Chapter Text
The day had started off as it had been for the past three weeks Annabel Lee has been back at Nevermore. She had done her daily routine before heading to her first class of the day, photography. She still could not believe that she had gotten accepted to Nevermore Academy.
She remembers telling her father when she got in, with Ira in return saying that he never doubted her for a second. It had been years since she was back in Nevermore. The only reason she moved away back to England was because of her father's work. Unfortunately, the day she had to leave was the same day that...
Shaking her thoughts by trying to pay attention back to the class, she listens to Ms. Poppet go on about the history of photography. That is when she briefly wondered if she were to take a portrait of herself with her polaroid camera.
Most of the stuff that Ms. Poppet was going on about was going to be in her textbook anyway, and she was bored, so she decided to go for it.
Grabbing the camera to take a picture without anyone noticing, she had forgotten about the flash.
After the flash had blinded her for a couple of seconds, Annabel noticed that she was no longer in the classroom. Actually, she wasn't sure where she was exactly.
She soon realizes that it was raining extremely hard, with a gush of wind almost knocking her over. It was no longer sunny as well, with the sky having turned dark as thunder sounds accompany it. Looking around her surroundings, it appeared that she was on some sort of trail, and to investigate further, she follows the trail.
What is going on?
As she was going up the trail, the weather was merciless. Her clothes, hair, bag, everything was wet from the rain, and for the life of her, she did not understand what was happening.
Moving quickly, the trail had led her to the famous lighthouse of Nevermore, but she was not able to focus much on it as she turned to look what was miles away from her.
It was a giant tornado that was coming from the beach to the town itself. She could see it, how the tornado was moving towards it at an incredible speed, and how it was going to destroy everything that was in the town.
"Oh," was all she could say as she looked at it.
Unfortunately, she was not able to stare at it for long before something had hit the top of the lighthouse. Taken aback by the sound, she took a step back as she realized that the top of the lighthouse was going to collapse onto her.
"No!"
Closing her eyes as she awaits for the unescapable impact while she raised her hands in a futile attempt to stop it.
When she had opened her eyes again, the flash of the camera went away as a polaroid came out.
"Ah! It seems Ms. Whitlock here has taken a.. 'selfie' as you younglings would say!" Ms. Poppet exclaims excitedly, "However, 'selfies' have been around for a much longer time period than you may think. With..."
Annabel Lee was no longer paying attention to her, with being in a state of shock of what had just happened.
Had she had fallen asleep in the short time span she had taken the picture? She did not sleep well last night, but that has never been an issue for her.
The worst part of it all was of how real it felt to her, as if she was actually there.
As she was conflicted on whether or not that really happened, she did not notice that her teacher had asked her a question before trying to get her attention.
"Annabel, dear, are you listening?" Ms. Poppet cocked her head to the side, appearing concerned for one of her students.
"Sorry.. I was, uh, what was the question?" Annabel hopes she hadn't embarrassed herself too much, as everyone's eyes were on her now.
"Don't worry, it happens even to those with great talents such as yourself.. As I was saying, what is Robert Cornelius known for?"
So, maybe she should've opened up the textbook before coming to class, at least to read a chapter or two.
"Uh.. give me a moment," as Annabel tried to stall for time to remember a name that was familiar to her, but nothing came to mind, and how unnerving it felt for everyone to be looking at her.
Ms. Poppet's attention shifted from Annabel to the class as she asked, "Does anyone here know what he was known for?"
Then to the left of Annabel's desk (she was at the back of the class), a classmate of hers responded with, "He was the first American who did the daguerreotype self-portait."
"Well done, Ada! The daguerreotype..."
As Ms. Poppet went to explain, Ada turned to Annabel to do a mocking sad face gesture to her before turning her attention back to the teacher.
Annabel rolled her eyes, how old did Ada think they were? Twelve?
That was when the bell rang and Ms. Poppet went to dismiss the class, with Annabel standing up to go talk to Morella, who was on the right side of her desk.
"Hey Morella," she asked softly, as it appeared that Morella was not in the highest of spirits today.
"Oh, hi Annabel," she responded as she gave a small smile before looking back at her homework, "as much as I would like to talk to you, I need to focus on my work.. but I hope we can talk later?"
"Of course, I'll see you later." She's about to turn around before turning back to say, "If you need help with the other homework there, maybe we can work on it together some other time?"
"That.. would actually be nice. Now, I really have to get back, but thanks, Annabel Lee."
With that, Annabel walks past Ada, who was probably going to talk to Ms. Poppet to get into her good graces.
Annabel would then look at the poster that was up by the door. "Everyday Heroes: Photo Contest" and she still hadn't yet given her photo to Ms. Poppet.
While everyone else in her class has, Annabel Lee did not feel like the one photo she had taken felt good enough to submit to. She felt as if she was waiting for that one moment to appear so she can take that photo and perhaps that will be enough to submit it.
She sighed, maybe she'll get that moment some day. As she was about to walk off the classroom, Ms Poppet called her out.
"Hold on a second there, Miss Whitlock! I would like to talk to you, if you could spare me a moment."
"Of course," she walks over to her and away from the door, "did I do something wrong?"
