PROLOGUE

In the midst of darkness, I didn’t prevail. Emptiness reaped inside my broken mind, trapping it inside of a cage full of uncertain solitude. The fogging of my vision that was once full of colors now gleams black and white. I’m a lost, hopeless being. A menace to society… Should I even consider myself sane at this point? I doubt so, but as I live on, as I go forward in time, nothing will change the outcome of my new profound objective in life. And that is—

Well, that should be told some other time. The consequences of my actions have affected everything around me, though, no matter what they were, whether it was taking one’s life, tormenting a poor bastard… My reactions to it all remained the same. Nothing. No expression. Not a flinch, let alone a single twitch. Absolutely… Nothing.

The sun gleamed yellow in Flint, Michigan, where the skies were crystal clear. It was a beautiful day in a city that was usually drenched in gray. In a deserted park covered in the remnants of Flint’s roaring chrimes, a gentleman with long brown hair stood near a bench and smoked a cigarette, staring at the empty streets. He didn’t seem to mind being alone. To him, it was a familiar feeling—loneliness, desolation, with no soul in sight.

Fortunately another random gentleman in his early thirties appeared, walking by, minding his own business. He felt tired and stressed after a long day, so he decided to sit on the bench the other fellow stood next to. Sitting down and letting out a deep sigh, he pulled a cigarette out. He looked up at the gentleman beside and felt the urge to start a conversation.

“Hey, how are you doing, man? Nice day we’re having… for once, especially in this god forsaken city.” He lit his cancer stick and inhaled his first breath of death.

The gentleman next to him smoked the last of his cigarette, tossed it aside, and placed a hand on his hip. “Yeah… it’s dashing, isn’t it?” His voice sounded bored and deep, yet there was a pinch of emptiness in it.

Sitting with an arm resting on a knee, the man continued smoking his cigarette. “I would say so.” The man blew out a huge cloud of smoke, letting out a tired groan as the cloud of smoke dispersed. “If you don’t mind me asking, what’s someone like you doing here at this broken park? You know it’s a hotspot for activity, right?”

“Yeah,” he replied with his deep broken tone.

The man sitting on the bench gazed up at the stranger. From his observation, the stranger was quite tall and young. “You seem bothered. Would you want me to just shut up?”

The young man gazed at the sky, staring at it with empty eyes drenched in sadness. “You don’t have to worry. I’m just minding my own business, as usual.”

“Hmm. Okay then.” The man gazed up too as he tossed away his cigarette. After a while, he asked, “Whatcha doing here brother? You seem like you’re lost in a trance or something?”

The young man stood there and lowered his hand off his hip then continued staring, but he didn’t reply. Then that moment turned to a drag for a full minute. The man sitting on the bench felt a bit uncomfortable experiencing the eeriness of silence, so he thought it was best to just get up and leave, but then the young stranger responded. Not with words but with movement. His chest puffed out. It seemed like he was taking in a breath, and a long one at that. He held it in for a couple of seconds until he finally exhaled, softly and calmly. He nodded and slowly blinked.

Finally coming out of his trance, he responded. “I’m just… reflecting about something. Something about my past. Sorry for being so quiet. I just can’t help but be lost in my own train of thought on this glorious day. But to answer your question furthermore, I’m also here to hopefully find someone from that past.”

His brows slightly raised, then he looked to the side briefly feeling similar about his situation but opposite. “Oh, okay. It’s fine, but shoot man, you seem kinda… how would I put it… dead? Sorry if that sounds rude, but there’s no energy in your voice. You alright?”

The young stranger exhales while still gazing at the sky. “I’m fine… just fine.”

The man sensed the young stranger’s saddened aura pulsing off of him. But now he was starting to regret asking him what was usually seen as a normal question. So he brought out a calm smile to hopefully brighten the stranger’s mood. “If you’re here reflecting on your past you’ve most likely experienced many tragedies in your life, haven’t ya?”

The young stranger briefly glimpsed at the man. “Funny you say that sir, but I’m still rather young… Very, I should say.”

The man looked back to the young stranger with a curved brow. “How old are ya then? From what I can tell, you’re roughly in your late twenties.”

The young man mildly chuckled. “I’m still a teenager, sir.”

“Wow!” the man replied, looking rather shocked.

Assumption came into his mind, though he felt that this guy was hiding his real age but didn’t want to say so. He thought the stranger had just told a lie.

