Broken (The Siren Series #1) (3 page)

I just wanted to scream with frustration. I
kept on playing what had happened today through my mind. The thing
with Mr. Thomas, crying like some idiot in school, the weird woman
who says she know me, and collapsing on the floor, It just was not
my day at all. All this ran through my mind around and around. I
decided to push it to one side and try to get some sleep. I closed
off my mind and thought of nothing but sleep.

I woke up to darkness. There was a strange
noise outside my window that did not seem to go away. I threw back
the blanket and got to my feet. I fumbled my way to the window to
check on the noise. It was pitch black outside, not even the street
lamps were on which was weird, because they annoyed the hell out of
me. The other houses across the street were dark too, not a single
light lit the buildings. I opened my bedroom window to try and find
where the annoying noise was coming from. I tried to look out into
the darkness, but there was no use. Ignoring the noise I turned
away from the window and my heart started beating out of my
chest.

Standing in my doorway was something not of
this earth. It took the form of a man but it didn’t have any facial
features, no eyes, and no nose. The only thing it did have was a
mouth with sharp pointed teeth. It faced me, grinning a horrifying
smile. I stood there rooted to the spot while the monster faced my
direction.

How can it see me, it has no
eyes
I thought.

I tried to scream, or to move, but something
was stopping me from doing so. The faceless creature started to
glide smoothly towards me. My heart pounded in my chest, was I
about to die? The creature was within arm’s length from me. The
faceless monster gave off a foul stench, smelling of rotten eggs
combined with sewage. It nearly made me gag. My eyes and throat
started to burn with the strong stench. He lifted its foul boney
arm and tried grab hold of me with his putrid fingers along its
black sharp fingernails. The creature finally grabbed my throat,
his skeleton claws burned into my flesh. I tried to scream out in
pain but couldn’t get enough air into my lungs.

The disgusting creatures smile grew wider and
more terrifying. Tears ran down my face as the pain intensified. It
tightened its grip on my throat until I finally screamed. The
monster released its hold and disappeared into the darkness. I fell
to the floor gasping for air to fill my lungs. My throat began to
burn with every new breath I took. I closed my eyes just for a
second, when I felt the darkness take me.

I opened my eyes to the warm bright sun
shining on my face. I found myself lying in my bed all tucked up. I
shot up from bed throwing the sheets off me and headed straight for
the mirror. I began to check for marks around my neck but there
wasn’t any. I remembered the agonizing burning pain of last night,
but there were no marks, nothing at all.

I caught a quick glance at my face in the
mirror. I had deep dark circles around my green eyes, my face was
dead pale and my brown natural wavy hair was a total mess. I jumped
in my en suite shower (god I love my en suite) and put the water on
full blast. The warm water felt good against my cold skin, I took
some of my favorite strawberry body lotion and lathered myself up.
I stepped back into the blast of water and washed it all away. I
took some silky shine shampoo and massaged it into my hair slowly.
Finishing with my hair I stepped out of the shower shivering.

I quickly took a towel and wrapped it around
myself. In my bedroom I opened one of my desk draws, inside was my
hair dryer, a girl’s best friend. I made sure my hands were dried
as I plugged it into the socket. A blast of warm air shot out
through the hair dryer. It was a god send. My wet tangled hair blew
playfully around my face as I tried to brush out the tangles.
(Ouch, why did I have long hair?) I opened my small wardrobe,
taking my clean uniform from the rail. It wasn’t that bad of a
uniform, I had seen worse. It was a white blazer with a black skirt
along with a light blue t-shirt. I didn’t mind wearing the skirts,
but on a windy day it was hell.

I changed into my uniform quickly then ran
back into the bathroom to brush my teeth. I slapped some simple
makeup on (not the ho-ish’ type like some people). I put some
concealer around my dark bags and a tiny bit of blush around my
cheeks to get rid of that grey. I managed to cover my bags without
having to make my face orange.

