September

Chapter 1 - Rise and Shine, Criminal.

~ Chapter 1 ~
Maxine

I knew it was going to be a strange day when I woke up one morning in my bed, wearing clothes that weren't mine. Everything else was normal – dim sunlight filtered in through the curtains on my bedroom window and I could hear the sound of my sister banging around in the kitchen somewhere below me – but it was easy to tell that I wasn't wearing the soft cupcake pajamas I had gone to bed in the night before.

I rubbed my eyes, trying to rouse myself from sleep, and propped myself up on my arms to peer at my alarm clock. It was blank, which was odd.

"What time is it?" I muttered under my breath, slipping out from under my covers to check my phone. It wasn't where I had put it on the table bedside me to charge. Confused, I sat up and ran my hand through my hair, before quickly drawing it away in shock. It was covered in mud and grime.

"What the..." I stood up and quickly stalked over to the bathroom to view myself in the mirror. What I saw confused me even more.

I looked like hell. My hair was matted and covered in mud, and my face was smeared with dirt. I was wearing a ripped turquoise top and a pair of faded jeans that looked like they had been put through a shredder. Had I gone sleepwalking through the forest or something? How could I have gotten this dirty in my sleep?

I grabbed a face cloth and wet it, taking care to wipe away some of the grime. "Trish?" I called as loudly as I could over the sound of the running tap water. My sister didn't appear. I always joked that she was a little hard of hearing. She wasn't, but sometimes it sure seemed like it. I took a quick glance at the calendar to check my schedule, before doing a double take when I noticed the date.

It was September 1st. The day was circled in red with the giant letters GALA written over it in red marker. It was the day I had been waiting for for the past month.

"Trish!" I called again. "Why didn't you wake me up, don't you know what day it is?!"

I quickly rummaged through my drawers, searching for my outfit and cursing my rugged appearance. Why had my body decided today, of all days, was the time to go sleep walking? And where was my dress?

I sighed, giving up the search. The garment I had picked out wasn't hanging on the hook that I had placed it on the night before, nor was it in my dresser or closet. Nothing seemed to be where I had left it. Had my sister taken my things while I was asleep?

"Trish!" I yelled, starting to get angry. "I know you're down there! I can hear you! Stop ignoring me!"

I was disregarded again as the clanging of pots and pans in the kitchen continued. Forget hard of hearing, today it was like she was deaf.

I sighed and looked down at the mess of clothes I was wearing. They didn't belong to me, that was for sure. I had never seen them in my life. I hadn't wanted to leave my room in that state, but at the moment Trisha was giving me no other choice.

The old wooden stairs creaked loudly as I stormed down them, fists clenched. "Trisha Ferez, you are so dead-"

I froze as I entered the kitchen, my eyes settling on the scene in front of me. The smell of decay hit me like a wave. Flies flitted around rotting loaves of bread as a leather-clad hand reached out to rip off a piece of the moldy food.

"Y... You're not... Trish..." I managed to stammer, taking a step back towards the staircase. The creature turned to look at me. I screamed.

The thing's mouth took up over half its face, with overly long sharp teeth protruding from all sides. Its eyes were dull and black, much like those of an insect, and it lacked any sort of recognizable nose. A disgusting black substance dripped steadily from its eyes and mouth like it was diseased.