I

"Elizabeth, you wake up and come down stairs this very minute!" My mother called, her voice stern and full of disapproval. I rolled over in my bed, trying my best to ignore the fact that I would most likely be late for school, yet again.

It wasn't just because of Sophia's death that I had been so lazy all of the time; I was like that in general. My mom figured it was depression, so she was making me see a counselor every Monday and Thursday after school. I didn't have much to tell the poor woman though. Other than, you know, my sister is dead.

"Elizabeth-Jane!" My mother yelled once again. I groaned and sat up on the edge of my bed, slipping my feet into the warmth of my slippers and made my way to the bathroom to make myself look half-socially acceptable. I had to jump back a bit when I saw what my hair looked like.

It was as if a family of birds had just nested on my head in the night. I sighed, jumping back into the morning routine of hell, which basically consisted of attempting to comb through the mop of hair on my head. It wasn't easy having hair down to your waist you know. Sure everyone is jealous of your long, luscious hair, but you can try and comb it for me at 6:30 in the morning.

My mornings had always been very routine; alarm goes off at 6, I lay in bed until 6:30, do my hair and makeup, eat breakfast, and walk off to school with Sophia.

Well that last part had been considered moot for a while.

I managed to tame my hair for the most part and make myself look half decent for the day before I finally met my mum and dad downstairs for breakfast. We were usually a loud bunch in the morning, trying to kind of wake each other up before my parents went off to work and Sophia and I went to school.

I quietly finished my breakfast before mumbling a good-bye at my parents before walking out the door.

Autumn was beginning again; my favourite season. I always liked autumn the most as a season, simply because it entailed warmth and coziness and getting to hang out with friends at the park playing in leaves as if we were toddlers again.

As I walked on the pavement, my mind began to wander away from the messy thoughts of school and piles of homework, and more onto nothing-ness. Well, maybe it wasn’t the nothing-ness I was focused on; maybe it was just my surroundings, which sure seemed like nothing. The only things I could feel or hear was the wind whistling through the leaves, leaving small goose-bumps up and down my arms and legs.

But the more that I thought and let my mind wander, the sky seemed to keep turning darker and darker. The blue kept fading until the only colour seen was black. I could feel my legs still moving, walking on the sidewalk. But my vision kept going darker and darker, and then I saw the figure again.

It was him, Sophia’s killer standing in front of me. But he had no face. He was just a black sillhouette in a brown trench coat, the tail of the coat flapping in the wind, knife in hand. I heard Sophia’s screams again.

“Liz! Help me!”

“Please!”

But again, instead of the figure killing Sophia, he stabbed me, but this time, instead of standing still, I fell backwards onto the pavement. Everything went completely black.

hello! Sorry that this chapter is fairly short. i wanted it to be more of an opener. Thanks for reading. -inspiration