Enchanted [ON HOLD]

Chapter 3

     Something was tickling my leg. "Oomph!" A soft groan escaped my lips involuntarily.

     "Oh!" I exclaimed, sitting up straight the moment my brain had taken in my surroundings. It was green everywhere. I was in a sort of very dense hedge, and the bushes was weird - rough and itchy at the same time. It took me a while to realise that a toilet could not have this much leaves and branches.

     "If this is a trick played by Laetitia or Troy or someone else, I'll murder them," I muttered, choosing to stand up and look around now.

     All around me, life was very much thriving. It looked as if I was right smack in the middle of some forest where the trees were so huge I couldn't possibly reach a quarter of the way around the trunk of the smallest one I saw. Which meant that either I was in a very, very lush toilet or... The city I'd lived in for seventeen years just could not disappear in the matter of a few seconds. This was so wrong, I needed to get back home quickly. 

     I looked around my surroundings, hoping to find a clue about my whereabouts. Nothing helpful, nothing suspicious, but all greenery. Glancing down at my denim shorts, I could have sworn that I was wearing a dress to the party. No way I could have changed out of it unless someone helped me? 

     Fishing out my iPhone from my back pocket, I noticed that the phone seemed to be switched off. Even holding the lock button for a few seconds did not turn it on.

     "Blasted phone," I muttered.

     I turned around, walking straight through the hedge. But to my utmost horror, the hedge refused to part. It should have been easy, seeing as the hedge barely reached up to my neck.

     "Ow!" Instead, I swore a branch had reached out and pricked my exposed thighs.

     "This is insane, I can't walk through a stupid hedge?" I cried. Once again, I walked right up to the edge of the hedge, and pushed my way through with all my might.

     It stayed as firm as a rock.

     "Argh! You - " I screamed, red welts were already beginning to form on my arms. A hedge! I couldn't walk through a darned hedge!

     I kicked the bushes with my stiletto heels, but it didn't even do any damage to it. All that happened was the rustling of the leaves. And if I didn't know better, I would say the rustling sounded malignant to my ears.

     I was going crazy, I was sure of it.

     Defeated, I slumped down on the grass. How could I do back home when I could not even get past a hedge?

     Before the first tear could fall from my eyes - Charlie Woollerton never cried! - I noticed a gooey feeling between my toes. Like someone had placed a blob of slime between my first and second toe.

     I glanced down and saw, on my foot, in my white heels, a black worm. Except that worms weren't carnivorous because blood was dripping down my toes. Shrieking at the top of my lungs, I pulled of my heels and shook my leg vigorously. I could not believe my eyes, a leech was sucking my blood!

     "Help! Get it off me!" I hollered as loud as I could, startling nearby birds as they flew off. This was absolutely gross and horrifying.

     Whimpering like a helpless puppy, I eyeballed the leech that was still sucking my blood like it hadn't drunk for weeks. "Oh my gosh, someone help me, please," I moaned. "My blood is getting drained by a vampire. Help..."

     Soft muffling sounds emerged from my lips, I would never touch that thing, not even if it drained my blood!

     I was still sobbing, when I heard footsteps approaching the hedge. Relieved, I looked up and saw a boy around my age peering into the circle of bushes I was in.