I awoke with a start. Demons. Darkness. Death. Thank God it was all a dream.
All my life, I have battled the alarm clock, pummelling the snooze button continuously with a mounting sense of guilt and dread, until the shame is powerful enough to lever me upright and out of bed. Before, it was only on the brightest of mornings that I had such vitality to leap forth before the alarm clocks call, ready to spring into action. But no such mornings had graced us for months. Not since that tragic day when the conundrum of the dome had started. A dome had appeared around Derry, cutting us off from the rest of the world. No T.V network, no phone signal, no internet connection. Nothing! Strange then, that of all mornings I should choose today to wake so early. Was it nervousness? Apprehension? Excitement? It was surely a sign that I was ready for tonight.
Stephanie dashed into my room. ‘Dara, get up! The kids next door are joyriding!’
‘What?’
‘DARA! Come on! Its bloody chaos outside’, stated Stephanie.
‘Isn’t it always?’ I thought. ‘Just a sec’
‘Be quick!’ shouted Stephanie storming out.
She was just like Mum. Mum. It all came flooding horribly back. Unbearable forces of emotion flowed out of my mind and brutally surged throughout my whole body, paralysing me into utter shock. Why us? The whole world and they choose Derry?
Months ago, we- the youthful populace of Derry- suddenly found our city entrapped in an indestructible, opaque dome. Why? How? Your guess is as good as mine. Darkness cloaked the various streets and dingy crevices. No natural light had penetrated the city since. That wasn’t the worst of it. Everyone over eighteen had suddenly plunged into a deep, unfathomable sleep, whilst vicious, bloodthirsty demons roam the streets feeding on us for their nourishment. Consequently -some believe- a few of us have developed powers, to fight back, amongst the masses. Don’t ask. Just accept. That’s what we do. Sounds cool but it only reminds us of our dire situation. Me? I’m telekinetic but I can also stop time. It’s just a shame I can’t rewind it to reverse what has happened to us all. How I regret arguing with Mum before it all happened. Will I ever get a chance to say sorry?
To make matters worse a number of us have amalgamated to form a collective group of power hungry, Marxist morons- ‘The Alliance’. They have triggered ghetto mentalities to characterise our streets, which has brought greater carnage to our situation. They strut around stealing and even killing sadistically to gain resources, believing that some God gave them their power over the rest of us. ‘This is their chance to shine’. We have implored them to see reason to their madness. Sadly these callous cockroaches won’t be crushed. Their leader, Wayne was always an idiotic buffoon and now he sits on his throne of ego. All of his supporters have powers. You can’t join if you don’t. But Wayne has the greatest power of all. He can influence anyone. Including the demons. He believes his power is an unequivocal sign that he was ‘chosen to rule’ and ‘implement a fear culture upon others’. Derry has thus split into two groups. We the ‘Benevolent’ and the ‘Alliance’ who-thanks to Wayne- control the demons. In our own way we are all looking for ourselves amid the chaos, wanting to be the best we can possibly be, even if that means murdering others to gain leadership. The ‘Alliance’ started on the day the dome suddenly materialised but they will be finished soon enough. Mark my words.
***
I still remember what seems like aeons ago, sitting in A-level English-Literature, chewing an unsavoury yet appeasing pen lid, daydreaming, ignoring my teacher praise the supposedly ‘excellent’ Chaucer. Then it happened. Mr. Clarkson collapsed. Shock jolted me back to Earth. After that we heard the simultaneous scream that rippled the whole school. Four students darted into the classroom.
