Once upon a story

Chapter Nine

The walk home was a quick one due to the thoughts that swirled around my head. I felt so engulfed in what I was thinking about that I had waited ten minutes outside of my garden gate before I realised I was home. When the familiar door swung open to reveal the empty house I was overcome with waves of loneliness. This was not the first time I had been home alone for the night but it just felt wrong tonight, I wanted to be distracted from what had happened in the forest but instead I was left to my own thoughts. The kitchen looked bare when I walked through the door due to not having been used for a few hours so the usual smell of food wasn’t there to calm me.

Although the clock explained that it was nearly morning I had the desperate need to cook some sort of food product. Preferably sweet. I pull out the dog-eared baking book that had been sitting in the houses of my family for years and flicked through to find a quick recipe, finally selecting a plain biscuit that I could add extras to during the preparation.

For the next hour I made biscuits and did not once think about the forest which had been the centre of my thoughts for weeks. I busied away adding weird things to the mix such a soft sweets, chocolate drops and small cuts of carrot and orange. The final product looked stupid as I pushed the tray into the oven and set the timer. The next stage in my evening was to look back at the prints that I had followed through the forest. Pulling out my sketchbook I tried not to dwell on the image of Toff on the most recent page and instead found the print and its comparison, the estimated results were that the print was about 38cm in length and 20cm in width, the depth of the print was 12cm. This only gave me more proof that the animal was huge.

Soon enough the timer went off and I walked toward the oven. As I reached down to open the door I peered out the window to see the beam of a torch coming from a few houses over before it faded into nonexistence. The likelihood was that there was a party going on but the idea that someone was up at this time seemed strange, I shrugged off the feeling and continued to pull out the tray containing my work.

Suddenly a searing pain erupted in my head and I looked down to see that I wasn’t wearing any gloves; the next step seemed to happen in slow motion. My fingers uncurled from their grip on the tray seemingly one by one before it fell down, without thinking I pushed out my leg in some weird attempt to catch the burning metal on my socked foot and it worked. I stared down at what had just happened in wonder, before pulling on the gloves and putting the biscuits on the cooling rack. I pulled off the gloved and pushed my supposedly burnt hand under the cold water of the sink. Once the pain had stopped I pulled my hand from the stream and watched as the scars disappeared slowly from each of my fingers and then my palm. I continued to stare at my hand, turning it over slowly before rubbing my now tired eyes. The fast healing and the better reaction time were beginning to really freak me out and somewhere in the back of my mind I compared how it all started when I began investigating the forest. 

By now my food was that perfect, just cooked, temperature so I loaded them all onto a plate and pushed everything else into the dishwasher. My room was slightly too warm when I walked in so I pushed open my window before closing my curtains and putting on my nightwear. Then I tucked myself in bed with the plate and a huge glass of milk and began to devour the food resting on my lap.

My eyes felt heavy and my stomach was full so I placed the plate and glass on the floor beside my bed in readiness of the sleep I needed. That night my dream was different. I was the worse I had experienced in these past few weeks and that is really saying something. It just felt so real. nd watched as teh  fore pulling on the gloves and putting the biscuts on teh

A tingling sensation started from my toes and slowly covered my body, once it had reached my head I couldn't move any of my limbs, I could only see dark shadows moving around my eye lids and my calm breathing was all that I could hear. My breathing got faster as the tingling turned into burning. The fire flooding through my skin creating searing hot flames but there was nothing I could do to save myself. As the fire began to build up over my heart and head my limbs started moving of their own accord, stretching and arching, each movement sent another burst of pain through me. I could no longer hear my breathing over the screams that had been emitted from my mouth. My throat was on fire and I choked on sounds which caused my voice started to waver and grow quieter.

Just when all I could hear was my breathing once more the pain stopped and I shot straight up in my bed. Drenched in sweat and in a tangle of covers I steadied my breathing before I threw off my covers and fell from my bed in an attempt to reach the shower. This time the pain flooding my right arm was real, I looked down to see the now smashed glass embedding in my skin. With a deep breath I pulled out the shards and dropped them onto my counter, each one brought a new wave of pain shooting through me which meant that I kept my mouth firmly closed so that I didn’t scream.

I walked cradling my arm into the bathroom and climbed into the shower. The cool water that splashed over my body would normally have cleared my mind but this time I couldn't forget the burning that had felt so real. "I was just a dream" I yelled to no one in particular. I turned the water off and got into another pair of PJs. As I pulled the vest top over my head I touched my right arm, although there were clear cuts in my flesh each had scarred over to look at least a week old. My matted wet hair was quickly swept back into a bun on the top of my head. Little pieces of hair fell down and made me look like a fool but only my family would see me so I didn't care.

I looked back at my bed, considering sleep but I no longer felt tired so instead I switched on my laptop. I wasn't sure what I was doing but I got up social network and searched for Toff. Thousands of entries came up but none were the green eyed boy that had walked me through the forest. For some reason I felt desperate to find him, I needed comfort from the dream last night and in my over tired state the only seemingly logical relief was to find a picture of him.

I remember one time when Georgie rang me up early in the morning and screamed down the phone in frantic giggles to just tell me that Kallum had accepted her friend request. I think she attempted to continue the conversation but due to the time I feel back asleep with my phone clasped in my hand.

Reopening the tab I searched easily for Georgie and began to look through her friends list to find Kallum. Once his profile appeared I clicked on and considered pressing the bright button labelled ‘friend request’ but decided against it, instead I just flicked through his scarily easy to access photos for one of Toff but I was out of luck with his more recent ones. I reached for another biscuit and bit into it, getting the chewy jelly sweets and the crunch of carrots in one take. After a while of searching I began to have the nagging feeling that screamed vague stalker and decided to just give up. I clicked on my last photo and shrugged before going to close the tab only then did I do a double take.

I had finally found what I was looking for in one of his first pictures, it was him and the others who he gets a lift to school with. The weird thing is his smile isn't fake and his stance isn't cocky. Kallum looks like a completely different person when he is around those people. I stared at the photo for a long time and tried to find a connection between all of the people present that wasn’t just they get a lift to school together. I was surprised to see each of them, although varying in height and general body shape, looked toned and were standing perfectly straight without seeming uncomfortable. As it was a young picture none of them had full muscles but each showed clear training, perhaps it was some sort of sports team. Before I realise how odd I'm being I print off the photo. I silently creep downstairs to get it out of the printer.  Although the house was completely empty I felt as if I needed to be silent and not draw attention to myself. Once the photo had completed its printing and the warm paper was present in my hand I turned and made my way back upstairs.

A noise caught my attention; it was coming from the garden. My first guess was that it was a cat or a fox but then the crashing got louder. Mustering all my courage I pulled on a jumper that hung from the banister and pushed the paper deep into my pocket before I made my way to the door.

The key was in the lock and the door opened easily. I stared blindly out into the dark garden but I couldn't see much but the strange quietness of the outside world made me unable to just reach out and turn on a light. Suddenly a torch beam shone out of the gloom and centred on to me, I momentarily lost my sight and raised my palms in attempted to block it. Hands roughly grabbed mine from my face and I heard a click as the door was shut behind me. I attempted to turn and grab onto the door or its handle but a solid grip held me in place. Before I even thought to fight back something was tied over my eyes and I felt more people grab hold of me. I was being dragged away from my home. They did nothing to stop my screams.