Emily Frost slept. As she slept, she dreamt. Within the dream, she was at her secondary school. She wandered through the dimly lit hallways. Though the hallways of her small school were usually bright and somewhat occupied with students and staff,they were now gloomy and dark, void of any sound or colour. Emily had a bad feeling and knew that a nightmare was beginning. She looked around uneasily, wondering what was to happen. She didn't want to know.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw movement. Whatever it is, I don't want to see it. She thought to herself. However, she knew that it made no difference whether she turned or not. A nightmare was a nightmare, and remained a nightmare whatever she might do. She would have to face the terror bravely or suffer through it without courage. She braced herself for a too short moment and then, with great dread, turned around.
In front of her stood her enemy, or at least what remained of him. He was missing an arm and both eyes. The rest of his body was greenish and rotting, resembling an infected wound.He glided forwards slowly, walking, yet hardly moving his feet. The dark holes in his face seemed to emanate darkness. Don't panic. Don't panic. Emily thought to herself. Don't panic.She stood very still and tried to pretend she wasn't there.
Her enemy stopped in front of her holding, up a knife. It's grey light shone eerily in the claustrophobic hallway, and then her enemy spoke. His voice sounded like a high pitched, metallic screech. "You wanted this to happen to me. You wanted me to die."
Emily felt a small flash of anger mingle with her fear, as she always did when he spoke. "You're not dead." she tried to reason with him "You're still walking and talking. That means you're alive."
"You're wrong." he answered "And now you will die." He launched himself on top of her, then both of them fell. Emily hit the ground hard. Any hint of bravery she might of had dissolved in a wave of horror as he stood over her. The darkness in the room felt overpowering. Emily tried to struggle, but she couldn't get away. And then he stabbed her.
The cold knife seemed to burn Emily's leg at the same time as it's icy metal froze her. The pain seared Emily's leg, the dull blade bruising her sensitive skin as it ripped her open. She screamed, a long, pitiful wail that sounded like a wolf howling and a rat screaming. She continued to squeal, overwhelmed by fear and agony.
She drifted back to consciousness in her soft, warm bed, and quickly hoisted herself up into a sitting position before she could drift back into another nightmare. She inhaled deeply, and exhaled, feeling slightly relieved. She was still kind of nervous, but her unease would pass once she wandered around the house for a while and read some of her book.She took a large sip of water from one of the water bottles on her bedside table, then glanced at the digital clock on her dresser, which read 5:00 AM.
Emily hastily grabbed her glasses and turned on her bedroom light, feeling a small flash of satisfaction as the colour and brightness filled her room, contrasting the gloom and darkness of her nightmare. Feeling much happier, she turned to look at her guinea pig, Snowy, then strolled over to his cage to say "hello". Snowy, being a guinea pig, was nothing like a hamster. Emily found it annoying how most of the world were ignorant to their differences. Guinea pigs were almost as large as most rabbits, while hamsters were small enough to fit in one hand. Guinea pigs woke and slept whenever they wanted, and were supposed to have a healthy diet containing vegetables and hay several times a day. Hamsters were nocturnal and ate seeds with dry food pellets. Hamsters were quiet and shy, living up to about 2 years, while guinea pigs were loud and expressive, and able to live up to 10 years. Emily could see almost nothing in common with guinea pigs and hamsters, yet she couldn't count how many times people had called her guinea pigs hamsters. There are no similarities at all between guinea pigs and hamsters! Emily thought to herself.
Emily had three guinea pigs in total, but she had had more in the past. Peaches, Coffee, Swampy, and Corncob had all died of various health problems, and all that remained were Snowy, Fluffy, and Pearl. Snowy was by far her favourite. He lived in her bedroom while the others lived in the living room. Of course, she still loved her other guinea pigs and gave them attention, but Snowy was special to her. She held him at least five times a day, and always gave him the largest pieces of carrot and cucumber. He was very friendly and often waited for Emily at the corner of his cage, looking up at her with big, dark, shiny eyes when she stroked his fur. Sometimes he would purr.
