Living in the Dead
I scrunched up my eyes. The light was blinding me completely; it felt as if there were dozens of needles piercing my eye. I brought my palms up in front of my eyes shielding me from the blazing sun, it was as if torches were shattering my eyes and I couldn’t see a thing.
I looked out at the broad road before me, my arm halfway inside a tree. I blinked rapidly. My face scrunching up in confusion, why in the world was my arm up a tree? Hurriedly, I pulled it out examining the limb in case of somehow gaining peculiar magic powers. After my short examination I patted my sides shaking off the thought, perhaps I was just imagining things, but I swear it was up a tree. I shook my head and the movement made me suddenly realise my surroundings all of a sudden. I swifted my head around, left, right, ‘wait what’, I thought nervously beginning to feel scared all of a sudden. Towards my right lay a large field of bright green grass twinkling with drops of early morning dew, above it were lots of coloured flowers, brightly dotted around randomly. My eyes suddenly felt clearer, it felt as if everything had suddenly magnified in sharpness and colour by a thousand times. My ears felt as if they could hear out past many kilometres in a buzzing hum as backdrop.
I turned my head the other way and the exact same view met my eyes however it felt as if there was so much darkness and sadness present on this side that I couldn’t bear even looking at this place. I walked towards it but I was pushed back violently as if an invisible barrier was held between these two very same yet very different places. I touched the barrier again when all of a sudden my arm felt frozen in place and so did half my body that was touching the barrier then I felt the barrier pull back like elastic and release all its energy throwing me backwards. A massive gust of wind caused me to fly back until my whole body froze mid air. I could feel a strange sick feeling in the pit of my stomach as if something big was going to happen, my frantic suspicions were correct as whatever force was holding me in the air let go and I could feel myself plunging backwards into what seemed like a gigantic drop. My head was plunging downwards and my feet in a vertical position above me in the air, I literally felt as if I was a shooting star and the wind kept blowing through my hair until I landed with a large thump on the ground.
I was in my back garden. I was honestly getting more and more timid by the second, concerned as to what exactly was happening to me. I was inches away from the door handle when I felt a strange shiver shudder through my hand all the way up till it reached my heart. As I opened my back door I felt strange walking in to my house, as if I was an outsider, I didn’t belong here. I felt agitated like I needed to desperately leave from here.
I could hear loud howling in the living room so I walked up to the living room gasped. Mum, dad, Sam, my brother and all of my family and friends were huddled by the fire, looking worn out and crying.
“Mallory, Mallory!” Mum screamed, repeatedly. Nobody once turned to look at me walk in; clearly they were too distracted, how strange.
Sam had a picture of me in his hand, “Why did you have to leave us.” He sobbed in agony.
“Guys, I’m right here.” I laughed at my crazy family who seemed to be crying over me. I wasn’t gone for that long was I?
Nobody flinched at my words. “Mum?!” I screamed a little louder in panic, feeling slightly frantic now, “Mum! Mum? MUM PLEASE, LISTEN TO ME IM RIGHT HERE!” I yelled now beginning to hyperventilate. I felt sick to the pit and I had a very strange feeling about all this but most of all I was scared. Utterly petrified. Why couldn’t they hear me?
I began crying, kneeling down before dad, shaking him, shaking Sam as well but my hand went straight through them. I felt trapped in a nightmare. My whole body was now shaking in fear.
My family stopped crying and froze all of a sudden at what seemed like the news on telly where they had a picture of me and Sam last summer pulling a funny face up to the camera.
My blood ran cold at the words underneath:
‘Dead body of Mallory Wicker: Found.’
