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CHAPTER ONE
i. trust your gut
With the bell ring, kids flooded out into the hall, prancing to the blue double doors to race their way home. Juniper slung the strap of her bag over her shoulder. Without saying good bye to her teacher, walked out into the hallway. She walked through the empty corridor with leaves wafting in through the windows , out into the streets.
Walking home, the sky had already turned a shade of grey & the clouds tainted in a thick paste. Juniper took her time walking home, knowing her parents weren't home to worry about her distance. It began to pour, as small droplets of rain formed puddles on the cement.
Juniper stuck her tongue out like a little kid and pointed it up to the sky, closing her eyes, as she felt the water strike her face. She looked around the street. No cars passed by, all the windows of homes were blind closed. She looked behind her to meet with her old partner in her science class, Finney.
He smiled at her, so she did too. She stopped walking as the boy caught up with her. He raised the umbrella in his hands to cover her head.
" where is Gwen?", she had asked him.
She continued to look up at the sky as he replied. " Today's Friday. She had this weekly sleepover with one of her friends", he explained.
" Every Friday?"
" yup.", he fidgeted with a toy rocket in his free hand
The rain began to calm it's storm. The kids continued to walk in comfortable silence as the remainders of rain hit the top of Finney's umbrella.
The kids stopped in their tracks as a loud crash came from the side of a black van. A pale man with crinkled greasy hair & a black hat on his head had two ripped bags on the tips of his fingers with the rest of his groceries falling on the ground.
" oh my!", he laughed.
" clumsy me"., the man exaggerated.
" do you need help, sir?", Finney encouraged
" would you mind passing me my hat?", he asked as he continued to gather the things off the floor.
Finney took the hat off the ground and set the hat on the man's hat.
" Would you two like to see a magic trick?", he smiled
" sure.", Finney looked over to Juniper who bit her lip.
you okay?, he mouthed
"why do you have black balloons in your van?", Juniper blurted out. She had this icky feeling down in her gut. She tried drowning it down, but it wouldn't go away.
"let me show you something", he ignored her question and signaled her to come closer.
Juniper slowly walked towards the pale man. As she was close enough, he held his hand against her neck and shoved her in the van, hitting her head against the floor. Finney began to yell for help, but the man sprayed a disgusting compound on his face, burning his throat and eyes.
Juniper felt dizzy as she felt the man on top of her and strangle her neck, letting no air in. She kicked and yelled, as she banged her arms against the metal floor.
" he can't save you now. ", the man chuckled
He hovered his hand over her face. He had a white wash cloth in his hand as he put it in her mouth. She felt as if she were loosing her soul. Her eyes were rolling in the back of her head. She felt the door shut, and soon the vibration of the car moving.
She couldn't feel anything anymore .
She went numb.
Her indecisive gut reading was to blame, surely.
❛ MIRROR ON THE WALL, TELL ME ALL THE WAYS TO STAY AWAY ❜
