Categories > Original > Drama > Lights in Darkness
The Beginning
0 reviewsSet in the third person narrative, this chapter introduces us to Effie, a little about her life and her sister. We also learn a little smidge about her past.
0Unrated
The wind whipped at her hair and the bottom of her coat as she walked up the silent road to her mother’s house. There was a rustle of the bushes next to her, but she wasn’t fazed, she always walked this way and lately, after the weather change, it was always dark as she walked home, even more so as there were no street lamps to cast unnerving shadows, the only sounds were those of the wind in the trees and the crunch of her feet on the gravel path.
Music was blasting out of the headphones of the boy who she always walked past and, as usual he gave her the look that said “you’re scum” as he did every time they crossed paths and, she retorted by sulking past him as she did every time they crossed paths. She went on up the pathway to her mum’s house.
Throwing her bag over first she climbed over the gate into the back garden. From there she climbed on top of the conservatory and from the top she could pry open her window and tumble in onto the floor of her bedroom.
She lay staring up at the ceiling. The moon cast shadows of her window frame across her and onto her bed as well. With a sigh she rolled over, picked up her bag, kicked off her shoes, unbuttoned her coat and hung it up in the cupboard in the corner of her room, she threw her bag in there too. She threw herself down on the bed so that her head was near to the end of the bed. She wasn’t lay there for very long before there was a soft tapping at her door. She knew what the tap meant. Her sister and she had developed this system when they were young to let each other know if their mother was on the way home, or whatever, they would tap a certain times on each other’s doors then go back to their room. Tonight’s tap was the one indicating that her mum would be home in 10 minutes. She heard the floorboards creek then the click of the door as her sister went back into her room.
With a sigh Effie rolled over on to her back and gazed up at the ceiling. The picture of her boyfriend that she had painted on was still there, she ought to paint over it as they’d split up two months ago, but it was nice to have something to remember and she’d decided it’d be fun to paint over it when the time came. She rolled off the bed and onto her feet. She took off her usual “school uniform” she called it that because she wore the same thing, just a clean outfit each day, she wore a black long sleeve top, a white short sleeve one on top and blue jeans. She threw them in the washing basket in the corner, then rummaged around in the box marked “home shit” and pulled out over-the-knee stripy socks, a blue and black tartan skirt and an orange and white stripy top. Once dressed she went into her bathroom, took off her make-up and checked her stash of drugs and booze in the cupboard under the sink, this consisted of; half a dozen bottles of Smirnoff, half a dozen bottles of WKD, a dozen of whiskey, a dozen of gin and a dozen scotch. There were all there in their neat rows. On the shelf below there was some grass, coke and half empty packets of pills that her mother never finished, so she took them just to boost her stash. Now that she was safe in the mind that her mother hadn’t been through her stuff she went to sit at the top of the stairs, as she always did, to await her mother’s return.
She didn’t have to wait long; soon enough there was the sound of car tires on the gravel drive, the slamming of the car doors, the click of her mother’s heels on the path. Then came the inevitable turning of the key in the lock and there she was, Effie’s mother giggling like she was Effie’s age with a man’s arm draped about her shoulder. The man was quite handsome really, quite the James Bond look-alike, Sean Connery of course, but then her mother always went for that type. They went off into the kitchen, which was lit with a mild gold light, downstairs always was as her mother had those lights on a timer, she didn’t care about upstairs, she was hardly ever up there so why should she?
There was a creek behind her, and looking up, Effie saw that her sister had come to join her. Eleanor sat down next to her on the stair and sighed.
“What are we going to do?” Eleanor asked in a whisper
“I don’t know.” Effie replied with a sigh as she lent to kiss her little sister on the forehead in the way she used to when Eleanor was little and her parents were arguing. She got up and went into her room without a second glance at her sister.
Effie’s room was quite unlike any normal sixth-former’s room. It was neat, tidy and organised. The desk in the corner or her room had two parts to it. One had all her art coursework and her other homework the other had her Laptop, printer and pictures of all her friends. Her notice board was covered in letters from the school, more pictures of her friends and gig tickets.
