Category : Books-Fiction

Sub Category : Romance

                       Chapter 12 
          ‘It’s way too bright’.
          That was Chris’s one and only thought as he regained consciousness. The comfort of his bed long gone. Chris didn't need to open his eyes to know that he was sitting on the ground, both the palm of his hands plastered on the ground. 
          The brightness pierced his eyes as he struggled to open them. Everything was blurry and out of focus but as his eyes adjusted to the light, he registered his surroundings. 
           Chris gapped at what he saw. Everything around him was white. The ground was white, there was no ceiling or walls. It was an endless realm of eternal white. Clean, spotless white and him in the middle of it. 
           He lifted his hands of the ground and checked himself. For some strange reason, he was in his school uniform and he had shoes on. Chris didn't remember going to sleep in his uniform, not to mention not taking his shoes off. 
          Chris shut his eyes tightly and was pleasantly disappointed when he reopened them to see he hasn't waken up from the dream. Everywhere around him, up, down and below, not a speck of dust and as white as a sheet. Chris hated how real and aware he was currently, even though he had no clue where in the world he is. 
          Where am I?          There was nothing else but him in this never-ending whiteness. He felt as though he was wrapped in a vacuum of absolute silence. It was eeirily quiet. 
          Dumbfounded, Chris remained seated. He dared not move.           He felt strangely claustrophobic. He was pretty sure if he were to shout out now, he would undoubtedly create an endless ripple of echoes. But, just like there was an invisible pair of hands wrapped around his neck, he couldn't speak. The poor boy dared not even breath, afraid was an understatement, the word petrified would be more fitting. 
          Slowly, Chris pulled himself off the ground. He wobbled on his feet.            
          Forgetting momentarily how to walk, Chris unsteadily lifted his right leg to take a step forward but before his leg could land on the ground, an invisible force came out of nowhere and sliced through his right leg, it was similar to a strong and rapid wind, tripping him. 
           The hit caught him entirely off guard, he lost his balance and fell forwards. Chris landed with both hands and knees on the ground.           The split second he looked up, his surroundings started to miraculously materialize. 
          Chris did not blink, he stared in utmost incredulity as he watched what unfolded right in front of him. 
           Chris could not believe his eyes. Little by little, the whiteness faded, and colour set in. Walls appeared, furniture appeared and suddenly, Chris found himself in a house. 
           Finding it extremely hard to process what he had just witnessed, Chris thought that he would faint. Surprisingly, he was more awake and fully conscious than ever. 
          Cautiously, he stood up. His leg hit something on the floor, thinking he was once again about to fall, Chris jumped in surprise. 
          This prompted him to look down, what he saw next would haunt him for an eternity.          The house was dimly lit, and that was probably why he failed to notice this peculiarity earlier. He was in no ordinary house...... It was the definition of a living ‘nightmare’.          The entire house was filled with junk. There were empty beer bottles, heaps of rubbish bags and leftover take away scattered all around the floor.          The place was severely dirty, one can see the layer of dust on every possible corner of the room.           Chris almost couldn't tell what some of the objects were lying on the ground. He dared not check either, he wouldn't be surprised if he were to find a dead animal in between the mess.
          Every possible furniture present in the house was either missing a part or torn and broken. The sofa looked as though it was ripped mercilessly by the claws of a lion, it's contents spilling out. The clock hanging loosely on the wall has probably fallen to the ground a few too many times, its long hand no longer functioning properly, being only capable of moving back and forth the number 3 but never exceeding it. The curtains in the room were horribly ripped, there were even burnt cigarette traces on the fabric and the track attached to the wall was falling apart.          The wallpapers were falling off and the walls were horribly stained. Broken glass scattered all around the floor. 
          Chris strangely couldn't smell anything but if he could he knew it would probably stink as bad as the sewage. He thought for a while and corrected himself, it would be worst than that! 
          Who the hell stays here?! This isn’t a house, this is a dumpster!           There was barely any leg room to walk with all the mess lying around! 
          Chris made his way through the mess, avoiding as much as he possibly could. Utterly grateful he had shoes on.          It was such a struggle just to get to one end of the room. He had lost count of the times he almost tripped over an empty beer bottle. 
          Chris made his way into the living room. Amist the mess on the ground, he noticed a child sitting cross-legged on the ground in front of a TV? 
          The boy blended so well into the mess, his appearance screamed nothing but ‘poor’. His black hair was unkempt, his shirt was ragged and tattered.           Chris’s heart ached when he saw how young the boy was, he looked nowhere over the age of 10.           All kind of thoughts ran through his head the moment he laid eyes on the boy.
          Does this boy live here? Where is his parents?          Chris walked up to the boy. 
