An extract from my book: 'Unconscious'.

1. Unconscious Adam Fox
Unconscious
Chapter 1: Dream Master
James was standing in the long corridor of the main building of the school. The
building was completely empty except for himself and Sophie, who was walking away from
him. He jumped into action and immediately followed her down the corridor.
She turned right into the next corridor and proceeded to weave through the building
on the most elongated route possible through rooms and corridors only to turn around and
go back the way she came. James was struggling to keep up and yet keep his distance at the
same time.
He followed her up the spiral staircases and into the maths corridor when he lost the
trail. He looked in both directions but she was nowhere to be seen. James panicked and
burst into every room in that corridor in the hope that she would be there. As he emerged
from the fourth room he cursed to himself for losing her. Suddenly he heard footsteps going
down the stairs at the far end of the passageway, he ran towards the sound and as he
entered the balcony that overhung the foyer he heard the door to the main hall close.
He jumped the last few steps and made an effort to stop himself from overbalancing.
He walked to the doors and slowly opened them, sliding through as he did so.
There she was, at the other end of the hall, just standing with her back to him not
realising that he was there. James slowly walked up to her, nerves making him feel cold and
hot at the same time. He had summoned the courage to call out but before the words left
his mouth, something caught his eye.
In the far corner of the room was an identical copy of himself, standing with his arms
crossed as if waiting to see what would happen. James decided to ignore this. It had
happened before. He called out.
“Sophie!”
Then the figure in the corner leapt to his feet and screamed one word that filled the
room.
“NO!” That word quickly turned into one ceaseless noise, one that was intensifying
by the second. Before long the noise was unbearably loud and James jabbed his fingers in
his ears to block it out.
It made no difference.
The noise travelled through his hands as if they weren’t even there and straight into
his head.
James spared a glance at the spot where Sophie was - but she was gone. All he could
see was the carbon copy of himself glaring down at him, screaming all the while. James was
on the limit of what he could take and was trying force himself out before it was too late.
The walls of the room began to burn white and shimmer as if they would collapse.
This grew until the whole room was filled with a perilously bright light that threatened to
damage his eyes, like staring directly at an eclipse.
He began to screamback. The pain was too much, he couldn’t take any more, and he
had to get out.
James was catapulted out of bed with fear; the only thing stopping it escaping was
James’s hand that was clamped to his mouth to stop the sound of terror getting out. Once
this fear had died down he sat on the edge of his bed trying to calmhimself and not worry
about the events that had just unfolded. It doesn’t mean anything he told himself.

2. Unconscious Adam Fox
This can’t mean what you’re thinking ‘cos I know what you think this means and am
telling you, it can’t!
James looked down at the alarm clock on his bedside table. It read “05:36” in a
piercing red glow. His head still burned and throbbed with an intensity that worried James
so he made his way through the dark to the bathroom. Upon entering he scavenged the
cupboard and took two paracetamol tablets, washing them down with water that flowed
out of the tap. He then splashed some of this cold water over his face and glared hard at the
mirror.
He stood there, staring, for a long time before noticing something that did not fit
properly. He pulled in close, searching the eyes of the reflection. Then he noticed. The
reflection in his eyes was wrong. The face that stared back at him in those eyes was pulling a
face. A face that was not his own.
Fear gripped him once more. He pulled himself closer so that his nose almost
touched the cold surface. The face in his eyes was grinning maliciously. James threw himself
backwards, stumbling as he hit the toilet. Nevertheless, he was unable to break his gaze on
his reflection, the face of which was contorted with fear, except for the face in the eyes.
No! This can’t be. He can’t have. That’s impossible. It’s too early. He can’t be strong
enough yet, not now, any time but now!
I AM COMING! I WILL BREAK OUT! THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO! EMBRACE IT
YOU FOOL! RESISTANCE WILL ONLY MAKE YOU SUFFER!
ENOUGH! James thought, with all the force that he could muster.
A strong sense of resolve and determination flooded within him which was just
enough to drown out the shouts from within his head. He relinquished his gaze on the
mirror to charge back into his bedroom and force himself to sleep.
Chapter 2: The Daily Trudge
The alarm clock buzzed like a hive of bees trapped within a metal crate. James slowly
crawled his way out of bed and slammed his hand on it to keep it quiet. The light of morning
was seeping through the curtains in thin shafts around the edges, revealing the tiny
cupboard bedroom that he inhabited.