The man chuckled. “You sure do look rather mature for your age… Funnily enough you remind me of someone.”

The man looked at the street view before him. His smile faded and he sighed deeply, as he thought about his past.

The abnormally old looking teenager looked to his side and stared at the man sitting on the bench. He felt a little intrigued about the random reminder the man had brought up, although his eyes were squinting.

Another brief silence came about between the two, but this time the man broke it by taking in air, blowing it out, and licking his lips. “Speaking of the past, you think I can join in on your reflection? All this talking is bringing back memories of my own past, a past I’ve moved on from… hopefully to never return.”

His eyes squinted as he crossed his arms. The teenager’s body language showed that he was all ears from how his eyes were locked onto him, seeming permanent at the moment. The temptation of hearing the man’s past not only made him eager to hear it, but it also brought about a sign of suspicion.

“Go on, tell it. I’m interested in your past, sir,” he said in a monotone voice.

“My… the way you responded makes it seem like you really do—”

“Go on… and… tell it.” This time there was aggression in his voice and a glint appeared within the young man’s eyes. Even when he put some anger in his voice, it didn’t seem to bother the man all that much.

The old man smiled. “That’s the spirit.”

The teenager stood there eager to listen carefully to the gentleman’s past, but one could only assume why he was so intrigued about the old man’s past.

“Whatever your past, it certainly might be similar to my own if you’re reflecting on it… but my past was nothing but manipulation, lust, and worse of all… pain.” The man collapsed his hands together, lowering his head and rested his arms on his knees. “A past in which I describe pain as betrayal. I’ve killed people, cheated, but I think the worst pain of all was betraying the one’s I actually cared about… especially this one group with a little boy, whom I called a brother.”

The teenager’s gaze was still upon the man, as he lowered his arms, seeming to relax all of a sudden.

“Everyday I remind myself why I’ve done such a thing, for God as my witness, why did I do that to such good people? Yet at the same time… they were a bunch of criminals. I was one as well, so one day I had it. On a bloody day I decided you know what? I’m tired of this life, but most of all… I’m tired of all of you.”

“What did you do?” the young teenager asked.

The man raised his head and arm, leaning a hand on his head in shame. “I turned my back on them and killed the one closest to that boy. Ultimately, I left him to die because I was so tired of such a horrible lifestyle.” He sighed while raising both hands to the top of his head, placing them there. “And he was such a good boy too, a boy filled with such care, a great mindset, and his devotion to protect the one person he cared about… And I was weak enough to abandon him after killing someone close just to escape that domain of violence.”

The teenager gazed out at the sky once more, then closed his eyes and went quiet again.

After a brief pause of silence the man asked, “You praying?”

“Yes… I just wanted to thank God for allowing me to hear your story,” the teenager said in a more enlightened tone.

“Is that so? What makes you say that?”

“You see, as you said in your story, although you’ve made mistakes in your past, you managed to move on and better not only yourself… but your life as well by leaving that past.” He opened his eyes and looked back at the man in a slow creepy manner with glinted eyes. “One question that does come to mind is have you ever thought about the past potentially ever coming back in some type of action? Perhaps in your dreams? As a mention just like this, or in worse cases, come back and seek a conclusion to your selfish actions?”

The man gasped. His eyes quivered and he felt rather shocked hearing such powerful words coming at him. “I-I… don’t know.”

“You know what I did as I closed my eyes, prayed to God, and reflected on my past?”

“What?” he said with concern laced in his voice.

He briefly gazed at the sky then back to the man. “I thought to myself, if I close my eyes and can’t feel the sun’s rays trying to sneak its way into the creeks of my eyelids, then darkness would forever be my field of view. The fact that not a single glimpse of light couldn’t be seen, nor could I feel the heavens from above, is a reflection of my future outcomes.”

A single tear filled with regret and guilt trickled down the old man’s face. “Is that so? So if I do the same… will I see the outcome of my future?”

The teenager slightly chuckled with an empty grin. “Of course, try it yourself. Pray with me, my new friend.”

“Alright,” he said and turned to the sky.

“Close your eyes now, and gaze upon the blue clear sky without a single cloud in sight.”

The man closed his eyes and brought out a soft smile while reflecting on his past. His mind flooded with old memories, haunting ones at that. He could see the past calling to him from the screams of the child who he was friends with, alongside his companion.

