Young Writers Society

Choiceless

Chapter One

As Told By Leo

I woke up, my eyes seeing little but darkness, my duvet tinged with sweat. I lifted my head up as though it weighed eight ton, and glanced at my clock. Its digital figures could be seen easily in the black gloom that enveloped my room.

I groaned and slid from my bed, letting my cover slither to the floor behind me. The clock read seven forty, but for some reason my alarm hadn’t gone off. I should have been up fifteen minutes ago, meaning that I’d have to rush to get ready for school. I tried to find it in myself to speed up but I just couldn’t do so. Instead, I yawned slowly as I walked over to my closed door, flicking on the light as I did so.

I briefly wondered why it was so dark inside, seeing as it was practically late morning. The blind that covered my window really wasn’t effective enough to block out all the light from the outside world. I gave a mental shrug and decided it was probably extremely cloudy or something outside.

I wandered into the bathroom opposite my room, doing everything I could to avoid making noise. I had no wish to wake up those in my family who had the liberty to sleep in later than I did.

Through sleep-distorted eyes, I peered at my reflection in the mirror, the bright light on the ceiling forcing me to squint painfully. For some reason, my reflection looked odd… out of place. It took a while for me to realise why, but it clicked into place eventually – my hair seemed to be fine. I mean, you’d have expected it to be all messed up from lying in bed. Yet there I was – my hair looking as though I’d spent ten minutes preparing it for the day ahead. I widened my eyes as much as the light allowed me, waiting impatiently for them to adjust to this new illumination.

Yeah – there really was no doubt. I shrugged it off, with the thought that it could perhaps make up for some of the time my faulty alarm had wasted.

Bang!

The sudden noise made me jump slightly. Probably my brother – or perhaps my sister had made it. Whichever one it was, they were bound to wake the other. I waited for some other sound, some other clue as to who it was or whether or not the other had been woken. None came.

I crept closer to the door and peered around the corner, hoping my eyes would work well enough in the changing light levels I was putting them through. I looked down the dark landing, but saw no one. All the doors were shut and none had the telltale light underneath that represented wakefulness.

‘Um… maybe a hallucination?’ I asked myself quietly. I was trying to force myself not to jump to any irrational conclusions, but I could feel the tendrils of fear reaching out to me none the less.

Pushing the feelings down inside me as far as they’d go, I approached the staircase. I felt loath to go downstairs, away from the psychological comfort of my family, but I was already late enough for school and couldn’t waste any more time.

I pushed down the stairs, listening out for any more mystery sounds. Images ran through my mind’s eye, none of them particularly pleasant.

I decided I’d feel more comfortable once I’d turned on the downstairs light, but the second the thought ran through my mind, I began to worry it would not work.

‘Stupid, you’re being stupid.’ I hissed to myself as I flicked the switch.

Nothing. No light came to chase away the dark. My heart felt as though it’d jumped to my throat in a bid to choke me. I tried to calm myself and failed miserably. The darkness felt as though it was swallowing me.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why was I afraid? Because of a bump? Because of a stupid light bulb had blown? I made a feeble attempt at a laugh, which died and decomposed in my throat as a hand was placed upon my shoulder.

My heart skipped a beat in sudden cold fear. I spun round and pulled away from the person, letting out a yell as I did so. It was a man who had grabbed me. He was tall, taller than I was. His face was covered in shadow, but I could make out the prominent features – the round nose, the heavy jaw line, the hooded eyes. His face was expressionless as far as I could tell.

‘Who… who are you?’ I asked him as I slowly backed away, my voice quiet. The man didn’t move, he just lowered his gaze to meet mine. He looked totally at ease.

‘Get out,’ I stated in a voice that I hoped sounded sturdy, ‘Or else, or else I’ll phone the cops.’ Once again, he made no attempt to act in any way, an unmoveable and imposing statue. My heart was beating frantically and my throat was getting ever dryer. My questing hand touched the banister for the staircase behind me. I gripped it firmly, spun round and took off at a run.

The man made no effort to follow me… he just stood there… and stared… up at me…

I hesitated for a second only. I knew what I had to do, I had to wake the rest of my family and we had to phone the police. And then we’d have to sit and wait and hope for the best.

