Chapter Two

Chapter 2

 

A dark figure stood nearby, at the entrance of the back alley. Lili turned, startled to find anyone back here. By the cloaked figure’s posture, she guessed it was female �" but she wasn’t sure. After a few moments, the figure began to walk down the alley, getting nearer and nearer to where Lili stood. After staring for an age, Lili’s mind began to slowly work again. Run. Her instincts screamed at her, but she found her feet refusing to move, refusing to carry her far, far away. The figure was only ten paces ahead of her now, and though she was terrified, Lili’s mind noted that she was almost definitely female.

 Standing still in front of her now, the figure reached into the pocket of her cloak, and pulled out a knife.

 With panic surging through her, Lili found that her upper-body could move again. She attempted to grab the figure’s wrist, but she was no match for the figure. With one swift movement, Lili was pressed up against the wall of the alley, her arm behind her back, pain searing through her. A sob escaped her mouth, and the figure’s grip tightened.

 In the corner of her eye, Lili could see the knife glinting in the dark �" her mind noted that there was no way that the knife should actually shine, considering there was very little light for it to reflect �" as the figure raised it to her shoulder.

 Closing her eyes, Lili knew she was going to die.

 She braced herself, waiting �" waiting for the stab of pain she would feel as the knife pierced her skin. After waiting several minutes, a faint beeping sound filled her ears. She struggled, straining her ears so she could hear the sound more clearly.

 Opening her eyes, the world around her was blurred, the figure pinning her to the wall gone, a strange light filling the alley. After blinking her eyes several times, the light became stronger, the beeping louder. She shook her head and blinked again, squeezing her eyes tightly shut before opening them again

This time, the back alley was gone, the beeping much louder, the light almost blinding.

 She turned over, and fell to the ground in a bundle of blankets, the world around her real again.

 

She fought her way out of the blankets, wriggling and kicking on the floor until she was free. After standing up and putting the blankets back onto the bed, Lili found herself looking again out of her bedroom window. The day ahead of her would be hectic and awkward, and the more Lili thought about it, the more nervous she became.

There was no way she could just outright cancel on Claire. No matter how good at revenge Becky was, Claire was like a Goddess at all things mean, and always got what she wanted. Lili seemed to have a natural talent for annoying people �" both on purpose and accidentally �" but she wasn’t exactly feared.

Not that she wanted to be feared. Much.

Pulling herself back to reality, Lili gazed at the sky ahead.

The sun threw its light across the woods, and made the ground and trees a startling shade of green. A bright blue sky spread across the treetops, not a single cloud in sight.

As a flock of birds flew across the sky, Lili stepped away from the window, and noted that the curtains were already open. Her mum must’ve opened them before she left for work this morning, Lili decided. She walked over to her wardrobe. Ten minutes later, she decided it wasn’t the best of ideas to just stare at the wardrobe and hope something would magically pop out.

She grabbed her black skinny jeans and a plain purple top, pulled on her Doc Martins and tied her hair into a dark tangle on the top of her head. Adding smoky eye makeup to the look made her appear ready for anything.

She really wasn’t.

Her mind was a wreck, deciding what it is she should really say to Claire, and how well it wasn’t going to end. It sounds like some childish thing, but Claire was seriously wicked �" and not in the good way.

Claire was the first person to actually approach Lili in her first week at school. Unfortunately, it was to humiliate her in front of the entire school. Apparently, it was some kind of ‘welcome gig’ �" really, it was just a chance for her to humiliate the new kid. Lili had a fear of heights, and she thought there was no point in denying it, because one day it would come back to bite her in the but.

Claire, as you can imagine, took advantage of this greatly.

So, by the end of her first week of school, Lili had ended up suspended on top of the school, stuck at the top of the school’s highest diving board and stuck up a tree for half a day, at the back of the school.

Lili shuck her head at the thought. She grabbed her bag from beside her bed. Pulling herself down the stairs and out of the front door, Lili was consumed by a wave of rain.

Brilliant. Lili thought to herself. Not only am I late, but I’m also wet, cold, and my make up is crawling down my face.  With a scowl, she decided it was simply bad luck that the weather had changed so insanely fast, and the whole world �" even the weather �" wasn’t out to get her.

Pulling her bag in to a more comfortable position, she pushed her way through the rain, and made her way to Wounded Sky Comprehensive.