Anna sat down at a table by herself and picked at her soggy ham sandwich. The bustle of the cafeteria was lost in the background. Colours and shapes moved around her. Sounds mixed and blurred together. Laughing, chattering, kissing, munching. The noises tangled themselves up with the other everyday sounds until Anna couldn't tell the difference between a girl talking and the patter of footsteps.

"Hey beautiful," one sound cut through the cacophony of noise.

Anna looked up absentmindedly. A figure sat in front of her. It was a person but it looked nothing like a human being. The outline of the figure was fuzzy and the features were distorted. Colours pulsed all over the figure, changing from black to brown to blue to green to white and back to brown again.

"Hi," her words came out stunted as if her mouth was working properly. Nothing felt right. She felt detached from her own body like she was only a spectator, an audience at a show.

Anna looked back down at her sandwich which was the only thing which she could see properly.

"You're new here, aren't you?" the voice seemed male but the words trailed off and became lost in the other noises of the cafeteria. For a moment Anna wasn't sure if he'd said anything at all.

Anna nodded slowly.

"Well, lucky for you I happen to be offering free tours of Whitechapel High to any cute new chicks who want some help."

Anna looked up again. The figure was still fuzzy but the colours were starting to sort themselves out. He had what looked like...was it brown hair? Or was it blond? She still couldn't tell.

"I am the only new chi-girl," Anna corrected herself.

"Well, it's your lucky day then isn't it? You're new and you're cute. Guess that qualifies you to a free tour!" It looked like the figure was smiling but Anna couldn't be sure. "I'm Benny Weir," The figure that was called Benny held out what vaguely resembled a hand.

Anna smiled and shook what she assumed was a hand. "Anna Harrison."

"What class do you have next?"

"Chemistry."

Benny let go off Anna's hand. "So do I!" The figure exclaimed. She was sure he heard him mutter something like "I'm so in." But as with everything there the words were carried away by the verbal storm. "Well then, may I escort you too class milady?" He said in a fake British accent.

"Yes you may, Sir Weir."

They both laughed. Everything stopped. The room fell silent. All Anna could hear was Benny's voice.

"Does this make me your knight in shining armour?"

Anna grinned at the figure. "No. It makes you my tour guide."

Benny laughed again. His laugh was contagious. Before she could stop herself Anna was laughing with him – but it didn't feel right. It didn't feel real. The colours pulsed even more brightly and everything started moving all at once. Dots appeared in Anna's vision. The laughter fell away into nothing and the colours faded into darkness.

Anna's eyes flashed open. She was panting hard and sweat was pouring down her body. After a few moments of confusion and panic she remembered where she was. She was home, in her room and lying in bed. She wasn't in a strange cafeteria and she wasn't talking with a boy called Benny Weir.

She took a deep breath to calm her nerves and turned to look at her bedside clock. 3:15 am. Anna groaned. This was the fifth time she'd had this dream and every time the dream would wake her up at some ungodly hour in the morning. Why this was happening she had no idea.

She was also confused why the dreams scared her so much. Yes they were extremely disorientating but they weren't frightening. They wouldn't even class as nightmares. They were just weird.

She blinked, her eyes slowly becoming more used to the darkness. At least it was Saturday. She could go back to sleep and wake up later in the day at a more reasonable time. She closed her eyes and tried to get more comfortable but she felt damp from the drying sweat on her body. Lovely. She was not going to go to sleep without a shower or at least a change of clothes.

Anna turned the lamp on and half walked, half stumbled to the wardrobe. After grabbing some new pyjamas she trudged to the bathroom and had a quick hot shower. It was very soothing and she immediately felt better but it had completely destroyed any chance she had at getting back too sleep. Her hair dryer was, shall we say broken,(in a moment of rebellion against her mother she had dropped, well thrown it off the roof. It was currently smashed in several pieces at the bottom of her garden) and the memory of her strange dream was lurking at the back of her mind threatening to return. No sleep for Anna then.

After taking one longing look at her bed she walked at her zombie pace to her desk, her wet hair dripping onto the carpet.

If she wasn't going to get to sleep anytime soon she might as well read something.

She sat down on her swivel chair and sorted slowly through the mess of papers on her desk as quietly as possible so as not to wake her mother, who was currently sleeping off a nasty hangover from the night before.

Finally she found a copy of Romeo and Juliet. Well that was a big fat no. Shakespeare was tedious at the best of times so she was definitely not going to read one at the end at this time in the morning. She dropped it on the carpet and started looking through the desk drawers.

They obviously hadn't been opened in a long time. She gritted her teeth as she yanked the first drawer open. There had to be something to read somewhere. At that point Anna didn't care if it was a maths textbook.

Okay, maybe she wasn't that desperate but still... Nope, that drawer was empty. Brilliant.

Finally after searching another two empty drawers she opened the final one. If there wasn't anything in this one she was stuck with Romeo and Juliet. Ugh. She peered inside and saw at the back, tucked under a couple of sheets of paper, a book. Frowning Anna took it out and inspected the front.

It was covered with plain brown leather with no markings on it. It smelt musty as if it'd been in that draw for a long time – it probably had seeing as Anna didn't remember a thing about it. The corners were worn as if they'd been used frequently. For some reason it felt comfortable in Anna's hand as if she was used to holding it. She carefully opened the book up and squinted to make out the words inside.

Anna Harrison's PRIVATE Diary

Read only if you want a long and painful death

Anna's frown deepened. She didn't keep diaries! Diaries were for wimps...at least that's what her brother, who had run off with his girlfriend and deserted them, had told her. This was probably a prank. It had to be. Lucy must have slipped it in when she came over for a sleepover or something.

Anna looked more closely at the scribble of words. It was definitely Anna's handwriting: the rushed scrawl which was smudged in some places. A drop of water fell from her hair and landed on the worn paper. She took a deep breath and turned the next page. It had to be a prank, right? She would remember keeping a diary of all things. Wouldn't she?

After reading the third entry she didn't even think about going back too sleep.

Hey Guys! This is my first proper story (i.e. not a oneshot) so please go easy on me. Let me know your thoughts on it. Good? Bad? A complete and utter piece of rubbish? Let me know! Sorry if the fist chapter wasn't that interesting. It will get better, I promise.

Merry Christmas! :)