          Glued to the task at hand, the boy ignored Chris entirely.           The boy was looking down and fiddling with a rectangular device in his hands. Initially, Chris thought it was a cell phone but upon a closer look, it was the TV remote. 
          The boy was pushing the buttons on the remote. He even tried pushing two buttons at once. Many times, he would raise the remote in the air towards the TV. When the TV screen remained in its blank state, the boy only stared at it in confusion, as if he was hoping the TV itself could answer him. 
          Chris examined the TV. There was a large crack that ran across the screen and there wasn’t any signal from the server. He stared at the boy pressing every possible button on the remote, refusing to call it quits, wanting to watch the TV. 
          “The TV is broken, you won’t be able to switch it on.” Chris said to the boy. 
          Again, the boy didn’t seem to hear Chris, he kept pressing on the buttons. Eventually, he gave up and stared sadly at the remote in his hands that has let him down.
          Suddenly, there was a loud crash! Something heavy and big definitely hit the ground to its dismay. 
          It sounded awfully like a shelf. Chris was shocked at how he somehow guessed immediately that it was a shelf. It could potentially be anything yet he was so sure it was a shelf. 
          Why......?
          Chris saw the boy jumped in surprise and snapped his head in the direction of the sound, so fast Chris thought that the boy's head would break.
          Chris looked up in the direction the boy had turned his head to. Surprised once again at how fast the boy reacted, it was as though he has experienced this many times or like the sound of a loud crash is nothing but a normal occurrence to him. He had dropped the remote on the ground and in a panicked state, he stood up and ran towards the sound of the crash. 
          Chris wanted to follow him but for some reason, his legs wouldn't budge. He was so overwhelmed with the situation, he stood frozen. 
          What the hell is happening?! 
          Chris didn't have the time to ponder on his thoughts before he heard shouting and yelling coming from the same direction of the crash. 
          Chris ran towards the sound, he stopped when he saw the boy standing a few steps away from the door of a room. As Chris grew closer to the room, the shouting from the other side of the door only grew louder. Chris could immediately tell that the man and the woman in the room were quarrelling and that the loud crash from earlier was definitely without a doubt from the same room. 
          Chris peeled his eyes from the door and focused on the boy. He noticed that the boy looked very afraid and confuse. As the shouting grew louder and more intense, the boy visibly started trembling. 
          Suddenly, there was the sound of glass hitting the ground and shattering into pieces. Shocked, the boy started to run. 
          Chris followed him into the kitchen, he watched as the boy got onto his knees, frantically pushing away the pile of mess gathered under the only table that was stationed at the far corner of the room against a wall. When there was finally enough space, he then climbed under the table, huddled himself up against the wall and buried his head in his knees, both hands covering his ears to block out the shouting. 
          Worried for the child, Chris hurried over to the table, kicking away whatever was in the way. With his right hand on the table, he bended down to look at the boy hiding underneath the table.
          Trembling, tears were running down his cheeks as the boy kept mumbling to himself, “Please stop……please stop…...” 
          Chris’s heart started to ache as he was remembered of the emptiness in his heart. The sight of the boy drowned Chris with the crippling sense of depression. 
          He felt himself hurting, not physically but mentally and emotionally. The pain pulling at every edge of his body. 
          Chris wanted to reach out and embrace the boy to stop him from crying, his hand slowly reached out to the boy.......
          Just then, Chris woke up in his bed, drenched in sweat and breathing heavily. His left arm outstretched in the air. 
          With his hand still up in the air, he clenched and unclenched his fist before finally retracting his hand slowly while staring at his palm intensely.          It was already day break, he could see sunlight peering into his room. He tilted his head and let his surroundings sink in, making sure he was in his dorm room. His room was tidy and neat, completely unlike the house in his dream.           
          Suddenly, he felt wetness on both side of his cheeks and realised that he was crying. The silent ones that falls uncontrollably. Frustrated he was with his tears, but drained of all energy he was more, he stayed laying in bed. 
          The nightmare sending shivers down his spine, Chris rolled over to his right as he curled his legs up in a vain attempt to comfort himself. His left hand that was initially merely resting on the pillow, turned into him clawing at it furiously as he tried to calm his trembling body, fighting with all his might to not cry out loud, Chris let the tears soak the fabric below him.
          Who was that boy……?
All Rights Reserved © 2018 by Anne Teng

End of Chapter~ Hi guys! Thank you so much for reading! I have to study for some upcoming tests, so I probably won't be able to post that frequently.😫 Fret not! I'll still try to post as fast as I can. My chapters are long hence, the editing process is long, sometimes 1 chapter takes up to 2 to 3 days of editing. I want to ensure that every single chapter I put out is of its greatest satisfaction and not half assed. I want you to know that I only want to share only the best! I hope you understand! And Thank you so much for understanding! 😘
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