The Beginning Of The End

Chapter 1: Annabelle

I wake up in a cold sweat. For a second, I'm unaware of my surroundings. The room has blue walls, with a ton of posters (Foreigner, AC/DC, Pink Floyd, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, just to name a few) spread across them. The spotless floors are wooden and look freshly polished. There's a dresser on the far end of the room, with neatly stacked clothes resting on top. There's a familiar white door with a metal handle in the corner. Oh right, I crashed in Daniel's room last night. The party last night must have gotten really out of hand if I'm here again. Good old Daniel, always looking out for me. We've been best friends since first grade, ever since he saved me from a group of kids pushing me around on the playground. They were making fun of me because I brought a Super Man lunchbox to school. I've never really fit in with the other girls at my school; they were always obsessed with Barbie's and Polly Pockets, while I've been more into Spider Man and Pokémon. I think that's why Daniel and I get along so well, our interests are the same, and he's never been embarrassed to have a girl best friend. He always takes care of me on those nights when I completely lose control. They became more frequent when my mom died, so because of this I believe he's been cutting me some slack. Yet he still protects me at all costs. He's like the brother I never had.

Last night's events slowly start coming back to me. It's still fuzzy, but I remember kissing a guy I don't know, watching some idiots fall down a set of stairs, and setting a new personal record of how drunk I have become. I feel something missing from my memory, like a scratched disc that skips over a scene from a movie. It feels like there's something that happened, something big, that I can't quite recall. The last thing I can picture from last night is being roughly shoved out the door onto the hard, cold sidewalk. Who would be rude enough to shove me out the door when there were others at the party acting far more wild than me? Or could I have truly been the craziest person at the party? No matter if I was or was not, something feels off.

I'm probably just being paranoid; I mean who knows what I did last night? I could've hit my head and imagined everything. From what I do clearly remember, I didn't see Daniel last night at all. I know this has to be real because when I go to parties he never lets me out of his sight, probably so he knows when he needs to reign me in again. He lets me have my fun though, and I'm extremely grateful for it. Why am I in his room if he wasn't even there? But why wouldn't he be there? He simply does not let me go to parties alone, and for good reason. I take a second look around the room. Everything seems normal enough. There isn't a speck of dust to be seen in the room. I bet if you put on a white glove and ran your hand along the floor it would come off even cleaner than it had been before. I gaze at the posters spread across the walls. When I get to his favorite poster, the one Angus Young from AC/DC signed when he saw them in concert, memories flood into my mind. I remember the summer of sophomore year; he had just been to the concert in Australia the previous night and was showing me all the stuff he got. He had bought an AC/DC shirt, bracelet, sweatshirt, and poster. Daniel was especially excited about his poster because not only did he get it signed; he had a story to go along with it. When pretty much everyone had left, he went back to the stage. He's always had this crazy dream of being the lead guitarist in a rock band. He wants to tour the world and have fans watching his every move. I always joke that he'd be the worlds cleanest and most polite rockstar,and that people would question his ability until he totally blew them away with his sheer power of rock. But Daniel's just strange like that. I mean, who would actually want people to stalk them? The whole idea gives me the creeps. Anyways, when Daniel went back to the stage, he noticed a single electric guitar still there. It was plugged into the amp, and he claims he 'just couldn't resist playing a song.' He said he was just picturing a roaring crowd cheering him on. When he was finished, he heard a slow clap coming from behind him. Daniel whipped around, and saw that Angus Young had been watching him the whole time.

"Holy shit, I'm so sorry, I just couldn't resist playing when I saw your guitar just lying there...and I... I..."

"Relax, relax," Mr. Young had chuckled, "It's alright. But let me give you a piece of advice; don't ever give up playing. You've got real talent kid. You might just make it big one day."

"That means so much coming from you, sir," Daniel had choked out, "Would you mind, um...I don't know...signing my uh, poster?"

"Absolutely," the old man had smiled.

I was a little skeptical about his story at first, but Daniel is pretty trustworthy so I was super excited for him. I was so excited in fact, that I started jumping around and dancing. I stopped when Daniels face completely fell. When I turned around, I saw that I had ripped the poster practically in half. It was hanging by a thread. I had expected him to be seething mad, but he was on the verge of tears. I hate to admit it, but I started crying and apologizing until he gave in and hugged me.

That was something I loved about Daniel, you always knew when he forgave you. He would always give me a big hug that lasted for a couple minutes longer than his normal hugs.

When he had finished hugging me, I was still crying. He reassured me it was okay, and we taped the poster together so it looked alright. I think we did a pretty good job, but I could always see this one spot where we didn't quite tape it right, and it went a little crooked.

That was the problem with this poster. It wasn't taped at all.

I get up and check just to make sure, but I know it's true. This room is perfect.
Too perfect. Even for Daniel.

I cross the room to the door, and tug on the handle. It's locked. Okay this is seriously weird. I'm not in Daniel's room, I know that now. So where am I? I search for another way out, and notice the closet. Probably not an exit, but I decide to check it out anyways. I hesitantly open it, not exactly sure what I'm going to find. It's...another room? Maybe it is an exit. Maybe I can get some answers to the many questions swirling around in my head. I walk through and take a quick look around. It seems to be a typical family living room. There are a few children's toys in one corner, a television in another, a couch, and a coffee table with a stack of magazines on top. Suddenly I hear a loud yelling noise and turn around just in time to see a kid with brown hair and gorgeous blue eyes, who seems to be around my age, running at me. I notice too late that he's holding a lamp in his hands, and then everything goes black.