Layered (A Sample) - Page 7/29

With the plate in my one hand and the glass in my other hand, I walk back up the stairs to my bedroom.

Salem has moved out from under the blankets and is now curled into a ball right in the middle of the only space he allows me to have.

I put the plate and glass on my bedside table, and lift him. His eyes do not even open when I put him down at the foot-end of the bed. He only lets out a loud purr.

After fluffing up my pillows, I let them lean against the wall behind my bed before I sit down again and pull the blankets across my legs. I balance my tablet against my pulled up legs and reach for a biscuit.

I notice the game has eventually loaded, and there is a girl, similar in appearance to me on the screen.

One day as Hannah was sitting in her room studying for her weekly History test she heard car doors being slammed and someone was crying loudly.

Hannah rushed to her bedroom window and saw Sheila, her mum's friend, get out of Charles Andrews' car. Charles Andrews was her mum's boss at the diner. The back door of the car was opened and she saw Charles help her mum out of the car. Her mum was crying uncontrollably and being supported by Sheila on one side of her and Charles on the other side. They helped her mum walk to the door of the trailer.

Her mum suddenly lets out a piercing scream, and Hannah felt her heart speed up. Her legs turned to lead and her feet felt as if they were nailed to the floor. For some inexplicable reason, tears overflowed from Hannah's eyes as panic filled her heart.

Hannah managed to walk to the front of the trailer and she reached the living area just as the door opened.

When her mum saw her, she cried, "Oh, Hannah."

Hannah asked urgently, "Mum! What's the matter?"

"There has been a terrible accident. Your dad and two other men at the site… are dead." A long sigh escaped from her throat. She swayed and would have fallen if Sheila had not been holding onto her.

Hannah shook her head vehemently. It could not be true, yet there they were all standing in front of her with horrible, tragic expressions on their faces. "No!" She screamed and pushed through the three bodies standing in the doorway. She pressed her hands over her ears as she ran. She was unaware of the direction she had taken and she ran until she was not sure whether she was gasping for air or if it was the sobs tearing through her body.