“What do you see?” the teengaer asked.

“M-my past… slowly coming back to me.”

“Can you hear it? Can you see it? Is it reminding you of your horrid regrets, the guilt you’ve stored away for all these years and moving on to better yourself? To not give a single care in the world for what happened to the people you’ve betrayed?”

Tears slipped past the dam. He slightly gasped. “Yes… yes I can. His screams, the bullets, the woman whom I’ve played… All of it is returning. It hurts… It hurts so bad.”

The teenager’s grin faded and he became serious, knitting his brows and clenching his fists. “Now think about it, what are you afraid of most? What feeling haven’t I described that you’re so afraid of saying?”

The man made sad gasping sounds as more tears leaked through his eyelids. “I’m… I’m afraid… afraid of the past, the past coming to—”

“You’re afraid to feel the past, correct?”

“Yes…”

The teenager gazed at the man more intensely. The glint in his eyes grew and clenched his fists further. “Then… keep praying. Pray harder so God can forgive you for your sins. Can you feel the sun? Can you sense the light trying its best to break your eyelids and slip light into your brightened future.”

“Yes… yes I can. The heat… its rays are trying to make me open them. I can feel God trying to make me open my eyes and look into my blessed future.”

The teenager reached for something in his jacket and left his hand there. “What… Do you mean by that? What is God trying to do to you, or what is he trying to… tell you?” The glint in his eyes grew even sharper. They were wretched and showed rage.

“I-I think God’s trying to tell me that my sins are forgiven!”

The teenager grinned and started pulling out his hand from inside his jacket. And when he did, a silver gun was in the grip of his hand glistened in the sun’s rays. He kept his intense stare on the man, pulled the hammer back on it, and slowly walked in front of him.

The man was lost in his own train of thoughts and started thinking about the past potentially striking back at him, so he began praying to God to watch over him, to protect him, but most of all don’t allow that past to come bite him in a horrific manner. As he collapsed his hands and continued praying, the teenager with the gun stepped in front of the man. When he blocked out the sun’s rays, the man gasped and got scared.

He reached out to what would’ve been the sky was now the teengar standing before him. “Th-The light…?! It’s-it’s gone… Wh-why? What does this mean, young one? Would… Could this mean?” His last words and the scared tone in his voice brought amusement to the teenager.

The grin on his face faded as he slowly raised the gun. “Most likely, a cloud has appeared, blocking you from progressing further to your brightened future. So in my meaning I mentioned earlier, what could this mean? What could that cloud blocking you from going further mean to you?”

He aimed the gun directly at the man’s face without his knowledge because his eyes were still shut.

The man cried through his closed eyelids. “It-it means the past, the past I’m so afraid of might potentially… potentially… come… back… to—”

With the gun aimed at the man’s face, the teenager started applying pressure on the trigger. “To haunt your dreams, interrupt your life. Your mind constantly clouded over the thought of it to finally come back to bite you. In the end, and ultimately, seek a conclusion to your selfish… actions.”

A final pause of silence came between them. The man lowered his arms with his eyes still leaking. He gave into his emotions and started crying quietly. As he cried, the teenager’s face still did not express a single ounce of emotion, yet that glint in his eyes was still there. After another couple seconds of silence an ominous wind blew by. As it started to intensify, dead leaves blew past them. The teengaer squeezed the trigger, killing him in cold blood.

CHAPTER 1: A New Beginning

Far out at the edge of a small beautiful town starving to be a protected tourist attraction from the typical horrid crime surrounding it, near a beautiful forest shining colors of the early stages of fall were three young teenage girls starting to gather at one single spot. The first girl, being smarter than the other two, wearing glasses and clothes to represent her knowledge with brown hair and eyes was Veronica. The girl standing next to her was a short one, but a mysterious looking one with red eyes, wearing a gothic red and black dress, looked bored out of her mind was Sarah. The last girl who’s still getting to her two best friends waiting for her arrival was the second tallest out of the three, having blonde hair, green eyes, and wearing a grunge outfit fitting for her current persona was Annabelle, Jack’s childhood best friend.

