Kenton Univeristy

[Devilsnight2003]

Ok, so this is a work in progress. I have the first few chapters done. I've read the forum rules for stories/fan fic etc so if i think a chapter is not postable ill be willing to email it to people to read if there reading this so here goes.

Chapter 1 – The Strange Letter

My name is David Roberts and I have one question for you before we begin, do you believe in such creatures as vampires, werewolves or zombies? No, well I couldn’t blame you really. We are brought up in a world where such creatures are monsters, nightmares told to us and made into movies for our own entertainment. The myths that existed in the past to terrify the living of such creatures have been polluted over time, warped and defaced by Hollywood. They do not carry the same fear as they did when science did not hold the answer to everything, back in a time when god’s house was a sanctum to many, but maybe my story will change you and open your minds to the realm of possibility. Maybe just maybe my story might open your eyes to truth. All that I ask of you is that you take the time to read it. This is my story of how leaving home for university changed my life in ways I had never dreamt possible.

The transition from the college life style to the university life style can be very different to different people. It’s only when you begin to near your course’s end at college around the same time you begin to get back replies from your chosen university’s that you realise just how well or how badly you’ve been performing. It’s the realisation that you need to either pull your finger out or keep on at the same pace to the finishing line. My personal experience was the latter of the two, I realised that I had not been pulling my weight and was looking on course to finish well below par. With just over a month to go until the end of my course I sat myself down and managed with a lot of effort to correct my grades. At the end of the year when I received my diploma I was very pleased with the final result, with the added effort I had put in I had managed to perform well above average with grades far greater than expected or even predicted. Of course this news made for a much harder party than normal, along with the added affection from proud parents. It was as coincidence would have it the day that I was recovering from the hard partying to celebrate my success that this story really begins.

Like most mornings after a successful night of excessive amounts of alcohol, dancing and grab friends by the head to perform a ‘knuggie’ whilst explaining how much you love them, that my mother poked her head around the bedroom door with a huge grin across her face to deliver the mornings post. In amongst the usual mandate of bills I was mystified to find an envelope with a government seal on it, looking very official with ‘Important’ written in large red font in the front right corner. To be honest I remember thinking that it was going to be a nasty reminder informing me that I owed the government money for something like Tax. To my surprise when I opened it, I found a letter written on what appeared to be very expensive paper. I took several minutes to study the crest that was at the letters head, it was certainly not one that I had ever seen before. The letter read:

Dear Mr. Roberts,

Congratulations! We have been monitoring your recent success with the completion of your college course and your outstanding marks you received. For this reason we have made arrangements for you to attend our University. We look forward to you becoming a fine new addition to our student body.

Yours Sincerely
Jonathan Boardman

University Dean


Folded inside of the letter was a card of the same quality of expensive material as the letter. The card contained information informing me that I was to get a special train at Paddington Station, London on Wednesday August 22nd at 6 am sharp, the train would be at platform one. Written on the back card were instructions to pack enough personal belongings into a single suitcase.

After rereading the letter several times and long after the initial shock had warm off, I put on the nearest clean cloths I could find and wandered through into the living room where my parents where sat watch their normal television programs. I took several minutes of trying to explain to them what the letter had said, without having much success before I got frustrated and handed the letter to my farther to read. A few minutes of silence went past as he read through it himself before handing it over to my mother for her to read. “Congratulations” he finally said without taking his eyes away from the television which had grabbed his attention as soon as the letter had left his hands. My mother took several more moments to read the letter a couple of times over in case she missed something during the first, second or even third read. When she had finally finished she moved her gaze up to look at me now standing in front her like a soldier waiting for the next order. She rubbed the paper between her fingers while she spoke to me. “This place sounds very good darling. The letter is very well written and the paper feels vary expensive, Congratulations. We’re very proud of you”. That was all I needed to hear, she handed the letter back to me and I hugged her before disappearing back to my room where I read and re-read the letter over and over again waiting for somebody to tell me this was all a dream. A few weeks back when things had been going badly with the finally project I wasn’t sure that I would be able to pull it off, it seemed lost in the past now that I had this letter.

