The Before and After Project (An Emblem3 Fanfiction)

Chapter 29

Gabby’s POV:

I could feel myself stirring gently in my sleep. The arm that hung over the couch twitched involuntarily as my body slowly started to wake itself up. My mind on the other hand was silently protesting, begging for another couple minutes of pure paradise. I was literally drowning in my own fatigue right now. Please just another 5 minutes, I begged my body.

I rolled over on the couch, subconsciously curling into the cushions that were pressed up tightly against my body. Everything was peaceful in my house right now. I was alone, and enjoying every second of it. The gentle hum of the TV was no longer there as I had just managed to turn it off before I fell into a deep slumber. Everything was perfect except for this annoying tapping noise which was distracting my mind from sleeping.

Tap. I groaned inwardly. Just go away! I grumbled to myself.

Tap. There it was again, it didn’t sound like the ticking of a clock, yet that was all I could compare it to right now. It almost sounded as if it was coming from upstairs. I knew I should go check it out to see what it was, but right now all I wanted to do was sleep. I pulled the cushion out from under me and wrapped it around my ears, trying to stop the dreadful sound from reaching my ears.

I sighed in relief as the annoying tapping noise came to a stop. My mind slowly started to drift off again, exhaustion overruling me once more.

SMASH!

My body flew bolt upright, clutching the cushion to my chest in fear. That was the sound of a window smashing, my body froze as my breathing caught in my throat. PLEASE don’t tell me that’s a burglar, I pleaded silently. I wanted to stay frozen to the spot, just pretend like I was dreaming. But no, I was that stupid girl in the horror films that has to go check things out.

My brain was begging me to stay put, to just remain silent and not get myself killed, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to sleep with the prospect of a burglar being in my house. Why oh why did I choose not to stay at Laraine’s tonight?! At least then I’d have both Wes and Keaton to protect me and I could just cower in the corner with Laraine.

I cautiously got up from the couch, trying to make as little a sound as possible, but believe me, when you are scared, everything sounds like a lion roaring. I cringed as the TV remote fell onto the floor, making a loud thump on the ground. I was about to pick it up, but then decided against it, I was more intrigued by the rustling going on upstairs.

Okay I wasn’t exactly intrigued, more like scared beyond belief. Why couldn’t I have been born a man?! At least they would have a higher chance of surviving in this type of situation. Whereas with me, I had the arm strength of a stick, I had no chance whatsoever. As I walked slowly towards my staircase I realised that I was still clutching my cushion to my chest. Well…since I didn’t have a baseball bat handy this would have to do. Oh who am I kidding?! I’m sure the burglar would love to have a pillow fight with me!

I crept up the stairs, doing everything in my power to not stumble and trip over. I didn’t want to make a louder noise than I already had. I started to tremble as I heard shuffling coming from my room. My room?! So in other words if I had have slept up in my room like a normal person I could’ve been slaughtered in seconds?! Good to know…

“SHIT!” the person cursed in a gruff voice, something about the way they said it told me they were panicking about something. It slightly eased my worry that they were panicked as well. All I was hoping was that when they killed me they weren’t going to be fumbling around and would just get it over with quickly.

“I have a cushion and I’m not afraid to use it!” I warned, knots were officially twisting in my stomach as soon as the words left my mouth. GREAT, now I was officially the idiot girl in the horror movies that said the stupid things before getting killed. The person in my room suddenly became silent, making the knots twist tighter in my stomach. If this wasn’t a dire situation right now I probably would’ve puked my guts out.