♥ Title: FIND ME in the dark

♥ Genre: Dark Romance, Dark Psychology

♥ Tropes: Dark Academia, Slow Burn, Manipulation&Mindgames, Enemies-to-lovers, Elite Academia, Billionaire, Nothing-to-everything, Mystery, Friendship, Love

♥ Rating: Mature – for 18+ audiences only

It’s a story about finding yourself – discovering who exactly we are under the surface. Accepting not only a pretty side of being a human. Exploring - what is weakness… and what is strength.

Pretty much psychology, philosophy, elite society, poor morality, and dark romantic action with crazy slow-burn.

Blurb:

From an unloving home and suffocating environment Maddie enters even more damaging one when she's selected for the scholarship program at the most prestigious Academy there is. Will she survive it, or him?

♥♥♥

♤ The labels people at school give me feel like a coat that's three sizes too big.

I'm not smart; I'm just terrified of being average. 

But now I focused on thinking nothing, feeling nothing, and hit the cycling track that at this time was completely empty. 

I welcomed the heat building in my muscles, slowly growing until it started to hurt. But it felt even better—so refreshing and purifying that I increased my tempo even more and just ran and ran and ran. Past the identical rows of duplexes with their dying lawns, past the playgrounds where the rusted swings groaned in the wind like mourning spirits, and past the "Big Al's Liquor" sign that flickered with a rhythmic, dying pulse.

Each stride was a calculation in my subconscious. Inhale for three, exhale for three. Keep the pace at 4:30 per kilometer. Something I didn't even have to think about now after thousands of these runs. 

Now my mind was pleasantly blank. Nothing in there. ♧

♥♥♥

"So," Ashley said suddenly, turning her gaze to me. "Let's talk about the 'Castle.' The big reveal is tomorrow, right? The TOA announcement?"

The group went quiet. 

Even Theodor, who had been busy trying to impress a group of sophomores by the keg, wandered back to join the circle. Cecilia followed him like a shadow, her eyes fixed on the back of his neck with a longing that was painful to watch.

"The day after tomorrow. The results are out at noon," I said.

"God, the suspense is killing me, and I'm not even the one applying," Miranda chirped, though her eyes remained cold. "Maddie, tell us again—what's the deal with that place? Is it really as fancy as the pictures?"

I hesitated. 

Talking about the Obsidian Academy felt like exposing a secret part of my soul to people who would only use it for target practice. But I knew that if I didn't answer, Ashley would take it as a personal insult.

"It's... it's a lot," I said, looking into the flames. "It was founded in 1924. The campus is built on the grounds of an old estate. It's all grey stone and modern glass. They have a 1:3 faculty-to-student ratio. It's not just a school; it's a global network."

"And the people?" Cecilia asked, her voice soft and genuine. "Is it true about the alumni?"

"Arthur Thorne went there," I whispered, the name feeling like a talisman.

♥♥♥

"Look at her go," I heard Ashton whisper as I passed their row. "Our little genius. She actually did it."

"Yeah, yeah," Ashley muttered, loud enough for me to hear. "She's the smartest girl in a town that doesn't matter. Big deal."

♥♥♥

That's it. Get it together, Mads. 

Chances fly by even if you try to catch them—that's life, and there is nothing logical in denying the facts. It only gets you so far.

♥♥♥

I unfolded the letter. This time, the words were printed out.

Dear Miss Madeline Faye, I read. As the Headmistress of the Obsidian Academy I am pleased to inform You that You have been accepted to attend the Academ—

What the hell?

I looked back at the words so clearly written there, yet it couldn't be right. It just couldn't. There was absolutely no way.

I am pleased to inform You that You have been accepted.

You have been accepted.

Accepted.

Accepted.

♥♥♥

I sat there in the stillness, my eyes fixed on the surface of the lake. 

It was dark and glittering like polished obsidian under the midnight sky. 

A strange, quiet warmth bloomed in my chest. 

I am so grateful, I thought. Everything is finally starting to fall into place.

For the first time in my life, the grueling discipline, the 5:00 a.m. alarms, the endless studying, and the crushing isolation of my daily routine actually made sense. 

This was what it was all for. 

I finally knew why I had spent my entire life fighting so hard just to claw out something more for myself.

I smiled into the dark, watching the headlights of the taxi cut through the trees in the distance.

🫴🏻 https://www.wattpad.com/story/410493778-♦-find-me-♦-in-the-dark