The Vaquix

It was the morning of the big trip; the trip my grade 11 photography class had been squealing about for months. My New Zealand high school was flying to Switzerland for two weeks to study abroad. For the past few weeks, I had been having some very troublesome symptoms of always feeling like I was walking on air. And always feeling as if my skin was turning into ice. I live with my Grandmother, and of course, she had a crazy explanation for everything. 

"It's because you're one of the Divergents of Switzerland," she said," I was just like them. And I would have stayed there if it weren't for your parents."

I had heard this story many times, the "Divergents" were people of Switzerland who had special powers and were being hunted by monsters. And my parents left me to travel the world to try and become actors, I haven't heard from then since. But my grandma, of course, having, old age and is nearing the age of 84, she's lost most of her memory. But I was just grateful she didn't allow anyone to put me in foster care. I had finished packing my camera equipment when the school bus pulled up in front of my driveway. There was, only a handful of us going, and my grandma had spent nearly everything to make sure I had this opportunity.

"Ensley, your bus is here," I heard her fragile voice yell from the kitchen."

I grabbed my suitcase and ran down the stairs, jumping the last step and doing that slow jog into the kitchen."

" I made you some snacks for the road," she said, handing  me a plastic bag filled halfway." Call me as soon as you can."

"Grandma," I think someone should be here, well I'm away, just encase,  anything goes wrong." 

" Oh don't worry about me darling, I'll sleep on the couch so I don't have to worry about stairs. And if anyone breaks in I'll whack 'em with my cane."

I laughed and gave her one last hug goodbye," you have fun with that." 

I sauntered my way onto the bus with the other seven students staring at me. I chose my seat farthest away from anyone else possible and had already gotten my camera out. I plugged in my music and was heavily determined to enjoy the two days it took to get there.

The quickest flight would have been twelve hours. But because the school was on a budget, it would be just over fifteen. I was taking snapshots of the planes when I got hit with that overwhelming chilliness and light-headed. I searched through my carryon and put on my school's hoodie over top of my ripped jeans and a T-shirt. I packed up my camera and brought that along with my coffee to that bathroom. I stared at my completion in the bathroom mirror, my curly brown hair that fell just down past my shoulders, my dark olive skin,,, and pink lips. My eyes were a crystal type blue and under those were small bags under my eyes from jetlag. I took a sip of my coffee and popped a

 a few pills that my grandmother gave me. I shivered as I felt the cold caffeinated liquid run through me. I knew I wasn't supposed to go anywhere without a buddy, so I hurried back to my chair and pulled out my laptop. I never used to take any interest in my grandma's old stories but she had provoked my curiosity. Pulling out my laptop I searched 'The Divergents Of Switzerland.' Lots came up on the web but nothing more than old fairy tales and bedtime stories.

'It's grandma,' I told myself,' nothing she ever remembers is real.' 

I powered down my laptop and shoved it back down into my bag.

" Ok class," my photography teacher shouted," our flight has been delayed even later. So we're going to take a shuttle to a nearby hotel until our flight leaves tomorrow morning. Pack up your things and stay together!"

My class groaned as we packed up all of our things and waited nearly an hour until the shuttle came. The shuttle smelled and one wall looked as if, if 

you leaned on it too hard it would fall off. Even with the small amount of caffeine I had consumed, with Jetlag I was struggling to stay awake.

 Just like the first bus I had my little corner away from everyone else. I told myself to stay awake and take pictures. But with traffic being at one of its worst times throughout the day; there wasn't much to take pictures of. The human race had made it very clear melting the earth was far less important than the economy and money. Out of sheer boredom, I found myself dozing off. When I woke up I realized that my position was cutting off the circulation in my foot. I stumbled my way off the bus and thanked the driver on my way out. 

By the looks of it, it was the cheapest hotel they could have found in all of Toronto. But I guess considering this hotel was never part of the plan, I guess it was reasonable. I got put into a room with three other girls with bunk beds and an ant problem. I sat on one of the top bunks that the kind girl offered me. Well, the other girls were running around the room trying to figure out what was attracting them; I sat on the edge of my bed taking close up of the ants. 

Maria, who was known for never cleaning out her bag since seventh grade, unzipped her bag. She proceeded to pull out a poisoned bag of Cesar Salad, some indescribable type of chocolate and a cheerio box. I nearly gagged.  

"Maria, you are throwing all of that stuff out and leaving your bag on the balcony," said another girl," Ow it bit me!" 

Half an hour later the ants had been exterminated and we had started making small talk. 

"I don't understand why people fight over top or bottom, I would be happy just to have a bunk bed," said Lana, she had the innocence of a five-year-old.

"I'm going to tell her," said Maria.

"Don't you dare," I said.

"Tell me what?"

"Nothing!" 

Many hours later, when we were supposed to be asleep, I was awakened by Maria.

"Emmalee," she said, forgetting my name," I knew we have to be ready to go for our flight in an hour but do you want to go break into the pool?"

I was always the quiet girl, in the background, her entire world revolved around photography. But what the hell, I have two weeks to be anything but myself. 

I nodded excitedly. 

"But I don't think I brought a bathing suit."

"Honey none of us did," said Maria," now come on, let's go!"  

For the first time in my life, I was running down the hall with only a small towel covering me in my bra and underwear. All of our eyes were looking out for cameras. And when we reached the door, we broke in with a bobby pin.

We shut the door behind us, dropped our towels and ran into the water.

 It was cold, with the heater turned off and the time being around three in the morning. We squealed as the water hit our skin and dunked each other's heads in the water.

"This is the best way to wake up," said Maria.

