A walk in the dark - Part one.

‘Elena? Elena Brooks? Are you listening to a word I am saying?’ Mrs Parkinson barked at me.

‘No, sorry. I was trying to figure out whether you were born in the prehistoric times or just the Ancient Greek.’ As soon as the words left my mouth I regretted them. I hadn’t meant it. It was a reflex.

The whole room was roaring with laughter, but I stayed deadly still and silent. She hadn’t said anything yet but her eyes were burning with fury. It would be just a matter of seconds before she would explode.

But she didn’t. Minutes passed and she just stood there, her icy blue eyes staring into mine. I wanted her to do something. Shout, scream, yell. Anything but this awkward silence.

Finally she withdrew her gaze and slowly walked back to her desk. Silently she slid open one of her drawers, pulled out a referral slip, signed it and placed it on my desk. I hastily wrote my name on it and looked up at her.

Her face was expressionless as she lifted it from my desk, returned to her desk and continued with the lesson.

I was so surprised that I’d got away with just a referral. Those people in Mrs Parkinson’s class know that it was not uncommon for her to send a student to the headmaster. But I’m not complaining!



I sat in the referral room for an hour after school. One greasy haired kid came who was in desperate need of a shower came and plonked himself down on the seat next to mine. My eyes were watering from the stench so I quickly found myself another seat.

Here I sat and watched the clock and, resting my chin in my hands, I counted down the minutes until freedom. It went surprisingly fast considering the heat and smell of B.O in the sweaty room.



It was about two miles to my house so I began walking home on my own. It was winter, so although it wasn’t particularly late, it was becoming rather dark. But I wasn’t scared. I don’t scare easily.

After about ten minutes of walking, the heavens opened and began pouring rain. And as usual I didn’t have an umbrella. (You’d have thought I’d be used to the British weather by now.) The rain didn’t bother me too much anyway. My long chestnut hair would always be straight, despite my numerous attempts with curlers.

About half way home it was almost pitch black and the rain was still falling heavily. There were occasional claps of thunder and there was a bitter wind which forced the rain into my face like icicles.

Then I began to get the awful feeling that someone was watching me. I turned around, but no one was there. My heart was racing. I quickened my pace. My head knew there was nothing there, but something was telling me to run. To run as if my life depended on it. But I didn’t. I had checked and there was nothing there. I was just being paranoid. Or was I?

I was a sixteen year old girl walking alone in the dark. Anything could happen. Think about it. You always see things on the news. Of people getting murdered, kidnapped, raped. What’s to say that wouldn’t happen to me? I was really panicking now.

Just then a black BMW pulled up beside me and rolled down the window. I was too distracted by the man in the car to notice footsteps behind me. Until it was too late.

A man put his hands around my waste and pulled my body into his. My attempts to fight were useless. He was twice my size. I managed to let out a faint scream before he shoved his hand over my mouth, but no one would have heard it. He pinned my arms behind my back and pressed me against the car with his body. I couldn’t move a muscle. The he pushed my hair back and whispered into my ear, ‘Hey gorgeous. We’re gonna have some fun with you.’

His voice sent shivers down my spine. It was like a horror movie. I was the girl who was about to be taken to an abandoned warehouse. I would be locked in a dark room and left to starve. But there would be no one to shout ‘Cut’ at the end of the scene. Because this wasn’t a horror movie, this was real life.

My name would be on the news in a couple of months. ‘TEENAGE GIRL FOUND DEAD IN FOREST’. Awful thought were racing through my head. It must have shown on my face as the man said, ‘Don’t worry baby. No one’s gonna hurt you.’ It was that same spine-chilling voice as before.

As he said it, he placed his fingers under my jaw and slowly stroked my cheek with his thumb. I instantly tried to move my head away and he slapped me, hard, across the face. It stung like mad but I tried not to let the pain show.

He lifted my chin so I was looking at him. I realized he had loosened his grip on my wrists so I pulled them free, and with all the force I could, I punched him in the stomach. He doubled over, so I took the chance and ran as fast as my legs would take me. I had only gone a couple of steps before I felt an agonizing pain in the back of my head.

He had grabbed my hair and pulled me to the ground with it. Before I had a chance to move, he was on top of me. He pinned my arms down with his knees, and was sat painfully on my stomach. He slapped my face until I was dizzy.

‘You need to learn some manners you little bitch!’ He spat at me.

I half-heartedly tried to wriggle out from underneath him, but that only earned me another slap. I had no fight left in me anyway. My head was pounding and I could feel my eyes closing.

I could just make out people talking from inside the car, but it was muffled. At some point, the man got off me and then I must have blacked out.