Thinking of nothing better to do than to continue as if nothing had ever happened he
made his way downstairs. When he reached the hallway he saw his mother rushing around
the place, darting from one room to the next.
Then she noticed him and turned to face him with a worried expression.
“Have you seen my keys, and the case files?” James didn’t answer initially and her
expression changed to concern. “Are you OK? You seemreally fazed out.”
“Yeah, I’m fine” he lied.
“Are you sure, you do look a bit pale,” she placed the back of her hand on his
forehead, kept it there for a while and, when she was satisfied, drew it back again. “You
have got a high temperature. I don’t think you should be going in like this. I’ll tell the school
you’re not well”
“I have to go, they’re revising our asses off for the mocks next week.”
“Could you please not use that language at home, at school maybe but not here,
OK?”
“Sorry. I’m fine; I’ll clear up later on.”

3. Unconscious Adam Fox
His mother gave in on trying to convince him otherwise. “Well, if you insist. But I
want you to phone me if you feel even slightly worse.” She turned back to the kitchen and
continued to search for her things.
He couldn’t stand there and watch her fruitless effort any longer.
“They’re right here” he said, pointing to the space off the work top that wasn’t
covered in appliances or pans that haven’t quite made their way to the cupboards, next to
the sink.
“Oh of course, right in front of my face.” She scooped up the papers and the keys,
kissed him on the forehead and promptly left through the front door.
Chapter No…: Transferred Subconscious
James and Sophie were together in the corridor, alone. It was just as he had pictured
the scenario. This was the perfect opportunity to do it.
Go on, do it. This is your chance. Don’t let it go away, the voice in his head told him.
James could not hold it in any longer. He had to do it, now.
“Sophie,” he called. She turned to face him, she wore a questioning look on her face,
and so innocent it was. His body moved without his consent, he took the few steps between
them and leaned in close to her face. He kissed her on the cheek and then withdrew. Her
reaction was not as he’d planned. She simply walked away, ignoring him. It dawned on him
that she was flustered by the event and then he felt the cold in the pit in his stomach and
the head started to fuzz.
He felt guilt. He should not have done that, should not have given in to temptation.
In his mind’s eye, James could see his subconscious grinning at him. The merciless
grin on the reflection of his darker side, the side that he tries so desperately to hide, to keep
under control. This was the side of the coin that despised him, that despised every decision
he had ever made. The person inside that disowned being part of the human race and
believed he was so much more. And he had had enough. He had grown enough to surpass
the defences that James had and now he was breaking out.
James began to wobble. He clung to the lockers for support but soon even this effort
was not enough and he fell to the hard floor. His head hit the ground, juddering his skull to
the core.
He could feel the intense heat in his head and his vision became blurred and
blackened. His mind’s eye showed him his subconscious trying to pull on him, pull him into
his mind. He tried to resist, to force the image and the heat from him, but it was too
powerful and his very consciousness was dragged back into the dark depths of his head.
He was in a dark room. The walls were black, the floor also. This was his mind. He
was on the floor, lying in pain. His subconscious was on top of him. His hand braced onto
James’ throat. He was crushing the air out of him. His face was contorted with rage and the
fires of hate. His eyes, however, were stone cold, a faceless abyss with no end in sight.
James struggled against this assault. He tried freeing his right arm but it was caught
by the other one’s grip. His legs were also bound by the other one’s legs. James managed to
wriggle his left arm free from under him. He struck a blow to his subconcious’s side. It was
enough to loosen the gip on his wind pipe but not much more. He struck again, this time
earning himself a powerful punch to the face from the right arm of his adversary. The
carbon copy pushed harder onto him and this nearly crushed him.

4. Unconscious Adam Fox
Suddenly, the black floor was illuminated by a white light that struck out of a gouge
in the floor.
James turned his head to the right. He could see the crack approaching. He wrestled
even more fiercely with his subconscious. He could feel the crack run along his back. And it
was widening. If he didn’t get free soon it would consume him. After some repositioning
throughout the fighting, his right arm, his stronger arm, was free. With this turn of events he
powered his fist into the subconcious’s ribs. This freed one leg, for a brief moment.
His subconscious retaliated, he raised himself off James and threw his muscle power
into a severe punch to the jaw. Then he thrust his knee into James’ stomach.
James slipped deeper into the crack. He stuck his arms out to stop himself falling.
His subconscious lent on his arm to loosen this grip.