After five years since Jack’s supposed passing, adolescence was abroad with the scent of fall approached. Annabelle was about to begin her first year in high school, along with her friends who hadn’t changed much since childhood. Her life had had some turns, more notably her having to combat the feelings of depression and acceptance of her secret, but it’d been great from then on with the help of therapy sessions as well as her friends being there in her darkest times. Thankfully her grandparents were there to be emotionally supportive too and more impacting, especially after what her parents had done to her, according to what she was told.

Annabelle walked along a trail, lathered with the last essence of summer. Leaves once green turned to the colors of fall, falling off the branches they called home during the summer to be blown off by the cool winds of Michigahn and landing all over the trail. This was a forest Anna liked walking alone at times to think clearly about her life, especially this specific trail that goes straight to the other side of town, a beautiful shortcut. She spotted Veronica and Sarah along the same trail, where they waited for her in the middle of it, standing beneath a grand scene of falling leaves. But she stopped for a second to reflect on how great of friends the two were from Veronica always reminding her to never give up and Sarah always being by her side to comfort her in times she needed someone's warmth.

There they are, the two people I absolutely love and hate, my best friends Veronica and Sarah. Annabelle smiled and proceeded to walk again.

Finally Anna reached her friends and Reunited with them for their journey into adulthood was something she’d been looking forward to. Veronica having a bright smile, Sarah grinning, and Anna’s eyes glistening, the three girls were ready for this grand journey awaiting them.

Veronica hugged Anna tightly. “Anna! How was your summer break? It’s been so long.” she asked joyfully.

Anna couldn’t help but smile. “Great, I did train a lot with my martial arts and of course I did some… um, research.” She sarcastically coughed out of suspicion. “What about you Sarah? Anything new, Miss Mysterious?”

Sarah didn’t answer. Instead, her crimson eyes glared at her, which made Anna sweat. Then she raised a brow and grinned. “It was boring. All I did was read novels and become one with nature.” She diverted her attention to Veronica. “What about you Veronica? How was yours?”

“Well, not much to be honest.” Veronica then raised a finger, “Oh! I did accompany my folks on their vacation and spent my time on a cruise ship.”

They both looked at her, annoyed. Veronica noticed both her friends had their brows raised and were giving her a cold stare. She wondered why they’d gotten so quiet. Once she opened her mouth again to say something else, both her friends said in unison, “Rich snob” before Veronica spoke.

Veronica blinked then laughed. Eventually, they all did too. When the laughter died down, they all held hands and started walking down the dirt path towards their school.

The path was full of beautiful greenery, trees that were full of life, flowers were blooming, and birds chirped above in the branches. Anna paused for a second.

Both girls did too. Veronica looked at Anna and asked, “Why the sudden stop?”

Sarah gazed up at the trees. “Perhaps she just needs to take a whizz.”

“Oh ha ha Sarah, but no. Sorry guys, I gotta get something in my bag first before we continue.” Anna removed her bookbag and placed it on the ground, then she reached into it and took out the necklace Jack had given her years ago.

As she put it on, she turned and looked at Sarah. “Could you connect it from behind?”

Sarah assisted, then turned Anna round. “Wow, pretty necklace you got there. It really brings out your eyes. How much did you spend on it?”

Anna giggled. “Why thank you, good friend!” Now that she had the necklace on, she felt safer wearing the charm.

“Say Anna?” Veronica asked while pressing a finger against her chin, staring at Anna’s precious relic. “How come you always wear that everyday?”

Anna smiled and placed her hand on the pendant. “It helps me remember Jack, that’s why.” All three girls became quiet. Anna’s eyes slightly quivered and welled up with tears. “Can you believe it? It’s been five years since his death.”

Veronica frowned and grabbed Anna’s hand. “I know. There’s not a day that goes by where I don’t think about him, too.” A tear unexpectedly flowed down Veronica’s cheek. “Sorry, I’m getting a little emotional.”

Sarah handed Veronica a tissue. Veronica thanked her with a smile. “Say you guys, ready for the first day of highschool?” Sarah asked without placing emotion on her voice.

Anna laughed, pointing out her dull, unexcited face. “I don’t know about you missy! Especially with wearing all those black clothes. I doubt you’re excited.”

Sarah frowned, but she was too small to intimidate Anna. “You know I love the color black! There’s some red on me today, so don’t just ignore that.” Sarah crossed her arms, looking away briefly. “Hmph! Don’t question my appearance, necrophiliac!”

“Oh, it’s on!” Anna said, raising her fists and making funny poses that resembled drunken fists.