I grabbed a hair band from the bed side table
and quickly tied my hair up into a ponytail. I threw some of my
necessary books into my backpack and ran down the stairs. I wanted
to grab something easy to eat from the kitchen, when I stopped
dead. Sitting in the kitchen eating toast was my favorite Aunty in
the whole wide world. I dropped my bag on the kitchen floor and ran
over to her and gave her a huge hug.

Hugging Aunt Kate seemed like the whole world
was shut out. I felt safe in her arms. I inhaled her sweet
strawberry sent on her clothes that I love so much. Kate slowly
stroked my hair (I loved it when she did that). She took a step
back and looked at me from top to bottom. Kate looked a lot like my
Dad and you could tell they were related. They had the same nose
and both had deep emerald eyes. When I was younger Kate could
always spot a lie just by staring into your eyes. She had short
shoulder dark hair that was perfectly straight. Kate wasn’t a tall
woman and she knew it, but she was the kind of woman who would let
nothing stop her and I loved her for it.

“
You’ve grown again haven’t you?” Kate
turned to look at my Dad and he nodded.

“
Have I?” I smiled. “Kate why are you
here?”

Kate laughed. “I’m here to take you to
school.” she finished with a warm hearted smile.

“
Dad, do you really need to keep an eye
on me? I’m fine really.” I said.

“
Your Father has told me a few things
about what’s been going on and to be honest I agree with him.” Kate
said.

“
Agree with what?” I asked.

“
That, from now on you will be taken to
school and picked up from school. I’m getting worried about you
Ellie, are you okay with this?” Dad asked.

“
Fine.” I agreed.

I took some fruit for the road (Its
good for you), and said a quick goodbye to Dad before we headed out
the door. We jumped into Kate’s car. It wasn’t a big flashy car but
it still did the job. I had no idea what make it was since I have
no clue with cars but it had three doors two at the side and the
boot.
I buckled my seat belt and Kate drove away from
the house. As soon as the car was away from the house Kate stated
to talk.

“
Right, what’s going on then.” she
blurted out

When it came to problems, Kate didn’t mess
about. She liked to get to the root of the problem straight away
and when it came to me she wasted no time to sort it out.

“
Don’t know what you mean.” I said
shyly.

“
Really Ellie, this is me you are
talking to now.” she said.

“
I know, I know. I’ve been having these
weird dreams and on top of that this woman just turned up out of
nowhere yesterday and started to ask me things. She even knew my
name which was weird.”

“
Was she one of your Dad’s friends?”
Kate asked.

“
No I asked him,” I replied. “She did
freak me out a little though.”

“
Well if you ever see that woman again,
tell me and I will sort her out.” Kate laughed.

Hearing Kate laugh was nice it lifted some of
my worries.

The car came to a complete stop. Kate turned
from the wheel and smiled at me.

“
Do you want me to come pick you up
later, you’re Dad says I have but...” Kate waited for my
answer.

I took a moment to think it over. “Better had
or he’ll will be mad at us.” I said. I opened the car door, and was
about to say my goodbyes when Kate leaned her head out of the
window.

“
Ellie” Kate started to talk and her
face grew very serious. “Please… be careful, ok?” she finally
said.

I just stood staring at Kate. Her face was
covered with worry. Why was Kate worried about me all of a sudden?
I gave her a quick reassuring smile and walked away from the car. I
heard her pull away from the curb and walked into the school
grounds. Walking towards the building, I went over in my mind what
lessons I had today. Double English, I was not looking forward to
that, science, I liked but sometimes it was boring. I could always
talk it over it over with the girls. They’d always make me feel
better. I didn’t realize it at first, but I was at the schools main
entrance and there was no sign of Lilly or Becky.

They should’ve been here already. We always
meet up around here at this time. I checked my phone to see if they
left any messages, none. I kept looking around when I heard the
vilest voice I’d come to known. Beth.

