Darrel and Electra
by: Pranathi

Chapter 1 : Darrell’s admiring

Darrell was admiring herself in front of the mirror. She was delighted by her uniform. It was a grey skirt, an orange shirt, and an orange belt that had an ‘N’ in the middle of it. Trenigan tower, the boarding school that Darrell was going to, was divided into four towers. The North, South, East, and West towers. Darrell was going to stay in the North tower. She was also taking her dog, Electra.

“Looking gorgeous Darrell,” expressed her mom, peeping from another room she was working in.

“Thanks mom,” replied Darrell, pleased and flamboyant enough that she looked good. “Mom, where’s dad. I didn’t see him since morning.”

“Oh! Dad’s rushed to office. He had some important project and he’s going to get five lakhs if he goes to Scotland.”

“It’s going to be a long journey for him from London.”

Chapter 2 : Off to Beautiful Trenigan Towers

Darrell became as silent as a mouse. She felt uneasy on glaring at girls roaming or looking for their friends. Some girls were big, some girls were small, and some were of Darrell’s age. Darrell almost jumped when she heard a frenzied voice, “are you Darrell Rivers from London,” questioned the lady with the frantic voice. She had a plump face with pimples all over it.

“Yes,” replied Darrell, not liking the way she looked

“This is not the place you have to sit in. every new child has to rush with me to the front of the compartment,” came another stern statement. Darrell was shocked. She didn’t want to sit with this depressing and ugly lady.

Darrell was totally quiet until a girl named Elizabeth sat next to her. “What’s your name,” Elizabeth asked.

“Darrell Rivers,” responded Darrell

“I’ve been here for four years and I know everything about Trinigan towers. You can take help from me if you want.”

“Thank you,” replied Darrell, pleased that she got a friend on her very first day.

Chapter 3 : In Miss Grayling’s Class

Darrell felt that the plump, golden haired Elizabeth was going to be a true friend to her. The girls were first supposed to give their birth certificate to their matron, then go to their dormitories, fresh up, and go to their first class on their first day. Darrell’s class had Miss Grayling’s class first. Thin, grey haired Miss Grayling, was wearing a bun on top of her head, and a black satin cloth with sequins all around it

Miss grayling was a strict Math teacher. On the first day, she introduced herself to the new girls, and asked them some oral questions in Math. After that, they played a game, and thus, class ended. Now it was breakfast, and the breakfast on the first and last day of school was fabulous. Today it was hot dogs and strawberry. After eating, the girls went to their dormitories, and were ready to attend the other classes. Thus, the day ended. The girls changed into their night suits and slept.

“Have a good sleep, and no whispering,” came a stern voice, which belonged to Miss Peters. Half the children, including Darrell, were fast asleep before Miss Peters could complete her sentence. The girls were really tired after their long journey and the classes they had.

“Goodnight, Miss Peters.”

“Wow, wow!” came a bark. Darrell realized that this bark belonged to Electra. No one heard it at first, but after sometime there was another barking noise “Wow, wow!”

Now, Miss Peters heard. She now smelled a rat. Were here ears right? Now Miss Peters saw the real object that made her flamboyant enough that there was a dog somewhere around her. That was the dog itself. Electra somehow released itself from the cage Darrell kept him in, and came rushing towards Miss Peters, and stood just in front of her.

“Aaaaa,” shouted Miss Peters, but stopped herself because she could wake up the other girls. Miss Peters hated animals, especially dogs. She was terrified by a dog that was grown by one of her students. But who? This question was running around her head at this very moment.

“Is it Elizabeth, Chaitra, Sonal, or someone else?” Miss Peters never thought about Darrell, who kept her dog in the small backpack her mother sent her on the first day she arrived. She sashayed around Electra once. She was literally pinching herself to confirm that she wasn’t dreaming. She really wanted to take this horrid dog to some stupid place and leave her there. “Oh! Why can’t I do that, I could just leave this trouble maker in the nearby Cabis Mountain, which is the most densest and wildest mountain in Alpine city.

Chapter 4 : Bye Bye Electra

Miss Peters took Electra with her and closed its mouth so it couldn’t bark. Electra was a trained dog, and it wouldn’t bite people until or unless they do something really harmful to her. Miss Peters crept as quiet as a mouse. Miss Peters took him in a tractor, which she borrowed from a shepherd living beside Trenigin towers. Electra lay unconscious. Once she reached Cebis Mountain, Miss Peters grabbed the poor little dog who was suffering from Miss Peters horribleness. Miss Peters roughly kept the small little dog into her jacket’s pocket.

