Maddy woke up in the kitchen, feeling dizzy; her eyelids were heavy and the yellow cupboards seemed to be staring at her. She let out a soft yawn, rubbing her sore eyes with her hands, and then glanced at the clamorous clock on the wall, which was cheerfully moving its hands, making that annoying clicking sound that she hated so much. That clock was as old as time - how ironic - yet it was still alive and kicking.
Unfortunately.
It was 8am.
"Shoot!" Maddy cursed under her breath and jerked up, pushing the chair she was sitting on backwards in a hasty move.
She glared at the round table in front of her, the one where her head was resting only a few seconds ago, as if it was its fault that she had fallen asleep. Tons of papers filled with notes of her illegible handwriting and piles of books and notebooks were lazily lying on its surface.
In other words, a lot of unfinished work.
She let out a somewhat weird growl, then ran to her room upstairs to wear her school uniform: a white shirt, blue navy skirt, that awful sweater that made her back itch and her dirty pair of Oxfords.
Rushing down the stairs, she was still pulling her socks up to her knees, which turned out to be a terrible idea.
She tripped and fell, tumbling down the stairs like a ball.
Ouch! OUCH! Dammit!
Hoping she hadn't woken her mum up, who was carelessly snoring in her bedroom, Maddy groaned. She quickly got up trying to ignore the pain and stormed the kitchen, grabbed her backpack, threw all of her stuff in it pell-mell, stole a peanut butter cupcake with caramel glaze from the counter and flew to the door, when she heard a sound resounding across the hall.
Is that the TV?
A frown took over her expression as she strode into the living room, biting the edge of that mouthwatering cupcake in her right hand. Yes, the curved screen of the TV was lit, random images popping up and a distant voice drifting to Maddy's ears from the speakers.
"... another outbreak of the highly infectious disease which initially escaped the laboratory in London... the virus seems to be spreading like wildfire all over the globe, wiping out millions of people in its path..." Maddy picked up the remote from the faded black couch to turn on the volume, completely absorbed by the lady's colourless, robotic-like voice on the news. "... scientists have been struggling to find a cure for months now, yet it seems like the vaccine is our only lifeline in these difficult times, according to the Federation of Remedial Organisations and Scientific Testing..."
Just then, a piercing beep-beep ripped through the air, taking Maddy out of her trance with a startled jump.
The girl turned off the TV and dug her hands inside the front pocket of her backpack to fish her mobile phone out. The same old notification was flashing on the cracked screen: low battery.
Great, I'm out of battery. Again. The thought was accompanied by a sigh through gritted teeth. Wait, what time is it?
It was already 8:15.
Crap!
And Maddy ran out of the house to get to the station.
***
Her head was slightly tilting towards the window as she was slouching in the uncomfortable seat of the bus. It was almost empty in there - the rich kids of her school were too spoiled to ever take the bus. Her high school, a living hell as she used to call it, was full of those types of students whose daddy is a millionaire. After all, she was the only senior student to be studying there with a scholarship.
YOU ARE READING
Smells Like Winter
Science Fiction"Don't touch me, your hands are cold." Maddy Wesley was your typical 17-year-old high school student, a wallflower with excellent grades, a good taste for vanilla ice cream and a normal, somewhat dull life. Until a virus broke out. A virus that brou...
