Chapter 1
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other platform than Wattpad, you are
at risk of a malware attack. Watt pad
is the only site I have given permission
to publish this story. To read it in it's
original, safe form, please go to Watt.
pad. Thank you.
Ok. I'm alive. I can tell that I'm alive
because I'm still breathing. There's
a wheezing sound going through the
plastic mask over my mouth and nose.
The light blinks sharply in and out.
My eyes ache. Why do my eyes ache?
I try to focus them down on my body,
lying inert in the darkness, a motion
of up and down raising and lowering
my prone body.
Am I alone?
I check to the left, blinking and
grimacing against the striking pain
ripping through my skull at the rapid
eye movement. I gasp and let my
head take its time to turn to the right
and soak in the mirroritng blackness
to that side too.
eye movement. I gasp and let my
head take its time to turn to the right
and soak in the mirroritng blackness
to that side too.
My body is rocking. I'm almost lulled
back into the comforting void ofsleep
from which I woke.
My head feels like its made of concrete,
dull, heavy and thick. I become aware
of the fact that I'm lying in a concave
object. There's something surrounding
me on all sides, not much wider or
longer than my body.
I blink again. The breathing is
easier now.
Sending a signal to my right arm, I
persuade it to reach up firom beside my
belly, to pull away the stifling mask.
There's an elastic cord wrapped
around the back of my head, and it
takes an enormous effort to raise the
concrete block far enough to allow
the cord to pass.
Now i can breathe.
As I rest back against the hard material
under my head, I understand that this
container' I'm in has a solid, yet pliable
structure. I'm guesr
sing a kind of hard,
treated wood.
treated wood.
There is no cover to this container, the
darkness above me is finally becoming
clear to my fuzzled brain as the night
sky. Yes... I can definitely make out a
pattern of pinpricking stars, infinitely
distant yet obvious as they sparkle
through the black and purple grey.
The rocking motion is incessant. I have
to concentrate on staying awake or face
losing my new found consciousrness
back to the comfort of the cradle rock.
I become aware of each beat of my
heart, every wave of cool air that
enters my nostrils, the subtle rise and
fall of my chest.
to concentrate on staying awake or face
losing my new found consciousrness
back to the comfort of the cradle rock.
I become aware of each beat of my
heart, every wave of cool air that
enters my nostrils, the subtle rise and
fall of my chest.
I'm naked. I force my eyes down to look
at the red and blistered skin covering
my torso. I can barely make out the
light orangey-yellow of my nipples. The
flesh is badly burnt.
seem to be real.
Once more, forcing my right arm to
move, I bring it close enough to my
eyes to take a look at the birthmark
which should he there.
Sure enough, as the flickering specks of
starlight phase in and out, I can see the
faded shade of caramel pigmentation,
forming the shape of an eight.
starlight phase in and out, I can see the
faded shade of caramel pigmentation,
forming the shape of an eight.
Only it wasn't.
It wasn't an eight. The shape was
slithering and contorting, alive and
in motion. The pale colour spreading
from left to right. I felt sick. The mark
eventually settled and stayed fixed
in one area.
I turned my wrist away from me to
h more of the star's inconsistent
N. I caught my breath. The
Dirthmark had changed. No longer
the chunky, doughnut symbol
eight, it was now a sleek, elongated
version of seven.
