I dawdled out of the chartreuse, clinking school gates for the pitch night to thrust a piercing, glacial gust at me, lacerating my eyes. Ouch. Blinking, they moistened, washing away the pain. The ringing in my ears wouldn't leave me alone, maybe the blaring racket from Drama Club wasn't the best remedy for migraines. All left to do was wait. Wait, and wait...

Where was Mam? The car, the cushioned seats, the radio, the heating...? My phone floodlit my coat pocket, eventually... A text? My frail fingers desperately pushed at the screen, 'Gonna be really late, could you walk home? Love Mam x' What?! Three miles?!

No choice, I reluctantly plodded directly to home. Plod, plod, plod. Drenched Ugg boots, mmm... How therapeutic! Cloudburst lavished the monsooned streets. Wasted, weary and above all, tired. So dark, I could barely see my hand in front of my face.

“Carla...” breathed a raspy voice,
“What?!” I gasped.
“Hello? Hello?!” Just my imagination, or worse – the tiredness descending my conciousness.
“Carla... Carla!”
“What?!” Just keep walking, keep walking, it'll go away, I pondered.
“Carla!”
“Zacharius, this is NOT funny!” Or what is it Joey? Agitated, I closed my welled up eyes and prayed for the voice to go away. But it wouldn't.
“Carla!”
“Stop it! Just STOP it!”
Run, just RUN! I thought in a hurry.

I ran, not knowing where I was, or where I was going. I ran as if my life depended on it, it was. Who was calling my name? How did they KNOW my name? And most imperitively, WHO was it?

Suddenly, my feet gave way as I plummeted downwards. And down, and down. As if in slow-motion. My face hit a maroon of cold, filthy dampness. A lake, a pool, a puddle? A puddle. A puddle! Ow! I screamed, my slashed fingers throbbed, and deep vermillion blood trickled down the palm of my hand and I wailed, and I howled, and I cried.

The street suddenly light up; floodlights – a car? Christ help me, tell me it's a car! YT03 LSK, Mam... Mam! MAAAAAAAM! I wailed. All went black, and onyx. Was this how I died? I wasn't well at all, a startled mother stared at me in wonder. Time for an explanation, This was going to be a long night...