Sitting down at her desk she logged on to the computer and then onto the internet. She sent an email to her 5 best friends that she’d known since year 7 and she trusted them most of all.
In her email she told them to meet outside Franks Bar at 10. They always met there. From there they would go to the green and get stoned and wasted. She always seemed to supply most of the booze, but then she did have the most.
She rummaged around in the box of clothes marked “Night out shit” to find something else to wear to go a meet friends in. After about 10 minutes of rummaging around, pulling stuff out, muttering, swearing and putting it back again she found what she was looking for, a light purple halter neck top and a slinky black dress. She changed tops and adjusted her bra in the mirror in her bath room then tiptoed across the landing to her sister’s room. She lightly tapped on the door and went in; as usual her sister was bent over some school work of some sort.
“Eleanor, put this on then come to my room,” Effie said as she threw the dress at her sister.
“Why?” Eleanor had a puzzled look on her face as she turned round and caught the dress.
“Because, my little nerdy sister, we are going out” Effie hugged her sister and left the room.
Back in her bedroom she pulled her light pink, patterned cons from the cupboard and put them on, picking up her mobile phone from her bedside cabinet she put it inside her right shoe and finished doing up the laces. She checked to see if any of her mates had replied to say they couldn’t come but her inbox was empty. Pleased that they could all come she was about to go and do her make up when there was a knock at the door and Eleanor came in. She looked a little nervous and she hadn’t quite got the hang of how to put the dress on but, otherwise she looked very pretty. Taking Eleanor by the hand Effie led her into the bathroom, sat her down on the loo and opened her make-up cupboard. She picked out a dark and slightly lighter shade of purple for her sisters eye shadow and one of the brushes.
“Close your eyes” Effie commanded and nervously Eleanor did. Effie swiped the brush across the dark purple a few times then swept it back and forth across her sister’s eyelids. Next she used the lighter shade and brushed it on the part between the socket and the eyebrow. She put the eye shadow and brush back in the cupboard, grabbed mascara and threw it, along with a mirror, at her sister.
While Eleanor was doing that Effie chose the darkest shade of blue eye shadow she had, put it on the lid of her eye, then chose the lightest one and put it on top, this gave an effect of light and dark at the same time. She then put on some electric blue mascara and black eye liner. She turned to check on how her sister was doing. After Effie had helped Eleanor to finish getting ready she went into her cupboard with all the shoes in and pulled out an old pair of black cons. These she gave to Eleanor to put on while she went to get some whiskey from her supply. She checked herself one last time in the mirror before going to tell Eleanor how they would sneak out of the house.
Eleanor was sat on the bed when Effie came out of the bathroom. You could still tell she was nervous even with all the makeup and with her hair down. Effie sat down next to her, bottle of whiskey in hand and gave her little sister a hug.
“Ok, Elle, this is how we’re going to get out of the house. We climb out of my window, onto the conservatory, make sure you land on the metal that holds the glass in place, then from there we’ll go over the gate and just wait for me on the drive, Ok?”
“Yeah, but what am I meant to do with my phone?” Eleanor showed her a huge brick of a phone, one of the old nokias.
“Jesus fucking Christ, how long have you had that? No, don’t answer, look, just take my old V3; you’re on T-Mobile, right? Good.” Effie rummaged around in one of her desk draws until she found her old mobile phone; pulling the back off and tearing the battery out she put the sim card from her sister’s phone into the back of this one. After reassembling it she turned it on and gave it to her sister. Effie suddenly felt a vibrating coming from her right shoe, shortly followed by the sound of Armatage Shanks, sitting down on the chair she reached down into her shoe and produced a phone; after a glance at the screen she answered it. The conversation was short, she didn’t say much and there was nothing that Eleanor could learn from it, so she just followed her sister’s lead and put her newly-acquired phone into her shoe.
