Prologue: AIM

An_Involuntary_Movement

The smell...

The excruciating smell.

The smell of rotten tampons; of insects feeding off the waste left here for me.

The smell of despair and loneliness; of helplessness and isolation...

Insects were surrounding me, skittering in the darkness of the locker; skittering in the darkness of my prison. Crawling maggots squirming in the filth that surrounded me. Spiders trying their best to catch the flies in their nets.

All the bugs... happily munching whatever their prey was, crawling all over me.

I could still hear their taunting, their laughing, cruelty dripping from their words. But that couldn't be... It must've been hours since I was locked in here...

Would nobody ever come to safe me?

The smell, the sensations of the bugs swarming me, the knowledge that they had gotten to me...

These weren't even the worst thing...

The worst, the most hurtful thing was the knowledge that I was alone. All alone.

Nobody had come for me, nobody had notified the teachers; and if they had it would have just proven that not even the school cared for me. Nobody did.

I even blamed my dad. He should have noticed that something was wrong, noticed I was being bullied. He didn't.

Why... Why had they done this... If I hadn't been in such a 'sticky' situation I probably would have admired their dedication. Wasn't torturing me for almost two years straight enough? Did they relly have to lock me inside this GODDAMN LOCKER?

HOW COULD THEY? HOW COULD THAT BITCH EMMA DO THAT? I TRUSTED HER! I TRUSTED her... I trusted her...

Oh Emma... I thought we might be able to be friends again. What changed you that much...

My anger replaced itself with sadness as I lamented over my lost friendship with her. She had been my lifeline through middle-school. We had sleepovers, saw each other almost every day... we were like sisters! And then she shamelessly betrayed my trust.

When we started high school, she found herself a new friend: Sophia Hess. Together they tormented me, day by day. They were soon joined by Madison and together they formed the trio that had so much fun making my life a living hell.

After they stole mom's flute I had thought they'd never be able to top that...

Now, covered in filth, used tampons and my own vomit... I felt so lonely... so...broken.

Then I realized... I'd never get out. The janitor might find me, but I could still die from the infections; from the bacteria that had gotten into my wounds. The wounds I had created while clawing at the locker's door; the wounds that ran deep, the wounds that also hurt my soul. And then my melancholy reached it's climax. There, abandoned by all but the insects feasting on me, locked inside a metal box filled with the filth of my tormentors, helped by no one and outcast like a pariah, I blacked out. I was tired... broken. What use had fighting against my life when all I tried broke to pieces, my reality shattered and I would just lose hope. Slowly, like a creeping shadow at the back of my mind, dreaded but blissful darkness came over me and I was out like a light.

…

…

…

I jolted awake, startled. Where was I?

The answer and the stench hit me simultaneously. The Locker. I was still in the locker. Nobody had gotten me out. How long had I been unconscious anyway? Hours? Minutes? Only a few seconds?

I panicked. I didn't even know how long I'd been in here! Then- ARGH...

My head hurt. It hurt badly. Everything felt so alien... was I already dying? Was this how the way into afterlife felt? My... thoughts felt different. Stronger. Slowly but steadily, my headache subsided. Okay... first things first. I still needed to get out! But how? I was still trapped, the locker keeping me from getting away, making me stay within the filth.

Once again, I panicked. And then a thought pushed itself to the front of my mind. All my other thought processes halted as if in awe of that one single thought.

[0;0;1]

Why was I suddenly looking at the floor?

My eyes opened and closed in disbelief. One, Two, Three times total. Yes, I was indeed outside of the locker. Still badly bruised and filthy but I was free!

I turned myself and made my way through the school. It was very dark, the linoleum floor reflecting light from outside the only source of illumination. The halls of Winslow High around me as I stumbled awkwardly through them. After a while I had reached the main entrance.

Had I really escaped? Or was this just some kind of dream... And also: How did I escape if I did?

As if in fear of this wonderful 'dream' ending if I opened the door, I very slowly reached for the doorknob.

…

Locked.

NO! I WON'T STAY HERE! NEVER AGAIN! I WANT OUT!

And so my mind once again shifted, a though coming to halt at the front of my mind.

[0;0;1]

The next thing Inoticed was how wonderful the moon looked.

I truly was free now. I had left Winslow behind. Through some strange twist of fate, I had escaped.

And now I was free! For real this time.

Still aching and stumbling and very, very awkwardly I made my way home.

The horror had ended.

A/N: OOOOOH YEAH! Once again, sorry for the long wait! Now, keep in mind that I am rewriting the entire story so don't go thinking this is the first chapter. It isn't. This is the prologue. Taylor's discussion with her dad will be I the next chapter ( I totally just wanted to use the TAMNI reference as a title for the first rewritten part).

I hope you enjoyed it and thanks to all who reviewed my story thus far, especially to those I actually had some more or less lengthy conversation with. Thank you all, dear reviewers, subscribers and readers.

Now then, have a wonderful evening (here it's evening anyway...)!

-Azralan