Freeze tag

Chapter 4

I lay there in bed, just thinking. I could die. I just lay there on my bed staring at my blue ceiling until I fall asleep.

Before I know it, I am running. I don't know why. Until I look back. A boy is running after me, I can only look back a second I don't want to strain my neck. Plus, I'm sprinting. It feels like it has been hours, even though I know it has only been a few minutes, not even. I look back one more time, and I am surprised to see that the boy is not chasing me anymore. He is nowhere to be seen. I must have out run him. So I stop. I drop my hands to my knees and hunch over. My throat is dry. I need water. I look up, hoping to see that a water bottle or whatever is near. But I realize I am in a forest, deep into a forest. No path or signs that anyone has even been here.

"Is anybody here?" I cry out.

My throat is really dry it hurts to talk. "Hello?" I say in a very raspy voice. "Oh, were the hell am I." I say to myself.

All of a sudden out of nowhere, someone jumps on me. It was the boy who had been chasing me, I scream for help. But when I see the boys face I am speechless. He is my age, but looks terrible. A giant cut covers his whole face, one of his eyes is swollen shut, parts of his hair are ripped out, I can see his teeth because some of his cheek is ripped off, some of his teeth are gone, part of his ear is gone, and he is almost bleeding everywhere. I take a deep breath and speak, "Please, let me help you, Maybe I can..." I am cut off.

"You can't help me, I'm already doomed can't you see." He spat. While he talked, blood came out of his mouth and I got some on my face. I hate talking about blood or anything like that, I feel dizzy and I can faint, but seeing it is worse. It was true though he is doomed. Before I could say anything else, he had pulled up a knife. It was not clean, it was covered with blood. "I want you to feel my pain, all of it." The boy yelled with more spit coming out. He raised the knife and thrust down. Before it could hit my chest, I wake up startled and covered with sweat. I feel my face, no blood. I sigh in relief. Then I hear my mom yelling, "Grace are you up? Grace! I am telling you, are you even listening to me, Grace?"

"Yes mom, I'm coming. I get dressed in my uniform. It is a green skirt, with white stripes, kind of like plaid, And a white dress shirt and a green blazer. Navy socks and black shoes. Isn't that bad, I guess. I walk down stairs. I see that breakfast is already on the table. Rom is wearing the same uniform as me, except he wears gray pants, not a skirt. I think he is lucky I hate skirts. Rom has dark brown hair and brown eyes. Rom is my twin brother. My hair is a lot lighter than his and I am taller than him. Rom's hair is almost black. "Hello sleepy head, how are you doing?" Rom Asks.

"Watch it, I usually wake up earlier than you." I say.

I notice Rebel. "Hey, Reb, how's it going?"

"Good." He says back.

Reb is my little brother. He is blonde; he has glasses, and is a regular size for an eight year old. And then there is Robin, she is my little sister, is six years of age and is only a few inches shorter than Reb. She also has blonde hair, but talks way less than Reb. I wave to her. She gives me a wave back. I sit down and eat my breakfast fast and we all get in the car. I am sixteen and have my driver's license, but Rom loves to drive whenever he can. So I let him. We drop Rebel and Robin at their elementary school and drive to ours.

"So, Friday." Rom says.

"Yeah, um, about that I am actually leaving tomorrow morning."

Rom stops the car instantly. "What, but they told us you would leave on Friday!"

"I know but, they changed their mind, I guess." I mumble.

"That's just stupid." Rom says angrily.

All of a sudden a man yells, "Get a move on kid."

Rom starts the car and lets a few bad words slip under his breath a few times.

We get to school. I am at my locker. My first subject is history.

I walk in; Mrs. Thomson is turning on the smart cube. The smart cube is a big hologram box that is projected by a small silver one. Where it shows what is going on with pictures and much more. "Ok class, sit down." Mrs. Thomson says. The smart cube is flashing pictures and paintings. You can see which one is coming. Because I am at the corner. The class desks are set up in a square around the smart cube. "So as you see on the board, in 2055 a tsunami happened in a place called Hawaii, but it was not a normal tsunami that we can stop by sound waving it." Mrs. Thomson said before a boy interrupted her the same boy that helped me yesterday, Skandar, "Yeah, duh, it was 2055, they're ancient, and their ghosts are here to haunt us, and when they find us," Skandar yells "Boo." In a girl named Daniela. Daniela shrieks. Skandar has a smirk across his pale skin. Skandar has short blackish, brownish hair and brown eyes. Daniela on the other hand is dark skinned, she wears glasses, hazel eyes, which in my opinion are beautiful, long brown hair that is usually done in a braid. I see a tear trickle down her cheek. I move to the empty spot beside her. Its, not like I was sitting next to anyone I liked. Janis, who tends to talk a lot. And Graham, who tends to be a bit arrogant. None of my friends are in history except Emma. And Emma most likely got distracted playing a video game. "Hey are you ok?" I ask Daniela. She nods. Skandar notices that she is upset. "Daniela, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings."

"No really, I'm ok." Daniela says again. We both nod. While Mrs. Thomson goes on about the tsunami, going away is all I can think about. After class ended Skandar meets me in the hallway. "Hey are you ok?"

"Yeah, why."

"Because most of class you where staring off in space, with this worried look on your face."

"No need to exaggerate the because."

Skandar rolls his eyes. "Well, we have  homework, its due tomorrow."

"There's no point, I'm not going to be here tomorrow."

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know, I mean..."

"Hey are you going to some place called Nonsciatur?"

I just stand there. How did he know? All I can get out is, "How."

"Is that a yes?" He asks.

I nod. "How do you know?" I ask.

"My sister is going tomorrow."

"Selena, she's only ten." I say in a very surprised voice.

"I know." Skandar says.

"Everyone in the ages of ten to eighteen."

"What are you guys doing there?"

"I don't think I'm supposed to tell you, but we are going to be sent into a forest to play a game of manhunt."

"That's not that so bad." Skandar says.

"Without any food or supplies, we may go mad, starve, die from exposure, and we may have to fight to the death." I say nervously.

"What!" Skandar says.

"Look I will protect her. I will make sure. I promise."

"Don't promise, if she dies, I don't want you to hold that against yourself."

"It doesn't matter, I will do my best. Look I am going to be late for mandarin class."

"Thanks." Skandar says.