I ran to my parent’s room, which was at the furthest end of the landing. I reached it in three bounds and threw open the door, rushing in as I did so.

My cry to wake them stopped before it was fully formed in my mouth.

My parents weren’t in the room. It wasn’t even a room I recognised – it was a place I had never seen before. Though it was defiantly a bedroom, it was not the one that should be there.

My mouth opened slightly, my puzzlement over taking my fear.

‘Mum? Dad?’ I asked in a hoarse voice, my eyes sweeping around the room cautiously. I turned around to go back out the door, but it was no longer there. A decorated full-length mirror had replaced it.

I turned my attention back to the room, not quite sure what to make of it all. The room itself was quite lovely with its full carpeted red floor and large bed that ran with intricate curves made of silver and even gold. The walls were adorned with the occasional painting and the dressing table over the opposite side of the room had another mirror placed upon it, even more beautiful than the one that had replaced the much missed door.

I shook my head, ‘What’s going on here?’

I thought my fear had disappeared with the door, that the worst of it was past and I was free of any more nasty surprises.

But it seemed I was wrong. For from the bed, I could hear quiet crying. What I had originally taken for messy covers was actually a girl. She lay on the bed, not moving, just crying. Slowly, I approached; my right hand curled up into a fist should this be some form of trick. I walked across as silently as I could, hoping that none of the floorboards would spite me and sound a warning.

As I neared, the digital clock by the bed caught my eye. It read five fifty, but my swirling mind didn’t take the numbers in.

I stopped by the bed and my eyes widened. The girl – no more than seventeen or eighteen – was bleeding profoundly from her stomach, her hands grasping the wound ineffectively. My foot knocked something and I glanced down. Lying on the floor was a sword, the glistening blade wreathed in blood. The girl’s blood? It seemed likely.

The girl turned to look at me, tears dripping casually from her eyes. She tried to force a smile and I saw traces of blood in her mouth.

‘Leo…’ she whispered, her lips struggled with the words. I was astounded – how did this girl know my name? She said something else – or at least her mouth formed words – but I heard no sound.

‘I’ll… I’ll try to help you. Um, don’t move.’ I said desperately, trying to move her hands so I could get a better look at the wound. ‘What’s your name?’ I asked her. I wanted her to reply, to keep her mind on me and to keep her conscious. I got no reply.

I stopped and looked at her face. She lay still, her eyes open but unseeing. She looked very sad, her face still wet with tears.

I took a step back, horrified. Who had done this? Was it that man? Had he killed her?

Once again, the shining digital figures of the clock caught my attention. They now read eleven twelve.

Wait… how was that possible? I closed my eyes and rubbed them hard. When I opened them again, the clock read eighteen fifty-one.

What? The realisation of what was happening began to fill in. I opened my mouth to say it out loud, but the world turned to black around me…

I woke up…

I glanced over at my clock. My alarm would be going off in a minute or two, so I toyed with the idea of getting out of bed right away. I decided against it – the longer I stayed in bed the better. I noticed that it was far lighter in my bedroom than it had been in the dream – the murky light was comforting.

‘What a… weird dream…’ I muttered to myself, breaking the silence in the room. I shifted to lay the other way, relaying the dream through my mind again.

Beeeeep. Beeeeep. Beeeeep.

I pulled myself up, the alarm pulling me from my dwellings. I switched off the beeping and climbed out of bed.

I paused, looked at my clock and then away again. I wanted to be sure that I was really awake this time. When I looked back, the time hadn’t changed. I shrugged, guess it really was time for school then.

As I stood at the top of the stairs, I was horribly surprised to see that the lights downstairs had already been switched on. I took a deep breath, reminded myself that the man and girl had just been in a dream. They weren’t real, just some weird dream people. Nothing to be afraid of. Right. Yeah.

Still, I walked down the stairs cautiously, my eyes sweeping back and forth, scanning for any sign of an intruder.

When I came to the bottom, I reached out for the light switch. I flicked it off, letting darkness consume me and then back on. The bulb worked fine and the rays of light reached out to all the dark corners, robbing them of their menace. Hah, I was fine. I was just being stupid.

When I pushed open the kitchen door, I was surprised to find my mum already up, eating breakfast and watching TV. She turned to look at me, finishing her mouthful as she did so.