Emily gave Snowy a pat on the head and grabbed her hairbrush from the dresser. She stood in front of the mirror and brushed the knots out of her tangled, golden blonde hair. It would need a wash in a few hours before school started. No matter how much she washed it and combed it, it always seemed to get greasy and messy in an impressive amount of time. And it was always bushy and slightly curly. She wished her hair would be straight like everyone else's. But that was never going to happen. She was unlikely to lose much weight either, even with the hard work of strict dieting and exercise. It was true that she ate less than most people, but it did nothing for her. Her whole family was fat,at least in her standards. Emily was jealous of all those skinny people she saw each day. She had a strong desire to lose weight, even if she knew it was very unlikely to happen. The feature she preferred most about herself was her wide ocean blue eyes.Emily picked up a book from her dresser, positioned herself upon her bed and began to read. Reading and writing were two of favourite pass-times. The subject she was the most skilled at in school was English. She was also good at French, which was one of the reasons she attended a French high school. Often, she sat alone in the cafeteria at lunchtime and wrote short stories and poetry.One day she hoped to write a book. However, finding an interesting idea for a book wasn't very easy. Most ideas were already taken.Emily knew she should be doing her Math homework, but she didn't really want to. Though Emily was good at Language, she usually had a harder time in Math. There were too many rules to remember, and too many numbers. Since she was an eleventh grader, the Math was much more complicated than it had been in the grades before. She had barely passed Math the past year. She spent more time staring blankly at the page than actually making any progress. She often forgot what she was doing halfway through the problem, and had to reread the question. Because of this, she probably didn't have enough time to finish her homework anyway. Despite all this, she didn't dislike Math. In fact, she found it very useful and interesting when applied to real life situations.After about half of an hour, Emily finished reading and returned the book to her dresser. Saying goodnight to Snowy for one last time, she turned off her bedroom light, placed her glasses on the bedside table, and fell into a deep sleep, bundled up in her soft, warm blankets. This time, her dreams were free of nightmares.A few hours later, Emily woke up to the sound of her brothers fighting loudly outside her bedroom door. Ugh... She thought to herself Is it morning already? She propped herself up on one elbow and looked up at the clock. It read 7:30. Emily grudgingly threw the blankets back and arose from her bed, grimacing as one of her brothers let out a piercing shriek. She had three brothers. They were all younger than her. Simon, the oldest, was ten years old. He was the smallest of the three, and very skinny. His perfect brown hair never went out of place and was always smooth and shiny. Out of all three of them, he was the only one who had dark brown eyes. He usually stayed quiet and played in his room, but sometimes he would get in a fight with his brothers. He didn't get along with them very well.Cayden who was 8 years old, was the second oldest. He was a head shorter than Emily, and could easily beat up his other two brothers. He liked to unexpectedly tackle people and try to knock them off of their feet, especially Emily. He was very proud when he succeeded. Cayden had blond hair and blue eyes, like Emily, and enjoyed telling stories about how tough he was. He was likely to be very tall when he grew up, unlike Emily, who was only 5'2, though she was 16 years old. Despite his violent nature, Cayden could be a very kind-hearted person and had all the makings of a good leader.Kelvin was the youngest. He was soon to turn seven. Though he was only six, he was almost as tall as Cayden. He looked a lot like Cayden, with his blue eyes, blonde hair, and large body. Kelvin, being the youngest, was constantly trying to prove himself. He was sensitive and easily became discouraged and frustrated. He enjoyed his video games but hated to lose. However, he was a quick learner and enjoyed the company of his older siblings. Sometimes Emily would surprise him by sewing him a gift. He treasured all his gifts from Emily.The noise amplified in Emily's room as Simon burst in through the door. He slammed the door angrily behind him and exclaimed loudly "Cayden hit me!". Judging by the ugly face Simon was making, Emily could tell he was furious. His cheeks were starting to turn red and his hands were clenched in tight fists. From the other side of the door, Cayden yelled "Yeah, Simon?". Simon tried to hold the door closed as Cayden tried to push it open. The door rocked as Cayden and Simon pushed and shoved for control over the door. However, it was a very short fight. Cayden, who was much stronger than Simon, forced the door open, plowing Simon into the wall in the process. Simon let out an angry scream."The reason why I slapped Simon was because he was breaking my cars." Cayden explained calmly."You're lying!" shrieked Simon "You're a-" Simon cursed loudly."No, you are!" Cayden advanced towards Simon threateningly. "And now you're going to pay!"The boys pushed and shoved at each other for a moment until Simon ended up on his bottom. Then he got up, shook his fists at Cayden, and ran away crying "I'll get revenge!""Good job, Cayden!" Emly said with a smile"Thanks!" Cayden replied. He gave Emily a strong hug, squeezing the breath out of her lungs and cracking her back, then marched out of Emily's bedroom, closing the door firmly behind him. Cayden sure is polite and kind. Emily thought to herself Sometimes...Emily briefly stood in front of her closet and considered what outfit she should wear to school. She chose a black t-shirt, a thin, stretchy blue sweater, and plain black pants, which she laid out on her bed to put on later. Then, she went out into the hallway, walked down the pale blue, carpeted stairs, and made her way to the kitchen. Calling out a short greeting to her mother, she grabbed a banana from the bowl of fruit on the counter and ran back up the stairs to run her bath. She turned the taps in the bathtub, momentarily keeping one hand in the bathtub to feel the temperature of the water change from freezing cold to steamy and warm. She stood and watched the bathtub slowly fill up as she ate the banana. She would have to bathe quickly or she would miss the school bus.Remembering her clothes which lay on her bed, Emily exited the bathroom and went into her room, fetching her clothes atop her blanket and bringing them back into the bathroom. Seeing that the bathtub was filled up with an adequate amount of water, she turned off the water, and locked the bathroom door just in case one of her brothers decided to burst into the room uninvited. She slipped her clothes off and washed rapidly, scrubbing her hair with white, coconut scented shampoo. Then, feeling much cleaner, she dried off with a towel, and brushed her hair, which was still dark with water and dripping on the floor. She donned her clothes and ran out the door just in time to catch the bus. She was the only one on the bus that day, so she sat alone at the front of the bus. But that was normal. She usually sat alone everywhere she went, except at home, when she sat with her brothers. Her brothers cherished her company and cared whether she felt lonely or not. However, that didn't stop her from feeling lonely and friendless at school, and anywhere else occupied by other people. She did have one friend, though her friend lived out of town and only communicated on the phone and by online messaging. They had almost everything in common, apart from the fact that Emily was a female and her friend was a male.As Emily waited for the bus to bring her to school, she contented herself by watching the outdoor scenery. She enjoyed travelling by vehicle because it allowed her time to process her thoughts by herself in silence while watching the view in front of her face change and not having to do anything. Nobody stared at her or handed her stressful assignments and told her what to do. She found it relaxing.The bus only had one person to pick up on the way to Emily's school. It was a young boy red haired who was still in Elementary school. He skipped up the steps into the bus and slumped into a seat near the back of the bus. The bus continued.Finally, the bus stopped at Emily's school and let her off at the parking lot. Emily's bus driver said "Have a good day." and Emily mumbled her reply "Have a good day.". Then she walked towards the entrance of her school.
