The Beginning Of The End by Natalie Holmes (reading books for 5 year olds txt) 📖

Prologue - The Awakening

Harlow's breath hitched as she drew in the pollution-tinged air that surrounded her. That was the only evidence she had been crying, the tears had long since dried, and yet the anger, the cutting betrayal and soul-shattering heartbreak hadn't dissipated in the slightest. Her eyes roamed the city skyline, bright lights illuminated the huge imposing sky scrapers surrounding her, but they paled in comparison to the building she stood on now. It was the tallest building for miles and miles. From the bottom it was foreboding and monstrous, but from her vantage point on the roof, it gave her a panoramic view of the world below.

She looked down seeing people scurrying along, she envied them, the unsuspecting people living and dying without ever knowing what really lurked in the shadows. She longed for a normal life, wished with all her being that she could erase all her knowledge of the terrifying, nightmarish - and in some cases, beautifully captivating and awe inspiring - things that existed alongside humans without anyone ever realising.

She wondered how she must look to them, the people below. What would they think? To look up and see a young girl with long black hair whipping wildly around her head, tear stained face and bare toes dangling over the precipice of the immense building. They'd panic; of course, she knew how it must look. Harlow's dress billowed around her legs and plastered against her pale skin in the strong gusts of wind.

She stood rigid, fists clenched so tightly that her fingers cramped up and her nails bit into her skin. But she didn't care. The pain grounded her, but did nothing to clear the hectic chaos in her head. She did her best to ignore the questions darting around her mind, but the noise just got louder and louder until it felt as though there were a hundred people screaming angry questions at her. All vying for her attention. All begging to be answered. But Harlow didn't have the answers. She didn't know why he had lied to her.

A bitter laugh rang in her ears, it sounded hollow, cynical. And Harlow realised with a start that it was her who had laughed. She sounded old beyond her years, like someone who knew too much for their own good. How could she have been so stupid? She had trusted him, and he had deceived her. She refused to think of him, the one who betrayed her, and the one who she would not name for fear of the memories flooding back. But it was no use; she scrunched her eyes up and rubbed hard at them with the heels of her hands, the image of his face was branded into her eyelids, she couldn't stop the urge to touch him and feel the searing heat of his skin.

Harlow made a noise that sounded a lot like a growl, and clenched her teeth, her anger mounting once again. It was like a tidal wave, sweeping her away, threatening to drown her completely. By now her breath was coming in fast short gasps as flashes of memories poured back in, she couldn't stop it now. So she surrendered to it. She closed her eyes and let the fury and pain wash over her, tears ran freely down her cheeks and just when she was sure she was about to break, to shatter completely, something shifted inside her.

Harlow felt a sort of thump between her shoulder blades, followed by warmth radiating from that point and across her back. She took in a sharp breath, but kept her eyes closed, like she knew in the back of her mind what was happening. Instinct took over and Harlow arched her back, she heard a rustling sound close to her ears something velvety soft brush against the back of her upper arms. A serene smile spread across her lips, she knew what to do. Some deep seeded instinct told her to spread her arms, and push her shoulders back. She felt the new weight on her back and sighed happily, she was surer of herself than she had been in a long, long time. Harlow bent her knees slightly and sprung off the building, into the abyss below.

Chapter 1 - The First Sight

The bright sunlight streamed through a slit in the kitchen blinds and fell across Harlow's hand as she drummed her fingers on the cheap plastic table. The strip of light coming from the gap offered the only brightness to the otherwise dingy kitchen, which was filled with old mismatched furniture. She stared at the dust motes that slowly drifted through the air meandering in and out of the shaft of light that pooled onto the table. Harlow closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, the air smelled like stale cigarette smoke and didn't help to make her feel any better.

She slid the chair back abruptly, it made a sharp squealing noise as it scraped across the worn linoleum. Harlow looked over her shoulder at the clock on the wall, if she didn't leave now she would be late. She tried to stamp down the disappointment that lodged a lump in her throat. Lisa, her so called mother, should be here now. Harlow had no idea why she was surprised, Lisa's absence was nothing new.

It was her own fault, really, she had stupidly held out hope that Lisa would have stayed sober for once and not passed out drunk, god knows where, with God knows who. One measly night. Just so she could be there to see her only daughter off to school, to wish her luck. Harlow's guitar exam was today, the only thing she was passionate about in life and she was so nervous. She tried not to think of how badly she wanted her mother to be there right now.

