Layla Sparrow

Chapter 1

I run quickly through the slushy rain pattering against the brick pavement of the ally way. Grey clouds hover making a blanket of dullness. I pull my violet beanie hat harder over my head and flick the collar of my coat up beside my freezing ears. My eyes dart behind me to see two bulky men following after my footsteps. I can hear them grumble as I quicken. I can't see their faces clearly as their figures look like silhouettes. The cold brushes past me and smoke stinks the air. Soon enough I'm sprinting and so are the two enormous men. What do they possibly want from me? I'm just an average 14 year old girl! There's nothing special at all from me. I'm not rich, pretty, popular, or anything. Just an anonymous girl who attends High School everyday. See, absolutely normal!

My converse splash through the muddy puddles which sting like ice. I slip straight onto my back and my head thuds to the ground. A sharp pain rises in my back that is excruciating. I hear the men's laughter as they catch up. I just stay still in the darkness silently crying whilst waiting for my fate to come. Maybe they'll mistake me for someone else and apologize or just leave me here to die in the pouring rain?

I manage to open my eyes and see what I thought was impossible. The two men shape shift into these monstrous figures. Hair spurts all over their bodies, their heads are now six times bigger and their bodies four times bigger (and fatter). Gruesome tusks grow from their bottom jaws, and their eyes turn a ghoulish yellow which looks like puss.

I can't believe what I'm seeing! I struggle to get up and run but I only end up paddling in the puddle like a goldfish on land. "Come on, Come on!" Whisper to myself trying to motivate my body to do what I want to do, which to get out of here as fast as I can. My heart seems to be going a million mile per hour and is about to burst out of my chest. I can't get up. I think about screaming for help, but my throat is raw and dry, so all that comes out is a rusted strangling noise which sounds strangely familiar of a dieing cat.

Suddenly out of nowhere, and I mean nowhere. A figure just appears in front of me facing towards the vicious monsters. My eyes are half blind from all the salty tears streaming down my frozen face, so I don't know if I'm just imagining what I'm seeing or if this is all truly clear. The boy lifts his hand towards the two monsters, fire booms out of his palm lashing on the monster's faces, scarring them for life. He raises his other arm to let out more fire. The heat is so tense I feel like my skin is also melting off. Another figure appears kneeling beside me, a girl, probably 15 or 14. She lifts up her left hand behind her to deflect the heat of the flames and the pitch black suffocating smoke. A force-field.

I look up into my saviour's stressed face. Her snowy white slinky hair dangles on my face, tickling my nose. She's Hispanic and beautiful, her features are just so perfect I can't help but keep staring. I tear myself away from her and focus on the action between the boy and the two monsters. It looks like a complete enormous fire ball scorching against the thin brick walls. I jump viciously as I see the two monsters turn into glittery golden dust. What on Earth is going on?!

The body swings his arms to his side extinguishing the colourful flames. The girl looks down at me, holding me in her arms.

"Are you okay?" The girl says in an Australian accent, her eyebrows sowing together in worry.

My body responds 2 minutes late as it quickly jumps up and runs away. I hear the boy and the girl call after me. I sprint down the city street as fast as I can, dodging past puddles as I've sacrificed my converse long enough. I hear them chase after me, but I'm too fast.

Ten minutes later I reach the door to my house. I fiddle with the key and the lock whilst continuously looking back for the pair of them. The coast is clear. I finally open the door and run up to our apartment.