My name was Francis but everyone just called me Frankie. I always knew I was... unique. I saw the world from a different point of view. I felt passionate about things no one really understood but had zero interest in things boys my age liked.
I think it's because of that I was always alone. I felt surrounded by people but still lonely if you get what I'm saying. I know it sounds complicated but hear me out.
Let me start from the beginning...
.....
19 October 2008
...
I was walking back home from a crappy shift at work. Boss man had just finished giving me a lecture. He was always giving me a lecture about one thing or the other. He never realized the effort I put in everyday. It wouldn't have been a exaggeration to say that without me the whole company wouldn't have been running smoothly. But what did i get in return?
Nothing.
I reached home and adjusted my expression to make it more normal and less gloomy so that my family didn't see it. Not like they cared either way.
My family was just like my boss always hurting me, looking down on me, comparing me to other people. At times I think they didn't want a second son and i was just a unplanned accident.
I opened the door and gave a vibrant but hollow smile.
"I'm home" i said trying to sound jovial but i could hear it in my voice i wasn't fooling anybody.
All I was greeted with in return was silence. I was used to this.
I removed my shoes at the entrance and wore slippers instead.
I walked to the living room and saw my family gathered around the tv. I greeted them all and they ignored me. Typical.
They were watching a movie, i didn't feel like joining them so i went up the stairs,planning on taking a nap before I wake inevitably wake up later in the night.
I felt tired. Not physically but emotionally, mentally and all that. I dozed off before i even realised it.
.....
i then had a weird dream.
.....
I was standing in a field of flowers. Rather then being vibrant colours, the flowers were all a pale white color.
It unnerved me because it felt...wrong. Sick.
I then heard laughter. It started of as a silent chuckle and then it became a maniacal laughter than sent shivers down my spine.
I frantically looked around trying to figure out the source of the unnerving laughter. Then a unsettling silence fell. I felt it before I saw it. The source of the laughter was behind me. I just knew it. Alarms went off in my head begging, pleading with me not to look back but something in me force me to look back.
My body no longer felt like mine. Like I was in the passenger seat of my own body. I slowly turned around despite the warning bells. The simple action of turning around felt like difficult to do.
I finally turned 180 degrees and my blood turned to ice. In Front of me stood... me. I couldn't tell if it was a mirage or something because this version of me was full white. Clothes, shoes, hair, pupils and irises were all white. And not in a healthy way but in a sickly paper white color.
The same as the field of flowers we were in. Then something happen. This version of me smiled not a normal smile either but a face splitting, ear-to-ear smile.
It sent a shiver down my spine.
That smile felt...wrong.
It then opened its mouth to speak
"I'm Coming" it said
Then everything faded to black
.....
It hurt.
.....
I woke up with a throbbing pain in my head and realized i was no longer in bed but on the floor.
My father towered over yelling something about me not doing my chores I don't remember everything was blurry.
He had grabbed me by the head i could tell by the clumps of hair in his hands.
I realized he had grabbed by the head and threw me to the floor.
I closed my eyes trying to stopping the buzzing noise and I felt a kick hit my abdomen.
The air was stolen from my lungs and I vaguely heard him cussing a he walked out of the room.
I stood up shakily and grabbed my keys from the living room and when I heard everyone go back to sleep, I grabbed my bike and raced out
Tears formed in the corner of my eye but I refused to let them fall.
I rode for what felt like hours before I eventually calmed down.
My cheek felt wet and a single teardrop had fallen.
I cussed and wiped it.
"Don't let them see your weak side" I whispered to myself as I started my bike ready to head back home.
As I was driving I saw something from the corner of my eye and froze nearly crashing into the nearby tree.
I stopped my bike and jumped of forgetting to even chain it and i raced to the side of the road.
Eerie silence greeted me. I looked around frantically.
"I saw it. I know I saw it" I said with a frantic tone.
For out of the corner of my eye, I had seen the version of me from the dream holding a white flower and still showing me the creepy smile.
I took a deep breath shrugging off the unease i still felt.
"It doesn't matter" I mumbled"I need to get home before they get on my case again" I chucked mirthlessly
As I rode back home fragment of the dream kept replaying in my mind.
I then realized the eerie quietness that had fallen. Like the whole town was in a deep slumber. This did nothing to abate my unease in fact it made me even more uneasy.
A bright orange glow shone from around the corner and I speed up.
What I saw made my heart drop to my stomach.
The house I had just left a few minutes ago was on fire.
The flame burned fiercely devouring portions of the apartment.
The noise from the neighbours trying to douse the flames was reduced to background noise.
I felt a hand pat my shoulder and I looked and saw a neighbour.
I saw him bite his tongue, hesitant to tell me something.
"Your Family.." He sighed heavily and continued " They're still inside"
Everything else went silent.
I don't know why I ran but I did.
I ran straight into the building.
I didn't know what I was looking.
A overwhelming pain came upon me.
....
Then darkness.