In The Beginning

The hottest day this summer was coming to an end. The air shimmered over the boiling tarmac on the streets as it melted, sticking to the tyres of the windowless cars who drove on unknowing. The stagnant air, humid and cloying moved little through the streets, causing clothes to stick to the passing people's bodies. The overgrown grasses in the cracks on the pavement had started to turn yellow and were slowly withering away. Most of the residents on Haredale Road had been stuck indoors next to their fans all Sunday, however one remained sitting on the broken path.

Wearing scruffy blue shorts and a pink tank top, the young girl sat staring at the bushes opposite unblinking. This would most likely seem strange to a passer-by however to the inhabitants of Haredale it was a regular occurrence. In the bushes lived an ugly, spotted cat with a giant tail who violently protested any relocation the residents had implemented and so it had been left to roam the neighbourhood eating from the bins like a giant black fox. It had become a common game for the bored children living nearby to try to tempt it out of its hole and this is exactly what Skye was trying to achieve.

Skye could see the cats green saucer-shaped eyes staring through the small gap in the hawthorn, which unless she wanted to become a scratching post, she thought best to avoid. Sighing, part from frustration and part from weariness brought on by the overwhelming heat, she stood up and turned. Glancing back one last time, she stuck her tongue out at the demon animal and walked away. Perhaps if she had looked a little longer she would have seen the cats eyes flash gold but she did not and walked away ignorant of this. On the whole, Skye thought as she walked slowly down the path, the day hadn't been a complete waste, after all she had gone down to the brick pond and braved the icy waters. At least it had cooled her off. Mum wouldn't be too happy if she found out though, she hated that place, saying it stank of decay. Skye however thought it was beautiful, full of wild flowers, at least one place in this dump could be pretty.

Pushing open the wooden gate, Skye nearly tripped over a brush laying on its side. Irritated she opened the front door, kicking her sandals off, sending them sliding down the hall. The first thing that hit her was the stuffy heat inside the house causing her to pinch her lips together and frown. From the next room all that could be heard was the argumentative tone of their next door neighbour's voice.

'I don't care if it's too hot! It's too bloody hot for everyone, in case you haven't noticed Sarah. Turn it off, it's using up the streets electricity for god's sake, everyone's turned theirs off.'

'Fine,' said Sarah 'but if I die from heat stroke, I'll see you pay for the funeral,'

Gordon, the neighbour, grunted and patted Sarah on the shoulder with his beefy hands.

'I'm only trying to keep the street happy, Sarah,' he started walking toward the back door which was open 'we've all got to pull together,' Gordon looked one more at Sarah, giving her a significant look with his small watery eyes, and walked out.

Sarah turned round, her long blond hair swishing around as she turned, as Skye walked through the door and frowned.

'How long have you been standing there?' she asked.

'Just long enough to know you have single-handedly used up the entire electricity of Sheffield mum,' I smiled

'He can't just come over here and demand I turn off the fans, its boiling and your Grandma's been over and she needs it. It's much too hot for,' Sarah sighed and sat down on the stained green settee which matched the old stained green shorts she was wearing. 'Go get your tea it's in the fridge, it's only a sandwich though Skye, sorry'

Skye opened the fridge and took out the ham sandwich and went upstairs to her room. Not much had changed in it in the time since they had moved here 5 years ago. Cheaper rent you see. The same pea green walls clashing with the pink curtains she had insisted be taken from the old house along with the black wooden framed bed and wardrobe which had slowly been covered in old stickers from whatever she had been interested in throughout the years. An ancient Barbie sticker had half peeled off and was now irritatingly curled up. She walked over and ripped it off throwing it in the bin which was already overflowing with rubbish. Taking a bite of the sandwich Skye turned on her mobile and flicked through her contacts until she found the one she was looking for.

'Why's it so hot?' Skye texted

'Oooh look at us talking about the weather like proper grown ups' replied her friend, Gemma

'It's July and we've only just got the holidays, why is there nothing to do?' Sending her reply Skye saw a metal object sticking out from under her wardrobe. She fished it out and found it was a bashed in metal box. Skye blew the dust from the top, opened it up, took out the first thing and opened it. It had been a long time since Skye had opened up this box and she had forgotten about it, but now as she sat looking at it the memories of writing in this 'diary' flew back. She didn't even realise she had brought the box with them when they moved. The diary was small and purple but the binding showed it was very expensive and well made, if a little faded. The writing inside was messy and hard to read however some of it was legible. It was a recording of a recurring dream she always had when she was little.