After a couple of minutes, we found ourselves standing still in the cold water. Even though all of us were standing generally in the shallow water, and I was the same height as them, my feet were hovering above the ground. Just as I noticed this I felt my limbs began, to shake violently from what felt like the Arctic ocean. I stole glances at the other girls and all of them seemed comfortable, and at that moment I panicked.

" I--um, I'm going to go take a shower before our flight so I don't smell like pool water." 

I swam over to where I dropped my towel and got out. I wrapped it quickly around me, not so much as for the decency but in the hope to stop my body from going any further into its nervous breakdown. Running back to my room I completely ignored any cameras and the fact that staggering could be roaming around. Slamming my hotel room door, also forgetting it was three in the morning; I locked myself in the bathroom and stripped myself of the very minimal clothing I had. I submerged myself into water that for anyone else would have been boiling. But for myself, it was the bare minimum to get my body to stop throwing its tantrum. The water was neck high and I could almost feel the steam rising off of my skin. By the time I felt I was ready to get out, the girls had returned and were packing up their things. I put my still-damp hair into a bun and revived myself with my two days worn, jeans and hoodie. The other girls seem to have not noticed my small breakdown or just choose to not question it. But with either scenario I was grateful.  

We walked outside to the front of the hotel and I found myself shivering once again. Not from another episode but from standing outside at four in the morning weather with wet hair. My photography teacher had loosely balanced in his arms the wide selection of apple and orange juice. 

"Everybody takes a cup," he shouted, and let's get on the road. Also, I need a few strong boys to help load the luggage in the back."

I set my cup down on the sidewalk and jogged my way over to the back of the bus.

"Ensley, he said strong boys, not girls." 

"The only reason Mr. Platt needs a group of boys is that they can't get it done as a singular girl could," I said," and ladies are to be treated as queens. Now move." 

I pushed my fellow peer out of the way, grabbing the suitcase by the handle and lifting it into the truck. I lifted a few more before stopping, knowing I had made my point.

"If you need my help I'll be inside."

Grabbing my cup from the sidewalk I jogged up the steps and sat in the back of the bus. Before taking a picture of the night sky I furrowed at the taste of expired apples. 

The bus driver looked as sleep-deprived as ourselves and Mr.Platt gave a twenty-minute lecture about not getting when going through security. 

I had been used to getting a lot less than the required minimum of sleep for teenagers. But when you pile that on with traveling with a bunch of sixteen-year-olds It's a lot less pleasant.

After a long ride with the shuttle and numerous headcounts, we checked ourselves in and scavenged around for food and caffeine. Relocating myself with Maria and the other girls, we found a cafè with quick grabs. Each of us grabbed a large coffee, a couple of cups of fruit, and a handful of pastries. I sent my grandmother a "boarding soon" text and set my phone power back to off. The four of us took up a couch each as we laid across as if it was a bed. 

" What's the main language of Switzerland," said Maria," I forgot."

"German," I replied," but we'll have English tour guides.

Finishing up my second to the last cup of fruit I offered it to one of the other girls. 

"I'm full," I said," and we won't be able to get it through security."

The girl with the innocent mind accepted and I chugged my last sip of coffee.

With the last hour until boarding, I walked around taking pictures of the airport. It wasn't big like other ones I had been to, but it looked cool at night. 

I nearly fell asleep again when I heard the number of our flight go off on the speakers.

When I found my seat I was met with the pleasant surprise of being sat in between my teacher, and the boy I told off at that shuttle. It was then I realized how much this world hated me. With an expected over fourteen flights, I paid the money to watch Netflix. 

We landed in Switzerland late evening, another coffee cup down with another shuttle ride we had arrived at our home for the next ten days. I was placed with a different group of girls for the next hotel room. They were the clichè, only talked with one another group. Nonetheless, I had made a slight allyship with Maria and the other girl's names that I couldn't remember.

 For the next ten days, we were responsible for feeding ourselves, in the sense that when we were hungry we had to pay for food. Most of my peers were either doing that or sleeping off the jet lag. Wanting to do neither I snatched a key card and left. It was then when I made this unfortunate discovery that the room next to us was the group of boys at the shuttle. The one I had made the most contact with; I stopped for a second to hold a moment of eye contact before continuing. We weren't supposed to be leaving the hotel after dark and certainly not by ourselves. But I wanted pictures and was too lazy to go get Maria. With my camera hanging around my neck I walked a little way into the woods. Just far enough that it was hard to make out the glowing LED lights. Sure stuff didn't come out great on camera when it was dark, but I figured I could fix it with some editing.

 I knelt beside some wildflowers and peculiar trees. Before I noticed I had wandered far enough that any living existence of the hotel was no more. I was about to turn around when my eye caught something just outside of its perimeter length. Turning on the flash and maxing it all the way I took a quick shot. Before I had time to look at it something hard came crashing to the ground and I decided it was time to leave. With the vast memory I had, I ran out of that woods and only slowed down when I reached the clearing. Walking in through the front door, slightly out of breath I gave the hotel clerk a nod as I walked past. I didn't stop to check my camera until I was back up in my room, and triple checked that door was locked. The others had all crammed themselves into the bathroom with their hair tied up in towels and facemasks. 

I sat down on my bed and opened up the image. What I saw I could only describe as the faint outline of what looked like an alien man with solid black eyes and big dark circles around them. Without a nose or mouth, its cheek and jaw bone looked like it was going to rip right out of its skin it was sticking so far out. I must have stared at this image for hours until the other girls had crawled into their beds. I powered off my camera and got up again just to make sure the door was locked.

 Normally I would have been annoyed with a bunch of people talking all night long. But tonight I couldn't stand silence, and the extinction of it was the only thing that allowed me to sleep that night.