Pillars of Nature - 1. Chapter 1

*Coal’s point of View*

Hospitals suck. I know they are there to help people, but the only time anyone goes there is if something is wrong with them or someone the care about. So as I sit in the 3rd floor extended care center I was seriously considering bombing the whole place.

“So, is this an Ostrava Renoveric Hospital?” asked Titus partially because he was interested in the inner workings of the Renoveric Church, but mostly because he couldn’t be quiet for more than two seconds.

“No,” I said a little bit annoyed “It’s called St. Estrada’s, she was an Elevean, and so this is an Elevean Renoveric Hospital. Most Hospitals are with the order of Eleveah, because they specialize in the aid of others.”

“Then what the fuck does the Ostravian order do?” he asked and flipped his dirty blond emo bangs out of his gorgeous grey eyes.

“Besides ship there kids off to reform schools, you mean?” I said with a little too much bitterness behind it.

He gave me a look that distinctly said ‘You know that’s not what I meant.’

“If you’re going to be like that then I will have to give you something else to do with your mouth besides being mean.” He said and wrapped his waifish 5’11’’ frame around me in a squeezing hug. Then he kissed me, putting his tongue in my mouth to stop me from responding. This caused Aiden and Noah to snicker under their breath at me for being totally wiped. That just made me even more annoyed at Titus.

Don’t get me wrong I love my boyfriend, but he can annoy me like no one else. Like how he constantly wipes his ever messy, dirty blond hair out of his face. Although, on the flip side he can get me real’ hot real’ fast, like now, which is why I wasn’t pulling away from his kiss. I have always thought we were perfect for each other. Even when I get mad, which is often, he is ether completely oblivious to my anger or he just shrugs it off. Some times I doubt if I am even capable of making him mad. And, for my part, I give him . . . well I don’t know what I do for him.

“Ahem” Said the extremely prudish Elevean Doctor that had just entered the waiting room from behind me and Titus, jarring me out of my thoughts, and us out of our kiss.

“We don’t allow people like you to . . .” the doctor started to say and then noticed Aiden glaring and cracking his knuckles menacingly. In reality Aiden is one of the kindest people you will ever meet. He looks kind of frightening being almost six and a half feet tall, with large but lean swimmer’s muscles, and mid back length blond dread locks. But he is an amazing friend and loyal to a fault. He is extremely quiet though so when he speaks you know that it is important.

“How is Ella?” Noah said breaking the awkward silence and trying to calm the situation.

“She is going to be fine,” the doctor said tearing his eyes away from Aiden “but that’s all I can tell you since you aren’t family.”

“We understand. We will be back later to see her,” Noah replied cutting off my anger before it could be released on this pompous ass of a doctor and turned to us saying “come on guys we had better get back.”

I glared at Dr. Bigot as Aiden and Titus practically dragged me out of the waiting room, and Noah thanked the doctor for his “help”.

“What an ass,” I yelled as we were walking out of the hospital and to Aiden’s green Prius. We usually take his car because the rest of our cars aren’t really practical for trips. Mine is a motorcycle; Noah’s is a really awesome blue Ferrari f430, but, alas it is only has two seats; and Titus well his cars are wrecked (one of the reasons he goes to the reform school with us).

“He was just doing his job,” said Noah.

“Ya, but he didn’t have to be a total fucking bigot about it.”

We all piled in and headed off towards the school. I think I should take this interim time of transit to explain our school. We go to Saint Sophia of the Desert. It was originally a cloister for priests and moutes of the Eutican sect of the Renoveric Church to get away from other people. It was built on an oasis in the middle of the desert, where they lived in a state of constant prayer and self-denial. They would eat very little and abstain from all forms of pleasure or entertainment. Fun crowed, right. About a hundred years ago there was a rethinking of some of the ideas and tenants of the order. The Established St. Sophia Preparatory School with the idea that they should encourage the minds of young, troubled (rich) teens and prepare then for (Ivy League) educations that they would pursue after graduation. It would also provide a place for (Rich) parents to send there children to get them away from destructive influences (and the public eye). It would provide a structured environment for children (and the Church) to make connections. Wow . . . That’s a lot of between the lines reading.

The School itself was hardly modernized much. Indoor plumbing was added, as well as electricity and later limited computer access. But for the most part the building has remained as austere and boring as when it was first built. The other thing that was added was a paved road. Since the school was in the middle of the desert it had, before the road, been extremely hard to get to.

No matter how often I see the school building itself it never fails to inspire fear. I don’t know what it is about the place. Ya, it looks like the architectural love child of the castle from any Dracula or Frankenstein movie ever made and any crazy austere Catholic church in existence, but should it really cause the willies every time I look at it.

As we pulled into the student parking garage, which was really just an old airplane hanger that no one really knew why these stanch priests and moutes had needed, I saw Father Pernalious, the head master of the school, walk toward our car from the parking office.

"Shit,” Titus swore “guys we’ve been spotted by The Perdition-ator.”

We all got out of the car and walked toward the exit nearest to us, but the Perdition-ator intercepted us before we had reached freedom.

“Where have you gentlemen been?” asked Father Pernalious in a way that made me think he might already know where we had been, and was waiting for us to get back to bust us.

“We were at St. Estrada’s Hospital, in Renton,” Said Noah with his ‘I’m talking to authority I hate’ smile plastered on his face.

“Do you have a pass,” asked the fat, balding priest with an evil grin.

“Well, no but our friend is . . .” Titus started to say before our headmaster cut him off.

“Well if you don’t have a pass, then I’m afraid that I have no choice but to assign all four of you detention for the next week.” He said and started to walk back to the school. He turned around at the door and noticed we weren’t following.

“Come on boy or it will be two weeks.” He said with a smirk that almost dared us to defy him. We all grudgingly followed him out of the garage and across the lawn toward the school building.

Titus leaned towards me and whispered into my ear, “You would think that the fucking headmaster would have better things to do than wait around in the parking garage for truants.”

It was at that moment that I could have sworn that the Perdition-ator’s ear glowed softly in red, and he whipped his head around and glared at Titus and me. That’s impossible thought, he couldn’t have heard us. Titus was whispering and he was like five yards in front of us.

“You will be serving your first detention tonight at 7:00pm after dinner mess. Report to the Library at that time, Miss Bower will be monitoring your detention,” said Father Pernalious with a smirk, since he obviously though he was punishing us further with the location and the proctor of our detention. What he didn’t know was that he was just giving us just the excuse we needed to be exactly where we wanted to be. We all grinned right back at his smirk as we walked by him, into the school on our way to our fifth period class.