Straight-Up Not Having A Good Time At Night Raven College: Prologue

Prologue Chapter 8: First Day At School

"Mmm..."

Kat rolled over with a quiet groan, rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand.
Ugh, she was tired.... Where was she? This bed wasn't hers... Why was her arm so heavy?
She opened her eyes, squinting in the early morning sunlight, then looked down at her right arm.

Oh.
Right.

Grim was sleeping on her arm, belly-up and snoring gently. The flames in his ears drifted slowly in time with his breaths, and his tail twitched every now and then.

Laying her head back down on the pillow, she closed her eyes again.
She was kind of hoping that it would turn out to be just a dream...
Of course she wouldn't be that lucky, though.

Her neck and shoulders hurt-- probably from all the stress and tension of yesterday. Her mouth and face felt gross, too.
Yeah-- she hadn't been able to brush her teeth or wash her face last night.... It wasn't like she had a toothbrush or washcloth anyway, let alone toothpaste or any kind of soap.

What time was it? She didn't have her phone, so she couldn't check that...
There was a cuckoo clock on the wall across the room, but it was broken, so that was no help.

Should she get her glasses?
She'd put them on the bedpost in lieu of a bedside table, but she felt bad about moving Grim..
The eternal trap of a sleeping animal, even though this one was some kind of weird fire cat.

Eyes closed, she lay there for a few more minutes.

A gust of cold air blew into her face, and she grumbled, turning away.
It blew again, directly into her ear this time. She shuddered, opening her eyes and looking over.

The skinny, skull-like face of the third ghost grinned at her, only inches away from her face.

"Hee hee hee..." It creaked. "Aren't the two of you supposed to be off cleaning the school today?"

"AUGH! FUCK--"

Kat jerked upright, sending Grim tumbling off her arm as she pulled the covers up to her chest.

Sliding down towards the foot of the bed, Grim came to a stop and rolled over.
"Mmmmm.... Just five more minutes, mm-kay?" He mumbled, facedown on the blankets.

Kat and the ghost looked at him, then back at each other.
"Quite a solid sleeper, isn't he?" The ghost remarked.

With echoing laughter, the other two ghosts shimmered into existence, hovering by the foot of the bed over Grim.
They looked different in the morning light. Last night, they'd been slightly luminous, like dying glowsticks. Now the rays of sunshine passed through them, illuminating them from the inside with warm pink-and-gold light.

"Go ahead, go ahead-- sleep the day away!" The smallest ghost cackled, poking Grim's head with an incorporeal finger.
"Keep this up, an' you might just sleep forever.... You might not eeeeeeever hafta' wake up again, heheheheh!"

"Yep-- just like us!" The large one added. They both burst into laughter, high-fiving and clutching their stomachs like it was the funniest thing they'd ever heard.

"FNYAGH...!"
Grim finally woke up, jerking upright with his tail puffed.
"Wh-what the.... HEY!" He yelped, scrambling up onto his back paws.
"The ghosts are back! Hey, Kat-- wake up! They're back!"

He looked over his shoulder at her, and she gave him an unimpressed look.
He looked back awkwardly.
"...Oh. Sorry."

Before he could say anything, the ghosts cackled loudly, swirling around the room. Things started rattling loudly, and the dusty curtains flapped.