Chasing the Streets

Chapter 1

It was just a normal day. I stood in the gym, waiting for the ball to be passed to me so I could serve it. I hadn't meant to. But I did it anyway. The ball came down towards me, and then I saw Margeret out of the corner of my eye, flying towrds the ball, ready to hit it. Everything was going in slow motion. I could see her make eye contact with me and I could see fear in her eyes. We both knew it was going to happen. The ball came down and we both went for it. I hit the ball, but she hit my wrist, causing the ball to go up instead of over the net. What happened next was a complete accident. Margeret fell and I tripped over her, kicking her in the gut and I fell on my face. My nose was bleeding and I could see the blood. Red. A deep red. It brought back...memories. No, they couldn't be memories. I hadn't seen this much blood in my life, or had I? My mind was racing. Flashes of dark nights with blood-stained roads blinded my vision and it was hard for me to see what was happening in reality.

Dark night.

The court.

Streets.

Everyone ran over to us.

A group of guys.

They helped me up.

Blood.

Blood. Everywhere. So red. So, so red.

~

I woke up in the nurses office. My head hurt like crazy and something was stuffed up my nose. It was probably a tissue. I remembered falling and getting a bloody-I stopped myself. I didn't want to see those images again. I was a good girl, a straight A student. I had never had any detentions or gotten in trouble for anything. I played sports and I was fairly popular. So, what was that that I saw?

I turned my head to look at the nurse. She sat at her desk, doing paperwork or something like that. It seemed she hadn't taken notice of me. I grumbled and she turned slowly. She smiled, got up, and sat down by my bed.

"How are you feeling, Emily?" She asked. She had a sweet voice like you'd imagine a deer might have if one could talk. But she had a nasty habit of mixing medicines and getting bad tempers. The two combined usually was not good. I smiled. "I'm doing ok. Just a bloody nose, right?" The nurse stopped and looked around nervously. "Actually, you hit your head pretty badly. Probably got a concusion. You have to stay in here for awhile, so go back to sleep, deary." She smiled, it disgusted me. Disgusted? What was I thinking?! I never said that about anyone before, what was going on?

I got up and started to walk towards the door. The nurse jumped up. "What are you doing?" she said. "I'm going to my house, my head doesn't hurt anymore, thanks for the care!" I smiled and started walking out. The nurse tried to grab me

Before I knew it, I had her pinned to the ground wih my fist raised, ready to strike. What? What just happened? How did this happen? I started shaking and got up, running out the door and into the school parking lot. What was happening to me? First the images and now I was tackling people? What was wrong with me?! How hard did I hit my head? I ran into my car, started it up, and sped for home.

~

"Mom?" I yelled. My voice echoed through the hall, hopefully reaching the kitchen. Whenever my friends came over, they always said my house looked like a castle. The front door opened up to a tall ceilinged room and the stairs. If you went left, you'd go into a narrow hallway that led into to family room and kitchen. If you went right, you'd go into the living room which also had a tall ceiling. Going up the stairs led to a wide hallway that had doors on both sides of the hall. The first few led to bedrooms and the last two were a bathroom and a play room. It was rarely used, since I was 17 and an only child. My mother kept it for sentimental reasons.