Now, this pocket had a damage and Miss Peters never noticed that. Electra, who was curled up in the pocket, pushed itself onto the ground and fell with a ‘thud’. Miss Peters, who didn’t hear the ‘thud’, continued her way to the densest part of the mountain. After Miss Peters reached there, she shivered after looking at her empty pockets. “Was the dog a ghost to slip down like this from my pocket?” Suddenly, Miss Peters noticed the damage in her pocket and was scared now. What if a wild animal chewed her up? She began searching for it. She thought that the best way was to run back to Trenigan towers and pretend that she didn’t know anything.

She rushed back to Trenigan towers before the girls wake up, and felt a bit sick. She went to the matron who takes care of the people who were sick. The matron was shocked to see Miss Peters asking her to check her fever.

“Miss Peters, what happened? Why are you looking so worried?” the matron asked.

“Nothing matron, just tired,” Miss Peters replied, stopping herself from saying the word ‘dog’. The matron sashayed around to get these awful-tasting medicines, which Miss Peters was shocked to see.

Chapter 5 : Horrible Day for Darrell

By now, every girl in Trenigan woke up. Darrell was terribly disappointed by the disappearance of Electra. She searched about every single tiny space in the whole school, but she couldn’t find Electra. She started crying bitterly until Elizabeth came to comfort her. “Darrell, Electra must have been out playing or roaming somewhere.”

“No, it never went out without me,” cried Darrell.

“Then, I am... um, sure it’s kidnapped or something,” expressed Elizabeth thoughtfully.

“Shut up Elizabeth, everything will be fine,” warned a girl beside her.

“Darrell, I think you should express your disappointment with Miss Peters and then someone else,” suggested the other girl sitting beside Elizabeth.

“Fine,” replied Darrell, in a sad tone. Darrell knocked on Miss Peters door, and got no response. Darrell knocked once more, and there was no response again. Darrell saw matron coming her way. “Aa… matron, do you have any idea where Miss Peters is?”

“Miss Peters! She is in the sick bay, anything urgent?”

“Well matron, if you don’t mind, can you pass on to her that…,” Darrell told the whole story matron.

“Sure Darrell, if you find Electra, leave it in your house.”

“Thank you matron.”

By the time matron conveyed the message to Miss Peters, Darrell got to know the most horrible statement from Elizabeth. “Darrell, I heard that Miss Peters hates animals, especially dogs.” Darrell was terrified, “really? Do you think Miss Peters hid Electra somewhere?” Darrell asked, as Elizabeth looked at the gate. “Why are you looking at the gate.”

“Darrell, I know where Miss Peters could hide Electra.”
“Where?” asked Darrell, exited.
“Come on, let’s go.”

Chapter 6 : Investigation

Darrell and Elizabeth pushed themselves through the gate. They gave a sigh of relief that no one saw them. Elizabeth took Darrell to the Cebis Mountain.

“Here? On a mountain? But why?”

“Darrell, I just don’t know the reason, but I just think so because she only knows this place nearby. Even her daughter stays at Trenigin towers.” They started investigating all over the mountain. “Hey Darrell, look I see a hut.” Darrell saw a small but beautiful hut on the top of the mountain. “Let’s go and ask the people living there.” They went and knocked on the door.

An old woman opened the door “may I help you?”

“Did you see a small white dog that had soft white fur on her body?”

“Do you mean this?” she asked, gesturing at Electra.

“Electra!” Darrell screamed joyfully.

“Wow, wow,” barked Electra. Darrell carefully took from the old women, when she suddenly saw Miss Peters rushing down the lane.

“Darrell, Electra, how on Earth did you get in here?”

“Miss Peters, Elizabeth brought me here.” Miss Peters glared at Elizabeth. She turned the other way. “Miss Peters, why did you do this to my dog?”

“Darrell, I know I acted foolish just because I don’t like dogs. From now on I won’t harm dogs. From now on, I’ll look at dogs like my friends. Come on, let’s eat some chocolate chip cookies with a strong cup of tea.”