His subconscious stood up. “You’ve had your chance. Now it’s my turn.” James could
not talk back. His mouth was filled with blood and he was in too much shock. He seized this
moment of pause and pulled himself up and out of the crack. This was in vain. His
subconscious stamped hard onto his chest and this blow sent James through the crack and
to fall into Limbo.
The crack diminished in size until it was no longer visible. James finally stopped
falling. Hitting the ground of Limbo, the land between our world and whatever comes next.
He simply lay there. He was too exhausted to do anything apart from blame himself. He had
failed to control him. His subconscious had escaped, taken over the physical body that other
people would associate as James.
Who knew the chaos that would follow? Who knew how long he would be trapped
by his own mind? All James knew, was that he had to get back. To find a way, if there even
was a way.
After a considerable amount of time and self-rebuke, he took in his surroundings. He
moved his arms and legs to get some idea of the ground he had landed on. It was soft, not
the hard rock that he’d assumed. The soft surface was also slightly warm and broke apart
when he scooped some up and raised his hand. James tilted his head to the right, examining
the substance in his hand. It had a grey colouring to it, the undersides and the granular like
flakes were black.
It was as the flakes fell away again and he raised himself to a seated position that he
realised the surface was ash. As far as the horizon would allow you to see, grey ash.
However, this was not all that was apparent. The occasional tree broke through the ash
surface to create an odd jagged effect to the landscape.
Trees. Maybe there was life here, other people trapped here. If plants could survive
then by the normal processes of nature, animals would follow. James stood up, eager to see
this. As he approached one, though, the possibility seemed bleak.
The tree was a blackened spike driving into the dull sky. Its once great branches were
splintered and many had had vast chunks broken of their lengths. The ends of the struck
brunches were now deadly jagged spears that were long and sharp enough to impale a
person if they were to land on them. Along the trunk the bark was gouged and cracked. It
looked like the something had smashed the trunk hard and then ripped the opening wide,
then, to finish the job, torn out of the innards of the trunk and sucked the life force out of
the helpless tree. Now it was left a lifeless skeleton of the once beautiful symbol of life and
prosperity that it once was.
All the trees were like this. Dead.

5. Unconscious Adam Fox
James could only think of one thing that would cause this much merciless
destruction. A forest fire must have torn through this place and reduced it to this barren
wasteland. As he looked on, he saw that the tree line thickened to the east, or what he
assumed based on the shadows cast by a weak and feeble sun. The fires had wiped the
forest clean of any life it once held, if it had any to start with. This was Limbo after all.
James decided to walk towards the forest. He thought it may hold the answer that
he sought after, or at least clues. In the absence of anything in any other direction, this
looked the best place to start his quest.
Chapter No…: A New Life
This feels odd. Very odd, oh but feels so good to have control. Real control.
The school nurse looked down on James, although not the real James, as he opened
his eyes. James’s copy was in the back of the student services office, lying on a camp bed.
The room was made up of three sides of white plaster board walls and the fourth was
opened out to make a walkthrough to the adjoining visitor’s office. James’s copy roused and
began to sit up. The nurse was talking to him in a soft, soothing voice.
“Are you OK, feeling better?”
“Yeah” James said, his voice sounding croaky and hoarse. The new consensus was
still integrating itself to this new vessel, it was used to manipulating the previous mind-
controlling a body was a whole new skill to learn. It seemed that it had awoken too early.
Vocals would have to be worked on.
“Do you remember what happened?” the nurse said.
“I fell,” James said quickly.
“That’s right,” replied the nurse, “You had a nasty fall in the science corridor, and
have a bump on your forehead but nothing too major to worry about.”
She went away to gather some things in another compartment. James turned and
caught himself in the mirror. His head had a small plaster on the top left side of the
forehead. There was also some minor bruising along the left cheek bone. Clearly caused by
the impact of the fall. There was a slight pale tinge to his skin, this was most likely, James’s
inner mind thought, due to the sudden change of the consciousness in control.
Hopefully nobody would notice, and fortunately for him, not many people know the
details of the laws of the human subconscious mind.
Humanity was so stupid when it mattered. So gullible to an innocent face.
He was so much more.
The one thing that could not escape his new mind though was just how ridiculous he
looked: the mop of oversized hair that seemed not to know which way was up, the jaw that
was too big for the rest of his face and nose that was never straight. And others called him
handsome!
Ha! As if they know what they speak. Humans don’t know anything, let alone the true
interpretation of perception.