‘Oh, morning Leo.’ She said, nodding to me, before turning back to watch the tele.

‘Why you up so early?’ I asked, my gaze moving to the screen as well. The news reporter was staring blankly at the camera and talking in his usual emotionless voice.

‘Got an early doctors appointment. So I have to get up at this god forsaken time. Urgh, I got no sleep last night as well.’

I had slept all night, but you couldn’t exactly say I had slept well. Still the dream was fading from my mind, disappearing with the sunlight. ‘What you watching?’ I said, reaching for a bowl.

‘Hm? Oh. The news. Some girl was murdered last night. Horrible, isn’t it?’

My hand stopped an inch from the bowl I was about to grasp and glanced back over my shoulder to look at the TV.

‘… was literally pinned to the bed by the sword. She hadn’t been able to scream, but had rather died crying. Her mother – who hadn’t been able to sleep that night – had heard her whimpers and gone to check what was wrong. But by the time she had arrived, Christine was unfortunately already dead.’

My throat went dry as a picture of the girl – Christine – was shown on the screen. I had no doubt – that was the girl from my dream. I felt my hand waver and I lowered it, away from the bowl.

‘Do they know who did it?’ I said, turning to look back at my mum.

She shook her head, ‘That’s part of the mystery. No one at all was seen or heard. They even have no idea how the murderer got inside.’

‘So it wasn’t a suicide?’ I asked, though inside me I already knew the answer. That man in my dream. I had no doubt. He had killed the poor girl.

‘There’s no suicide note and the girl was perfectly happy. But most of all, her finger prints weren’t on the sword grip… Here, I have to go now. My appointment is at a quarter to. Have a nice day at school, won’t you?’

‘Bye,’ I muttered, but my mind was still rushing over the girl. Unless it was all a coincidence. Yeah, that was possible. Maybe my dream and the murder were completely different things. It was perfectly possible and made far more sense.

I shrugged and went about making my breakfast.

My school – like many schools – was bleak and rectangular in design. The designers, or perhaps a later headmaster, had tried in vain to make it look more interesting by adding in extra colours. Such as green, blue and yellow. Not a particularly potent mix, I’m sure you’ll agree.

I walked past the usual smokers who hung around outside the gates as I entered the school grounds. The bell for registration would be going off any minute now, so I made the usual trudge towards the sixth form classroom. At least the weather wasn’t too bad, with the sun baking in the sky.

‘Hey,’ a boy nodded to me as I took up residence with my usual group of friends outside the subject building.

‘Hi Pete,’ I replied sleepily and squinted.

‘Too early?’ Pete asked, leaning back on the railings. Beside me, a small sub group was discussing a movie I hadn’t watched last night. I turned my attention back to Pete.

‘Isn’t it always too early? I shouldn’t have to get up this early. It’s not right you know.’

‘Learn to get up earlier, it helped me you know.’

I paused and wondered whether I should tell him about my dream. He’d probably laugh or something. And then there was the problem of how I’d even raise the topic without seeming too freaked by it.

At any rate, the bell went off them, signalling that our lives belonged to the school for the next eight or so hours. I sighed and walked inside, taking my time as much as I pleased.

It was third period and the day already seemed as though it should have past by hours ago. I leaned back in my chair as the teacher went on and I tried to take in everything he was saying. Occasionally, I’d lean forwards to take down a note with my ever-important pen.

Despite myself, I found my gaze being drawn to the window, to the inviting warmth and not so lush grass outside. The clouds drifted lazily across the sky, mesmerising me in my suggestible sate of mind.

‘Leo, could you please stop staring out the window?’ a voice said from beside me. My name snapped from my trance like state and I was surprised to see the teacher standing next to me.

‘Um,’ I said, stuck in a mind dead blockade, ‘Hi sir.’

The teacher shook his head despairingly and turned back to Pete, who was sitting beside me.

I took one final glance out the window before turning back to my work. I stared blankly at the page for two seconds, letting what I’d just seen sink in, before my eyes darted back to the window.

My heart began to beat… fast… faster…

For strolling across the pathway outside, inside the school grounds, was the man. The man from my dream.

The murderer.