My Saving Grace (Book 3)

April 26, 2030

Toby woke the next day, taking a second to adjust to his surroundings. He still didn't recognise the new bedroom very much. He let his thoughts wash over him, one by one. He wished he was home in his own bed and that none of this had happened. He wished that Scott had somehow gotten caught in traffic the other day... He suddenly stood up, shaking away his thoughts and made his way to get breakfast.

The food hall was reasonably large. It held six tables with five chairs around each. The tables were plastic and grey. It looked sort of like a school cafeteria. There was four people in the room at that moment because it was only early. Three of them were Toby's age and the fourth was an adult sat next to their child, molly coddling them as if they were two years old.

Toby rolled his eyes and made his way over to an empty table, placing the tray-full of food that he wasn't going to eat in front of him. He was glad that his parents hadn't stayed the night, considering he hadn't slept much and was in bad form this morning. It wouldn't be fair on them.

He chased his cereal around the bowl with his spoon, realising he had probably put too much milk in. God, he couldn't even do that right! The cereal started to become blurry as his thoughts got louder and louder. His mind began to take control and suddenly he was not in the food hall anymore, he was in the front garden of their house. Noah was playing in the road in front of him, kicking a ball and running to catch it. He called out to Toby, "Come on, Toby! Come play with me!" It was him but his voice, it was different, warped. The pictures that moved in front of him were shiny and almost transparent. Like a dream, but not at the same time.

"Get out of the road, Noah!" The voice came from behind him. He turned to see Alex, Scott close behind him. They ran past Toby and into the road, trying to catch Noah. That was when it happened, a car came sweeping out of no where taking all three of them out. Toby tried to scream for help but it was no use, no one could hear him. He was alone, trapped in this weird world.

That was when Jessica appeared in the top of a nearby three, singing as she climbed. Toby watched and before long she was falling slowly to the ground. A loud thud shook through Toby's body as she hit the ground. He cried out in pain, his back and head hurting, like he had taken the belt of the fall. Jessica lay flat on her back on the ground, not moving, dead. It seemed so lifelike... Like he remembered it.... How someone looked when they had died prematurely...

It was all happening so fast, the bodies beginning to multiply as they lay dead on the ground. Mitch and Jake and Seb and Kirstie and relatives and friends and bullies and teachers and nurses and doctors, all dead. He was screaming, trying to stop them from multiplying but he couldn't move. No noise came from his mouth even though he was trying as hard as possible.

"Toby! Just breathe. Toby, it's just a dream!" A voice rang out in his brain, pulling him away. He squeezed his eyes shut and began to become aware of his surroundings, the voices becoming louder. He opened his eyes again and saw where he was, on the floor. The woman that he had been introduced to yesterday, Penny, was standing over him. The food hall was now full of occupants, all of them starring at him.

"Hey, Toby. Can you look at me please?" The voice rang out loud and clear but everything he saw seemed to be in a delay. He couldn't figure out where the voice was coming from.

"You'll have to move him, Penny." A males voice interjected this time, which made Toby's head swivel round. A man was crouching down behind him, carefully holding his back into a sitting position.

"Toby, we're going to help you stand up, okay? Then we're going to take you to my office." The voice was Penny's and his sight had obviously caught up with his hearing because he could now see her lips moving. He nodded, feebly and she and the man gently grabbed Toby under his armpits and lifted him to his feet. They then walked him to a room which he didn't recognise. They sat him in a swivel chair and the man disappeared. Penny then sat across from him.