Veronica giggled, “Relax you two before I’ll die of laughter.”

Anna threw slow chops on Sarah’s shoulders. “Take that you tiny demon!”

Sarah twitched an eye, grabbing one of her hands. “Oh no, the tiny demon got your hand, I wonder what’ll happen next?” She then bit Anna’s hand, but in a friendly way.

Anna chopped her head, then tickled her. “Yeah! Take that you vile demon!”

Veronica’s laughter grew more, and to the point she shed tears. “You guys, stop!”

As the two continued doing their silly arguing, Veronica couldn’t help contain her laughter, this scene represented the girls friendship. It showed not only just how much they all loved each other, but their bond seemed unbreakable. The girls haven’t changed much since their childhood to their first steps into teenagehood and for good reason, this is who they were and how they acted towards each other.

Eventually, after a minute of pointless arguing, throwing weak attacks, Veronica’s laughter, both girls stopped fighting from Veronica’s loud laughter. They both glimpsed at each other and giggled as well to then attack Veronica with chops and tickles. They tormented Veronica for a full fledged minute of undying laughter, and once both girls finished, Veronica was done. Both Anna and Sarah called a truce by shaking hands, bumping elbows, and sticking their tongues out at Veronica who’s still laughing but sounding out of breath while recovering.

When everyone had calmed down, Veronica finally caught her breath and letting out a big sigh, they continued down the dirt path with smiles. As the three girls were strolling onward, Anna noticed something strange. Sarah and Veronica continued walking without realizing that their friend had suddenly stopped.

Anna listened carefully to everything around her. All the birds had stopped chirping and this peaceful forest was oddly too silent, enough to make one go berserk. She observed the entire area. Even the wind had come to a complete stop.

Why is it so eerily quiet all of a sudden? Anna thought.

The eerie silence grew uncomfortable and gave Anna goosebumps. She had the sensation of being watched. Rubbing her arms, she glanced around, trying to spot anything out of the ordinary. To her shocking surprise, Anna spotted something out of the ordinary.

W-W-Who’s that?

Sarah and Veronica had finally noticed that Anna wasn’t by their side, so they quickly walked back to where they last stood. “How come we didn’t notice she was missing?” Veronica asked, worried.

Sarah seemed a little more alert compared to Veronica. Her arms tensed up and her red eyes glistened. “I’m not sure. But let’s hurry back to find her.” The two girls then hurried back to where they last stood.

Anna stared at the mysteriously shaped shadowy figure that suddenly appeared before her. Though she decided to shrug it off and turned to regroup with her friends instead of investigating it. She took deep breaths and forced herself to shrug off the ominous sensation that seeped into her, making her feel uneasy. Though curiosity was getting the best of her, Anna looked back again. This time, nothing was there.

The uneasiness came back, striking fear into her nerves yet again. Every hair on her arms and neck rose from the horrid feeling. Something in her mind made her feel like she was being watched from above. Anna looked above out of worry. But there was still nothing.

Why am I having these strange feelings? Why do I feel scared all of a sudden? Something isn’t right.

Pain erupted inside Anna’s mind. An overbearing burden from her past suddenly flashed before her mind. It was a dream familiar to the scenario of her being in a forest though in that dream it was entirely dark from her childhood. It was beginning to feel reminiscent from the eerie silence, no one in sight, being watched, all that was left for her to feel that same dream is if someone flew overhead then to start a chase after her.

As she clutched her head from the pain, while glancing around to analyse the forest, the puzzle was starting to come together. It felt oddly familiar, but somehow she couldn’t remember how she knew this place. Especially when it was her first time walking down such a path.

The shadow lingered from the shadows of the forest, watching Anna and circling around her from every direction. The other two girls finally retraced their steps and spotted Anna with her hands placed over her face. The shadow then appeared in front of Anna while she still clutched her head, approaching her as it reached its wretched arms out to her. They called out to get her attention and that’s enough for the shadow to slither away back to the shadows of the forest. At first Anna didn’t notice, but as her hands fell away from her face she saw them and waved back weakly.

Both girls rushed towards her, fearing for her health. Sarah was the first to respond by quickly taking out her lunch bag and pulling out an ice bag she’d stored away to keep her lunch cold.

“Are you okay, Anna?!” Sarah asked as she placed the bag on Anna’s forehead.

