The Diary of Sophie Newell
April 12 ?
My parents are insane.
Now I know every teenager says that about their parents, but other parents don't wake up in the middle of the night screaming "grab me", other parents don't stare at the full moon like they almost lost someone up there, other parents don't freak out if I go too far Northeast!
I'm getting ahead of myself, my name is Sophie Newell. I am fourteen years old, and I live in a little town called Eaden. I tend to ramble a little (like I'm doing now), but I am NOT dumb and neither is my dad, anyone who feels different can talk to my fists.
But back to my parents, they've acting weird for as long as I can remember. Back when I was four, my dad used to tell me a bedtime story about a girl with a magic bow. When I asked if I could have a bow like that, dad told me that the story wasn't true, that magic didn't exist, and that if any of that was real, the characters would probably have PTSD. If I think back, I can still remember the exact moment my imagination died.
Then, when I was six, I asked them how they met, and they spent a solid minute staring at each other before dad babbled something about meeting at work (dad is a terrible liar).
So yeah, those things are weird, but the weirdest thing about my parents is how content they are. Eaden is literally a dead end town, but they have no intention of ever leaving, and they don't want me to either. Lucky for them, we don't have nearly enough money for me to go to medical school. But a girl can dream, right?
Sophie sighed as she put her journal back in the hole behind her Gordon Freeman poster. "Another day, another pointless walk through town."
"Ellie is so lucky," Sophie thought bitterly. Ellie Otten, age 19, had been her best friend/surrogate sister "since forever," but ever since she had announced that she was moving to New Detroit for college, Sophie couldn't help but feel jealous.
"Hey Sophie!"
Almost as if she knew Sophie had been thinking about her, Ellie came down the road and gave Sophie a hug "I'm gonna miss you."
"I'm going to miss you too." Sophie said, "Congrats on the scholarship!"
"Thanks! I'm so lucky I got in."
"I know." Sophie wanted to say, but instead she said "Nah, you're a natural! I just wish I had that kind of excitement in my life."
That's when Ellie saw it. As Sophie expressed her wish for adventure, her cool blue eyes seemed to flare brighter- electrically brighter.
Ellie blinked, and Sophie's eyes were back to normal. "Uh…you'll get there eventually. Don't give up!"
As Sophie walked away, Ellie tried to forget her vision. But those eyes. "Just like in my nightmare…"
—
Ellie ran through a dark corridor, trying to ignore the little blue lights signifying the walls could shift at any moment. "Come on Sophie, we're almost there!"
"Oh, you're not going anywhere…" Said a terrifying, cold mechanical voice. "Not until you learn the truth."
With that, laughter rang through the air, maniacal and insane and terrifyingly familiar. Ellie turned to see Sophie staring openmouthed at a screen, eyes glowing bright blue.
"Actually," said the voice from the screen, "why do we have to leave right now?"
—
Ellie woke with a scream. She'd been having these dreams for 3 nights now, seeing herself and Sophie trapped in some awful metal labyrinth. Sometimes Sophie would be injured by something, other times she would become sidetracked by that gigantic…thing with Wheatley's voice. But in every one of those dreams, Sophie had glowing blue eyes.
