CHAPTER 1

“If the world ended tomorrow, would you forgive me?”

“Forgive you?”

I stare at Emilie, perplexed, as she spins lazily on the desk chair, the hazy October sunlight glinting in her eyes.

“Y’know, hypothetically,” she says. “If I had done something really bad that you would never forgive me for, but the world was going to end tomorrow, would you forgive me?”

I swiped the tissue over the vial and looked at her. She looked as if she was sleeping, eyes closed, laying back in her chair. No. I thought. Snap out of it. It had to happen. It had to.

“I'm sorry,” I muttered. “But if you'd kept your stupid gossiping mouth shut, I wouldn't have had to do this…”.

After all, I didn't do it out of cold blood. I still loved her. I placed my gloved hand on hers.

Prologue

Do you hear it?

It scampers across the autumn leaves behind you, scratching at the trees, and then vanishing without a trace. A flash, of dark, crimson sparks, abstinent in the air despite no longer there. Do you hear it?

The burgundy of the trees melt into the sky; a dark screen of inky black, blotted, smudged, for an instant. Then the lanterns light, clawed to the oaks, showing you a path that wasn’t there before, cobbled with smooth stones, flattened into the soft soil.

It would have been fine if there was no blood on the windowsill- because then nobody would have noticed the body behind the bushes six stories below. It was very well hidden, that was for sure, but as soon as Lea saw the blood, she saw a faint outline of someone in the leaves below. It was around four o’clock in the morning, so it wasn’t light, nor was anyone awake to see what Lea had just seen. The door had shut, after Lea had left it ajar to go see what the noise was, so there was no way of going back in. She was stuck on the landing of the sixth floor of flats in the early hours of the morning with a body just meters below.

 My head pounded as I stumbled through the dark alley. Hot blood ran down the side of my face, it trickled past my mouth, and the metallic smell made me gag.

“Millie!” a voice rasped from behind me, “Come on sweetie, I’m not going to hurt you.”

I forced myself forwards, my legs burning as I rounded a corner into another putrid alleyway. My breath caught in my throat as I collapsed in agony, screams of those poor defenceless girls echoed around me as a strangled cry escaped my throat.

 “Aagghhh!”

  “Woah, Willow, that was awesome!”

  “Thanks Noah. But I think that ‘Awesome’ is pushing it a little. Maybe terrifying beyond belief though! That would work.”

  “Ha, Ha, yeah right, you know you enjoyed it,” I sneer at him. We’ve just finishing the zip lining activity. As you can see, not as fun as I thought.

I absolutely despised my sister but that didn’t mean I was glad to see her hanging from the garage ceiling like a rag doll with a belt around her neck.

The light above her had been left on, humming faintly, bleaching her skin to something waxy and unreal. Libby always loved attention, even in silence. Especially in death.

When people say the word Holmes, they’re talking about the most famous detective that ever lived, Sherlock Holmes.

My role model.

My hero.                                                           

The world knows him as a legend — the man who could solve a crime before the police had even found the body. The newspapers call him brilliant. Scotland Yard calls him impossible. Criminals call him a nightmare.                                                                                                    

I just call him Sherlock.     

Viral Fiction by Tiwalade O

High above the snow-peaked mountains of Everest, far beyond where the weaker, more feeble birds of varied species flock together, three colossal beasts arose from their pits of darkness. They wanted to try one last time.

1ST PLACE. For someone whose birthday was on the 31^st of October, Evie Darnell had never really enjoyed Halloween. The creepy over-the-top costumes, the eerily detailed Jack-O-Lanterns; none of it had ever really appealed to her. So she wasn’t quite sure how, at 11:38pm on her 13^th birthday, she had found herself standing with her best friends in the endlessly snaking line outside her town’s “House of Horrors” that had been open for the past few days….

It was that time again. The time that all children had been waiting for during the year, the time the dentists and most parents feared, the time when strange creatures lurked among the shadows, the time when anyone could be whatever they wanted, and the time when the truth was well and truly disguised. .

4th September 2000

I stopped taking my meds today. Everyone says trust the doctors, but I don’t think I can. There’s just something off about them. They get to dictate what they put in my system to “heal” me, but I want control. I need control over my body and what I do.

“I’m sorry” exclaimed Aqua , her temper simmering inside of her,” I’m so sorry I lost it. I mean it was in my bag when I last checked, but I don’t know how it fell out of my bag.”

“Well, I don't care, I want my necklace back. You know it’s a treasured gift that I have from my grandma and I can't afford to lose it.” shouted Lucas. She could vividly recall the beautiful emerald necklace given to her by Lucas two weeks ago on a Friday, when it glistened in the sunshine, before he went on holiday for half term. He asked her to keep it safe while he was abroad and now she lost it. “And anyways I know you didn't lose it.” said Lucas.

"Oh come on eli, it's time to go to bed now" I said loudly at the little girl squirming in my arms, " it's 8 0'clock, its your bedtime." She huffed, staring up at me with big brown chocolate eyes, before sitting firmly on the ground, arms crossed against her chest. I sighed, reaching to pick her up, wincing as she squirmed, kicking me in the stomach.

“Wait up, I’m just putting my blazer on!” shouted Emma from the PE changing room. She quickly put it on and stuffed her coat in her bag.

“You know, I just realized…”                                                                  

  She stopped midway through her sentence; Poppy wasn’t in the hallway.

My name is Jane Grey, and on that evening every ounce of my soul longed to be with my deceased grandfather, a tragedy at most but a loss at heart. The funeral was nothing short of pathetic, grandad deserved more; I deserved more. The lights were dimmed just so, allowing me to sight the reactions of those around me. The priest himself looked like my grandad, it brought immense devastation and deep grief to my mind. No one respected him the way I did, right in that moment. They should have given more to him. To me. I have no meaningful words left but empty phrases. I am furious and yet … nothing.

October brings shorter days and longer nights.

Sally was coming back from her best friend’s Halloween party. The full moon had lit up her path, and she started to wish she had not missed the last bus home. Usually, Sally walked this path but not at this hour, and she was longing for the hot cocoa her mum had promised on her thirteenth birthday.

27/10/2020. There was a piercing scream slicing through the cold night air and James Smith woke with a halt. He was drenched in icy sweat, his hands were shaking and his heart was hammering painfully against his ribs. He’d been having the same nightmare for days, maybe weeks, ever since Tom Willson had been murdered, ever since the police told him he should visit the crime scene as he could help solve the case.