A Day in the Life

I wake up, my body aching and my head pounding. It seems familiar. My eyes begin to open up and slowly adjust to the bright light. By the way the sun is shining through the window it must be around midday.

How could I let this happen? I never sleep this late. Why do I feel so rough?

I look around my room, everything looks how it is supposed to look but nothing feels right. I reach my hand up to touch my head and I notice all the bruises covering my arms. My heart starts to race as I check the rest of my body.

I am covered in hundreds of bruises and scratches all over. How did this happen? Why can’t I remember?

It looks like I was in a car accident but… I wasn’t, was I? I can’t remember what I was doing the day before.

I look at my phone and see the date. 17th of August 2015. Something about checking the date seems to give me a sense of deja vu but I immediately put it out of my head when I lock my phone. As quickly as the deja vu came, it went.

I stand up, despite feeling incredibly shaky on my feet and leave my bedroom in my pyjamas. The guilt at starting the day at noon is starting to hit as I jump in the shower.

Entering the kitchen I look at my wall calendar and see that I have no work today so I think about how I am going to spend my day off. The house is a mess so I can start with cleaning it. I could answer emails for my second job or I can take the rare day off and do nothing. I’ll decide after I clean.

It takes me about an hour to deep clean my entire one bedroom flat, I put the clothes in the wqash and I do the dishes in that time also.. Then it hits just after one o’clock and a knock on my door surprises me as I’m not expecting guests.

I walk to the door and I look through the peephole to see my best friend Samson standing there awkwardly. He’s looking to his right as if someone is standing beside him and he seems to be shifting his weight slightly on his feet.

Reluctantly, I open the door an inch before it is slammed open. It hits me on the head hard and I fall to the floor, dazed.

“YOU SAID YOU WOULDN’T HURT HER!” I hear Samson shout before my whole world goes black. The last thing I see before I blackout is the neon green of a digital clock saying 1:06PM.

I wake up, my body aching… wait. This is the same as yesterday morning. My eyes fire open and I ignore the burning of the sudden light. All of the bruises and cuts are still covering my body when I pull back my duvet. My head is pounding more today so I stand up and look in a mirror which causes me to gasp in shock. The person in my reflection has a huge bruise on her right forehead, right where the door smacked me in my dream last night. That was a dream right?

I turn my head slowly and walk back to my bedside table. I hesitate before checking my phone to see the date. 17th of August 2015. So it was a dream then. I breathe out a huge sigh and feel my body relax a bit.

I leave my room, skipping the shower for now and walk to the kitchen. It’s only a girl's hope that the cleaning wasn’t a dream and I actually did it yesterday.

Well unfortunately the kitchen is still in the same state that it was yesterday so I start to clean. I’ve already decided that I deserve a day off after that dream so I am going to clean and then sit in front of the TV all day.

It hits just after one o’clock and a knock on my door causes me to drop a glass on the floor where it shatters loudly. The knocking cuts off early and I can swear I hear someone touch the door handle, I hold my breath and pray that the door is locked.

It isn’t and the door opens.

I can’t move as I hear someone entering my flat quietly and moving through the hallway as if looking for me. I can only hear one set of footprints but the person is getting closer and closer.

I feel a huge amount of relief when Samson pokes his head around the kitchen door. His eyes see the shattered glass on the floor and his eyes wander up my body as if checking for something.

“Samson, you scared me,” I turn to put the dish sponge back on the counter next to the sink and when I turn there are two people standing behind Samson. They are wearing black clothes and both have black masks over their heads. I didn’t hear them coming in.

I don’t even have time to scream before they rush forward and put a bag over my head. The scream starts to leave my throat until I am hit on the back of my head and go unconscious.