Chapter 1

Good God, I loved my bed.

Big, soft and warm, it always did the job well. Waking up that morning, the sun shining, the birds singing, it was perfect. Too bad I didn't see it at the time.

My alarm was sounding and I groaned as I turned it off. The thought of getting out of bed was almost too much to bare. I had stayed up until the early hours of the morning reading and was definitely regretting it now.

Despite the fact that I knew I needed to get up for school, I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Snuggling back into the doona, my last thought before I drifted to sleep was 'Surely a few more minutes wouldn't hurt'.

"Goddammit!" I screamed as I threw the covers off. My small digital clock read 8:42am. My first class was at 9:00 and it took at least ten minutes to drive to the university. Jumping out of bed, I sprinted to the dresser and flung open the top drawer. I quickly gathered up some clothes, taking off my pyjamas as I went. In about a minute I was wearing my usual blue jeans and black hoodie and ran to the bathroom.

There was no time for showering of course, so I splashed my face and brushed my teeth as fast as I could. Realising there was nothing I could do to my unruly brown curls, I pulled them back with a hair tie. Not bothering with makeup, I quickly left the room.

"Bag, bag, where's my bag?" I muttered to myself as I looked around the room. It had to be here somewhere, I wouldn't have left it anywhere else in the house. Too bad my room was so messy there was no telling where it was.

Sighing in aggravation, I started to pick up clothing and books to see if my bag was underneath them. Throwing my belongings around the room, I desperately tried to find my bag. Glancing at the clock, I noticed it was now 8:48.

"Shit!" I cried as I searched even harder. I was just about ready to tear my hair out when I heard a noise.

Don't listen to a word I say

Hey!

The screams all sound the same

Hey!

With a gasp of recognition, I leapt up from my junk pile and ran around the room trying to find the source of the song. It was the ringtone for my mobile and I definitely knew that my phone was in my bag. Realising that the noise was coming from my bed, or more specifically under it, I dashed to the bed only to end up face planting on the floor. I looked back and cursed as I realised I had tripped over a forgotten box of DVDs.

Praying that none of the DVDs had broken, I jerked up and crawled the last metre to the bed. Throwing my arm under the bed, I hooked my fingers around the strap of my bag and pulled it out. I grabbed my phone out and answered.

"Dani! Finally! Where are you? Class is about to start!" My best friend, Cassie, shrieked into the phone.

"I know, I know, I slept in," I replied, checking that everything I needed was in my bag. Tears almost fell from my hazel eyes as I realised my wallet wasn't there. Falling to my stomach, I searched under the bed for my little blue wallet.

"You always do this Dani!" Cassie cried. "You're gonna leave me alone in English? Again?"

"I'm sorry, Cass." I sighed as I found my wallet. Standing up from the floor, I yelped as I hit my head on the edge of the bed. Standing up, I rubbed my head as I looked around for my converses.

"…Did you just fall over again?"

"No. I hit my head." I sulked. My frown shifted into a grin when I saw the toe of my red converse from under a jacket.

"You really need to work on your coordination." Cassie deadpanned, before seemingly remembering the situation. "Now hurry up! I need you here!"

"Maybe you could just talk to someone else there. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be late." I stated, seeing 8:54 on the clock. I picked up my shoes and started pulling them on.

"But Dani," Cassie whined. "You're my best friend, not any of the other losers in that class."

I rolled my eyes, but smiled. Cassie and I had been best friends since we were six. She had yelled at one of the boys in our class after he had purposely knocked over my sandcastle. We had never even spoken to each other before when she stood up for me and I was so in awe of this fiery, red haired girl that we instantly became friends. We had been inseparable ever since, going to the same schools and now the same university.

She was more than my best friend. She was the sister I never had.

"It doesn't matter if you're five minutes late, you know? I'll just wait outside for you, I don't care if I'm late." She said firmly.

"Ok, ok, I'll be there as quick as I can. I'm just leaving the house now." But God was I hungry! There was no time for breakfast, so I quickly left the room before running down the stairs.

"Make sure you eat something, you know what happens when you get hungry." I thought back to the last time I had been late to class and left without breakfast. I couldn't focus at all and spent the whole time complaining to Cass about my hunger. She would kill me if that happened again.

Groaning, I detoured to the kitchen. The fruit bowl was on the bench, so I quickly grabbed an apple and took a bite. Moving to the front door, I saw a glimpse of the family photo on the wall. Mum, Dad and me. No siblings, no pets, just me. Mum always said that I was all they ever wanted or needed. Mum was a nurse at the local hospital and Dad was a fire-fighter. They had the typical love story. Meeting through mutual friends, falling in love, getting married, starting a family. It wasn't until I was born that this love story changed. There was a lot of trouble with the pregnancy, and so when I was born it almost killed Mum. They couldn't have any children after me.

They always told me that was ok. But I always wondered if it really was.

"Have you remembered your keys?" Cassie's voice cut into my thoughts. My eyes widened as I searched through my bag. No keys.

"Crap!" I cried as I ran back up the stairs. Running back into my room, the clock reading 8:57, I found my keys on my bedside table.

"Danielle Evers, did you almost leave the house without keys?" Cassie's laughing voice came through the phone.

"…Maybe."

"You're an idiot."

Running through the doorway, keys in hand, I rushed through the house. I reached the stairs and bounded down them two at a time.

Big mistake.

I was about halfway down the stairs when my foot went a bit too far. Gravity, my arch enemy, caused me to fall, my head moving closer and closer to the wooden stairs. Everything happened so fast that I had no time to scream, let alone try and keep myself upright. My body tumbled down and I felt the pain of every step I hit on the way down.

The pain was unbearable as I finally stopped falling. I could feel my lungs filling with blood as my head was pounding. My vision started to fade and the last thing I heard before the darkness overtook me was Cassie's voice screaming my name.

Hi everyone! Thank you for reading my first chapter! I'm not exactly the greatest writer in the world, so any feedback (even criticism) is definitely welcome!