The dream had been of a giant magical castle with tiny lights bobbing along the surface of a great lake. Skye had written it down every night it had happened hoping it meant something. Being little and believing in magic, she had hoped it was a magical land where she was transported to in her dreams, like wonderland without the Queen of Hearts. It had all been a fantasy in the end.

The BEEP of her phone startled her out of her thoughts. Gemma had texted her back.

'I know. What about Meadowhall tomorrow? Might be a bit cooler hopefully.'

Shopping, what fun, Skye thought as she rolled her eyes. Ever since they had finished their SATs back in May all anyone in their class could think about was secondary school and how much 'cooler' they were all going to be. That was why Gemma always wanted to go shopping, because she had to be grown up, wearing all the latest clothes. Not clothes from Primark apparently.

'If I must. 10 okay? Got to go. See ya tomorrow,' Skye sent as she heard her mum calling up to her to do the pots.

Meadowhall

The bus was packed like a sardine, and in the heat was overbearing. Every time the door opened to let of another person the whole bus sighed in relief and the bus creaked as if noticing there was one less body to drag around on its back. Skye and hers two friends sat on the threadbare back seats of the rotting bus, squashed together with the window open, letting in little more than hot air and car fumes. Wiping her hands on her jeans, Skye shuffled into a more comfortable position and scowled.

'Whose idea was this? We could have walked, it would have been quicker,' said a muffled voice of an almost invisible Fa, her head nearly being crushed by someone's shopping, her short black hair blending in.

Gemma snorted.

'Don't be stupid Fa, it would have taken us forever. Stop complaining, we're here now.' Gemma said haughtily, looking down her long, crooked nose at Fa and picking at the green paint on the bar as she tried unsuccessfully to stand up.

'There's no point standing we may as well wait 'till everyone's off,' Skye said watching the crowd of people shove forwards towards the exit door. After the queue had reduced the three girls got up and stepped out the bus into the open air and into the interchange.

Three hours later Gemma and Fa who were weighed down with so many bags of shopping that Skye had ended up carrying half of it herself. The bags pulled on her arms and after carrying them nonstop for hours, her arms felt like they were being dislocated. The shopping centre was busy with families who had dragged their young children with them to buy clothes while the summer sales were on, however the most of the children trailed after their parents with bored looks waiting to go in toy shops so they could spend the money on what they wanted.

Skye had been daydreaming most of day, while her friends had been caught up in the sales, though why there was a sale she had no idea. There was always a sale on somewhere. Just as she was about to befriend a dragon in her daydream, Skye was pulled out of her thoughts by the shrill sound of Gemma's voice.

'Oooh, this would look lovely in your hair Skye! Shame blue doesn't go with my brown hair, it's so pretty,'

Skye's eyes focused on the object in her hand, a small pale blue hair clip in the shape a flower with a cluster of fake diamonds in the centre. The hair grip was very lovely Skye agreed, however looking at the price it wasn't going anywhere near her hair. She could feel the shop assistants eyes on them, watching them as they touched the expensive clip.

'Come on, the shop assistants watching us, she thinks we're going to nick it,' Skye said quietly to Gemma and Fa taking the clip from Gemma. She could see the assistant walking towards them.

'Excuse me. May I help you girls?' the assistant asked sweetly with a fake smile on her bright red lips still walking towards them. 'That's a very pretty clip you have there,'

Gemma smiled back unconcerned, grabbing the clip back.

'I know, we were just saying how pretty it would look in my mate's hair,' Gemma said putting it in Skye's silver blonde hair.

'Yes. Very beautiful.' The assistant said condescendingly as she reached for clip and plucked it out of Skye's hair, pulling out some of the hair as well.

'Ow! That hurt!' Skye gasped and rubbed her head. 'There was no need to hurt me! If you wanted us out the shop you could have just asked. There's no need to be so patronising! We weren't going to steal it, there's much nicer things to steal than a stupid clip!' Skye was almost shouting. She had got so mad, the other customers were openly staring at them, all with the same look on their faces, saying 'you don't belong here'. She was sick of it, people always talking down to her.

Skye was pulled out of her anger by the shocked shouts of the other customers. The whole display containing all the blue flower clips behind Skye had completely disappeared, leaving a giant empty space. Everyone in the shop stared at the space where it had been. The stunned silence that followed the disappearance was only then interrupted by the sharp scream of the shop assistant. Skye turned around to see the assistant curled in a ball covered in bleeding scratches all over her face and arms. The assistant looked up and met Skye's stunned eyes with her own terrified gaze and ran out of the shop without looking back. Afterwards, no one could say for certain how the assistant came to get the cuts or what had happened to the hair clips and display. The assistant from that day forward however, would always have a chronic phobia of hair clips, especially blue ones in the shape of flowers.