Young Writers Society

Pretty please review this with a cherry on top! I'll be good, I promise

'Katie! Max!’ I bellowed, my voice sounding thin and feeble amongst the wind’s mighty...windiness, I suppose. I thought I heard a faint reply, saw a shadow. I squinted, trying to see through the sand whirling around us. At least, I hoped it was sand. The wind howled, and I knew the place was devoid of moisture: lifeless, soulless.

‘KAAAAATE!’ I bellowed again, aiming for a louder shout than my last attempt. I kept at it, then gave it up. It was like being in a hurricane, or a storm in the sea. There was a constant roaring in my ears.

Being in the eye of the storm, without the rain, but ferocity was multiplied a hundred times over; it didn’t belong on earth. It was supernatural, and I was scared stiff. But the really scary thing was how dry, non-wet and warm it was.

The storm raged around me, or possibly us, for what felt like decades, and then, for some unknown reason, everything went white. Pure white, a shining beacon, so bright it could have been the sun. It was blinding, and I shut my eyes tight and covered them with my hands, but still it got through somehow. So bright was it that I could no longer see the sand. Then, there was no sand to see, and the light faded, and I watched the wind sweep the sand away.

The surroundings came into being around us, like some crazy TV ad.

I was lying on the ground, on my side, watching it all, but all I saw where whirls of colour appear. I checked in my pockets. Nope, no glasses there. I sat up and groped around. I groaned, and then my fingers came into contact with something that felt suspiciously like my glasses and I jammed them on.

It looked like we were a couple of streets away from home. As I wondered how we’d gotten out of the mall, I watched Kate sort of fade into being; her appearance just simply popped. Well, it wasn't as abrupt as a pop, but it wasn't exactly smooth. It seemed that as she faded from one place, she wasn't entirely in the next one either. It was like...pouring the contents of one cup into another, because the water is in the air before it is in the second cup--neither of the two cups, neither of the two possibilities of where it could and should be. Somewhere...not.

I watched her appear from her feet upwards. It was frightening. Finally all of Kate regained its normal colour and seemed to grow more...real, more authentic, more solid and stronger, more noticeable. I seemed to sort of...sense her more. If we’d had flashing lights to show how aware people were of us, hers would have been dim and growing steadily stronger.

I gathered we had appeared in the same way, me and Max, because she was gaping at me.

‘Where are we?’ I heard a young child’s voice say, in a terrified and unfamiliar tone. Could it be...?

We both whirled our heads around to spot Max sitting on his bottom, (not that he sits on or with anything else) with a comically bemused look on his face, his long honey-coloured hair ruffled with the wind falling over his eyes. The bemused expression soon turned to fear and confusion as a tall and rather imposing figure said to us, ‘Hey! Kid! Get off the street, you’re blocking the way.’

‘Oh, sorry. These two aren’t the brightest stars in the sky.’ Kate spoke politely to the man as she did to everyone, and firmly yanked mine and Max’s collars back. Extremely firmly. The man nodded to her, approval and acknowledgement his signal as he passed. He didn't have to look so damn pleased about it.

‘Owch!’ I sulked after he’d gotten out of earshot. I realised it was evening now, not many folk out. That guy was the only sole soul on the street. Traffic was light, too.

‘Shh.’ Kate watched the stranger turn the corner. She checked both sides of the road—she turned her head left and right, her blonde hair swishing as she moved it. Well, it wasn’t entirely blonde, she just had blonde highlights in her hair. She'd looked better without them. Why do girls always dye their hair weird colours that don’t suit them? I shook my head.

Then a frightening and downright unwelcome thought struck me.

‘Hang on,’ I said slowly, ‘where’s the arcade?’ Followed by ‘Where’s the people? And...what was that weird storm? Where are we?’ (Alright, so multiple thoughts, then.)

‘Look, that man’s clothes were styled like the 70s! And look, across the street,’ she added. Kate pointed to a store almost directly parallel to us, across the road. It looked like an old electronic store. There was a TV there that looked like it belonged in an antique store, a bulky thing that looked like a black brick with a stick poking out, and something that could’ve been called a computer about thirty years ago. Above this, there was a large, brightly painted sign that proclaimed proudly: “The latest electronics! 10% off for the first twenty buyers!”

‘Oh my God.’ Max snorted. Even at the tender age of five (and three quarters!) he knew it was a crap shop.

‘That thing belongs in a rubbish dump,’ I said. I picked at a nail.