Written

Chapter 3

I woke up in the around 4:00 in the morning partly because I just couldn't stay asleep but mostly because or Peyton. I decided to go downstairs to grab a snack. When I got downstairs I saw that my grandmother was asleep. She had lowered the TV probably because I asked her to be quiet earlier. I had to pry the remote from her hand before turning the TV off.

I had come downstairs to grab a snack but I ended up eating an entire meal. I had two hot dogs a bowl of chili and a cup of iced tea. Before heading back upstairs I cleaned my and my grandmother's dishes and put a blanket over her.

Being up this late reminded my of my parents. They would always stay up late especially when they would write books. They used to stay up into the early hours of the morning. Sometimes they wouldn't sleep at all. They just just keep writing their books. Whenever I asked what they did all that time they would just say: "We're making the world a better place one chapter at a time." My parents never really talked about their work with me. Though every now and then I would hear them arguing about a book they were supposedly writing together. They never finished that book. At least I never heard they did. I think my mother passed away before it was  finished. Now that I think about it they probably spent more time with their books than they did with me but don't get me wrong I'm not bitter. They were very good parents. Whenever they did spend time with me they treated me like a prince. They just
wrote a lot. I guess that's what I get for being the child of two best selling authors.

I don't really know how or why but I ended up in my parent's old study. I never touched anything in that room until now so everything was where it left since the last time my parents were in here. I started looking at the pictures that they put on their desks. Then I migrated to the bookcase. I remember being younger and not being able to come in here unless I was invited in. I was browsing through the books when I was startled by Peyton's voice.

"Simon, you OK?" she said standing in the doorway.

"Yeah. I'm fine. I just....couldn't fall asleep."

"Thinking about your parents?"

"Yeah." I lied. Truth is that is was actually her fault. I turned around to avoid looking at her because the shirt was too small and it had shown. She was much bigger now in places where it counts than she was when we were younger and it was also too short so it revealed just the right amount of midriff. She had hugged me from behind probably trying to comfort me not knowing that she was the reason I couldn't fall asleep and that this only made things worse. I tried to act like I wasn't phased by picking a random book off the bookcase and pretending to read it. She then spun around and positioned herself between me and the book so that face dangerously close to mine.

"Simon, you know I'm here for you right? I have always been here for you even if we aren't as close as we used to be. You can still tell me anything." she said looking up at me with her big brown eyes. The longer I look back at her I realize that this girl is....has always been my kryptonite. She has always found a way to get to me.

"Remember when you would sleep over and my parents would write us bedtime stories?" I asked desperately trying to change the subject.

"Yeah and they hardly ever let us in here."she said without breaking her immobilizing gaze.

"Remember that time when my dad was reading to us and you got so scared that you peed on yourself?"

"No."

"Liar."

"OK fine I was scared but I did not pee on myself."

"Liar."

"Im not lying." she said stomping her foot just like she did when we were younger. "Whoa....Deja Vu."

"What were you scared of anyway?"

"Those creepy Eraser things from all those stories your parents told us."

"They were just stories."

"I know but they're still creepy." She said walking to the door. "Well Im going back to bed. Don't stay up too late OK Simon?"

I wondered to myself why she said that. She has been acting little strange all night but I would never tell her that. I'm really starting to think that my phone didn't actually wake me up and that this whole night is actually a very strange dream.

"I'll only be a few more minutes."

I stayed in the study for only about 10 minutes more. On my way out I had accidentally knocked over a box with a bunch of paper and a book inside. The papers didn't seem like anything important. They just looked like crumpled notes on the countless number of books written by my parents. The book was old, burgundy and it had yellow pages. The cover of the book had only one word on it. 'Written'. I flipped to the first page and saw that both my parent's names were printed onto the page. Though instead of the normal computer font on the page I saw that their names were hand written onto the page. Maybe this was the book that they wrote together. I turned the page to see if there was a book summary on the next page but there wasn't. There wasn't anything. There was absolutely nothing on the page. It was blank. I flipped through the book to find something to read but there wasn't a single word in the book other than my parent's names. Disappointed I put the papers back into the box and closed the book.

Then something strange started to happen. The ceiling faded into a dark sky with a crescent moon. Then room itself started to change. It was as if the walls were melting. The hardwood floors turned to dirt. I had no idea what was going on. I looked around my surrounds for an explanation but then I realized that this was impossible and that nothing could explain this. I heard crickets,owls and bunches of other noises someone would normally hear outside at this time of day. That's when I realized I was in a forest.

I was not sure about what just happened but I knew one thing I had to get back home. The only problem was I had no idea where I was. I heard I river in the distance so I figured I should find that and travel upstream to a hill so I could get a better view of where I was. It seemed like the right thing to do. I mean I had seen it done on tv and movies and it always seemed to work out for them. Turns out I wasn't so lucky. Before I even made it to the river I heard footsteps. I wasn't sure if they were human or animal so I started jogging away from it but it only followed me. Scared for my life I started to pick up speed and as I ran faster so did whatever was chasing me.

As I hurtled, dove and swung my way through the forest this thing seemed to do the same. We ran for what felt like an eternity. I decided to climb a tree to try a lose it. When I looked down at the ground I saw the silhouette of a person run and stop right under the tree I was perched up in. They were clothed in dark attire and held a blade in their hand. Unable to find me they continued to run through the dark forest.

I closed my eyes, let out a sigh of relief and rested my head on the tree. Then I felt something press against my neck. It was small and sharp. I opened my eyes to see a fit, red haired man who looked like he was about my age, sitting across from me holding a knife to my neck.

"Do not move or I will cut your throat." He ordered.

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