Gabriel hated cars. He had to sit too far forward with his tail bent at an awkward angle because the base was too thick. And the person who was always driving the cars Gabriel was in didn’t help.
Hatred was a feeling that was very new to Gabriel. Papa never gave him the option of hating anything. But now he was separated from Papa and it was all the fault of that woman and her friends.
That woman opened her mouth and spoke up, “We’re almost there, Gabriel.” Gabriel looked up from staring down at his tail that was laying across his pale pink thighs and his white floral skirt. He glanced at Dana behind the wheel, who quickly turned her head back to the road when Gabriel looked up. Then he looked out the window at the huge and wide open gates and the dozens of red brick buildings beyond them.
Dana drove in through the gates just as various buses pulled out. She parked in one empty spot amongst many and glanced at her watch, “Shit. We’re a bit late.” She opened the car door and looked back at Gabriel, one foot out of the door, “Wait here for a second, okay?”
Gabriel didn’t respond. He stopped responding to her at all when he learned she was keeping him away from Papa. Dana got out of the car and walked off. Once she was gone, Gabriel opened the door and climbed out, moving his tail to work out the stiffness. He thought of walking off at that moment but he had no idea how far this “Ravenhold Academy” was from his home.
Dana returned a few minutes later, her long, wavy brown hair now pulled up in a bun and some papers in her hands. “We missed the opening speech but I got your information, I can help you get to your dorm.” She popped open the trunk, setting Gabriel’s suitcase down on the ground and slinging his other bag over her shoulder. “Follow me.” She started for one of the buildings past the main one, occasionally looking down at the paper or glancing back to make sure Gabriel was still there.
And Gabriel followed her, his pink axolotl tail dragging along the grass as the two of them cut through campus. Dana finally stopped. She pointed at a building that a few teens were filtering into. It was two stories tall with five numbered doors, there were clear seams in the walls between the large numbered section, each section looked as big as his home with Papa. “Those are the 1st year dorms. You’re in class 4 so go in door 4, okay?” She set his bags down in front of him.
She took a step towards him and Gabriel backed away. She sighed, her eyebrows knitting together. “I just want to take your collar off.”
With a stubborn pout to his lip, Gabriel stepped forward and lifted his chin to let her remove his power suppressing collar. The second it left his skin the annoying buzzing in his head ceased and he unconsciously untensed.
“Also, here,” Dana reached into her pocket and pulled out a cellphone, “my number is in there if you ever need me. But you don’t need to call if you don’t want to,” she said, pressing it into his hand.
“I won’t need you,” Gabriel declared, turning on his heel towards the dorm building. Dana didn’t stop him as he took his bags and marched into the dorm. With her out of his sight completely, his anger started to melt away. Papa would come get him soon so he would just do his best to stay happy until then.
Ravenhold Academy 
2 thoughts on “Arrival: Chapter 1.16 (Gabriel)”