Our Dark Ruins

KAMARI 

They would say he was sunshine and I was midnight rain but we were both a mixture of sunshine and midnight rain and I must warn you that therein lay our ruin.

When I had applied to transfer into Rain Academy, Elle had been with me that day, she had gone on and on about how Rain Academy would help me build my nonexistent social life and how my life would be so much more meaningful that it was at Eden. Her words, not mine. Funny, because the day I accepted my admission letter was the day she allegedly fell to her death at that same school, and now the responsibilities are all on my shoulder and I cannot help the resentment towards my half-sister for taking her own life.

Elle Avena was my half-sister, the real daughter, I was the love child. The one born from the promiscuous ways of my Father Eros Avena, CEO, Avena tech,  before he met his wife Mia Blythe Avena, his personal assistant. I was my father's cruel reminder of his past, the tainted first child, the classless child of a business entity. The one whose mother abandoned her a few months after she was born. Simply put, I was not supposed to be in existence.

Elle was everything a daughter could be, everything I was not. As the recognized heir to Avena Tech, she had been studying Data science and Engineering at Rain Academy at the young age of Eighteen. She was the trophy child.

Two months after Elle's death, I was staring at the admission letter in my hands like it was a curse. I had read it probably a million times in the last sixty days, but I was reading it again — and loud this time.

☆ ᴅᴇᴀʀ ᴋᴀᴍᴀʀɪ ᴇsᴇ ᴀᴠᴇɴᴀ, ᴡᴇ ᴀʀᴇ ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇᴅ ᴛᴏ ɪɴғᴏʀᴍ ʏᴏᴜ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴀᴘᴘʟɪᴄᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ᴏғ ᴛʀɴsғᴇʀ ғʀᴏᴍ ᴇᴅᴇɴ ᴄᴏʟʟᴇɢᴇ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ sᴇᴄᴏɴᴅ ʏᴇᴀʀ ᴏғ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ᴇɴɢɪɴᴇᴇʀɪɴɢ ᴅᴇᴘᴀʀʀᴍᴇɴᴛ ᴏғ ʀᴀɪɴ ᴀᴄᴀᴅᴇᴍʏ ʜᴀs ʙᴇᴇɴ ᴀᴘᴘʀᴏᴠᴇᴅ. Yᴏᴜ ᴍᴀʏ ʀᴇsᴜᴍᴇ ᴄʟᴀssᴇs ғᴜʟʟʏ ᴏɴ ᴛʜᴇ ᴛᴡᴇɴᴛʏ-sᴇᴠᴇɴᴛʜ ᴏғ ᴊᴀɴᴜᴀʀʏ ᴡʜɪᴄʜ ɪs ᴛʜᴇ ʙᴇɢɪɴɴɪɴɢ ᴏғ ᴛʜᴇ ɴᴇᴡ sᴇᴍᴇsᴛᴇʀ.

ʏᴏᴜʀs sɪɴᴄᴇʀᴇʟʏ,

ᴘʀᴏғᴇssᴏʀ ᴋᴇɴᴛ,

ᴅᴇᴀɴ, ʀᴀɪɴ ᴀᴄᴀᴅᴇᴍʏ ᴏғ ᴀʀᴛ ᴀɴᴅ sᴄɪᴇɴᴇs, ᴘᴇʀᴛʜ. [ʀᴀᴀs]. ☆

Who knew that a piece of paper could change the course of one's life in just a few minutes? I folded the letter neatly and stuck it back into my folder of documents and then waited quietly for Father to call me downstairs so he would drive me to school. My luggage was beside me, and even though I detested the idea of going to Rain, I was quite elated that I would be staying at the dorms. Being in this house for nineteen years was enough torture, some months away felt like the highest order of relief.

Two soft knocks on my door, I knew who it was.

"Come in."

Mia Avena walked in, her eyes as puffy as it had been for the past three weeks. Her blonde hair was packed up into a messy bun, and even her golden orbs had lost their spark. My stepmother was never a villain, in fact she adored me like I was her own. I was the one who is never nice to her, I wasthe bad person.

"Mari." She exhaled as she regarded my luggage. I could only imagine what was going on in her head. Did she hate me? I would not mind, but it would not hurt to know. "Your Father is waiting for you."

On a normal day, Mia would have offered to help me with my suitcase, of which I would vehemently decline, but this day, she did not, she only whirled around and trudged out of my room. She did not even look back to be sure that I was following her, but I did follow her nonetheless, looking back at this house that had now become a shell of itself without Elle's presence.

KAMARI 

I have always lived in the shadows, all thanks to Elle. It is no news that I dislike my half-sister even in her death, do not judge me on that. The gates of Rain come into view, my legs are probably protesting from all the shaking I have been doing in the forty minutes drive from home. Father presses a keycard to the control board of the car and the gates open instantly. 

I gulp.

I have been here before, twice, so the tall walls do not faze me, nor does the stretch of green grass that leads to the school buildings amaze me. The first time I came here, it was to help Elle set up her dorm room and I had been awed at how mighty Rain stood. The almost mediaeval yet aesthetically pleasing site of the whole school structure was enough to surprise me, but now it does nothing.

There was the main school building which was also called 𝐵𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑍, it housed the lecture halls and staff rooms. The building was painted white with go