“Y-Yeah I’m fine. I just got a really bad headache, that’s all.”

“You made us so worried! We thought we’d accidentally abandoned you!” Veronica exclaimed, grabbing Anna’s hand. She noticed how warm Anna had gotten.

But Anna didn’t wanna worry them anymore. She handed Sarah her ice pack back. “Thanks Veronica, but I’m fine.”

Sarah thought otherwise and poked Anna’s forehead. “I don’t know. Are you really?”

Anna took a step back, shaking her head. “Seriously guys, I’m fine. Come on, we’ll be late, so stop being so worried!” Anna said, forcing a smile. It seemed to convince Veronica enough for her to stop worrying, but Sarah still had her doubts about how Anna’s eyes were mildly twitching and sweat still present on her face.

The three girls began walking again, but Sarah saw something on the ground that caught her attention for a second. She stopped and noticed it was just Anna’s phone only a foot away.

“Why the sudden stop, Sarah?” Veronica asked.

Sarah reached down to her boot, pretending to tie a lace. “I’m just tying my laces. Go on without me. I’ll catch up in a minute.”

“Okay,” Veronica replied as she continued walking alongside Anna.

As the two girls walked away, Sarah stood up and walked to the phone, then picked it up from where Anna was clutching her head on her knees. Sarah knew something felt unordinary from how Anna suddenly halted to the strange and uneasy feeling that was suddenly upon her. She looked back at the edge of the trail and spotted a mysterious shape. From what Sarah can analyze the shape to be, it was that of a girl her height and presumbing wearing a wide dress.

Sarah’s face tightened, her eyebrows knitting, she became serious while she stared at the strange girl with her fierce eyes. She gripped Anna’s phone tightly, her jaw clenching, and her arm tensed up. As they stared each other down in the open silence, the tension was rudely interrupted by Anna’s phone ringing.

Sarah didn’t want to answer it, so she ignored the call and decided to brush off the stranger who gazed at her. She wanted to get back with her friends. Already this small trip, which would’ve been their first normal journey into adulthood through a beautiful forest of nature’s definitive beauty, had now become abnormal from this supernatural occurrence.

As Sarah walked forward, she spotted the two girls from afar. But out of her own strange curiosity, Sarah looked back to see if the strange girl was still there. To her surprise, she still was. This time though, she seemed a bit closer than before, as if she’d had a quick run while Sarah wasn’t looking to get closer.

For some odd reason, Sarah felt antagonized by the stranger. She grew agitated. So to ease the growing stem of anger within her, Sarahdecided to walk away to cool off. Her breathing grew quite heavy, and the burden of worry grew on her mind because she thought she’d never come across something like that so early in her quiet life. She could still feel the girl’s ominous glare piercing into her back.

Aggravation set upon Sarah, as the glare from the girl reaped of repulsive disgust. Sarah looked back again and the girl was even closer than last time. Now she was just a couple of feet away from reaching Sarah.

Sarah walked faster, grinding her teeth to simmer her anger down, though the easing of her anger got interrupted by cawing crows around her. She looked around to find the nuisances, and oddly enough she only spotted one single crow that gently landed on a branch.

Stopping dead in her tracks, Sarah’s eye’s rattled and her hands balled into fists. She looked into the eyes of the wicked animal.

The crow eyed Sarah too and cawed like it was laughing at her, essentially mocking her existence, calling her names if it could talk. Sarah had had enough of the abnormality. She slowly raised a palm and pointed it in the crow’s direction. Just when she was eager to release her anger, the area became consumed by feathery darkness. Crows burst through the thick forest and flew all around the area where Sarah stood in, scaring her enough to opt out of her action.

Sarah grew terrified and ran away from the sea of crows. She ran fast, really fast for someone much below the average height of a girl her age, and she was almost in arms reach of her friends when she heard a slight giggle brush against her eardrum, forcing her to look back one last time. As Sarah caught her breath, she noticed the girl was gone, along with the crows.

Once Sarah did catch her breath she rushed to her friends immediately. The sound of leaves crunching from behind Anna and Veronica forced the two to look over their shoulder to see Sarah approaching them in a hurry. When Sarah did catch up, she placed both hands on her knees to catch her breath again, and Veronica walked up to her.

Placing a hand on her back, Sarah sprunge up, spooking Veronica. “Waah! Sarah, are you okay? My goodness, I didn’t mean to frighten you like that.” Veronica said as she stepped back.

