by Pia Philip
Prologue
The sound of thunder rang through the night. Clouds slowly covering the Persian blue sky like a blanket. Night had fallen. In about forty-six seconds the full impact of the brewing storm would reach her. She could already feel the raindrops hitting her bare arms falling to the tempo of her beating heart. She was used to this by now. She counted the twelve steps that would take her to the front door of the all so familiar house she would see every single night she dared sleep. She crossed the threshold and was instantly hit by a wave of warmth; she shrugged of her sleeveless jacket before crossing the small distance between her and the kitchen where her coffee was already brewing. In the amount of time she had visited there, she never saw who occupied the house. She was like a visitor, a trespasser. Every night for as long as she could remember she would fall asleep and wake up in this same old routine. She had no control of what she did in this place that set her nerves on edge every time she visited this awful place. She grabbed her coffee and walked out of the kitchen, through the corridor that seemed to stretch out for miles and into her room. Instinctively her head jerked to the right, where engraved on the wall was the most intricate symbol she had ever seen. A triangle stood proud amidst a thrall of ancient if not forgotten texts. Ruins ran around the perimeter of the circle and flowed into the little space in the circle left. She knew she had seen the texts somewhere, the knowledge niggling at the back of her mind yet staying out of her grasp. Her fingers followed the lines glowing like fire trails. She always did this, it seemed to calm every single one of her nerves right before the dream would finish. She waited for the all too familiar buzzing sensation that would occur seconds before the scene would fade. Nothing happened. Everything was still, the air became thick with tension but nothing moved. For the first time ever, she felt scared. Her eyes widened as she realized that something was off. Nothing had ever changed, it had been the exact same since she was no more than a small bundle of baby. So why would something changed. Her head jerked round as she scanned the room for anything off, anything dangerous. Her eyes were instantly drawn to the window like a magnet. She didn’t bare blink or even breathe as she waited. Something was coming, she could feel it. Her whole body was buzzing with the anticipation. Slowly but surely something started to emerge from the blanket that shrouded the room. She felt a chill run down her spine as she realized with growing horror that they were a set of deep blood thirsty eyes. Eyes that meant danger. Eyes that looked at her with such intensity, that they left no doubt of the message they conveyed. It was coming for her. Before her brain could register what was happening, her mouth was already open and she was screaming at the top of her lungs. With a giant crack, the glass shattered and she was engulfed in the darkness once more.
CHAPTER 1
05:57
Her eyes snapped open. She lay staring at her blank white ceiling, paralyzed with fear, what was going on? Something had to be changing. She tried to shrug it off as a hormone thing but couldn’t help the feeling of knowing it was something more than that. Sighing in confusion she checked her alarm clock, at least the time hadn’t changed, though to be honest, in the time her eyes had locked onto those terrifying red ones, it felt like an eternity had past. Back then, she didn’t have the strength to look away from them, she had the nagging feeling that if she as much as glanced away, she would have been taken. She was almost certain that it would’ve tortured her, painfully and slowly and probably would have laughed the whole time. Just thinking about it made her skin crawl. She waited until the clock hit six before climbing out of bed and going to the bathroom. She felt unusually tired, every bone in her body was screaming for her to go back to sleep, too rest. Ignoring it, she clambered into the small tub of hot water and drifted into peaceful bliss.
Footsteps. The sound of approaching footsteps brought her back to reality. Not daring to breath, she closed her eyes and strained her hearing, waiting to hear the footsteps again but nothing. Of course there would be nothing, she was the only one in the house after all, and her mum was at night shift in the Hospital and won’t be back until after she had gone to school. It was just an over active imagination. Probably; she went to close her eyes when she saw them. Those demonic eyes, staring at her with such hunger and greed it terrified her. Without stopping to think about her dignity, she jumped out of the bath tub and sprinted into her room, locking the doors firmly behind her. Her heart seemed to be trying to win a race as it pounded against her ribcage threatening to burst free. Alex barley breathed for what seemed an eternity but was in fact only two minutes. By that time, she had managed to calm herself down and rein in that imagination of hers. But deep down, she was certain that it wasn’t, that it was something else something that would affect her dramatically, of that she was certain. Just then her alarm went off to signal start her day and she pushed all thought of the dream to the back of her mind.
11:00
Slouched in her chair in class three hours later, Alex still couldn’t get the red eyes out of her mind, meaning she was ignoring Emma and her gossip as well as Sam with his football ideas, so it wasn’t at all surprising when they caught on.
“What’s the matter Alex, you’ve been in a dream all day?” Emma asked as she parked herself in her seat as they waited for their fifth period biology teacher, Mrs. Brownstone.
“Nothing,” Alex fibbed as she gave her best fake yawn. Acting had never been one of her best suits, neither had lying. “I’m just really tired.”
Sam gave Emma a knowing look.
