"Fuck."
I jolt awake, an explosion of sound woke me, with the sound of a curse word muttered afterwards. My head flinched as I scrambled to reach the window. I pulled a strand of hair out of my mouth as I realised I had fallen asleep, still writing my essay.
Another crash was heard and I rushed towards the window, trying to see what was going on.
The room was veiled in darkness, usually, if I wasn't clouded in sleep, I would've been able t make it to the window without falling over. And for a moment, I almost thought I had made it.
But I failed miserably.
In my rush to get to the window, I collided with the lamp I stupidly had balancing on the side of my bedside table. Not only slipping off in the process, but somehow managing to burn the edge of my thigh on the light bulb.
It fell in slow-motion. I was sure. Crashing onto the wooden bed post, something definitely smashed, or cracked. In this mess of it all, I managed to get the wire wrapped around my foot.
I watched horrified as the light began to flash like a strobe. On and off. I could've been signalling for a helicopter with the brightness of it.
And the curtains were open. I was signalling to everyone within a ten-mile radius that I was awake. Or having a really good party.
Screaming internally, I flinched away from the window. My eyes wide and my arms flailing about as I frantically tried to find the plug socket. It would've looked a lot cooler if I wasn't half blind and being shocked with light every millisecond.
In a blinded panic, I crumpled to my knees patting up against the wall in hopes to find the socket.
Is this what cardiac arrest felt like? I gasped for air, as the strobe attacked my eyes but in seconds I had found the plug.
Without hesitation, I yanked it from the socket. Dread clenching my stomach, as I crawled back to the window, my eyes shut tightly with horror. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God. I pressed my back to the ledge. I couldn't look.
Yet curiosity and plain stupidity got the better of me, and I found myself peeking over the window-sill and over to the abandoned house next door.
I dropped to the floor.
The figure had been standing on the porch of the house, leaning over the balustrade with one hand on a white wooden column. He was easy to spot, he was staring directly into my window.
Oh God.
I contemplated hitting my head against the wall, so many times that I would have to be hospitalised. Anything was better than the creeping embarrassment pumping through my form.
Maybe I wouldn't have to go into school tomorrow.
It had definitely been him. I knew that for sure in the moment, I was able to recognise his face as soon as our eyes made contact.
Our eyes made contact.
Oh God.
His head was tilted up in the direction of my room, obviously noticing the stupid, flashing mistake that had completely murdered my cover.
And soon to have murdered me for sure.
Why was I such an imbecile? I tried to calm myself down, he probably didn't even see me. I barely saw him, and it was completely dark in my room, he can't have seen me. Of course, though, he did see me. We made eye contact. Our eyes connected.
And he would kill me, or string me up and hang my organs outside the abandoned house so my soul would linger and the house would truly be haunted then.
Maybe I was overreacting.
He wouldn't even be able to recognise me. At all. I would just need to keep down low, keep my head down. And not speak too much. Not that I do anyway. And he doesn't attend school that much. I never saw him trespassing.
I'm not a snitch. I won't die. And it will be okay.
It will be okay.
If worse comes to worst, I will just leave school. Become a drop out and live my life on the street.
With that thought I crept up to the window, pulling the curtains closed. Keeping my face away from his line of sight. I sighed with relief as they pulled shut and buried my head in my hands. Crawling in the darkness back into bed.
As much as I tried to calm my nerves, I couldn't sleep. I could stop thinking about his dark eyes, or the look on his face after he effectively ruined Jayden's face for life.
I groaned, glancing at the time which really didn't help.
I didn't feel any better in the morning.
The air was cold and bitter, numbing my hands through the pockets of my hoodie.
I shuddered, wrapping it closer to my body as I sighed. I spent too long peering out of all the different windows in my house waiting for him to ambush me. I was now late and there was still no sign of him.
I made sure to lock my door, on my way out.
My eyes felt heavy and drooped down as I walked. Burdening me trying to keep them open but I couldn't stop. I had to keep an eye out for him.
I hadn't gotten a single wink of sleep, harrowing thoughts plagued my mind, torturing me with every blink. To say the least, I was terrified of today. Walking past the house, I kept my head down, as the rain pelted against my back.
Talk about setting the scene for disaster.
I kept my pace fast as I hurried towards the church. My head was down, covered mostly by the black hood. It was early morning, around the time I would usually get up, only this time I was exploding with adrenaline. A bead of sweat had already formed on the top of my forehead, despite the awfully cold weather, I don't remember ever running s fast in my life.
I found myself peering over my shoulder, expecting Adam to be there, ready to murder me in an instant.
It was horrible of me to jump so quickly to conclusions about him, but I couldn't help it. He gave the whole of the school no other light to see him in except the spotlight he placed on himself.
It screamed danger. He screamed danger.
Within minutes I was stood in front of the church. The graveyard surrounded it and layers of moss clung to the stone tombstones, invading most of it's surface. The a gravel path twisted through the graveyard, keeping a respectful distance from the graves. It ended up at the very front of the church.
The building stood out against the background of the trees, the roof peeked over the top of the leafless, oak trees. The tiles were beige and cracked, some hanging off the roof by a thread, all surrounding the centrepiece steeple.
It was a small church, smaller than most, it would barely be seen in a few years when the trees grew taller. It was most difficult to spot in the summer, when the oak trees are flooded with new growth, completely engulfing the building with blossoms of vibrant green leaves.
With tall, intimidating stone walls that curved into Victorian arches, and sheltered the stained glass windows it was a true beauty. At the front of the church, right at the top, above the iron doors and nearest to the roof, just under the steeple was a massive circular glass window.
It was considerably larger than the rest of the windows and took up most of the area above the doors. A thin strip of wood framed the window.
I opened one of the doors, they were always open, in case someone wanted shelter, or to pray, I found it comforting that our community was so trusting of everyone within the church, and we could trust everyone to treat it with respect.
I weaved through the wooden pews, trying to find my dad.
In the morning, I had gone to check on him to see if he came home last night. But he didn't, as usual, he spent the night in the church. Hoping someone would come to him, to seek advice or even to worship God. He loved to help people, it was one of the things I admired most about him.
But we didn't get many of those, not very often at least.
My eyes scanned over each and every pew, but he wasn't there. I frowned, walking towards his office at the back, secluded behind where the podium and small stage was.
I walked through the door. Sighing, as my eyes connected to the couch at the back of his office. My dad, snored lightly, curled up on the edge on the sofa. And I felt something pang in my chest.
I tiptoed toward him, shaking his shoulder slightly, "Dad," I whispered, calmly, "you need to get up."
He groaned, lazily gaping each eye open tediously. "Okay, okay, Gabrielle. I'm up."
I nodded, stepping back and allowing him some space to wake up and stretch. "I'm gonna try to get to school early, so do you mind if I leave when the church is tidy?" I asked, cocking my head to the side.
He looked at me with half-open eyes, and nodded lightly. "Yeah, that's fine. I'll help you." Gradually, he stood up, lingering on his feet before strolling into the main part of the church.
Which was an absolute mess.
Just kill me now.