Searching The Dark

Chapter One

I stumbled onto the stage, bunching my silk skirts in my hands to avoid ripping them. There was a sudden hush amongst the crowd before me. I looked around, trying to find a way out, I spotted Beth, she was staring at me with wide brown eyes.

I exhaled sharply and made my way towards the centre of the stage. I clasped my hands in front of me and closed my eyes. Knowing what was about to happen.

The building shook, a loud crash filled the ballroom as the chandelier fell down. People screamed. I kept my eyes closed, as smoke began to fill the room. Followed by sizzling heat...

I slammed the leather bound book shut. Resisting the urge to toss it across the room. "Elise, why didn't you do something?! You knew what was happening you could've stopped it!" I muttered, picking it up again and stuffing it into my blue backpack.

I swung my backpack onto my shoulder and stood up, ignoring the stares of people as I passed them. Stares I was used to, they didn't affect me. But I knew the things they said about me, thinking I didn't listen. Those things bothered me. To them, I'm just the girl at the back of the class, with a blank stare. No-one ever seemed to care or ask about me. To them, I barely existed.

Books were my solace, the characters in books were like my companions, or at least they would be if they were real. My hair fell like a curtain in front of my face as I walked out of the cafeteria.

The shrill shriek of the bell echoed through the building , I hurried home, fumbling with my house key to get in.

As usual my house was empty. I grabbed my dinner from the freezer, hearing it in the microwave. The entire house felt like a shell of its former self. Half of the pictures had been ripped off of the walls. The wallpaper was starting to peel off, the house was a little bit of a mess.

I sighed, pushing my food around my plate with my fork. "Things can get better.. They have to." I kept repeating to myself, pushing my food aside.

I spent a few hours doing homework and tidying the house. "Where is she-" My thoughts were interrupted by a thud outside, followed by a string of curses. A moment later the door slammed open, I restrained myself from rolling my eyes and flicked on the hallway light, leaning against the doorway. My aunt stumbled into the hallway, a pink pair of high heels in her hand. Her blonde hair was a mess.

She barely acknowledged me as she pushed past me, heading towards the downstairs bathroom. "Aunt-" I stopped myself remembering she hated being called that. I started again, "Izzy, it's barely 8pm. You haven't been home in 12 hours I was worried." That last part was a lie. I was used to being by myself.

I heard coughing and the sounds of her being sick. "I'll be upstairs." I called out, leaving her to it. Tying my hair up in a messy bun I wandered upstairs. I closed my bedroom door and lied down on my bed, grabbing a book from my table.

My phone started to buzz in my pocket. I pulled it out to see a bunch of texts. I read the first one. It was from one of the 'popular girls'. The text read: "Why the hell do you talk to yourself? No wonder your such a loner. And a freak." I rolled my eyes and continued reading the other texts. They were all from the people in my class.

Some contained words like freak, weirdo, loner. But there was one text that felt like a slap. It was from a guy called Tom. "No wonder your all alone, even your own parents couldn't stand you. I'm not surprised they left you, you little freak."My breath became ragged. My parents hadn't left me. There had been a car crash when I was six, killing my parents and my little sister Angelica.

My eyes stung, as tears welled up. "Jerks." I choked out, tossing my phone aside, it landed on a pile of blankets beside my bed. I squeezed my eyes shut, I couldn't cry. Not today.

My phone continued to buzz, I grabbed it and turned it off. My hands trembled. Turning around I looked at my clock. It was 8:05. The 9th October. "Love you mom, dad and Jelly." I mumbled, the name Jelly was one I had always called Angelica, she had loved it. I yawned, pulling on my shorts and a tank top as I climbed into bed. It was early but I felt exhausted.

I closed my eyes, my thoughts drifted off to thinking of that day. I had been in a world of my own, pretending my doll could fly. We had hit a bump in the road, I had dropped my doll out of the window. My mum had heard me crying and unbuckled her seatbelt to climb into the middle seat beside me and Angelica, she had tried to comfort me. I had a little bit of a temper on me back then. I had slipped out of my mum's arms and undone my belt. My dad hadn't put the child lock on the doors, so when a traffic light turned yellow I had climbed out, landing with a bump in the middle of the road.

My mother had screamed at me, trying to get my dad to stop the car. But he was too busy trying to spot me in the road. They had ran through a red light and two cars smashed into them. They had died upon impact. I had been sitting there in the road, tears steaming down my face...

The sounds of them screaming had haunted me for months afterwards. I had been placed in foster care until they found my aunt Isabelle, or Izzy as she preferred. My mother had been her older sister, her death had wrecked her. Which led to how things were now, ten years later. Izzy had become drunk and miserable, barely even remembering I existed.

I ended up crying myself to sleep, every once in the while things became too much for me to handle...
********