Chapter 1

The opening...

     

                Chapter One




Footsteps. Closer this time. My heart sunk to the aphotic abyss of my stomach. Someone or something was following me, I could feel it. A chill slivered up my spine inside my warm navy-blue duffle coat, I swiftly quickened my pace in hope I could lose whoever was following me. Glancing down at my Gucci watch it was 10:05pm, five minutes past my curfew. My parents won’t be worried about me being late home they’ll be more concerned about what people will think of me being out this late in such an unsafe area, for all they know I might be dealing drugs and their fabulous reputations would be on the line.
 Rain poured gently down onto my long brown curly hair causing it to frizz. Never have I, Sapphire Harrington been seen out without flawlessly perfect hair, this was definitely one of the worst days of my life.
Below the moon the ancient trees whispered to one another in the wind, as I paused to ponder about whether trees could really whisper and share forbidden secrets a loud crunch reached my ears. This was it someone was really stalking me! Ok so maybe the last few times I was just being over dramatic and there was always a reasonable explanation, there had to be.
This really did feel wrong. My heart was pounding at the speed of thundering hooves belonging to a furious stallion, but wasn’t this feeling all too familiar? Better safe than sorry that’s what my mum always told me, although she always meant it in a totally different context such as: “I better be safe and buy them new designer heals now, then be sorry when they’re sold out”.
Crunch! Turning my head ever so slightly to the side out of the corner of my eye I could see someone not far behind me and this time it really wasn’t kind old Mrs Marin from down the road, the poor woman nearly had a heart attack as I ran screaming all the way home when I was ten years old.
 I couldn’t tell anything about who this figure was but its malice could be felt from where I was frozen, why couldn’t I move? I couldn’t even turn round to get a better look I quivered and the dark character took a bold step forward with that I shot off like an Olympic sprinter. Running was never my forte but you’d be surprised how fast you can run when you can feel a tremendous amount of evil just lurking behind you. My footsteps echoed the damp empty streets of Mapplethorpe. I was about a ten minute walk away from my house all I had to do was cut across the park and I’d be almost there to the sanctuary of my own home. Whoever was pursuing me was incredibly agile every turn I made I could sense them getting closer and closer, maybe I should consider trying to hide and lead them off my track.
You can run but you can’t hide...
The memory of Uncle Robert’s game of hide and seek floated through my mind from my childhood. Robert would constantly repeat that line till he eventually found me. I’d do almost anything to be able to see him again. My parents never liked him, especially my dad he used to tell me that his brother was a bad influence and that’s why I’m supposed to stay away, since then I’ve not seen nor heard from him for five years. But I know now that Uncle Robert was wrong because when you can’t out run someone then you have to resort to hiding. Searching rapidly my eyes lingered on a set of oversized bins close to the park’s entrance, checking no one was behind me I shuffled myself between them and squatted.
“Eww if Laurel and Nicole saw me now they’d never want to hang out with me again.” I mumbled to myself not meaning to say out loud. Laurel and Nicole are minions or best friends as they prefer to be called, they’re not perfect but they’ll do.
The stench of the bins assaulted my sense of smell making me want to vomit. No one would expect me of all people to be lingering round a bin like a tramp. Straining my ears I heard the gentle patter of fatal footsteps. S**t! Me and my big mouth, it got into enough arguments but never did I think it could get me in this sort of trouble. Biting my lip I didn’t dare breathe. A silent prayer to god was what I had resorted to, I was the one who made fun of people who attended church but at this moment in time there was no place I’d rather be.
You can run but you can’t hide...
How could I have been so stupid if this was a film this would be the exact part when the audience would be practically shouting one word: run! A raging river of tears flooded my face I’d never felt so terrified. If only I didn’t decide to hang out at Nicole’s house. If only my phone hadn’t run out of battery. If only I’d of got a lift home things would be so different.
Quiet.
The eerie atmosphere put me more on edge then the footsteps; all I could hear now was the constant tick tock of my watch. This was it I’ll run and I won’t stop till I get home. Bracing myself for probably the fasted sprint of my life I was ready to take on the dead of night.
One... two... three... go!

Author's Note

Please let me know what you think!

Reviews

[MandaBear]

Wonderful write. cant wait to read more

[SarahV]

Thank you :) I'll be sure to upload more soon!

[Nick.B]

A good first chapter, I will definitely read your other chapters as well, great job

[SarahV]

Thanks very much I shall concider uploading some later :)

[Matthew Palmer-Jones]

Is it me ?? lol
Vary well done girly :)

[SarahV]

Thanks