“Right that was Sawyer, time to go.” Effie grabbed the bottle of whiskey and opened her window for Eleanor, who, although shakily at first, climbed out and onto the conservatory. Effie glanced around her room and followed Eleanor, stopping to push the window to. She jumped down off the conservatory onto the patio, placed the whiskey on the wall next to the gate, climbed over, grabbed the bottle and walked up the drive, Eleanor following, out into the night.
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Please review!! I hope you're enjoying it so far! More soon
Music was blasting out of the headphones of the boy who she always walked past and, as usual he gave her the look that said “you’re scum” as he did every time they crossed paths and, she retorted by sulking past him as she did every time they crossed paths. She went on up the pathway to her mum’s house.
Throwing her bag over first she climbed over the gate into the back garden. From there she climbed on top of the conservatory and from the top she could pry open her window and tumble in onto the floor of her bedroom.
She lay staring up at the ceiling. The moon cast shadows of her window frame across her and onto her bed as well. With a sigh she rolled over, picked up her bag, kicked off her shoes, unbuttoned her coat and hung it up in the cupboard in the corner of her room, she threw her bag in there too. She threw herself down on the bed so that her head was near to the end of the bed. She wasn’t lay there for very long before there was a soft tapping at her door. She knew what the tap meant. Her sister and she had developed this system when they were young to let each other know if their mother was on the way home, or whatever, they would tap a certain times on each other’s doors then go back to their room. Tonight’s tap was the one indicating that her mum would be home in 10 minutes. She heard the floorboards creek then the click of the door as her sister went back into her room.
With a sigh Effie rolled over on to her back and gazed up at the ceiling. The picture of her boyfriend that she had painted on was still there, she ought to paint over it as they’d split up two months ago, but it was nice to have something to remember and she’d decided it’d be fun to paint over it when the time came. She rolled off the bed and onto her feet. She took off her usual “school uniform” she called it that because she wore the same thing, just a clean outfit each day, she wore a black long sleeve top, a white short sleeve one on top and blue jeans. She threw them in the washing basket in the corner, then rummaged around in the box marked “home shit” and pulled out over-the-knee stripy socks, a blue and black tartan skirt and an orange and white stripy top. Once dressed she went into her bathroom, took off her make-up and checked her stash of drugs and booze in the cupboard under the sink, this consisted of; half a dozen bottles of Smirnoff, half a dozen bottles of WKD, a dozen of whiskey, a dozen of gin and a dozen scotch. There were all there in their neat rows. On the shelf below there was some grass, coke and half empty packets of pills that her mother never finished, so she took them just to boost her stash. Now that she was safe in the mind that her mother hadn’t been through her stuff she went to sit at the top of the stairs, as she always did, to await her mother’s return.
She didn’t have to wait long; soon enough there was the sound of car tires on the gravel drive, the slamming of the car doors, the click of her mother’s heels on the path. Then came the inevitable turning of the key in the lock and there she was, Effie’s mother giggling like she was Effie’s age with a man’s arm draped about her shoulder. The man was quite handsome really, quite the James Bond look-alike, Sean Connery of course, but then her mother always went for that type. They went off into the kitchen, which was lit with a mild gold light, downstairs always was as her mother had those lights on a timer, she didn’t care about upstairs, she was hardly ever up there so why should she?
There was a creek behind her, and looking up, Effie saw that her sister had come to join her. Eleanor sat down next to her on the stair and sighed.
“What are we going to do?” Eleanor asked in a whisper
“I don’t know.” Effie replied with a sigh as she lent to kiss her little sister on the forehead in the way she used to when Eleanor was little and her parents were arguing. She got up and went into her room without a second glance at her sister.
Effie’s room was quite unlike any normal sixth-former’s room. It was neat, tidy and organised. The desk in the corner or her room had two parts to it. One had all her art coursework and her other homework the other had her Laptop, printer and pictures of all her friends. Her notice board was covered in letters from the school, more pictures of her friends and gig tickets.
Sitting down at her desk she logged on to the computer and then onto the internet. She sent an email to her 5 best friends that she’d known since year 7 and she trusted them most of all.
In her email she told them to meet outside Franks Bar at 10. They always met there. From there they would go to the green and get stoned and wasted. She always seemed to supply most of the booze, but then she did have the most.
