Chapter 32 - The First Signs

The children were going to school every day now. It took a while for Benjamin to successfully negotiate with the school's board of directors to employ a new principal of their recommendation. The new principal was very clear and firm about the treatment he gives the 'gifted' students. Apart from the tests that gifted students are required to take every month, they are free to claim empty rooms in the library for their self-study sessions. School staff will act as the self-study circle's adviser and monitor them closely during such sessions.

Or that was what it should have been. For Alex, Jasper, and Scarlet they continued their luxurious days in the library without any a.d.u.l.ts watching over them. Venessa and Grandma Sadiya left them to their own devices for most of the time except for bringing in new biscuits and getting new books up onto the shelves. Sometimes, the kids would help the librarians, everything fell into place peacefully.

Scarlet put on a smile on the outside whenever she could but the haunted look would return to the obsidian irises and the life in them would dull whenever nobody was looking.

The images of her nightmares kept on replaying on a never-ending loop in her mind whenever it wasn't busy with other things. The demons would scream at her and mock her existence. Scarlet knew that they weren't real but as she started to collect evidence about how the people around looked at her, the doubts blossomed into a huge sakura tree in spring. There just was no stopping it.

"Scarlet, no, sister... are you alright?"

The blogger forced a smile and brushed Alex's concern off with a wave. The term 'sister' felt very foreign to her and Scarlet felt uncomfortable. With the monsters in her head growing stronger than reality, the endearing tone was soon twisted into something falsely mocking in Scarlet's vision.

"No," Scarlet shook her head to get rid of the thoughts, clinging onto what she once remembered sanity was. "That's a lie. Alex would never do this to me, the Wilde's are truly nice people. It is my parents who are to blame... they are selfish and greedy people whose opinions don't matter!"

Still, the voices lingered like a ghost in her silent mind. The blogger decided that she would do what always worked for her and dove into books, learning more about how writers weaved such a magical world. She hasn't informed her team about her research progress yet but Scarlet was determined to study some of the literature classics to understand the birth of the word-weaving art.

Unknown to Scarlet, her new sister and friend were watching her carefully while maintaining their normal nonchalance. Jasper watched Scarlet more closely than Alex from beneath his thick bangs. He noticed some oddities just as Claire and Jenna had suspected. The gardener's son didn't know how he could aid the girl discreetly as she battled her demons. However, an idea struck him when Vanessa brought in a new box of books.

"That looks heavy, need help?"

Vanessa huffed as she put the box down. It was a rather large box about fifty percent larger than usual and it made the two girls curious too.

"What is that?" Alex asked.

Vanessa smiled. "These are book requests from some of the older students. We have them every year. Are there any books that the three of you want? I think we can try to squeeze that into the school budget."

Scarlet blinked. "We can request for books?"

The librarian nodded. "It is open to students in the elementary level every year. We just don't really get that many requests because children of this age rarely read books."

The three children mulled over Venessa's words even after the librarian left. Every child had a different idea of what they wanted. For Scarlet, she was thinking about a book that taught her writing techniques. Alex just wanted some art books with lots of exercise and activities that taught her how to draw better. Jasper wasn't thinking for himself when he thought about book requests. He looked at Scarlet and wondered if he could lead this horse to the watering hole and trick her into drinking it. For a writer, understanding basic human psychology might be a useful thing. Could Scarlet possibly be convinced to read up on psychology? Jasper hoped that by doing so, the girl might have a sense of awareness about her creeping depression.

While the two girls were deep in their thoughts, the boy excused himself to the washroom. Once out of the office, he made a different turn in search for the busy librarian.

"Oh! You scared me!" Venessa jumped when Jasper poked her on the shoulder. The lady was still sorting through the returned books when he found her. Grandma Sadiya was nowhere to be seen and Jasper thought that it was the perfect opportunity to broach the subject.

"Is it possible to request for some more advanced books? I'm afraid they might be more expensive but I really want them."

Venessa smiled and patted Jasper's head, ruffling his hair but the bangs didn't give way and the librarian pouted. She thought she might be able to steal a peek at the boy's eyes this time but the bangs were simply too stubborn. Huffing, Venessa explained that the school has a budget constraint and while she was happy that Jasper is enthusiastic about the subject, they couldn't do much about it if they didn't have a higher budget.

Jasper nodded and then excused himself to visit the washroom for real this time.

The boy locked himself into a stall after confirming that the toilet was empty. He whipped out a phone and dialled a familiar number.

"Did something happen?"

"No, Jenna. I just want to know if there is any way the Wilde Family could influence the school or make a donation so that it is possible to request for special resources in the library?"

The butler hummed. It was unusual for the boy to request for something. Usually, Jasper tended to solve something by himself even at his own expense. Although Jasper didn't tell anyone, Jenna knew that the secret visit to Scarlet's house when she caught them the first time was Alex's idea and Jasper had just been strung along as usual. It must have pained him greatly to sacrifice his savings that the butler knew he was so desperate to keep out of his mother's hands because of the young mistress. Still, the young boy did it and Jenna discreetly thanked him by asking the maids to place a bowl of treats by the boy's bedside table and refill it once a week. If he wasn't so set on making money and diving into business, Jenna would have wanted to take him in as her protégé to serve the next head of the Wilde Family.

"What kind of special resources do you require? We could prepare it in the private libra-"

"No! It will only be worse. You were right, Claire had reasons to suspect that Scarlet would require more professional aid. She's spiralling downwards but the depression hasn't gotten its claws so deeply that Scarlet can't fight it. Even as we speak, she struggles to stay afloat. I think at this point what we can do for her is to provide her the weapons she needs to fight it. She can't fight the monsters in her without sufficient knowledge on how to."

Jenna inhaled. "Not everyone can self-diagnose, that's why professionals exist-"

"I agree. However, I believe in her and I believe in the potential of a genius. We'll be behind her to catch her if she falls but do you think Scarlet will accept our help when she's had her life completely turned upside down? I can see how uncomfortable she feels when Alex calls her 'sister'. She cannot trust anyone other than herself at this point. Any kind of external help will simply be shut down, I can see it."

There was a long pause and Jasper paled. Had he gone over the line? This was why he chose to be silent all the time... whenever he got heated up over something he just ran it mindlessly...

"I understand. Send me a text about the things you require, I will have a talk with the new principal. When would you require them?"

Jasper placed a hand over his racing heart. "The library is open for book requests. I will submit them to the librarian. If you could pull some strings for funding I think my application will go through smoothly. I will talk to Scarlet about reading up on psychology for research on how to write realistic characters..."

The butler nodded and exchanged a few more words about some periodic updates before hanging up. She looked at her digital calendar and grimaced. There was no time to dally, a new storm was brewing.