Fate - A Death's Door Writing Competition

Chapter 2

White curtains were the first thing I saw when I woke up. I turned my head limply to the side and saw, to my frustration, a matching bedside table. I rolled my head back and glared up at the stark ceiling, wondering if it's perfect surface might give me answers.

Either mom's re-decorated my room, or I'm not at home.

I tried to recall anything out of the ordinary that I had experienced, but oddly enough I had no recollection of the previous day. A sharp pain coursed through my head making me ground my palms into my eyes. My body felt heavy and useless and I couldn't think of a much better excuse than to go back to sleep. The crisp warm sheets of the huge bed, swaddled around me, were not helping either with my predicament. As I struggled into a sitting position, my mind screamed in protest urging me to give up and surrender to sleep. Feeling as though I had used up all of my possible energy, I surveyed the room I was currently situated in. I wanted to scream.

Everything around me was white.

The long sofa that sat in the far corner with the coffee table directly in front still had a pearly glow to it, and I was sure if I looked hard enough, there would be a neat little price tag, still stuck to it.  The perfect carpeted floor and the annoyingly long curtains looked at me mockingly, daring me to out shine its colour and see if I could match a texture as fine as theirs.  I always hated one colour things, so my rage for the layout of the room was understandable.

As my eyes searched the more than spacious room, I let out a small smile. The tall, grand dresser stood elegant and proud in the far corner and it had detailing in the wood and fancy handles which gleamed and sparkled, giving off an impression of antiqueness and wealth. I knew what I had to do.

I leaped out of bed, feeling a sudden burst of energy and stomped toward the immaculate piece of furniture. I gazed at the individual intricate detailing that was carved into the wooden panels, and I hesitated as I reached for the drawer handle. It wasn't my place vandalise something so pretty, let alone something that didn't even belong to me.

I pursed my lips and looked about the room. The plain white walls and pristine coloured furniture stared back at me appraisingly. I frowned, pivoting back to face the dresser and yanked the drawer open.

Inside sat numerous tubes of lipstick in neat organised rows. My eyes widen as looked at the variety before me, and briefly managed to read the bold print.

Words like Super Stay and Bold Fusion appeared in my line of vision, and it occurred to me that I had never even owned a proper tube of lipstick; I was just always borrowing someone else's.  But it never really bothered me, I was just always little Raven in the corner.

Curiously I reached for a tube and read the circular sticker that lay firmly on the face of the cap; Pure Colour: Sensuous Rouge. I stole a glance at my reflection in the mirror and without realising; I bought the tube up to my lips and smoothed it on, watching my mouth become a sea of crimson.

Satisfied with my handiwork, I pouted my lips one more time before looking at the rest of my face. I looked terrible. My hair looked like a rats nest; weaved with knots, sticking out in odd angles. The expression I had looked lifeless and dead, and with the red lipstick on, I looked more like a wannabe vampire. I frowned at myself in the mirror and pinched at my face.

I've never been this pale in my life. Maybe they drugged me?

I cringed in repulsion, and scribbled over the mirror, not leaving an inch uncovered. Crossing my arms, I let out a huff of annoyance and glanced back at the rest of the room. I grimaced. There were no windows in the room. As I silently mourned over the thought of me not escaping, my attention settled on the door.

Bingo.

I narrowed my eyes and stalked toward the white painted wood, taking in its aggravating colour and crystal handle. As I assessed the obstacle in front of me I planned a strategic of ways of breaking down the door, looking around me for an instrument of my escape, not once thinking that it would just open.

As the door slowly opened, I hesitantly peered out to my left at a long dark corridor, which took a sharp left into an unknown area where strong light managed to cast on the dark walls. I gulped at the thought of running into my captors, who didn't brandish a weapon as pathetic as my lamp.

At the other end of the corridor was a wide set window. It was placed just above a bouquet of orange chrysanthemums which sat calmly on a small wooden table.

Wait. What?

As it occurred to me that the owner of the house had an undeniable obsession with all things white, it seemed as though the brightly coloured flowers looked out place; too bright for its plain setting.

I glanced back down the other end of the corridor and evaluated my options, not knowing if either of them was going to work. I frowned and looked back at the turn at the end of the corridor, and imagined my captors face, taunting me. I shook my head revolt and stared at the window. I didn't even know how high up I was.

Go down the corridor and get caught by them, or break a couple of bones.

Just then a shadow jumped across the wall at the far end.

Bones it is.

I sprinted toward the window and roughly shoved the table away. I was acutely aware that I had let the chrysanthemums shatter to the floor, but my mind was elsewhere; I was more focused on getting away. As I pushed up the lower sash and hauled myself up onto the sill, my eyes bulged as I took in the distance to the ground. There was no way I was going to make it; I would surely die if I jumped.

Blood was pounding in my ears and my heart was going over time. I slowly shuffled back and tried to put my body off the sill, but the person behind me had different ideas.

I was falling before I even realised it. My limbs were flailing around me and my scream echoed out into the cold air. The green of the grass below was rapidly approaching and I flung my arms up in front of me, waiting for the inevitable.

Then it happened.

It was like I had hit a wall. All the air was knocked out of me and I came to an abrupt stop. Everything around me was quiet. I painfully drew my arms away and looked around. My eyes widened.

There a couple of trees away, was a bird, pushing off the tree in mid flight. A weeping willow that I hadn't seen was paused in a mid sway, stuck in a tilt. Even the rain that was starting to fall had halted. It was like everything was-

"Frozen?"