Right Through You

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

"Mum, is that you?" I whispered, still groggy from sleep.  

I slowly opened my eyes. I was still lying on my bed. The room was now pitch black. I sat up and turned on the bedside lamp. 

Suddenly, a banging sound made me jump. The noise was similar to the one that had woken me.  

"Hello, who's there?" I got out of bed and walked towards the door.  

The noise became significantly louder as I reached the door... Like someone was scratching down the wood... 

"Hello, is anyone there?" I repeated. "Mum? Nick?"  

Suddenly, I felt something warm and heavy on my chest. A high pitched cry filled my ears but I couldn't see anything. 

I felt like my chest was collapsing. I couldn't breathe.  

Then I was falling.  

I fell further and further but the cry only got louder and I still couldn't catch my breath.  

I landed abruptly at the bottom and my eyes shot open...

I was in bed again and on my chest was our tabby cat, Onkimo. That's what the crying sound had been. I bet he'd also been the source of the scratching at my door too.  

Still half asleep, I absentmindedly began stroking him. I let out a deep breath. I'd only been dreaming. At least it hadn't been about Tom for once. However, my mind was weird enough without the cat giving me nightmares. 

When I'd regained consciousness, I realised I was still fully dressed in my orange stained uniform. It was dark now and I wondered how long I'd been asleep.  

Oh, my God. The red digits on the clock flashed midnight. I'd been asleep for over seven hours.  

I stood up, stretched, and rubbed my sore stomach from where my belt buckle had been digging into my skin. I wriggled out of the skirt, pulled off my shoes and wiggled my throbbing toes. Falling asleep fully dressed wasn't a good idea.  

It was weird being up this late and feeling so alert and awake. My stomach told me with a loud growl it was fully awake too. This made sense. I'd only had two bites of pizza at lunch before David had kindly covered me in lasagne. 

It was quiet downstairs, my mum and Nick must have been asleep. The kitchen didn't offer anything appetising, my mum hadn't been shopping yet. I searched the cupboards and found two slices of stale bread and an almost empty jar of peanut butter. I made some coffee and by scraping the remains of the peanut butter jar I managed to almost cover my toast.  

I went back up stairs to eat in my room. I turned on the TV and sat on my bed. I hoped some food in my stomach would make me feel tired again... but the exact opposite happened. Now full, I felt even more awake.  

To waste some time, I decided to wash my dishes; my mum would kill me if I left them in my room anyway.  

On the way back to bed I heard Nick talking. I went closer to his door and pressed my ear up against the wood. I felt stupid but I was sure he'd said Tom's name. As I listened I realised he was on the phone to Tom.  

"Things with you and Effie... they just seem strange to me." Oh, my God, he'd said my name. Why were they talking about me?  

"I mean, what was that about, mate?" Nick asked. His voice seemed confused. I wondered if he'd meant the moment me and Tom had shared earlier. 

"Seriously, what was that weird thing with Effie?" Nick said. I couldn't believe it, they were taking about it. 

"You did, you were staring at her. You did, mate. I was standing right there. And it's not the first time, I saw you watching her get dressed the other day. It's just weird and creepy."