From that moment time seemed to be going by in slow motion, almost to the point where it may even have been going backwards. My family had lost interest a few days after the letter had arrived, I on the other hand was still buzzing about the place with high spirits a few weeks later. It seemed like it took years for my birthday to come and pass, my birthday was the middle marker. When it passed it meant that only two weeks remained for me to get ready and I was already full of anticipation. It’s perhaps the excitement and anticipation about this new chapter in my life that I complete forgot that the letter had not mention the name of the university I was expected to be attending.

The last week leading up to my departure date was a nightmare, my family had very little money and living in Dover caused problems getting to London in time to get the train. It took a lot of persuading but in the end my farther agreed to take me up in the car the morning I was due to leave. The compromise was however that I was to cut the long brown hair that I had been growing for the past two years and smarten up for the occasion. It took a total of two days to pack a week’s worth of things and pick out some smart cloths that my mother agreed with.

The night before we laid the table to save time in the morning and loaded my suitcase into the car, we set the alarm clocks for two o’clock and had an earlier dinner to allow us to get to bed at around seven o’clock that evening. As I climbed the stairs to the attic in the bungalow my mother called me back, she stood at the bottom of the stairs and wished me the best and good luck, hugged me and then went off to bed herself. I pushed open the door to my room which was pretty empty now that my things had been packed into boxes so that my parents could rent out my room. My desk and chair sat in the corner with the clothes I was to wear tomorrow neatly folded on, the letter laying on top. I closed the door and picked up the letter, I looked once more at the crest, it was the first time I had thought about it since I had received the letter but I had never actual noticed before that written underneath the crest in very small gold writing was the words Kenton University. As I thought about it some more it dawned on me that I had never put it down as one of my six choices. I lay awake that night just looking up at the ceiling wondering what the future had in store for me. I didn’t even remember falling asleep.

 

[Devilsnight2003]

Chapter 2 – The Morning After

I awoke that morning to the sound of my alarm clock in full swing of its rescission of Sweet Child of Mine by Guns ‘n’ Roses. I took time to stumble down the stairs to the bathroom still wiping the sleep out of my eyes. It almost becomes second nature, brushing your teeth and using a splash of cold water from the taps to wake you up. I heard sounds of life from my parents room, indicating that they where up but not in any way ready to face the ritual of preparing for the day ahead. I took the nearest towel from the airing cupboard and took a long soak in the shower, enjoying the feel of the warm water against my face, wooing me back to sleep with it luring touch. After my fingers had turned into raisins I decided that I was clean enough, wrapped the towel around my wet body I dripped all the way back to the privacy of my room to dry off and get dressed. When I had finished dressing and combing my hair I went down to the kitchen for breakfast. My mother was already up and in the kitchen half way through the process of cooking one of her delightful and rare fried breakfasts. “Morning” she said sounding quite cheerful for somebody who’s just woken up at a ridicules time in the morning, “It’ll be read in a few minutes, tea is in the pot help yourself” . As I poured the tea my farther came into the kitchen, he took up his normal seat in front of the fridge and by the window. He looking the way I felt but showered and dressed all the same. As I passed him the tea pot my mother served the fried breakfast, traditional full English. You cant beat it when your travelling long distance, fried eggs, sausage, hash brown, black pudding, beans, bacon, mushrooms, fried tomatoes and toast to finish off. “Eat up” my farther chirped up, you don’t know when your get another fry up like this again, he smiled at me before taking up his knife and folk to tuck into his man sized portion.

We all sat together as a family, something we hadn’t done for awhile now and ate until we had had our fill. My mother cleaned the table quietly while my farther disappeared into the living room to check the traffic reports. It wouldn’t be long before we would be on the road to London. I took the time to check that the letter was tucked into the pocket of my new jeans my mother had brought two weeks back as my birthday present. When everyone was ready and the clock chimed reminded us that it was time to leave we headed down to the garage and got in the car. As we pulled away I turned to look at the house that I had grown up in, since I was fourteen I had dreamed of leaving but I still couldn’t believe that this was all really happening. The drive up was pretty uneventful until we encountered an overturned lorry on the M20 just after Ashford, luckily this didn’t add much time to our journey otherwise we may just have been late. We didn’t really talk much at all, my mother fell asleep as did I and my farther had to concentrate on the road. We made good time and it was only when we had reached the outskirts of London did I ask my parents if they had ever heard of Kenton University, both of them shook their heads and replied no. It seems strange now that I did not question them but at the time neither of parents where the sharpest tools in the shed. My farther worker at a car dealership and my mother was a cashier at the local Tesco, neither one of them being the most challenging of careers in need of much in the way of a degree of any kind but they did there best and where pleased that I wasn’t repeating the same mistakes they made when they where younger.