“Alex, your never tired,” Sam said as he took the seat opposite Emma
“It’s nothing really,” she insisted. Thankfully Mrs. Brownstone walked in then saving her from more interrogations. She didn’t notice the guy that followed her until the gasp from the female species in the room made her look up. Standing across from her was six feet of male perfection. Even though he was wearing the mandatory school uniform you could just tell he was well built, the short sleeved shirt doing nothing to hide his tanned perfect muscles. His face sharp and his fair hair doing the naturally messy but hot kind of thing which made his electric blue eyes stand out. If Alex was any other kind of girl she would have been swooning over him but she wasn’t so after noting him as hot, she turned back to her thoughts. However, the affect he had on the girls in the class was just comical, cliché even. Every other female dropped whatever they were holding and sighed in unison. Alex glanced around the room and couldn’t help but chuckle at the glares some of the boys were shooting the new kid. She received similar glares off the girls but she easily dismissed them; she had long stopped caring for what people thought of her. Mrs. Brownstone parked new boy at their table due to them having the only spare seat available. Alex barely noticed the envious stares Emma was getting. The girls in the class didn’t really think she was a threat because everyone knew she was the tomboy of their year and wasn’t into dating. To be honest, she hated everything to do with romance and with good cause too. After catching the name of the boy, her mind went back to the red eyes and the disturbing change of her dream and trying to think of an explanation.
When the bell went for the end of the period and start of lunch, she gathered their stuff and headed for the pitches, leaving the rest behind. She grabbed a ball and went to the pitches to set up the field. She had just finished when the boys came rushing into the pitch.
“Your honestly too good to us,” Josh said as he took the goalie gloves she handed him.
“That’s not what you say whenever I whoop your butts,” she laughed as she put the ball in the center. They were just about to start when Max walked onto the field.
“I’m playing,” he said in a matter of fact tone. The boys just loo
ked at him, deciding if they should let the lady’s boy play. Deciding to give the new boy a break she walked up to him.
“What’s your position?” she asked as she eyed him up and down to try and figure out what position he played.
“I don’t answer to posers,” He said as he looked at her as if she was something stuck to the bottom of his shoe.
Alex’s face flared up with embarrassment, talk about a slap to the face, she thought angrily.
“Excuse me!” she demanded as her well known temper flared. Josh and Sam had to hold her back as she lunged for his neck.
“What- dude no,” Kieran said, “don’t even go there, she’s sound, she’s like our little sister, mention that and she will bite your head off.”
The boys laughed nervously at the lame excuse of a joke as they tried to conceal their worried glances. Elbowing Josh out of the way, she stomped off as she tried to regain her cool.
“Let’s just get the game started and playboy is not going in our team,” she growled as she took her stance in midfield.
By the end of the game, they had won 7-3 and the boys on her team where laughing at the losers as talk turned back to the tournament being held the upcoming Saturday. Normally Alex would’ve stayed and discussed tactics but today she didn’t want to be anywhere near Max. She was starting to grow a strong distaste to the guy and it didn’t help that he was great at football.
15:35____
Alex walked out of Mrs. McCormack’s math’s class at the end of the day with the usual detention and a booklet of homework only to get the shock of her life. Max and Emma were talking as if they were best friends, she was about to call out to her and save her from the lies the scumbag was probably feeding her, when someone took her arm.
“Leave them, this was an opportunity Emma was looking for,” Sam said as he dragged her down the corridor to the other exit.
“I don’t really get what everyone sees in him,” she grumbled as they walked down the street to their favorite café.
“Well apparently he has ultra-good looks and a great personality, according to Emma,” He said as he rubbed his head, “I had to withstand a whole hour of her praising the boy.”
“Ha, more like an ultra- pain in the ass and a huge ego,” she grunted as she dropped into their usual seats next to the window. “Anyway, tell me something to get my mind off the terrible day I’ve had today.”
“Ha, fine then, I’ve got good news and I’ve got bad new,” He laughed as he sat across from her.
“Ok, Spill the sweets,” she said.
“You’ve made the team for the tournament on Saturday, although some of the other teams complained about you being a girl, once they saw you in action they really could not object, I mean you don’t even look like a girl half the time.”
“Thanks, great being told I look like a cross dresser,” she laughed, “What’s the lemons then?”
“Eh, Max also made the team as a defense and Josh’s considering putting him as your back up instead of Phil,” he grumbled awkwardly, “Phil said he’s not allowed to play for a while. Doctors orders.”
She was just about to explode and spew out a list of reason as to why that wasn’t a good idea like the fact that they hadn’t seen him play more than once, when something caught her eye. Something in the corner was moving. Normally this wouldn’t have bothered her but it did today. Her eyes tried to follow it but whatever it was disappeared. Instead she was drawn to the corner where the light was out; she could just make out the outline of a kid. Her stomach was in knots and the hair in the back of her neck was standing on end like it was hyped up on static. Something wasn’t right. The Kid turned around and all color in her face was drained. She felt a sudden urge to get out of there. Not even picking her bag, Alex stumbled out of the café. The sunlight blinded her for a moment but she blinked it away and started running. Faintly she could hear someone calling her name but she refused to turn around, she just knew she had to run. She was just at her gate when someone grabbed her arm.
