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H o l l o w s I n
T I M E
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12/09/16
Twelve months ago
Someone was following me. I could feel it. It was either a Guardian or an attacker. But I didn't want to take the chance. I whirled around, facing my stalker. A Guardian—was what I thought, but I couldn't be sure.
"You're taking the back routes." They greeted me with. It was a man, maybe in his thirties, with dark hair and light skin that was illuminated under the dim lights.
I nodded, "Trying to avoid civilisation here..?" I gestured around the alleyway that we were standing in. Dangerous, I know, but it was a normal route for me—back before the Academy ever existed in my world.
"You're also making it very hard to keep an eye on you." The man chided with a small shake of his head, then offered his hand to me. "Let's go back to civilisation." He announced, and so I followed him out of the dark tunnel.
"Are there others here?" I asked as we emerged into the street I was trying to avoid. Not a lot of people were out; it wasn't Friday—but it also wasn't Monday afternoon. I was coming back from my extra tuition after school, and the sun was starting to set a little earlier now that we had just broken into September.
I felt the Guardian peer at me from the corner of his eye, probably trying to suss out my motives. "Yes." Well, he didn't lie.
I gnawed at my lip, "Is Jameson here?" I asked in a quiet voice and I could feel the air suddenly become thick. We were walking under streetlights, my house in view, with a dispersing sunset in the background, the pink and red glow outshining the moon, a faded dime in the sky. But the Guardian stopped. I halted too late, and nearly went crashing face first into a driveway filled with pebbles. If Jameson had been here, his arm would've went flying out, ready to catch my fall.
But this Guardian was different. He was stiff, his gaze elsewhere. And I read the signs.
"He is here, isn't he?" I jumped straight onto his uneasy facial expressions.
"Where?" I shot at him next. Jameson is here. At a date of September the twelfth, it has currently been a whole three weeks since I have been within a one metre, and closer, radius of Jameson. And I still loved him. And I wanted to see him. And I wanted to kill the rule makers of the Academy. The three step guide to success.
The Guardian showed no other signal that I had picked up on a trail that I shouldn't have, except for his grimace on his face.
"I can't let you see him." He told me. But I had to. And when you have that kind of want coursing through your veins, there's nothing, no one, that can tell you that you can't do it. Impossible as it is, I will do it.
Then it hit me. "Jameson has been here the whole entire time?" It smacked me in the face with full force that, whilst I had been falling—or crawling—into a pit of endless depression, Jameson had been near this whole time. He had been here.
The Guardian shifted, but didn't make any attempt to try to force me into my house. "He's been in and out of the mission for two weeks now—you know, messing around with security cameras at our base several miles out—and other amateur things." I ignored his final comment.
"Several miles out."
"At a base."
The Guardian placed two strong hands on my shoulders and steered me up my drive. "If you don't hurry up you'll miss your tea." He told me, clearly fed up of talking about this. He took his hands off my shoulders to place a firm knock on my front door, then whizzing off in true Guardian fashion. I turned around, looking for a lingering shadow or whisper of a Guardian. I could find none.
The door clicked open from behind me and I slowly swivelled around, facing my mother. I frowned at the oven gloves in her hands.
"Did you lose your key, Sky?" She asked me and I looked up, watching as she brushed her left hand against the apron that she was sporting, looking out at our street over my shoulder.
I shook my head, "No, I just couldn't find it in my bag." I answered and she stepped to the side to beckon me in.
I heard my Mum sigh, "So then you've lost it." My Mum came to the wrong conclusion but I let her believe what she wanted to, too busy darting up the stairs to even give a second glance towards her.
"Dinner will be ready in ten minutes!" My mothers shrill followed me up the stairs but I ignored it as I dashed into my room, throwing my barely-full backpack to the floor before rushing over to my couch. I fell to my hands and knees, uncovering my diary from underneath the couch and pulling it out. I reached for a pen in the pots on my vanity, before kicking my bedroom door closed and sitting with my back against it.
I gnawed at the end of my pen, the familiar uncertainty over what to write flashing over my spine like a shiver. Then, as always, I made a mental note to write what I knew, what I got my diary out to write.
And so I did.
Diary entry 3: 12/09/16
Jameson is here. He has always been here. Waiting. Watching. He is here.
I spoke to a Guardian, and I reckon he revealed more than he should've. He told me that Jameson was miles away, in the Guardian secret base. 'Messing around with security cameras' he had said.
I broke out of my trail of thoughts and looked away from my diary, my thoughts elsewhere. Miles away. I need a map.
I burst out of my room, stupidly leaving my diary displaced on my floor. I rushed around, trying to think of the best place to look for a town map in. Really not thinking about my tactics, I smashed into the door to my fathers office, sending it flying into the wall. Luckily, my dad was working late today and so I was not accompanied. I got to work.
Five drawers later, I found a small tourists map tacked to the board above his desk. I took it back to my room more calmly than I had left and sat back down in my original position, my diary perched on my knees as I held the map close to my face. I placed my diary on the floor and leaned down, placing the map to the floor as I twiddled my pen between my fingers.
I folded it many times to block out the places that the base couldn't be. A farm on the edge of town, a lake reserve, a motorway that runs on the boarder, leading to the next town. That left me with a very big town, with very big areas. I decided to rule out the out of bounds areas, because of the fact that it was illegal to even trespass in those areas, let alone set up a base. That left me with many woodlands and fields.
Half an hour later, and a failed attempt at eating dinner later, I had managed to rule out only five out of the possible thirty places it could be. I huffed in frustration and leant back so that I laid on my back on the floor. I listed all the people that could help me in this situation in my head. A geographer—unavailable. The mayor of the town—he's probably not in on the secret of the Academy. The police force—they would never give away confidential information away to a sixteen year old girl. Einstein—dead.
Carter—
Jameson—
Gone.
Everyone is gone.
It's all gone.
I have no one.
I'm all alone.
Alone in a world I thought I wanted.
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Heyooooooooo
What is uppppppppp
Me name is peewee the frog
And idk yeah
Who liked that humour from the motttterrrr
Bc I did too okay thanks
-welk
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Next update: Wednesday
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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN SPOILER:
We've seen Sky throughout more than one time.
But how will she fare against the fact that it's time to get back into the swing of things at the Academy?
And, despite what she least expects, who will be the person to help her with this?
We're going to the present.