A Life Beyond by Mark Church (ebook reader web TXT) 📕

other people you may have had from wherever you came from, it's sort of a way of you being fully integrated into our culture and allows us to assess your future, it gives you a sort of clean slate...shall we say a re-birth' Mr Flora explained further which seemed to help Lillie understand it slightly better,

'Ahhhh ok...so anything I done in the past is erased from my memory, but what about my brother??' Lillie asked,

'Ahhhh those feelings and thoughts are kept separate from what happens to you, so any family who are with you here will not be erased' Mr Flora said 'but anyway Lillie let's go into class and start a new day afresh and I need a positive mind and positive attitude, it's going to get a lot more strange I promise you' he laughed as he shepherded Lillie into the class and shut the door behind her.

Harvey's class was brimming with excitement as Mr Scoot started his morning speech outlining the events of the day before and the amazing impact Harvey had had already,

'So Class…' Mr Scoot started 'as you can see by the early leader board it seems we have a bit of a shock developing here….Harvey Jones would you please stand up for me', as Harvey rose from his seat Otto started making kissing noises behind him,

'Oooo teacher’s new favourite toy…' Otto said out loud as a few of his classmates sniggered 'Go on Ordie...give him a big hug for us!!'

'Settle down class..' Mr Scoot said to the children, who had raised their volume levels slightly above the sound of an airplane taking off, Harvey turned round and scowled at Otto who was almost bent over his desk chuckling, what Otto hadn't noticed was that Harvey hat completely turned round and was leaning on his desk, he looked up to be met with a pair of eyes piercing into his very soul, purple in colour and with a swirling mist filling every corner, Otto seemed drawn into them and was caught in the hypnotic gaze unable to break contact when a voice filled his head, the sort of ghostly voice Harvey had been hearing,

'Harm will not befall him...reset your anger…' then with a whoosh the voice faded and Otto flickered his eyes, unable to remember what had just happened to him as he looked up and Harvey was now facing the other way smiling as the class were applauding him for his first days efforts,

'So well done Harvey and I do hope you carry on with this path' smiled Mr Scoot as he returned to his chair and sat down before

opening a book sat on his desk 'Well class if we get through this part of the class then we will have a bit of free time before Professor Deveraux and his protection spell class so let's get started…' Mr Scoot stood up again and placed himself on the front of his desk as he addressed the class and began his day off talking about how the first day had gone, most of the class were listening as he kept on talking but Otto was just sitting there in complete silence not able to focus on anything whereas Harvey was really getting into the swing of being popular at school for once, every question he answered was met with a steady stream of added points to his class total making him pull even further away from the rest of the class which made him excited inside.

Lillie’s class were running through the same daily routine as Harvey's class, Mr Flora was running through the state of the class leaderboard as Lillie sat there not really coping that well with her new surroundings, she was unusually quiet which wasn't like her, she kept getting fleeting images of where she had come from and the life she used to have but they lasted only a few seconds before disappearing from her mind,

'What's wrong with me??' she quizzed herself while sitting in her seat 'my memories...I can still see them!!', a girl sitting right next to Lillie heard her talking to herself and leaned across to speak,

'I'm sorry for interrupting but I couldn't help but overhear what you were saying…' the girl smiled as Lillie turned to face her,

'S..Sorry what??' she replied looking slightly puzzled,

'I'm Tia Gracewell….and I think I know what you are on about..you see I'm rather new to this place too and it took me a long time to feel like I belonged until one day I just…..gave in to it' she smiled warmly at Lillie,

'Gave in to what?, I'm so confused still' Lillie replied slightly exasperated,

'This world..you have to just relax and be taken in by it, then you will feel truly free I promise you' Tia said as she placed a hand warmly on Lillies which made her suddenly sit up, a warm feeling filled her whole body as she let out a smile,

'I keep getting memories from somewhere I used to know though...Mr

Flora said they would go but still I see things I think I used to get up to...and my mothe…..' Lillie paused for a few seconds as her mind worked overtime trying to think of the last images she was having as her eyes screwed up tightly and a tear sat in the corner of her eye ready to fall like a leaf on an autumn tree,

'Are you ok Lillie?' asked Tia softly 'what were you going to say?'