She rummaged around in the box of clothes marked “Night out shit” to find something else to wear to go a meet friends in. After about 10 minutes of rummaging around, pulling stuff out, muttering, swearing and putting it back again she found what she was looking for, a light purple halter neck top and a slinky black dress. She changed tops and adjusted her bra in the mirror in her bath room then tiptoed across the landing to her sister’s room. She lightly tapped on the door and went in; as usual her sister was bent over some school work of some sort.
“Eleanor, put this on then come to my room,” Effie said as she threw the dress at her sister.
“Why?” Eleanor had a puzzled look on her face as she turned round and caught the dress.
“Because, my little nerdy sister, we are going out” Effie hugged her sister and left the room.
Back in her bedroom she pulled her light pink, patterned cons from the cupboard and put them on, picking up her mobile phone from her bedside cabinet she put it inside her right shoe and finished doing up the laces. She checked to see if any of her mates had replied to say they couldn’t come but her inbox was empty. Pleased that they could all come she was about to go and do her make up when there was a knock at the door and Eleanor came in. She looked a little nervous and she hadn’t quite got the hang of how to put the dress on but, otherwise she looked very pretty. Taking Eleanor by the hand Effie led her into the bathroom, sat her down on the loo and opened her make-up cupboard. She picked out a dark and slightly lighter shade of purple for her sisters eye shadow and one of the brushes.
“Close your eyes” Effie commanded and nervously Eleanor did. Effie swiped the brush across the dark purple a few times then swept it back and forth across her sister’s eyelids. Next she used the lighter shade and brushed it on the part between the socket and the eyebrow. She put the eye shadow and brush back in the cupboard, grabbed mascara and threw it, along with a mirror, at her sister.
While Eleanor was doing that Effie chose the darkest shade of blue eye shadow she had, put it on the lid of her eye, then chose the lightest one and put it on top, this gave an effect of light and dark at the same time. She then put on some electric blue mascara and black eye liner. She turned to check on how her sister was doing. After Effie had helped Eleanor to finish getting ready she went into her cupboard with all the shoes in and pulled out an old pair of black cons. These she gave to Eleanor to put on while she went to get some whiskey from her supply. She checked herself one last time in the mirror before going to tell Eleanor how they would sneak out of the house.
Eleanor was sat on the bed when Effie came out of the bathroom. You could still tell she was nervous even with all the makeup and with her hair down. Effie sat down next to her, bottle of whiskey in hand and gave her little sister a hug.
“Ok, Elle, this is how we’re going to get out of the house. We climb out of my window, onto the conservatory, make sure you land on the metal that holds the glass in place, then from there we’ll go over the gate and just wait for me on the drive, Ok?”
“Yeah, but what am I meant to do with my phone?” Eleanor showed her a huge brick of a phone, one of the old nokias.
“Jesus fucking Christ, how long have you had that? No, don’t answer, look, just take my old V3; you’re on T-Mobile, right? Good.” Effie rummaged around in one of her desk draws until she found her old mobile phone; pulling the back off and tearing the battery out she put the sim card from her sister’s phone into the back of this one. After reassembling it she turned it on and gave it to her sister. Effie suddenly felt a vibrating coming from her right shoe, shortly followed by the sound of Armatage Shanks, sitting down on the chair she reached down into her shoe and produced a phone; after a glance at the screen she answered it. The conversation was short, she didn’t say much and there was nothing that Eleanor could learn from it, so she just followed her sister’s lead and put her newly-acquired phone into her shoe.
“Right that was Sawyer, time to go.” Effie grabbed the bottle of whiskey and opened her window for Eleanor, who, although shakily at first, climbed out and onto the conservatory. Effie glanced around her room and followed Eleanor, stopping to push the window to. She jumped down off the conservatory onto the patio, placed the whiskey on the wall next to the gate, climbed over, grabbed the bottle and walked up the drive, Eleanor following, out into the night.
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Please review!! I hope you're enjoying it so far! More soon
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