It wasn’t like the important people said this either, mostly family members who were
blinded by sympathy and sentiments. None of the girls at school or elsewhere ever
commented kindly on how he looked. Not anyone James had feelings for. Feelings, yet
another weakness humanity is yet to distance itself from. One that I can, and have used. The
mind thought.
The nurse returned with paper and a pen.

6. Unconscious Adam Fox
“I just have to give you these tests to do, just to see if there is anything more
serious,” said the nurse “there probably won’t be but it’s just standard procedure, you know
what it’s like.” She said jovially with a smile.
Humour.
How do I respond? James gave a low chuckle, this seemed to be satisfactory judging
by the continued kindly nature of the nurse.
The tests were easy enough and he completed them with ease. The nurse gave him
the all clear and he got up to leave.
His limbs were numb. The new consciousness still finalising the neurone connections
between the brain and the extremities. He stiffly walked to the door when the office
manager called after him.
“Do you know what lesson you have now?”
He paused. What lesson was he in? What was the time? What room was he
supposed to be in? He searched back through the memory files and picked up an anomaly, a
complete mental blank. It occurred to him that he had had to use so much force to get
James out that the brain overloaded and deleted the last five minutes of memory before the
consciousness coup.
Damn.
“I’m not sure,” He answered, that much was true. He glanced at her out of the
corner of his eye, praying that she would not suspect.
“It’s all right, I can look it up on the system.” Mrs Parker looked up to the computer
monitor, “It is James Hollens isn’t it?”
It would take some time to get used to using that name. In order to keep the illusion
he must act totally natural.
“Yes.”
It later transpired that he was in the room ‘ICT 3’ and was scheduled for mock exam
revision.
Exams, they will not be necessary. Not when I have control.
Chapter no..: Limbo
The real James walked on towards the charred forest of Limbo. He had reached the
edge now and was climbing over the twisted and broken roots and branches. As he
ventured further, the trees thickened and the light diminished, the shadows leered around
him until he was engulfed in darkness.
The hours went by and walked past him without greeting. He kept on walking,
stumbling on blindly. He did not know what it was that he was looking for. Answers. That
was all that he could think of, whatever form they might take.
His throat was swelling up and no matter how much he gulped it did little to quench
his everlasting thirst. His head was throbbing. His vision was blurred on the peripherals. His
ears were ringing.
Black shapes shifted in the shadows. His mind playing tricks on him, surely. They
were multiplying, though, and constantly moving. James spun around, looking in all
directions to try and keep the shapes in sight. The shapes morphed to form figures of
people. Ill formed and distorted. The figures gathered and surrounded him.
Suddenly the figures broke and flew towards him. James ducked and covered his
face in desperation. The figures dissolved into smoke and shot past him, he could hear

7. Unconscious Adam Fox
screams as they went past, tortured screams, screams of prolonged pain. At first there were
a few but soon there were many, all swarming around him but never touching him. It was as
if they were taunting him, a cat playing with a mouse. The smoke they admitted was
reaching into his lungs and it became difficult to breathe. It became so constricted that he
was choking.
James thought that this was the end. He would be choked to death by this unknown
being. Meanwhile his subconscious would be ravaging the physical realm. Just as he had
given up hope however, the smoke drifted apart and he was able to rise to his feet and
catch his breath.
The smoke did not vanish.
As James looked, the smoke rushed towards a focal point a few metres away from
him. It gathered into a swirling mass. Tighter, tighter, tighter the swirling ball contracted
until it erupted into flames and spread as far the eye could see.
The flames were black. They reached to the heavens beyond the roof of the trees.
The flames caught and devoured all the light that they could. The life and soul of the forest
was being consumed. The heat from the sun was gone, taken by the flames, eating away at
everything like a black hole gorging itself on a nebular or some other unfortunate celestial
body.
The core of the flames in front of James began to turn and flow in the other direction
to the rest. They swirled and intertwined to form a rising vortex. The rising column reached
the top of the wall of flame and widened. More and more flames gathered and joined and it
grew.
James fell to the floor. It felt as if what was left inside him was being leached away
from him. He could not believe what was happening, what had happened. Who would?
Out of the vortex stretched a hand. A skeletal hand reaching out. The figures were
very long and elongated, too much so for any human. The hand stretched to the left of
James and the fingers flexed as if groping for the nearest branch. It reached further and
further until a large piece of fabric fell from the forearm, the sleeve of a cloak. As this
happened the fingers closed round but did not clench a fist.
The air in the hand combusted into black flame that made its way up in a tight
column that after two and half metres curved back in a long arc and then disappeared, in its
place a mighty scythe stood.
