CHAPTER 1:
The luminescent digital numbers noisily flicked over to another hour with a heavy, glowing clunk. The orange glare reading '2:00am' propelled in a thick, lazy group of frazzled colours, and was engulfed in darkness by the time it had crawled to the other side of the room. The only other light that attempted to penetrate the darkness was a dull, electric blue gleam that radiated from a laptop screen, highlighting the hollowed and tired features of a 16 year old girl. The sharp click of fingers dancing methodically across the surface of a keyboard was the only thing to disrupt the utter silence and tranquillity of the night. Tired eyes were fading and succumbing to the ever increasing need for sleep, when a text message appeared on the laptop screen accompanied by the sound of the TARDIS materialising. Groggy hands fumbled across the keys and sluggishly opened the message:
To: Hayley Webster
From: Maia Vaisey
hayles, r u still up? u do realise that its 2am and we have our chem exams tmrw…
Hayley glanced over to the viciously orange-glowing, computerised numbers that flicked audibly over to 2:04am. She dropped her head and sighed, quite content to ignore her chemistry exam, wishing she could drop into the depths of a coma and only awaken from it at the end of the week when all the exams were over.
To: Maia Vaisey
From: Hayley Webster
just editing my youtube vid. going to sleep soon
Hayley sent the message and proceeded to roll lazily across her bed, facing the ceiling. Her brain was running around in her head, ricocheting off walls while screaming, "YOU SHOULD HAVE STUDIED FOR YOUR TEST!" She clamped her eyes firmly together and squeezed them so tightly that they began to cramp and she had to return to staring at the ceiling.
Another message appeared on her screen and the TARDIS materialising was heard. If only she could run off into the night with a mad man and a stolen box, and live the rest of her life saving and exploring the world. But no – instead she had to 'write another English essay' and 'sit a hundred more tests'.
To: Hayley Webster
From: Maia Vaisey
okay just make sure u get some sleep. c u tmrw xx
Hayley closed the laptop and allowed the room to become engulfed in darkness. The only thing that disturbed the ever-consuming night was that distinctive radiance expelled by the digitalised clock. The room was otherwise pitch black, and she hated it. The dead of night always had the same symptoms – the obscuring gloominess and an eerie silence. No one was around, it seemed as if the entire country had been poisoned and all the liveliness and beauty had been drained and discarded. It was just darkness - quiet and alone - and she hated it.
Just as she was thinking this, she heard a scratching noise on her window. It seemed as if a branch was scraping along the glassy surface, digging its talons into the window, causing the glass to cry out in pain. The scratchy squealing went on for some time before Hayley realised what was wrong with the picture. She didn't have any trees in her front yard… So what was scraping at her window?