THE START OF IT..... DUN DUN DUHHHHH!
The tent shakes violently around us, water droplets cascading down from the synthetic material. I gulp, trying not to look too scared. " Wh-Who's there?" I manage. Silence. The four of us inside the compartment pull equally frightened faces. Again, the tent quakes horribly and I'm sure the poles won't be able to take the pressure. "Oh My GOD! Annie's out there! The murderer person will get her!!!!!" Sophie hisses, a look of terror plastered across her features. Suddenly, we hear a fit of giggles from outside. Gradually un-zipping the tent-flap, I poke my head out of the gap. Annabell is standing there, wobbling the tent amidst loud laughs. Realisation dawned on me "ANNABELL! You scared us to death!!" "Haha! Sorry...." She choked out. I motioned for her to join us inside. "Coming!" she whispered. "It was Annabell shaking the tent!" I groan. Everyone moaned, but saw the funny side of it as well "I was gonna have a heart attack!" Georgia complained, although I noticed her fighting back a smile. Annabell sat down on the mattress of duvets next to me.
In seconds, everything returned to normal. Sophie turns her Ipod back on and the sound of one direction reverberates off the walls of the tent. "Turn it down" I hiss,"Or we'll wake the neighbours, and believe me, you don't want that!". The volume drops a few notches, but stays loud enough that I'm certain I would be able to hear it from my house. The chorus of the song comes around and abruptly, the sound of Georgia, Sophie and Annabells' voices fills the compartment "You don't know -oh -oh, you don't know you're beautiful!". Hannah sits stubbornly with her fingers in her ears. "Not listening!!" She yells over the din of the music. "Directionator!" The other three shout in unison. The sound of the music ebbs away as the song draws to a close. "Whatever, you guys, just try not to wake up Lily, she'll be soo grouchy in the morning!" I say. We all look across to where our friend Lily is sprawled amongst piles of cusioned blankets. She looks like sleeping beauty, with her curly golden hair framing her face like a halo.
"Let's break out the rowntree's randoms!" Sophie squeals. I'm sure it's not a wise idea to get even more hyper, but they are delicious, so I agree. The packet is ripped open and jelly sweets go flying around the compartment. "OOPS!" Hannah laughs. "Scavenger hunt for the sweeties!" Georgia screams. We all dive around, searching for the candy "I found some!" I exclaim. We all roll around giggling for a while, but stop to stuff our faces with the sweets. "haha, vese are fo nife!" Annabell slurs, attempting to say 'these are so nice', but finding it difficult through the clump of jelly in her mouth.
At that moment, the ground shakes uncontrollably. First off, I think it's someone outside again, shoving the tent material, but then I realise that everyone is here, presumably thinking the same thing. Thunderous booms sound in the distance. The sky lights up with brilliant flashes of lightning and we all start to either shriek or shout with fright. "Calm d-down, guys, it's just a thunder storm." Hannah croaks unconvincingly. I hear worrying cracks from the ground below us and it sounds as if the soil is shattering. Lily sleeps through it, only moving ever so slightly. In any other circumstance, I be laughing at this, but right now, I'm way too scared to do that. The sky rumbles yet again, rather disconcertingly. "HELP! The apocalypse is dawning!" Sophie yelps, burying her face in her duvet. "SAVE ME JEBUS!". "Sophie! Shut up! That is so not helping." Annabell cries. I look over to Georgia who has been surprisingly silent throughout this whole affair. She's as pale as a sheet. A huge gust of wind tears the tent from it's bindings. "AHHHH!" We shriek. Lily's hair whirlwinds around her head, at last she seems to stir, but her eyes remain firmly closed. Our groundsheet is swiped from underneath us and I feel a slight tug on our compartment. Using all my might, I hold the thing down.
Ahead of us is a figure, standing stoically in the middle of the storm. Lily, without properly waking up screams something "PAEDOPHILE! STALKER! MURDERER!" The figure is silhouetted against the flashing sky, so I can't make out any details. It appears to be quite well-built (plump around the middle) and seems to have a sort of cloak that billows out behind it. Everyone has gone into conniptions - "SOPHIE, RING THE POLICE!" "I'M TRYING TO, THERE'S NO SIGNAL" "I'M DREAMING.... THIS IS ALL A DREAM. I'll just pinch myself and wake up back in my sleeping bag" even Lily has now awoken ad has a crazed look on her face. She's garbling some incoherent rubbish extremely rapidly, to no one in particular "OmigoshomigoshI'mgonnadie,I'llneverlivetotheageoffourteenMymumwillmurdermeventhoughI'malready dead!!!!AAARGHHH!!!" By now I'm hyperventilating and so can't really choke out any proper words, other than the occasional swear word.
The figure steps closer and I begin to see hazy features on it's face. It's definitely male and, even though this is dreadful, I think I'm beginning to recognise this freakish character. He has those characteristic ears, jutting out from his head, and they're flopping about in the tremendous wind. The top of his head has been shaved and is reflecting the forks of lightning in the sky above. He has glasses perched on his large nose and I can just see his beady eyes behind them
Georgia and I scream at the same moment, we both know who we are sitting opposite from. "IT'S JIM!!!"
I guess I should take this moment to explain something. Jim is our tech technician at school. He helps out in our tech lessons. He's quite introverted and we've never really heard him speak before.
Jim readies himself for his speach. Bellowing over the top of the howling thunder and wind, he is just audible.