Heaving a sigh she resigned herself to the fact she was going to have to leave. Harlow blinked rapidly to dispel the tears that threatened to spill down her face, and picked up the guitar case that leant against the chipped frame of the back door. Her guitar was like a life line, it blocked out the sound of Lisa throwing glasses of whisky at the wall when she was in a rage. It comforted her when she'd had a hard time at school. It was her only friend, the only one who understood her. Harlow snorted, she realised how pathetic it was to have a guitar, an inanimate object, as her only friend.

Shaking her head she shouldered the strap of the guitar case and picked up her black book bag. She grabbed her keys and ran her eyes quickly over her reflection in the scratched mirror that hung on the wall next to the back door. Her black hair fell in waves to her shoulder blades; her skin was pale and her pink lips held in a firm line. Silver-gray eyes stared back at her and shone with unshed tears. She frowned at her reflection and wiped her eyes, though her other facial features were unremarkable; Harlow had always liked her eyes.

When she was younger her mother had once told her she had her father's eyes, and she loved that because it gave her hope that there was a chance she wouldn't turn out like her sorry excuse for a mother. It was a link to a different side of her, something she was so desperate for; she held on tightly to anything that gave her reason to believe she could be something, that she could do something worthwhile with her shambles of a life.

Then again, she had no idea if being like her Dad would be any better since she had never met him. Shaking those sombre thoughts from her head, Harlow left through the back door, not bothering to lock it since Lisa wouldn't have a key and the last thing she wanted was her mother to turn up at school reeking of alcohol and dressed in yesterday's clothes. Besides, they didn't have anything worth stealing.

Outside it was so dark it looked as though it was late evening. Heavy black clouds blotted out the sun that had been streaming through the window only a few moments ago. It was as if the weather was reflecting her mood, dark, dismal, and an intense sense of impending doom. Harlow had no idea how accurate those feelings were. The wind blew in small circles creating mini whirlwinds, capturing the autumn leaves that had fallen from the trees dotted around the shoddy home, sending them flying up into the air and then showering them back down.

She trudged through her back garden which was littered with rubbish and bits of furniture that Lisa had begrudgingly had to move out of the home when they fell apart. She clambered over an old mattress that had rusty old springs jutting out of the material, and made her way to the back of the garden. When she reached the end Harlow ran her hand across the old rotting fence that bordered the area around the house until she found the loose panel. Moving it out of the way, she stepped through and into the small, dense woods the house backed on to. Her school was a twenty minute trek through the wooded area, but Harlow didn't mind, it gave her chance to think.

The trees that towered over her offered some protection from the elements, the forest floor was wrapped in a peculiar bubble of stillness, though she could hear the tops off the trees being thrashed around and causing leaves to cascade down. Orange, red and golden foliage drifted peacefully to the ground and made a glorious carpet that crunched under her feet. After a while of meandering through the autumnal trees, they eventually gave way to the road that led up to her school. Looking at her watch Harlow knew she had to hurry and set off at a fast pace. She felt a drop of moisture splash on her nose and looked up to see the rain start to fall. She grumbled to herself and pulled the hood up of her black zip up jacket.

The pace of rain drops increased rapidly until it was pouring down, soaking through her canvass shoes, thin hoodie and dark gray jeans. She raced for the last few yards to get into school before she was washed away by the pounding rain. Even though Harlow lived in a small town, the school building itself was huge and ancient looking. It was made of crumbling gray rock and the face of it was filled with a mish-mash of windows, all different sizes and shapes. The original doors had been replaced by big glass ones, and looked greatly out of place on the front of the old structure.

The area surrounding the school was mainly patchy grass and huge trees, surrounded by a chain link fence to try and stop any students sneaking out and into the surrounding wooded area that covered pretty much the whole town. The unnecessarily large building meant that even when the bell was just about to ring and the entire student body were rushing through, the hallways and corridors still weren't packed. Everyone just rattled around in the massive building.

It wasn't uncommon to walk through areas of the school that were completely empty and sometimes hadn't been used in years. This added to the fact the school was a couple of hundred years old and that not much in the school had been