Saturday, July 30, 2011

Secrets Unknown: Chapter 1

Chapter 1

“Mom?” My little girl asked as she drew a beautiful picture.
“Yes baby” I replied, coming out of the kitchen where I was making lunch, to look at her picture.
“Where’s daddy?”

 “Well…daddy went on a business trip the day you turned 2.”
“When’s he coming back?”
“Well…”
“He’s not coming back, is he?”
“No” I whispered softly through tears, almost mouthing my answer.

“Don’t cry Mommy!” she called and swung her arms around my waist, looking up at me with shining eyes.
My hand gently stroked her head, hoping she wouldn’t start crying as well.
“Everything’s going to be OK, baby…don’t worry” I whispered when I started calming down.

I heard a snicker in our backyard, right behind the curtain in front of us; a few rocks skipped across the pavement before a sinister laugh broke out from the same spot as the snicker.
“Mandy, go up to your room for a moment” I told my 7 year old daughter.

“Mommy…is something wrong?” she asked curiously, worming herself out of my arms.
“No…no. Of course not!”
“Then why do I need to go upstairs?”
“Because…”

I never like lying to my little girl and I try to steer clear of situations that force me to do it, but every now and then I don’t have a choice. The clock ticked on as my mind hit a blank, unable to think of an excuse.
“Because we’re going out for ice-cream and you need to get out of your pj’s” I finally said, finding my way out of the situation without lying.

“Ice-cream?” she shrieked as her eyes grew wider every second. “YAY, YAY!  Thank you Mommy!”
After giving me a brief hug she ran upstairs at the speed of light, singing all the way. When I heard her door swing shut I breathed a sigh of relief and walked to the window.

I slowly pulled away the curtain, sharply pulling my breath in until I could see everything in the backyard, and found a dark figure creeping away.
“Hey! Hey you! Stay where you are and don’t move!” I yelled at the figure before running out the backdoor.

The person made a mad dash for it as soon as I put a foot out the door; I tried to run after him but had to stop to catch my breath under our biggest tree, where I found a piece of paper that fell from his coat. I carefully picked it up and tried to figure out what was written on it.

I read it out loud in a whisper:
Watch out!
3 days from now your little Mandy will be gone. The school you’re sending her to is a giant bomb, which will release a fluid that will cause a disease to spread. If you make her stay at home the whole world will pay the price. There is only one thing you can do to stop it-
Save me! You have only one chance.

I heard a heart wrenching scream coming from the top floor of our house, making my blood run cold.
“Mandy!” I cried and started running upstairs.

*BEEP BEEP BEEP* *BEEP BEEP BEEP*
I slowly sat up when I heard my phone ringing, wiping tears from my eyes.
“It was all a dream…just a dream…from 3 days ago” I told myself when I realized I was having a flashback, looking around to find myself at the school (Mandy’s school) where I must have fallen asleep.

“Hello?” I said when I answered my phone.
“Lulu?” the person on the other end replied.
“Ugh, please don’t call me that!”
“Whatever! But you have to come to my house, NOW!”
“Why?”
“I’ve found something you need to see…about Mandy.”


I hope you liked. :) You can find the storyboard version here.
Please leave comments here or on the forum.

2 comments: