By Sarah Hines, Year 11
And then…the dark came.
I woke up the next morning, a terrible cramp in my back and a pain in my side whenever I
tried to move. I was hoping it was just a nightmare, a long, harsh, realistic nightmare; I
wanted it to disappear once I woke up, but it didn’t.
I hesitantly got out of bed and slowly made it to the bathroom. Looking at myself in the
mirror, I sighed; what had become of me? I lifted up my shirt and winced at the scene before
my eyes. The dried blood and mangled skin clung to me like a disease. It was going to be
a long day.
After a painful shower, I managed to clean up, to the best of my ability, the cuts. I put on
some fresh clothes, dried my hair, had breakfast, brushed my teeth, but it didn’t help.
Despite the shower, I still felt dirty, despite the breakfast, I still felt hungry, and despite the medication, I still felt pain.
Walking slowly towards the window and I cautiously pulled back the corner of the curtain:
the alley was clear. At that moment my phone vibrated, taking my heart with it. “Unknown
number”. My shaky hands picked it up and I forced my fear to the bottom of my throat.
“Yes.”
“Do you have it?” an ominous voice answered.
“Yes.”
“96th Elms Street, 1 hour”
“I-“ the phone hung up. Probably just as well since I wasn’t sure how to finish my sentence. I
looked down at my watch. Elms Street wasn’t too far. This brief but terrifying phone call had
weakened me. I needed to check my wound again. I stared blankly at it in the mirror, despite
my efforts to clean it up it still looked horrid. I stood there for a while, thinking, wishing and
then thinking once again. I’d better get going. I slowly put on my coat, trying to reduce the
pain as much as I could, but failing miserably. I walked up to the window again. The street
was still clear, but somehow, I had a feeling it wouldn’t be for very long.
I wanted to rush down the stairs, run through the streets and get this all over with as fast as
possible, sadly for me, my body had other plans. Every step was more painful than the
previous, but I couldn’t stop now.
Locking the door, I went down the stairs, slowly. I made it out into the cold December
morning. The sky was grey, as were the buildings, the cars and the people. I put my hands in
my pockets. But once I did that, I felt a jingling. This noise couldn’t have hit me any stronger:
it was the jingle of misery.
I couldn’t risk taking the tram, therefore making my journey even worse. I fought against all
odds to make it there on time.
I unintentionally paused once I made it to the entrance of the alley of fate. I was sweating
more than before, everything became stronger, harsher all at the same time; my pain, my
heartbeat, my memories, the voices. I couldn’t go on, I couldn’t! But I had to.
Picking myself up in one not-so-swift motion I walked down the street seeing three
silhouettes in the distance. “This is it” I sighed.
“Stop there” a muffled voice came from the dark figures, I obeyed instantly. The man
dragged a fourth, smaller, hooded figure from behind him. He pulled the hood down, and
there she stood. Her eyes met mine and I saw the despair, cold and fear in them. The man,
seeing that I had understood, tugged the hood back up.
“Your turn” This was my queue; everything depended on this. My hand grabbed the small
black bag out of my pocket and I threw it towards him. The jingle came once more.
Another figure bent down to examine the latter, opening the god-forsaken bag. Then
everything became quiet; the noise of the traffic dimed, the wind stopped, the voices cessed
to torment, but this only made matters worse.
Time lasted forever, I thought I would faint, in fact I thought I had, until a voice shattered my
trance.
“It’s legit” I couldn’t restrain myself from sighing. The man pushed the hooded figure whom I
greeted with open arms.
“Don’t go back the same way you came, and forget us. We know where to find her if you
don’t.”
My words had literally gone so I forced myself to nod the best I could. This seemed to satisfy
him. I quickly grabbed her hand and rushed down the street. I could feel his eyes piercing
through my skull. I wanted to go faster, but I was restrained by my returning pain. Once out
of sight I paused and she took off her hood.
“James! I was so-“ she started to hug me but I stopped her.
“Not now, we keep moving.” These words pained me more than they pained her, but sadly I
don’t think she realised. I held her hand once more and led her down the street.
We continued like this in silence until we made it to the square. I couldn’t avoid having to
pass through, but I wanted to make our visit as brief as possible. The billboard awoke the
people: “A robbery occurred last night at the Natural History museum. The suspect is thought to be a
tall, brown-haired man in his late twenties. We are still-“ Lucie looked up at me with alarm:
“Was that-“ I shook my head
“Don’t think about it, all that matters is that your safe.” We left the square and continued
through the cold wind.
