a known stranger

chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

It was a very hot night; the whole day had been hot. The heat was killing and exhausting. Ashley tossed and turned in her bed unable to sleep, she woke up when she heard the thunder rolling about. Pretty soon there were streaks of lightning and the simultaneous sound of glass splintering and a terror strucked shriek came to her ears.... it was her flatmate Sheila. She was terrified of storms.... As she got up from bed to go to Sheila's room ... She saw her door opening, she called out, "Sheila are you okay?" Sheila walked into her room pale and shaking, "Ashley.... the.. the.. tree branch, it crashed into my window...." It was then Ashley noticed that Sheila was wet, "are you okay?" She asked going and putting her arms around her. She lead her to her bed took out a towel and gave it to her, Sheila sank to the bed. Ashley says, "I'll go and take a look, okay?", Sheila nodded dumbly.

Ashley found Sheila's room a soaking mess. It was a good thing that Sheila's bed was placed far away from the window, for the tree branch would have landed straight onto her. Her phobia of someone or something catching her through the window at night had made her put her bed as far as possible from the window. Ashley found herself trembling as she realised what a close and narrow shave her dearest friend had.

They had been roommates since their freshmen year in the University of Southern Queensland. Since graduating two years ago, they found this quaint house and had decided to live together till one of them tied the knot. The house suited them perfectly and it was near Sheila's workplace. Ashley was in between jobs at the moment, as she wanted to take up a Masters in Information Technology. Her University had offered her to skip doing her masters and to do her doctorate, as she was the only First Class Honours student in her graduating class. Excited to start work, she had declined the offer and had started working for a software company. The initial excitement having worn off, she discovered that she was not cut out for the job of a software engineer; she was more interested in research and communication systems. She was lucky, her University had offered her a scholarship and she accepted. While doing her research, she would be tutoring first year students to earn some money rather than be on the dole.

Her life was really on the roll, after months of near despair when her boyfriend Neil decided to breakup because she did not want to take their relationship into a more intimate level, she had finally put it behind her.  

She quickly left the room for hers and finds Sheila still shaking with fright. As she proceeded nearer, she stopped for a while a sense of foreboding prickling her skin; Sheila was trying to say something to her mentally. Sheila had telepathic powers, and between them they were building a connection that allowed them to speak mind to mind.

Ashley stiffened her body, and turned to see that they were not alone in her room....... Her hands clenched in fists she was preparing herself to protect Sheila and herself. The person was too quick for her, or was it because her shock filled state numbed her reactions, she felt herself falling into a black abyss and the sound of Sheila screaming as she felt a grip on her shoulder, a needle pressing into her shoulder. She swung out her hand only to hit air and she lost consciousness.