Sam watched the color drain from her face ad knew something wasn’t right. He followed her gaze hoping to see what was upsetting her but found nothing. He scanned the room but everything seemed normal he frowned as he turned back only to be met by Alex’s retreating back. He got up to follow her and ask her what the matter was when he realized she had left her stuff. She must have been really spooked to just up and leave. His stomach twisted as he thought of her life being in danger, but surely she would’ve told him. They always told each other everything. He grabbed her stuff and ran after her, being weighed down by the extra baggage.
“Alexis!” Sam growled, “Stop and look at me.”
She turned to him; her eyes wide, franticly searching the area before pulling him into the house, locked the back door, and dragged him to her room.
“What’s wrong? “ Sam asked as he dropped his and her bag on the floor. “Alex?”
She was physically shaking with fear; never had she been so scared in her life. She was normally fearless and hadn’t let anyone see her cry but so far all she felt like doing was cry. She didn’t have to say anything, she just gave Sam a look and he came and wrapped his arms around her. She enjoyed the warmth and protection he gave her for that single moment before deciding to say what she saw, because she needed to say something; she felt the need to justify her actions.
“I saw them,” she whispered, “again.”
“Saw what?” Sam asked as he turned to peer into her face, “What did you see?”
“The eyes, those evil eyes,” she stammered as she lowered her head trying to force the words that were flying around in her mind like a bee hive.
“Every night for 5 years, I’ve had the same dream, that was until last night, where the dream was supposed to fade it just sharpened around the window and I saw an outline of a kid, I was drawn to his face where he had red eyes, and I don’t mean Man United red, I mean blood rose read. They were terrifying, they meant death Sam,” she stammered. She kept her eyes closed, not sure what Sam’s face would be if she looked at him, “That’s also what happened at the café, I saw something come into the café, I tried to follow it, my eyes were drawn to the darkened corner however and I saw a kid. Real as you and me but his eyes, they were the exact same red eyes, and they were staring straight at me. I had to get out of there.” she decided to risk a glance at Sam’s face but it was carefully structured so that it was unrecognizable of any emotion. All she could see was his face was furrowed in deep concentration.
“Sam, I think I’m going Crazy,”
Now that she said it, it felt right. Everything made sense, the eyes, and the dreams. It must be the truth. She could feel tears forming but she wouldn’t let them drop. She still had her pride.
“No, you’re not, just calm down and tell me what you saw and we will research it, okay,” He said as he put his arm around her waist and steered her towards the Acer on her study desk. He sat down and opened the computer before turning back to her.
“I must seem like a complete loony bin,” Alex said attempting at humor, “I mean who else could this happen to but me, at least I know what the people in horror films feel like.”
Sam didn’t even appear to hear her. She sighed in defeat when he raised his head off the palms of his hand and looked at her grinning from one ear to the other.
“What if it’s not only you that this is happening to, What if there are other people who have experienced this in the past?” He said as he clicked his finger, sure that he was right, “What if some of them live near us. What if we contact them and see how they dealt with it. Now can you please unlock this?”
She stared at him then at the computer. There were way too many what if’s in this equation. The chance of it being an easy answer like that was one in a million. Doubt overshadowed her every thought although normally she was a very positive person. She bit her lip and started to shake her head, but Sam gently took her arm and steered her towards his seat. She sat in front of him, her h
ands rested on the computer screen; she stared at the password sign, her mind going blank for a moment before she got a grip of herself.
“As long as there’s hope, we can’t give up yet,” Sam smiled as he repeated her favorite saying. Giving him a thankful smile she typed in her password; Pink Elephants.
They clicked on Google and came across their first obstacle.
“What should we search?” she asked, as she tried to think up what describes what they were looking for, but drawing a blank. She looked at Sam hopefully but he shrugged his shoulder and leaned back. Deciding to take a complete guess, she typed;
‘Incidents of people spotting red eyes on kids’
The search came up with several websites; the second websites description caught her eye though.
“Hey, hey, read this Sam,” she said as she clicked on the page, ‘death warnings’, “It says here that I could have seen an apparition but I don’t think it was a ghost. It was… it seemed as solid as you and me.” She scrolled further down the page and was about to press next when Sam stopped her.
“Wait. Get this, clairvoyance, the ability to see what is unseen in a far way place or be able to see spirits from the other side, for example demons,” He said as he took the mouse out of her hand and clicked clairvoyance. The first thing that caught both their attention when the new web page came up was an ad. it was the ad that filled her with a glimmer of hope.
Having trouble sleeping? Think you are being haunted or seeing demons? Come visit me, Martha and I will help you unravel your Psychic mystery.
Call - 1345 889 3652
Unable to control herself, she gave a little yelp of excitement and clapped her hands in joy before turning to Sam.
“We’re going right?” she asked as she pulled out her phone and started to key in the number.
“Yep, we just have to figure out when, I’m thinking maybe this Saturday” he said, “should I call her or you call her?”
She hesitated for a moment and Sam could tell she was having an inner battle with pride. She got up and almost instantly fell over Sam’s long legs.
