Gothic Opening by Alex Gibson
Half the names on the list had already been crossed off. I knew that I’ d be next- fear had descended upon me like a predator grabbing its helpless prey.“ Next!” a voice briskly barked. What were they going to do to me? Is it going to be as much pain as I imagined? Am I going to die a slow, painful death? Whizzing around my head were questions I didn’ t want to know the answer to. Suddenly, I felt a rapid, lengthy jab between my shoulder blades. Reluctantly, I sauntered up to the wooden platform: it let out a giant creak that signaled it wasn’ t stable and could collapse at any second … a perfect escape plan. No! I couldn ' t!“ Ah, the last of this worthless, idiotic family. Don’ t worry, we’ ll finish you off quickly,” the leader cackled with a sinister, twisted grin.
As I looked up to the leader, I had my first proper glimpse at her. Covering her head was a mess of unruly, knotted hair that just beyond her shoulders. Her grin had now widened and her stained, yellow teeth had made an appearance. Surrounding her was the stench of rotten, out-of-date fish and rotten eggs. But the moment I remember the most was when our eyes locked in what seemed like an everlasting gaze: her eyes were deadly and menacing but also lost and confused. Was she just realising something?“ You should hate her!”“ But she seems so lost …” the voices in my head debated. I took one final glance at her and decided that I detested her and every part of me would agree- apart from the voices.
“ How could you do this?” I suddenly screamed. Looking a bit surprised, she replied,“ What do you mean?”“ You killed and tortured my family without blinking! How can you be so … cruel?!” I shouted. By now, huge tears had begun to roll down my cheeks, which were red with rage, at an extremely quick pace. Aware of every face in the crowd staring at me in awe, shock and respect, I hurriedly wiped the tears away from my face.
I admire your bravery, I really do. Such a shame it’ s going to waste, don’ t you agree?” she cried.“ That’ s what you think …” I muttered. Before I could regain full control of my body and mind, I did it. I broke free. I put my life in mortal peril. I ran. Everybody thought that I was probably unable to do this. I was the shy child. The one who kept his feelings and thoughts bottled up inside of him and let them eat away at him like a hungry crocodile. But now I was sprinting