Ms. Poppet apologizing quickly to Ada, who looked annoyed by this, before turning her attention back to Annabel. "I was wondering when you would be submiting your photo for the contest. I know that it is not mandatory to do so, but it is highly encouraged as it can be a great boost to your career."
She goes on to explain as how being the winner of the contest would be an incredible way to boost a career in photography before asking, "So, Annabel Lee, what is holding you up to not submit one?"
Contemplating whether to tell the truth or not, that is the question. "I have yet to have found that one moment, but as soon as I do, I promise I will-"
"You may not want to hear this, but there may never be that 'one moment' you seek of." Ms. Poppet went to explain, "That said, I was not lying when I said that you do have a gift. Perhaps, with a little bit of courage from your end, you will be willing to share that gift of yours with others. I hope you do, Miss Whitlock."
Instead of a reply, all Annabel gave out was a smile and a nod, and Ms. Poppet took that as the end of their conversation before she turned to look at Ada and continued their previous conversation.
With that, Annabel went to leave the classroom. She will admit that she had gotten embarassed by her teacher's response, and thought that perhaps a cold splash of water would do the trick.
As she made her way down the hallway, she looked at her classmates that she had gone to know, more or less, about during her time in Nevermore Academy.
She won't go into too much detail, but it kind of seemed like it was from a high school movie. With the typical nerds, popular girls, and jocks who follow their sterotype of bullying those they deemed inferior to them.
Annabel scoffed at them as she made her way down, even though deep down she wished she was able to do something, all it would do was make a target out of her. It was better for her to stay low.
That's when she made a brief stop at the school board, where plastered on it were typical school motivational speeches, upcoming club activities, and no she was not talking about the "Vortext club." But there was also...
The missing poster for Duke Fortunado.
Looking at the missing poster closely, Annabel supposed that he must have been missing for months now. She had also seen the same posters being plasterd around campus actually.
She then continued making her way towards the bathroom, and walking inside, thankfully there was no one else but her.
There, she let out a frustrated sigh as she took out the polaroid she had taken, and she looked at it in disdain.
She did not think it was worthy enough to show it to Ms. Poppet, and without a thought more, she ripped it and threw it on the ground.
Then, she made her way towards a sink before a blue butterfly came from the open window outside.
Could this be destiny?
It was not everyday an opportunity like this approached her.
As she followed the butterfly, it decided to go behind a stall and landed at the edge of a bucket, that was next to a janitor's cart.
The butterfly's wings were such of a beautiful blue color. She was simply mesmerized looking at it.
And then, an idea came to her mind, and she quickly went to grab her camera to take a picture.
Thankfully, the was still on the buckety, and Annabel positioned the sight of the camera just right and waited until the butterfly's wings were by its side and bam!
She took the shot.
Unfortunately, it was the only picture she could have taken as the flash spooked the poor butterfly away.
The polaroid came out, and Annabel made sure to shake it around so that everything would come out right.
As she was pocketing her polaroid away, she heard the sound of the door opening. She was startled by it, but she did not let a word escape out of her mouth.
She heard heavy breathing from whoever it was that had come to the bathroom, but she decided not to make herself known as she heard the person start talking to themselves.
Wait.. was that Will?
"Breathe in and out, Will, just like the therapist told you," he said as he inhaled for a couple of seconds to exhale once again. "Relax, everything is fine! Just fi-"
Another person opened the door, and Will let out a squeak as the other person said, "Nice of you to show up."
Will stuttered as he said, "W-what do you want?"
The other voice sounded so eerily familiar to Annabel Lee, but she wasn't sure why. She stayed hidden behind as she heard their conversation play out.
"I know what you have been up to, Will."
"What are you talking abou-"
"It is in your best interest to not play dumb with me. I know what you have been selling to the others around here." There was a brief of silence before she chuckled and said, "It would be a shame if I had to go to your parents about this. Could you imagine the look of disappointment on their faces?"
Annabel would continue to hear how Will was breathing heavy, however, the other person continued with, "Or, are you used to the disapproval on their faces already?"
Not even a second had past when Annabel heard Will said in an irritated tone. "M-montresor was right, you really need to learn how to shut your mouth."
Instead of the mocking tone the other person had, it was replaced with.. fear?
Annabel decided to peek her out from the stall she was hiding behind as she saw Will pointing a gun to the other person. She wasn't able to get a good look of their face, but saw how the other took a step back as Will stepped forward.
"Will? What are you doing with-"
"Just SHUT UP!" He yelled, "You have no right! No right! Everyone, everyone thinks I am not capable of anything, but I am, you know, capable of one thing."
He continued, "I'm sure no one else besides that one-eyed friend of yours would miss you, wouldn't he?"
"You are going to regret this," she shakily said as they immediately went try to take away the gun that Will held.
However, she were a moment too slow as Will immediately took the shot.
Everything then went in slow motion.
Will dropped the gun as soon as he shot it. The unknown person with black and white hair fell to the floor, and Annabel Lee reached her hand out, as if she were able to stop it.
Until now, she had not uttered a word, but the word came deep within as she yelled out, "No!"
Her vision with everything around her stopped for moment as then it suddenly rewinded back.
Annabel did not know what was happening as she still had her hand out, but unable to move as everything rewinded with the speed of lighting and..
Her vision had gone black.