She slowly walked her way towards me with her
rolled up skirt that showed her thighs and her light blue shirt
with a few buttons undone giving us a show of her cleavage. Without
knowing, my teeth were clenched tightly like a vice, and, nothing
could pry them apart.

“
Where are your girlfriends today then
Ellie?” When she spoke my name I felt my sick.

Beth had on thick mascara and heavy
foundation slapped to her face. To finish off her skanky look, she
wore her four inch heeled boots.

“
I asked you a question, Ellie.” Her
voice was patronizing.

“
Leave me alone Beth.” I asked
her.

“
Or what?” Beth waited for her
answer.

My jaw began to ache as I clenched my teeth
together. I stayed silent and stared down at the floor.

“
You could at least look at me while
saying that,” she waited. “That’s what I thought.” she
laughed.

‘’
Please just go away.’’
I
asked her again.

She ignored me. “I saw your mother drop you
off just now, how sweet” Beth smile grew. “Oh wait isn’t your
mother DEAD!” Pain shot through my stomach, I had to catch my
breath. Beth saw her words slice through me. She loved inflicting
pain with her horrible words. Beth walked straight up to me,
forcing me up against a wall. My back slammed into the stone wall,
I stood there waiting. She stared into my eyes with deep hatred.
Something wasn’t right with this girl. She loved to torment people,
why? Beth came closer until I could smell her sickly pungent
perfume. Her head was next to my ear. For a second I thought she
was going to bite it off, then she started to whisper into my
ear.

“
Don’t piss me off bitch, your nothing
to nobody. Just seeing your face makes me want to
deeply
hurt you.” Beth’s whispers cut
deep as a knife.

“
See ya’.” she said with a wave and a
fake smile.

I wanted to cry, to scream, anything to show
my anger towards her, but nothing came out, just stayed silent. I
hated Beth. She’d always find an opportunity to bully me. Maybe I’m
just an easy target for her. I took in a long deep breath and tried
calm myself, as if nothing had happened. I decided to go find the
girls. It didn’t take long to find them. Becky and Lilly were
talking together in one of the corridors. I quickly waved to both
of them hoping that they would see me. Becky was the first to spot
me and her face lit up as did Lilly’s.

“
Morning Ellie.” Becky and Lilly said.
They seem to be full of vigor today.

“
You seem happy today.” Lilly said
sarcastically.

“
I just had a
talk
with Beth.” I replied.

“
She’s such a bitch, what did she say?”
asked Becky.

“
Just the usual crap.” I
replied.

“
Anyway, to get your mind off it I’ve
got something to tell you.” Becky said.

Becky and Lilly were giggling to each other.
“What, what’s wrong?” I asked the giggling girls.

Becky suddenly blurted “Matthew asked me out
just now.” She screamed in a high pitched voice that could almost
break glass.

“
Really?” I replied. “That’s amazing.”
I said.

“
Yeah it was, well not at the
beginning.” Lilly said.

“
Why? What happened?” I waited for
their answer.

“
It was so funny Ellie, Becky was just
staring at him like an idiot and she just started mumbling. It was
so funny.” laughed Lilly.

“
It wasn’t.” Becky shouted. “And I
wasn’t staring at him, at all. I was just thinking.”

“
Sorry Becky but it was kinda’ funny.”
said Lilly.

Laughing lifted a huge weight off of me. It
was a release, and for a second my troubles were gone. Lilly and I
were still laughing while Becky was fighting to urge not to join
us. Then the happy feeling shattered like broken glass, as the
school bell buzzed throughout the halls. The smile had fallen from
my face and I was thrown back into normality of school life. The
girls knew it too.

We started walking to our first class of the
day when Lilly said softly. “You’ve got Mr. Drop dead gorgeous
today don’t you?”

I knew what Lilly was talking about. I wanted
to forget about what happened yesterday. The feelings I felt came
rushing back, I felt my stomach knot.

“
Uh yeah I do, but I’m just going to
put it at the back of my mind for now.” I replied.

“
I thought you could speak to him about
it, you know, put things straight.” said Lilly.