Snitches Get Pancakes

Chapter 3 : Sleep

Here is Chapter 3, hope you like it :)

Sleep isn't an escape for her. She's had scary nightmares ever since she was a child. The dreams were now apart of her daily life and she never looked forward to sleep, something that once brought her much needed relief but now filled her with dread.

The curtains add an orange glow to the morning light, the unwelcome glaring bright shadow peeking through the cheap fabric a stark contrast to the previous day's miserable weather. It reminds Stephanie of the time she camped on a beach, the sunrise practically blinded her with its beauty, and she wondered if she could ever feel so at peace again. She closes her eyes for a second, her hands grasping her now messy blanket, almost imagining the soft sandy shore and its unknowing relaxing qualities.

When Stephanie opens her haunted eyes again, she is transported back to the present. She glares at her small room, with just a creaky bed and dusty wardrobe in the corner with barely enough clothes to fill it.

Running a hand through her mid-length hair, she is horrified at the greasiness she feels attack her hand. Not wanting to consider how long it had been since she last cleaned herself, she swiftly grabbed her favourite Harry Potter towel and ran into the adjoining bathroom.

The bathroom could be described as somewhat dilapidated. It was so small that only one person could fit into the room at the one time, and could sometimes make Stephanie feel claustrophobic. She never really paid any attention to the peeling white paint, nor the chipped enamel in the sink. Toothpaste splattered the mirror, and the roof had a tendency to leak whenever there was a powerful storm. However, it was functional, and Stephanie couldn't help but feel grateful that she had a place where she could live.

The pipes moaned their discomfort like an old ghost, before spitting out stone cold water. She yelped as icy droplets darkened her hair and trickled down her back. She braced her muscles to stop herself from moving out of the stream. This was as good as it got in her apartment.

She hummed the Harry Potter theme tune as she quickly soaped and rinsed herself, the cold ceramic tiles beneath her feet growing colder, almost protesting against her horrid croaky voice.

After a few minutes, she curses the shower for its inability to spit warm water, gives the shower one last glare before hopping out of the shower. Reaching down, she grabs her thin towel and wraps it around her body.

She couldn't help but feel that something wasn't quite right as an unwelcome feeling of unease invaded her body. Everything was the same, and yet different. The birds still sanf their morning tune, oddly sounding like the Harry Potter tune, she thought to herself, but something was not quite right.

She analysed her surroundings, but nothing was out of order, except for the fact that the door she could've sworn she had closed before entering the shower was wide open, like the mouth of a screaming child.

Her palms begin to sweat, her body's temperature rising quickly, seeming to recover from the cold water. She stared out the hallway through the door, not daring to move, her breath catching in her throat.

Perhaps she was over thinking everything now? There was no way-

The wooden floorboards creaked loudly, and she gasped. Stephanie felt the panic begin like a cluster of spark plugs in her abdomen, as the floorboards creaked again. This time a dark shadow appeared on the wall. Her breathing became more rapid, more shallow. Her thoughts all built up into a hurricane of words, all battling for her attention and she couldn't think clearly.

Maybe that's why she did what she did next.

She screamed.

She screamed like a baby in a tumble dryer, a sound that would make even mass-murderers blood run cold. Fear had forced adrenaline to pump through her veins.

No sooner had she screamed did a baseball bat hit her in the head.

The air is suddenly rent by the sound of cracking glass as she falls to the ground, her head pounding with the blow. A brick lands beside her head shortly afterwards.

Her eyes flutter shut as sharp glass rains down on her body.

Heavy footsteps lead to her aching body as she struggles to stand up.

A jab in the shoulder is all it takes for her body to go limp.

Black dots swarm before her eyelids. The last thing she remembers is being scooped up into strong arms, before her eyes finally give in to the darkness.

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