Chapter 1-The Vision
"That's
disgusting." A low, pitiful voice with a distinct Welsh accent
punctured the morning silence. A disapproving Gwen Cooper was in her
small kitchen, zipping up her leather jacket and hopping across the
floor with one boot on. Within her field of vision, she could spy
clutter. On the ground, scattered carelessly about, were pizza boxes.
Some once harboured garlic pizza bread, and one was host to a
particularly unpleasant looking pepperoni pizza. Empty, disused beer
bottles were knocked to their sides on the glass coffee table, which
had an ominous crack racing through it. The French doors was letting
small slits of light in, so a glorious sunlight was thrusting through
the net curtains-which had fallen off their hanger and were lying
precariously. Perhaps they, too, had been drinking heavily the
previous night. The television was still on. A sheepish presenter,
grinning broadly but patronisingly, was holding a hideous blue wolf
puppet, making it dance. Gwen glanced at the clock, and as she did,
her phone vibrating and a shrill polyphonic mess of notes pierced her
ears.
"Alright, alright, I'm coming!" she gasped, half
exasperated. She fumbled in her tight jeans pocket and pulled out a
slim, jet black Nokia N95. It wasn't her phone-she had lost that
three days ago, but Jack had said it 'would fill the void for a
time.' She slid the faceplate up and placed the phone to her ear.
"Yes, yes, I'm coming!"
"You sound happy!" Jack's
cheery, enthusiastic voice trilled down the phone. "Had a good
sleep have we?" he chuckled. She couldn't stand his chirpy
behaviour.
"Oh, the best. I'm on cloud nine. So relaxed that I
might just take the day off!" She replied, dripping with
sarcasm.
"See you in a few!" said the voice at the end of the
phone, and the ringing dial filled her ears. She clicked the phone
off and put it back into her pocket. She wrestled with her boot and
ran a battered brush through her hair. Putting her head to one side,
she tiptoed up to a grunting, snoring figure on the couch. Gently,
lovingly, she took a half empty beer can out of some limp hands,
placed it on the table, and tenderly kissed her husband, Rhys. It
would be best not to wake him. It had been some party last night-her
own head was banging. But she wouldn't let Jack know that. He would
tease her, he wouldn't stop
teasing
her. Still, she couldn't help but let a smile draw her lips
upwards.
Cardiff's millennium bay was quiet. To coin a cliché, thought Gwen, it was too quiet. For 8 in the morning, the business hour, the place should have been a menace of people. You'd think that would be the case, but it was sort of…dead?
Gwen
tossed her hair, and headed to the cash point. She needed to take out
£20 for fuel later, and she might just buy herself something to eat.
She was starving. As Gwen tapped the pin code, she turned and gasped
with horror. Standing next to her was an old woman. She had black and
grey hair down to her shoulders. It was greasy and straggly, and it
was in her face. Her face itself was covered with scars, ugly gashes
and she was dripping with blood. She was in a black cloak-her other
clothes weren't' visible. She had browning teeth, crooked and
disjointed, and evil, black eyes. She glared at Gwen and hissed. A
tongue of a snake emitted from her snarling mouth. She was missing
half her nose and had deep, circular black bags under her eyes. She
stared directly at Gwen. She took a short, sharp, horrifying gasp.
"Your salvation is your curse." Gwen, terrified began to
tremble, her breath came in short, and painful, sharp bursts and she
couldn't stand properly. She blinked, and looked again.
The woman had gone. Gwen was alone once more.
This is my first fic, so please consider reviewing with good points and bad points. Obviously, all will be revealed later on. I hope you liked this brief introduction to the story!
