Breanna sighed. Her beach party was over and she was waving her friends off. Cherry, Cera and Jodie lived in the seaside town too, so they had been the latest going home, which didn't bother Breanna as there was no one else at her house anyway. Her family had met up with her friends' families in one big get-together on the other beach - how convenient.
She sighed again. A breeze lifted her pale blonde hair as she stared across the water. It was getting cold at the beach as the day drew into evening, and she was hungry after being in the sea the whole day.
Crossing the road to her house, she nearly stopped in the middle with shock at the sight of a bay thoroughbred horse, calmly eating the grass on the front lawn. She had always wanted a horse, but this?! This was unexplainable! It wasn't even her lawn, it belonged to the old woman in the bottom half of the house! What was she going to do, the horse could be seen at any—
A loud cark from her back garden startled her even further. Ignoring the horse for now, she crept quietly round the side of the house, her beach bag held tightly in her hand, preparing herself for whatever was round the corner. It was definitely a bird, but certainly not a normal one...
Peering round the corner, nothing could have prepared her for what she saw next.
***
Cera jogged along the sunlit streets, basking in the warmth. She had just went for a three-mile run in and around the town and was finally going home to wind down a bit. The beautiful seaside town was ideal for a run when you wanted one, but had a lot of dogs. She was terrified of dogs, and when a spaniel had chased her, she had been so desperate to outrun it that she had almost tripped over a chihuahua which, luckily, had ignored her and her squeals.
Glad to be home, she pushed open her gate and there, casually stretched along a branch was something she had only ever seen in captivity, something that caused her to scream louder than she ever had before.
***
Cherry's legs pumped the bike pedals round and round as she raced, blonde hair flying, along the streets to her grandmother's house where she knew she could do whatever she wanted - after all, no one would be there to see her suck the nectar out of the fuchsia flowers or eat all the raspberries growing in the garden, two things she knew she was not to do.
Jumping off her bike, Cherry wheeled it into the garage and sniffed the air. Something wasn't right.
Tiptoeing out again, she followed the musky scent to the back garden. Her eyes widened in disbelief as they took in a gently heaving ball of fur underneath a mass of feathers, gently rising and falling and making the trellis beneath it shake. Cherry covered her mouth to stifle a whimper and took a step backwards, but the fur and the feathers stirred. It was too late.
***
Jodie wandered through the warren of houses that made up her neighbourhood and thought about the camping trip next week. It seemed like an eternity away. She knew she wouldn't get much sleep - she'd be sharing a tent with Cherry and Breanna - but she didn't mind. The others probably would though...
By this time Jodie had reached her front door, but something told her to go to her back garden. As if under a spell, she sauntered round the side of her house, and was greeted by a strange whinny. Jodie jolted, the spell broken. As her eyes focused on two shapes in front of her, her face went even paler than usual, which was really saying something. She was frozen, motionless, as the two shapes advanced.
***
Sofia strutted into her house and dumped her beach bag on the floor. Her mum had driven her home and was going shopping in their village.
"I'm going out!" Sofia yelled to her before walking back out the house and taking the path down to the river where they were planning to camp. It was peaceful here, and there was a good place to swim where it was deep.
Sofia decided to see where she wanted her tent. She would be sharing with Abbie, who didn't really mind where the tent was as long as it wasn't too close to a wasp nest. Or somewhere where the seagulls often came. Or somewhere with spiders...
Sofia stopped as she reached their camping spot. There was something a beige colour sticking out from behind a tree. It looked like a tail.
As Sofia moved closer, the tail lifted off the ground and its owner poked it's head round the tree. A tiny gasp escaped Sofia's lips just before she fell in a dead faint.
***
Alex sat in the car, bored out of his skull. His iPad had been confiscated for... Reasons... Before they had even left his gran's house. She lived all the way in Oxford, so Alex hadn't been able to go to the beach party, which he knew he'd be told all about when he stole his iPad back. Leaning against the headrest, he closed his eyes. Halfway to home...
Alex was jolted awake by the sound of something very big and very heavy. He opened his eyes in time to see something big and grey lumbering past, and then it was out of sight.
He undid his seatbelt and leapt out of the car - at least they were home now - and ran to see what all the commotion was. It sounded like it was coming from the field near his house.
As Alex ran, a huge shadow fell over him and glided over to the field he was headed for. As he reached the gate, his brain failed to register the fact that he was looking at possibly the derpiest creature he had ever seen circling over...was that...
Alex gave a very girl-like shriek and ran back home.
***
Abbie looked over at Chloe, whose hair was still dripping. Abbie's mum had brought them back home and was getting ready to drop Chloe off at the bus stop near the blonde girl's house.
Water from Abbie's brown locks dripped quietly onto the seat as the two girls said their goodbyes.
"See you next week!" said Chloe. She didn't give Abbie a hug - Abbie didn't like hugs.
As the car drove off, Abbie settled back and thought about how much sleep she'd get sharing a tent with Sofia. Probably not much. Add Cherry, Jodie and Breanna to the mix and sleep would be a distant memory.
Smiling, Abbie stepped out the car as it pulled into the driveway, and spotted a flash of black and white through a bush. Abbie began towards it when her mother called. "I'll nip in to your gran's for a bit, could you feed the cats?"
Only Tommy needs feeding, Ozzie's too fat, thought Abbie, but her mouth said yes to her mum as the rest of her body went in the direction of the black and white again. It was probably Ozzie, the fat cat was always chasing after butterflies and ending up somewhere. But when Abbie got there, what she saw was not Ozzie. It was much, much bigger. One roar and Abbie ran faster than she ever had before.
***
Chloe took her time going along the grass track, savouring the warmth of the sun on her face. For once Scotland was not raining heavily and blowing a gale. Reaching the small row of houses, she got a friendly bark from the black Labrador, Bruce, who lived three houses up from her, and who got a returning bark from Chloe's own dogs.
Shooting the other way through the gate, the chickens all crowded round the blonde girl, one as usual pecking her feet. They looked petrified and one look at the field behind her house told Chloe the reason why. A grey, striped animal was pacing behind the green nylon that lined the fence to shelter some of the garden from the wind. Not knowing what it was, Chloe didn't speak, only ran inside the house, quickly followed by the chickens. Seven notifications rang off on her phone.
STAI LEGGENDO
The Eight
Avventura*NOTE* This story is mainly about me and my friends so I'm sorry to any of you who don't know me and are confused. Also it's REALLY bad since I wrote it years ago. Please don't judge my account solely on this book. Eight friends, all completely norm...