The arm raised the scythe and struck the earth. The shock wave, knocking James of
his feet. He landed face first in the ash. He dared to raise his head and saw that the flame
borne creature stood taller than any man. It was draped in a cloak with a hood that covered
the face. The head was just an endless pit. A fine mist was slowly seeping out of the sleeves
and hood. A great cold was all that was present in the air between James and this faceless
phantom.
James lifted himself up and scrambled to his feet, the phantom stared out straight at
him and it seemed to bore straight through his head. This heart thumped harder against his
chest and his legs wobbled as adrenaline entered his system.
The phantom let out a rasping breath that cracked in its throat. The air seemed to be
dragged into the abyss within the hood. James needed no more reasoning. He turned tail
and ran. His feet were sinking into the ash-covered ground and the tree roots crept up on
him, trying to trip him.
The phantom did not wait. It dissolved into smoke and chased after its prize.

8. Unconscious Adam Fox
James could feel the cold wrap round him like a bad dream. He could see the smoke
on either side of him, enveloping the forest as they went. Grey cloaked figures emerged out
of the smoke and screamed as they flew by him. James glanced up to the sky and saw three
streaks of black smoke, fires at their heads. They swooped down in long arcs ahead of him.
He knew it would be impossible to out-run them, but he kept on running. His most basic
human primal instincts would not let him stop.
The urge to keep on living, the will to survive and the strength to run.
His legs fell away from under him and his stomach lurched. He had fallen in to a
gully. James landed and rolled into the web of gnarled roots of a tree that had collapsed
under the strains of time and dragged the earth around it down with it, forming the steep
cliff-like edge to the dich.
The smoke filled the gully and surrounded him. He crawled back into the trunk of the
tree and peered out through a narrow crack. He was gripped by the hand of fear. His heart
was attacking his rib cage; his breathing was uncontrollable, sporadic even; his whole body
was shaking and a scream of terror threatened to expel itself from him.
The screams grew louder and more frequent, as if they were gaining confidence,
knowing that they struck fear into the hearts of men. James pressed his fingers to his ears
but it did not work.
The screams pierced his ears and through to his brain, they kept drilling until he
could take no more and it felt as if his head would burst. Then it subsided. There was an
eerie silence. James hoped beyond hope that that was the end - which the onslaught was
over.
Without warning the whole trunk filled with smoke that went straight through
James. It itched his eyes and infiltrated through his nose to infect his lungs. Out came the
figure of the phantom. The phantom filled the entire space in front of James, who was now
firmly pressed against the roots. He could not escape through the gap that he came through
because it was blocked by the phantom’s shoulder.
The phantom’s face was inches from James, its bony hands gripped his arms like a
vice. Icy coldness filled James at the points of contact. Flowing within him like a river. James
saw that the cloak of the phantom was actually melting through James’ body. He tried to
resist but the weight of the phantom was too much.
Inside his body a fully-fledged war was raging. The phantom had leached itself into
him and was overrunning the white blood cells that tried to fight it off. They did so with such
loyalty and valour that it was admirable. But this in itself was not enough.
The defences stood strong but how long could it take this level of assault?
James could feel his pulse weakening. His head felt hazy and he feel empty. He
fought as hard as he could against the phantom’s influence but now the internal defences
faltered.
James heard something in the distance. Something odd. Words that made no
reference to any language that James knew of. In the corner of his eye he looked through
the crack and saw fire burning as if it were the shockwave of a large bomb. The fires spread
quickly towards the trunk and ignited the phantom within.
The phantom screeched and wailed until it retreated through the entrance hole at
the base of the trunk.
The bright red and orange flames chased the phantom out of the gully. What was
that? Who sent it? James had no idea. All he knew was that he was thankful that it came
when it did because he did no believe that he would have lasted much longer.

9. Unconscious Adam Fox
Exhaustion overtook him. His body was damaged and it needed to repaired and
recharge. James curled up in and ball, rested his head on some moss and fell into a rough-
edged sleep.
In the physical realm which you and I know and love, James’ subconscious was walking with
purpose and determination through the English corridor in the old building on a sunny but
cold winded May morning. It had been a few days since he had taken control of the body
and he had successfully fooled everyone into believing it was the James that they knew.
Now it was time to implement the second phase of his plan. Up ahead was Mr Mavere. He
was giving two pupils encouragement for the upcoming mocks.