'I...err...I can't remember…' Lillie replied again as she turned her face towards her desk 'I've forgotten again, can't have been that important' she said scratching her head again,

'It's ok, I totally understand how strange this must feel, it took me a long time to figure out what was happening but now I feel free' smiled Tia as she looked at Lillie trying to get her to relax 'I'll help you with all this if you would like me to', Lillie turned towards her and smiled

'Oh ok...but I think I need to try and figure this out for myself, thank you anyway' Lillie smiled awkwardly at Tia as she looked towards the front of the class again to where Mr Flora was standing there still talking away,

'Is everything ok at the back you girls?' asked Mr Flora 'there seems to be a lot of talking going on, anything you would like to share with the class??', Lillie shook her head as she readied herself to reply,

'No Mr Flora, it was my fault' Tia butted in 'I was asking Lillie a question, I didn't mean to interrupt you sir and I am sorry'

'Thank you for owning up, good manners and true honesty is always rewarded' smiled Mr Flora, the scoreboard flickered as Tia’s name flashed up moving her up the board to sixth place,

'One hundred points awarded to you Tia, well done and as I said yesterday you are always being watched' Mr Flora clapped his hands once then walked to his chair, 'right children, as we have already discussed today the events of yesterday and seeing as we have a bit of free time before the start of your next class you may want to brush up on the history of the school or anything else just as productive...but remember everything you do and every decision you make reflects in your scores' Mr Flora smiled at the children warmly,

'So are we allowed to draw and stuff sir?' asked a young boy who was sitting in the corner,

'Why yes Lupo, you are most welcome to draw about anything that is relevant to the school, if it is something that appeals to the schools image then it may well be hung up on the wall of the classroom for all to see' Mr Flora smiled warmly at him as Lillie and Tia started talking quietly amongst themselves, Lillie seemed slightly more at ease with how her day was going to go now seeing as she had a new friend to help her through all of this change she was having, Daniel's class however were still listening to the ramblings of their teacher Lady Willo who was now talking at great length about their first day and the events leading up to now,

'So class…' said Lady Willo 'it would seem that you are all progressing rather well so far and the scoreboard certainly reflects that...well almost all of us are progressing' a small grin appeared on her face as she threw a quick glance at Daniel who noticed it and screwed his face up,

'As if I'm that bothered by this stupid cup thing anyway' Daniel snarled softly 'I'm probably too far behind you lot anyway'

'On the contrary Daniel' replied Tobias 'as we have been constantly told by everyone here that everything we do and decision we make is seen and points are given for good behaviour or honesty, you will be surprised I promise you',

'Fair enough Toby...I'll see what I can do, I'm not a suck up though so don't expect me to be all nicey nicey to everyone' Daniel replied as he faced the front of the class again with Lady Willo still talking away to the class who were now that bored that the children near the back of the class were copying her every movement, sniggering was travelling around the class as it seemed it was mainly from the far corner of the room, Tobias slapped Daniel on the arm quite hard this time,

'It's Tobias…. T.O.B.I.A.S. not Toby!!, I really don't like that name so once again please stop calling me that!!' he sniffed as Daniel sat there looking shocked,

'Ooooooo sorryyyyyyy…' Daniel replied as he rubbed his arm gingerly 'I was only messing around, just don't hit me anymore!!' Daniel warned Tobias who could see Daniel was getting a bit annoyed so he backed off and stared straight at the front of the class again.

'So children. As you are now aware from your new class timetables..' started Lady Willo '..your next lesson will be with Professor Deveraux in his ‘Protection Spell’ class, and please do pay complete attention to what he will be teaching you as there may come a time when you might need to use it!!' warned Lady Willo as the class fell silent all of a sudden until a small voice piped up at the back

'Will we get to...you know...do fighting and stuff in his class??' the boy asked,

'Oh why doesn't that surprise me that it's you asking that Hector!!' laughed the teacher 'and unfortunately it's not that sort of class for you first years', a collective ‘AWWWWW’ rang around the classroom as it seemed their hopes had been dashed,

'But do remember class that your first year performances will be taken into consideration at the end of term to see if any of you would benefit from a bit of extra tutelage and the possibility of stepping up into the upper class with Professor Deveraux!!' Lady Willo could see that she had their full attention now, 'so remember class full attention at ALL times!!!'

As the bell rang for the end of their first class of the day a buzz of excitement had filled the halls as the new pupils were looking forward to their next class, there were two teachers who carried out this class due to the amount of pupils, first of all Professor Igneous who had been at the school since he was a first year pupil and also the main ‘Head of Spells’ Professor Deveraux a seemingly quiet but focussed teacher who would go out of his way to make sure every pupil was capable of using his spells, not one person had a bad word to say about either of them which made his classes the most sought after class in the school year.

The classes had to run in two of the largest halls at the school due to the amount of people wanting to attend, the rooms sat at the far end of the castle in two very large and round towers with seating stretching all