The Day No One Woke Up by Polly Ho-Yen

Author:Polly Ho-Yen
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Published: 2022-07-21T00:00:00+00:00

CASE #41029973876628

Case Holder Notes:

WEDNESDAY – 1.25 p.m.

Companion Subject awoken by Primary Subject.

See: Connection Report #41029973876628

#1: Primary Subject = Companion Subject.

Case #41029973876628 continues.

WEDNESDAY 1.27 p.m.

‘I was sitting waiting for you and then I leaned against the side of the pillar for just a moment. I thought, Oh, I feel a little bit tired and that was it. I didn’t mean to fall asleep – I closed my eyes and I was gone.

‘But it must have happened just before you came, I think. Because I could hear you saying something. I tried to open my eyes, but it was like… like the lids were glued together. I was trying to wake up but something was stopping me, something was making me stay asleep. Then you started shouting and that helped a bit. I could see your face in little snatches, and I knew that if I didn’t make a big effort to wake up, I would be like everyone else and you wouldn’t be able to wake me. It was like I was trapped underwater, trying to swim upwards, really having to kick to be able to get back to the surface.’

At that, he took a deep breath. It was the first time he’d stopped talking since he woke up, when I’d yelled, ‘What happened? What happened?’ at him.

‘I wonder what it was that made you go to sleep like that,’ I pondered. ‘Why the sleep stuff is affecting you now.’

I managed to keep my voice steady, but on the inside I felt all over the place. I’d so very nearly ended up being the only person awake, and the thought terrified me. If I hadn’t woken Tio, then I would be completely alone. It made me feel very, very small and I could still sense that black hole inside me.

Tio nodded. He blinked again, then widened his eyes as though to reassure himself that he really was awake.

‘You know, I thought you weren’t coming,’ Tio said quietly. I couldn’t read his expression.

‘I… I didn’t mean to be so late,’ I admitted. ‘It just took longer than I thought… and then…’ My voice trailed off. I didn’t want to admit I was worried that someone had been watching me.

‘It was kind of… scary… being alone,’ Tio said in a small voice.

‘It was,’ I agreed quickly. ‘It feels… empty not seeing people. Even the people you don’t know very well but you see all the time. Not to mention our families and… everyone at school.’ I was about to say friends but couldn’t manage it because of the weirdness between us. We had been friends and now I didn’t know what we were.

‘So no one else turned up,’ Tio said. ‘But the note has gone.’

‘I thought you took it.’ My mind swam with possibilities of what might have happened to it, but I couldn’t make sense of any of it.

‘Must have been blown away,’ he said.

‘Or someone else took it?’ I suggested hopefully.

Then why would they have taken it? Wouldn’t they have just left it for more people to see?’ Tio answered.

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