Initially Paddington Station didn’t appear to be that busy at all until we got around the corner in from the main entrance in the direction of platform one. Their where people everywhere you looked, teary eyed parents hugging there children goodbye before they became a part of the big wide world, partners wishing each other the best hoping that it wouldn’t be the last time that they did so. The platform was teaming with life in every direction you turned. Coming from a small town in comparison to London it was quit the site to behold. Stepping forward to join the crowd of people on the actual platform my farther put his hand on my shoulder stopping me from moving any further forward, turning to face my parents, “I think its best that we say our goodbyes now son” my mother said “it looks a little crowded over there”. My mother had to turned away pulling out a tissue and wiping a tear from her eye, looking up into my fathers face. I hadn’t expected him to shed a tear for me. After all he was too much of a manly man for that kind of behaviour. He did however took a firm grip of my hand, looked straight into my eyes and gave me a firm hand shake with the nod you give somebody that means more than words can say. I turned to my mother who was still wiping tears away. She hugged me in a bone crushing last hug before sending me off into the crowd to find my own way like a lamb in the flock. I took one last look back to see my father with his arm around my mother, her looking back at me waving her very last goodbye as I stepped on into the crowd.

I managed to fight my way across the platform to the train awaiting the boarding of its passengers. To my surprised I found a beautifully restored steam locomotive positioned at the front of train, painted pure black with no identifying markers visible. A few old memories came flooding back of my grandfather who had passed away many when I was ten, as a young boy he had always told me stories of his days working on the railways, the stories of the glory days of steam in Britain. As the memories faded and I snapped back to reality I became aware of the three carriages that where coupled to the locomotive, all three where painted burgundy with the same crest emblazed across them that had been on the header of the letter I had received way back in June. The moonlight still lingering around in the earlier morning sky was glistening off of the carriages. I had quick scan of the platform to take in what was going on, finding some trolley’s with baggage on them just in front of with a good looking blonde girl pushing her luggage into one of the empty spaces. Deciding that the best chance of a seat was boarding the train now despite the large overhanging clock showed that we still had fifteen minutes before the train was due to leave and since my parents had obviously already left on the long trip journey back home, I loaded my luggage onto the trolley and stepped up into the first coach. Unfortunately I was mistaken. My grand plan for getting seat had not only been my grand plan but that of numerous other people, the first carriage was already full. As I moved through to the second carriage, I glanced around. Everybody seemed just as nervous as I did. Entering the second carriage a few seats where available but the people occupying the accompanying seat didn’t look all that friendly. Deciding on the third carriage I continued forward, as luck would have it there at the very back of the third carriage was an empty set of seats. I was surprised that so many people had already bored the train and yet so many more seemed to be getting on. I took the opportunity to get comfortable and before I had realised had begun to doze off.

A short period of time past before a young woman of about my age, with beautiful blonde hair appeared entering the carriage. By this time most of the seats had been taken but she didn’t seemed fazed by this as I had been, she walked through the carriage and up next to me with an air of confidence, politely she ask if the seat next to mine was empty and would I mind her company for the trip. I remember how very well spoken she was which had caught me off guard as I had dozing off against the window and was not what I was expecting to hear at that moment in time. When I looked up at her it dawned on me just how beautiful she really was, she had golden blonde hair that hung down way below her shoulders, lovely deep blue eyes. I’m sure I had started blushing because I hadn’t answered her but she smiled a wonderful smile at me and sat down anyway. I felt like such an idiot, ashamed and embarrassed. I said hello rather sheepishly and introduced myself as David. She smiled again, shook my hand which again was something that I had not been expecting her to do and introduced herself to me as Mary Waterhouse. As the last syllable of her name passed her lips a whistle was blown and a puff of steam from the locomotive was heard as the steam engine pulled away from the station. The passengers waving to loved ones who had stayed stood on the platform as the train pulled out of Paddington Station and off into the countryside.