“You’ve got to set yourselves goals and rewards. Do an hour or two of revision and
then rest for a bit and do some more afterwards,” he was saying. The boy looked genuinely
quite interested and appeared to be ready to implement this advice. The girl, however,
looked bored at hearing this too many times before. “As I say in the assemblies, marginal
gains gain successes.”
As James approached him, the two pupils walked away and melted into the bustle
of the crowd, milling as it did at break time. It appeared that the teachers had given up
trying to enforce the ‘no pupils inside at break’ rule - it was fairly pointless anyway. Mr
Mavere turned and spotted James next to him.
“Ah James, I’ve been getting some good feedback from your teachers, especially
science. Mrs Atkinson said that you’ve really got your head down over the last couple of
weeks and are doing some great work. Well done.”
“Yes, thank you,” James replied, trying to be modest, as the real James would. “I
was rather hoping that I could discuss getting some extra revision material for the business
studies exam.”
There was slight shock in Mr Mavere’s face but he soon relaxed and accepted this.
“Why yes, of course, come with me to my office and I’ll give you what I can,” he said, and
walked to the old foyer and up the marble stairs that curved around the wall and joined a
balcony that formed a ceiling to the outer edges of the open foyer area. Halfway up the
stairs, he said “Hasn’t your teacher given you material to learn?”
“Yes, she has. I just feel that I could do with some more to give me the best
chance in the exam.”
“Good. It’s nice to see that you’re trying hard at this. You seemto struggle a bit
when it comes to this kind of thing. But I know that you can do great things when you put
your mind to it.” They had reached his office on the balcony. Mr Mavere led him in and
started to rifle through the filing cabinet in the far corner of the room.
The office was a fairly large room that was clean and tidy, there was nothing on
the floor that should not be there, all the walls were clean and the posters and displays all
neatly ordered. The desk, however, was the only part that wasn’t. It was cluttered with
student reports, teachers’ notes, letters to parent and the like. There was also an array of all
kinds of stationary, in particular a seemingly endless supply of rubber bands, all bunched
into tight balls and arranged on the desk tidy.
After a few minutes Mr Mavere turned around with a wad of papers, all paper
clipped together with an ageing clip that looked like it had seen better days. James took the
papers and pretended to inspect them. He looked up.

10. Unconscious Adam Fox
“These are good. Thank you.” He needed physical contact with the persons’ skin
for the process to work, and an excuse was not presenting itself yet. He thought long and
hard, staring at the floor, formulating the scene as he wanted it to play out.
“Are you OK.” Asked Mr Mavere.
“Yes. But I feel I will need your help again at some point.”
“Well, I am always available to help. Just give me a shout when you need to, OK?”
James nodded and extended his hand, thanking Mr Mavere for the papers. The
fool shook it. James quickly acted and flooded a part of his soul through his hand and into
Mr Mavere. The teacher struck backwards and tried to recoil his hand it was too late. James
subconscious had already found his soul and was destroying it, filling the space with his
own. Mr Mavere straightened up. His eyes briefly flashed black in the iris and then returned
to their normal green.
He was under control.
James went back downstairs and out of the front of the school buildings. He walked proudly
through the driveway and there stood David, giving James a questioning look that was on
the verge of accusing.
“Hey, I thought you’d said that you’d help me revise for science.” Said David as
James approached, “you never turned up, I was sitting in the library waiting for you like you
said.”
“Yes, I’m sorry about that,” said James in response. “I was busy with other things,
I’m too busy to be dealing with other people’s problems. You know what I mean.”
“Yeah, look I understand, it’s just that I don’t know nearly enough for this exam
and you seemto, all of a sudden. Mate, I just need some help.” David appealed.
The bell rang out to announce the end of break and of this difficult situation.
James simply said that it was time to leave and walked away. David was left watching James
walk away, thinking how odd things had become.
James, he noticed, had become a lot more hostile towards him lately, he supposed
it was due to the stress of the mocks next week. That shouldn’t mean that friendships get
failed and stretched, surely it would take a far greater strain than a week of tests to break
something as strong as a long friendship built over many years? Most of the time James
didn’t care about tests. Maybe he realised how important they are?
David was unsure, this did not seem to make sense. Something had definitely
changed in James.
Others had noticed it too, Sophie had earlier confided in him that James had kissed
her two weeks ago. This stung harder than he thought it might. Maybe that was the issue,
maybe that was the test, but why would James be hostile to him, he’d done nothing with
Sophie.
I have to find out what on earth is going on here, David thought.