Chapter One - Aria's POV

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My heart beats like a thousand African drums and my breath is white cloud in the frosty air. My head pounds and I turn around. Someone following me. I know it. I feel it.
The night air bites my skin in the lonely alley way. If anyone knew what I was doing...
I've always been the quiet girl at the back of the class. I follow the rules, listen to the teachers. The one no-one notices... But if I do this, people will know me.
If I get caught.
Calm down. I won't get caught.
The rain starts to pour and I pull my rain coat over my fragile shoulders. I run down the cobble stone with shaky knees. I'm scared. So scared. What if I'm caught? It would ruin me. I want to be a music therapist and help people. If I was caught... If I am caught...
I look up. At the end of the alley a small door awaits for me. The metal hinges are rusty and the smell form bins can't even be disguised by the damp heavy air. But the door. Creaking those rusty hinges could change me forever.
The storm takes a turn for the worse as lightening cracks behind me. I jump when the thunder booms. My bones rattle in the cold and I know there is no time for self doubt. I'll freeze out here.
I sprint across the slippery ground. I fall suddenly and groan, bumping my head. My hood fell off too and the leaking sky soaks my hair.
Great.
I squint my blue-green eyes and rush for the door. I swing it open and shut it behind me. I slide down the metal door and shiver.
Ahead of me is the abandoned warehouse. Rows and rows of shelves in front are filled with emptiness. I sniff. It echoes in the silence.
The rain outside batters the tin roof and I creep inside. Under the noise of the rain are quiet clacks. Like footsteps. I freeze. I can't get caught.
I'm only doing this for my friend. My only friend. She died two years ago after being in a terrible incident. That incident is kept quiet...
I here them again. The footsteps echo.
"Hello?" I croak.
I become jelly-like and freeze. My vision is blurry and I can't focus. Oh, how I hate my nerves!
I shake like a baby rattle and the footsteps get louder. I hear them so clearly.
"Hello?" In almost a whisper.
They stop. Whoever is here has stopped moving but I don't think in fear.
I can't deal with this. I'm not strong enough. Mentally and physically. I'm basically as strong as the off jelly sticks from my school canteen.
I ignore whoever might be there and look away. Homeless probably come here for shelter. Back to business.
I head down the aisles. So many aisles. People will think I'm crazy if they knew what was happening. I must find her journal.
It holds all the records in her life. She basically wrote as she walked. Everything she saw, heard and thought. It was like a recording of her on paper.
Her name is India, by the way. She was the most beautiful and inspiring girl you'll ever meet. India was bullied all the way up to year eight an abused by everyone at school. But she smiled. After the incident...
No one cared but me.
I will find her journal. I know this is illegals but I've been looking for a year and a half and its my last resort. A private and illegal detective.
I come from a rich family who won't miss a few hundred bucks a week. The workaholic deserve it. Dad is always with another younger woman and mum is travelling for work like a bird during migration.
I pull a yellow envelope from out of my pocket and put at the end of the seventh aisle.
The footsteps start again. It echoes in the room like a deadly gas. Then I hear a smash and shivers spread across my spine. It's glass breaking. An alarm goes off and I freeze again. No no no. His can't be happening. What have I done? What is happening?
I shake my head and breath. My feet come back to life and I sprint to the exit with my hod covering my face. I run and run.
Suddenly I run into something.
Someone.
I look up. I know that face.
Those blues eyes and sculptured eyebrows. She stares at me with her blond hair outlining her smooth face. She goes to my school. No time to think. We both head in our own direction and I ran out of the warehouse like a gazelle for its life. I don't turn back and ignore the police sirens.
Tomorrow I will go back to school like nothing has happening. I will walk into the school yard, sit alone and attended classes like a normal.

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A/N
So this book is written by three friends and we are all really excited!!! Thanks for reading the first chapter!!!! Each of us write from a particular perspective. I obviously write from Aria's POV. We hoped you liked it!! Comment what you thought and read on to find out about who the girl in the warehouse was!!! ✌🏻️
Thanks
The writers

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