where sounds of people chattering were flooding out. The word "Cafeteria" was displayed above it. They went to the center doors and went inside, where six rows of tables were perched in a large room. Each table appeared to be filled with people around his age, chatting with each other. A different assortment of dishes and silverware streaked each of the tables. The enticing scents of cooked meat made Dré's mouth water, his stomach reminding him that he hadn't eaten anything all day.