The Light House Girl

Alice sat cross legged at a bench in the courtyard, the sun above her. She liked these days, sitting out in the calm. There was no one really roaming right now, for whatever reason, and she figured it had something to do with the sting in the air. Through the warmth was this subtle, biting cold. She did not mind, though her small frame had some shivers running up and down it.

She reached up and adjusted the monocle she wore when reading, writing, and anything of that sort and she flipped the page of the enormous book in her hand and sighed. She looked over at the piece of parchment that lie next to her, pinned to the cover of one of her own books. She had begun on an outline of something, some sort of coast. She did not know where the idea had come from, but here it was.

She forced her eyes away, but before she control it, the sketch was in her lap and she had constructed a lighthouse on the cliff of the coast, offering a light that went across the turbulent waters... And in that beam of light was a figure.

Alice forced her mind away for a second and stared at the drawing. She knew she drew really weird stuff, she painted weirder, and her charcoal paintings were the strangest. She had yet to figure out what this particular piece meant, but she knew her essay was waiting. She reluctantly turned away, though her eyes kept clancing over at the drawing.

*

Cilla stared across the courtyard at a random girl who was drawing by herself. She looked lonely, but Cilla didn't really mind right then. There was a bite of Fall coming on, and not many people were outside, and if Cilla concentrated hard enough, she could see that the girl was shivering every now and then. Cilla frowned, and watched her. What kind of idiot sat out in the cold and didn't move somewhere warmer? What kind of idiot sat and wrote essays, and draw pretty pictures in the courtyard on one of the first cold day of the year? She was strange, she was weird.. she must be insane, and Cilla immediately wanted to get to know her. So, putting on her huge fake smile, that looked real after years of experience putting it there, she half danced across the courtyard, stopping in the middle, her eyes roaming around, and then looking up at the sky. It looked rainy today, overcast and chilly, but nothing to bad, it would simply mean cold rain.

Cilla found her eyes drawn to the girl again, and she immediately went over to her, sitting down and picking up the drawing of the lighthouse. "Oohhh, how pretty!" She exclaimed, looking at the girl and grinning. "This is beautiful! It's not even done yet and I can tell! Wow... so neat!" She said grinning at her, and looking down at the picture again, examining the features. She really did find it pretty, maybe not to the extent she was acting like it was, but it was pretty, and she did like it quite a bit. Once it was finished it would be a wonderful painting. "Sorry, I'm so rude!" She suddenly gasped, looking up at her. "I'm Pricilla Cuffe, I don't think I've ever met you before.. tell me, what bring someone out here, in the cold, to the courtyard of all places? Shouldn't you be drawing or... writing or whatever you're doing in your common room.. or.. or the library? Sorry, I'm nosy, I shouldn't criticize your choice of writing place." She made a face, but grinned at Alice and looked back down at the picture. "It's so pretty though! It makes me want to go somewhere like that for real!"

Alice was so absorbed in her drawing that she had not noticed that someone was watching her, judging her silently. She did not notice the older girl's approach, she was much to focused on the task at hand to notice anyone around her. She was bending over the drawing, the muscles in her hand tightening as she worked harder and harder, and suddenly, an enthusiastic voice disrupted her.

Alice leapt in her seat, her monocle springing from her eye, her quill skittering off the page and going across the book in her page, dragging ink across it. She looked up, dropping her quill and the parchment, her hands flying up to the sides of her head, her soulful brown eyes widening to stare at the intuder in shocked wonder and fear. Slowly her expression relaxed but she ignored all the girl had stared, still trying to calm down from the shock. Finally, she said, "You are rather abrasive."