Penzance

Chapter 1

The early morning light broke through the blinds on the window and danced across my closed eyelids. It couldn't be morning already! It feels as though I had just fallen asleep. Once again I have spent my night tossing and turning with strange dreams. This had been happening for over a week now, but I just assumed it was my mind and anxiety running overtime with my final exams and the end of the school year. I could never remember what my dreams were about, just that I was beyond thirsty and felt emotionally and physically drained in the morning.

It's the last day of my freshman year of high school and I can't wait for it to be over. Tomorrow I will be sitting on the beach at our new summer cottage on Cape Cod not having to worry about homework, tests, the social snake pit of high school, and the lingering feeling that I would never fit in. Plus I will be celebrating my sixteenth birthday sitting in the sand soaking up the sun. I just needed to get through today. Just one more day Coraline, you can do it!

Sitting up I reach over for my water bottle and guzzle down the remaining water. I swing my feet off the bed and onto the cool wooden floor, stand up and try to stretch the sleepiness away. Nope, still tired. I pull on denim shorts, a red tee shirt & slip into my flip flops before pulling my long brown hair up into a messy bun. No need to dress up for the last day of school. I quickly brush my teeth, pocket my iPhone and grab my messenger bag before running down the stairs to the kitchen.

"Morning C," says my older sister Alison in between a gulp of coffee and a spoonful of cereal. "I'm leaving in 5. I don't want to be late!"

"Ok ok!" I reply as I reach for a mug to fill with coffee.

"Girls, we're leaving early tomorrow morning so please have all bags packed tonight and by the front door. Your father would like to be on the road by 8 so we can avoid some of the Friday summer traffic heading over the bridge." My mother sets my morning medication down in front of me and squeezes my shoulder.

With just a wave, Ali heads out the door and to the car. I gulp down my coffee along with my medication and grab a banana to eat in the car. "Bye mom! Love you!" I shout as I grab my bag and hurry out the door after Alison.

The last day of school is busy with final exams, signing yearbooks, and the chatter of summer plans. Around lunch, I feel as though the day is never going to end and the very familiar daily knot in my stomach starts to tighten. I kept myself busy by cleaning out my locker, finishing my exams, and making summer plans with friends. Before heading to my last class of the day, I make my routine stop in the bathroom to splash some water onto my face hoping it would help my increasing anxiety. The sleepless nights, anxiety, and knot in my stomach seem to be getting worse every day even though the medication I take is supposed to be helping. I haven't said anything to my parents yet, figuring it will ease up once I am out of school and relaxing on the beach. At least I hope it will, otherwise I will not be sitting on the beach, but instead in a doctor's office.

I bend over to pick up my bag when all of a sudden it felt as though someone had just ripped my gut in two. The pain was beyond anything I had ever felt before. I dropped to my knees and doubled over from the excruciating pain. I clenched my teeth and closed my eyes until I felt the pain slowly subsiding. I leaned back against the cool white tiled bathroom wall and kept my eyes closed hoping nobody would come in and see me like this. The next thing I remember were voices calling my name.

"Coraline! Coraline Goodwin! Can you hear me?" A voice was shouting in the distance. "She's not responding! Someone call 911!"

I can hear the urgency in this person's voice, but I can not figure out where it was coming from. I find myself standing in an endless white room. The voice is coming from every direction. I begin to panic. I must be dreaming. I pinch my arm figuring it will jolt me back to reality, but it didn't, it just hurt. What the hell is going on? Am I dead? Wake up Coraline wake up!

All of a sudden the white canvas in front of me begins filling in with color and it reveals a dark room with wood-paneled walls lined with bookshelves filled with books. I turn my head to look around the room. In one corner tucked between more bookcases is a large black piano. The other end of the room is filled with matching deep red velvet sofas and chairs. All of a sudden the double doors at the other end of the room swing open and two older men appear engrossed in a deep conversation. Figuring they would want to know who I am and why I might be standing in their library, I rush and hide behind one of the heavy red velvet curtains that cover the floor-to-ceiling windows.

"With the summer season about to commence, there will be a generous amount of fresh blood to go around, and you know what that will mean."

"Unwelcome visitors?"

"Hmmmm. Our yearly summer meeting must be held as soon as possible before families arrive. Penzance must be ready this year for any unwelcome arrivals."

"Agreed Cornelious! I will put the word out today."

The men shook hands and made their way back through the doors. I came out from behind the curtains just as the library walls began melting around me as if I were inside a watercolor painting. I'm once again in the endless white room with disembodied voices swimming all around me.

"Help!" I scream out into the void, not knowing what else to do.

"Coraline! Coraline Goodwin! Can you hear me?" A voice calls out.

"I have a pulse!" Announced another voice.

The white room began to spin and close in on me. The voices swirling around my head. All I can do is shut my eyes tight in hopes that I will wake up. As quickly as everything happened, it all stopped. I open my eyes to the brown discolored ceiling of the school bathroom and the face of a paramedic.

"Hi there Coraline, I'm Joe. Stay still you've fainted and we will be taking you to the hospital to get you checked out. Does anything hurt?" asked the paramedic.

I recognize the paramedic's voice as the one from the white room. I shake my head no to nothing hurting. As the paramedic explains what is going to happen next and that my parents will meet me at the hospital, my mind drifts back to what I had just been through. I realize I can remember everything as opposed to my nightly dreams. Something about that library seemed strangely familiar as if I had been there before, which of course was impossible. Even the men seemed familiar. Where had I heard the name Cornelious before?

A stretcher is brought into the bathroom with my name on it. I beg the paramedics and principal to let me walk out of school on my own, but they all disagree. Here I am leaving school on the last day via stretcher and ambulance. I'm sure stories about what happened are already spreading through the school like wildfire. I will have to text Kate and Sam later to find out what everyone is saying. This is not exactly how I pictured the last day of my freshman year.

My mind is elsewhere during the ambulance ride. What are mom and dad going to say? Will they be angry that I didn't tell them sooner how I've been feeling? Will I still be able to go to the Cape tomorrow? What did that man mean by generous amounts of fresh blood? What is wrong with me? Am I going crazy? I must be! What else could it be?