Evidence of Foul Play

Chapter 1- Paige

When I jolted upright, a sheet slid off my body and onto the floor. I blinked my eyes at the distinctly dimmer light emanating from the curtained window above my head. What the heck? Out of habit, I searched around me for my glasses before finding them on top of the bedpost. I slid them on just as a smiling elderly lady walked into the room. "Ah. Paige. You're awake." I looked around, trying to see who she was talking to. We were alone in the room.

"Uh, yeah." I said, confused.

"Get dressed, then breakfast is ready downstairs. Uncle Ben has already left for work." I didn't have an Uncle Ben. What the hell was going on? I studied the room I was in once the lady had left. I was sitting up in a bed, facing away from the window that was directly above me. The walls were painted a plain white, with pale yellow trim on the window and door. A dresser, a chair, and a desk were the only other furniture in the room.

I jumped out of bed and decided to inspect my stock of clothing. As I rummaged through the dresser drawers, my heart dropped. They were depressingly bare, with maybe five shirts and six shorts total. There was no jewelry, and only one pair of dirty sneakers. I added that to my mental list of weird things that had happened today. That list, as you can imagine, was already quite long.

I pulled out a white shirt along with some worn-out jean shorts and pulled on a pair of threadbare socks. I laced up my sneakers and slipped out of my room, closing the door gently behind me. Outside the room, a short hallway ended in a flight of stairs leading down. I approached the stairs cautiously, as I had absolutely no idea what was going on. I proceeded down them, treading carefully and trying not to make any noise. Naturally, I ended up stumbling halfway down and fell on my butt. Straightening up, I saw that a small mirror was at the bottom of the stairs, reflecting myself as I sat on the step, gasping for breath.

I approached the mirror cautiously, sensing that something was off. When I got a clear view of my face, I gasped aloud, recoiling. The girl in the mirror was definitely me, but with one huge difference. My hair. My lovely, long, beautiful hair that I had stubbornly refused to cut was cropped short. My hair, which had once fallen in a smooth sheet almost to my waist had somehow been cut to just past my ears, almost like a boys. It reminded me almost of Emma Watson's hairstyle, except I didn't want my hair to look like hers. It didn't feel right.

The old lady I had seen earlier, poked her head out of a doorway. "Is everything alright Paige? Is there something wrong?" I covered up my shock hastily and replied as if everything was normal.

"No, no. Everything's fine. I just, um, slipped on the stairs." It wasn't a total lie. She shook her head slightly, implying this was no new occurrence. She turned around, retreating back into the room she came out of. I followed her out of the hallway, into the small kitchen. Wheat flakes sat in a bowl on the small center table, with a jug of nearly-empty milk jug next to them. I sat down and began to eat my breakfast.

After I ate, I grabbed my book bag and headed out the door to find my way to school. Even though I had absolutely no idea where 'school' was. Instead of stepping outside to see miles and miles of New Hampshire woods, I saw rows upon rows of identical white houses. I was in the suburbs of some city, although as to which one I had not a clue. I didn't even know if was still on Earth! Was I in heaven? Yeah, right. Hell? No, I was uncomfortable, but not miserable or in pain. So what the heck was going on? Was Limbo real after all?

As I debated with myself, I felt my body begin to move. I instantly became aware that my feet had taken control of themselves, and had started to walk down the street. I stopped as soon as I realized this, but as soon as I did, I got a subconscious yearning to keep moving. I did, cautiously, as my brain instructed me to move, walk, and turn left or right. It was as if this route had been programed into my brain. I kept walking until I turned a final corner and stopped, taking in the site in front of me.

At the end of the street, the line of identical houses stopped. The pattern was disrupted by a huge brick building situated at the end of the lane, which was undoubtedly the school I was supposedly to be enrolled at. A steady flow of students were filing up the steps into the school, and after a moments hesitation I joined them. What else was there to do?

A/N

More info about the story!

I decided that it should be rated PG-13 because of language. (Yes, I mean swears). Paige is a teenager who eventually gets involved with some pretty strong stuff. She's not going to be like "Aww crap. That's stupid. Thanks for reading/voting/commenting/existing.

   As always, feedback is appreciated!