Anna noticed her frantic breathing and how wide her eyes were too so she went up to her best friend to rub her back to calm her down. “Yeah, what’s the matter with you? Forget my worries, you look paler than usual.”

Sarah took a few deep breaths, calmed down, then released the tension in her body. Wiping the sweat off her face with a forearm, Sarah was about to respond to her friends but they burst into flames. A fierce wind blew by like a tornado and scattered them away into ash. Sarah screamed, but her wails of fear were interrupted by the random winds blowing her friends’ burnt, ashened bodies into Sarah’s eyes, which blinded her momentarily.

As she wiped at her eyes, the moment she opened them, the strange girl stood before her and made Sarah back up out of fear. The strange girl’s face was covered by long dark hair, and she wore a white gothic dress which resembled romance. Sarah stood there, her jaw dropped, gasping, silent and startled.

The girl reached out and giggled, pointing her snowy finger at Sarah. “A being filled with witchery. An ungrateful friend who lives off her web of lies!”

Upon hearing her hurtful words, Sarah was left speechless at what was said. It was blood inducing to hear a stranger say something detestable. Sarah wanted to retaliate against this entity, but she couldn’t bring herself to do such a thing.

As the two mysterious beings stood still, Sarah heard her friend’s voices shouting her name. A moment ago they were burnt to a crisp, but then to hear her name brought relief to Sarah because what was happening was only an illusion.

The strange girl sighed deeply. “I may not enter your dreams… but it won’t stop me from tormenting you in reality, S-a-r-a-h.” She waved goodbye and vanished into smoke.

The smoke drifted away, going past Sarah’s feet and turning the leaves on the ground to brittled brown as it swallowed them. It swept away to the forest, and vanished within. She turned around and spotted her friends waving at her near the end of the trail. They both seemed safe and sound.

Sarah left the scene confused, with fear plastered all over her face. She had no idea what strange phenomena had just happened. Although, ordinarily, she was used to such situations, but nothing like this. This was different. To not bring worry to her friends, Sarah thought that it was best to keep the confrontation to herself. She smacked her hands against her face to calm herself down enough to hide her fear.

After slapping herself a few times, Sarah quickly ran to her friends and finally regrouped. When she did without any more trickerys, she once again placed both hands on her knees momentarily then let out a long breath. “S-Sorry, I-I was just… basking in nature’s beauty. That’s all.”

Veronica furrowed, raising the edge of her lip. “Okay… I guess that explains why you took so long. But why do you sound so spooked?”

Sarah remembered something, she blinked her eyes rapidly and clutched the item in her grip. In her hand was Anna’s phone, she put her hand out, handing Anna her phone. “Oh! Because Anna dropped her phone… and I thought a raccoon would burst out of the forest to steal it, ha ha!”

Anna gave Sarah a quick hug and took back her phone. “Oh, thank you Sarah. Though that doesn’t sound like a good enough excuse to sound scared.”

With a false smile spread across her face, Sarah promised herself to keep the scenario to herself. One day she’d reveal who she really was. Without further question, while bringing a random burp out to ease Veronica and Anna’s worries, the girls headed off to continue about their day, completely oblivious to what just happened to them.

The girl in white watched from afar, giggling at them like the clueless cats they were. She hung her head, twitching in the essence of nature’s silence, hugging herself as more leaves started falling off the trees closeby. Dropping to her knees, the girl shook, seeming to be containing something inside her as she rocked forward and back. Then she raised her head to the sky, letting out a horrific laugh, making all the birds who called this forest in their home fly away to the sky. The girl in white laughed until a powerful gust of wind blew a huge wave of leaves within the forest, going in her direction, passing her and making her vanish.

As the day went by and school had come to an end, it was time for the three to head home. It had been a long wholesome school day full of excitement and doubts. Sarah’s brain felt mushy after seeing a glimpse of algebra. Anna, on the other hand, was overwhelmed by excitement, especially when finding out she’d be watched by high ranking seniors. Veronica made every student in every class seem like a pack of idiots due to her nerdy bookworm nature. She even solved equations far out of their grade.

When the three neared their homes close to the edge town, all the girls said goodbye to each other and went home. Sarah walked opposite of the street and Anna walked forward to leave the town completely while Veronica took a right to go deeper into town. Veronica was strolling along a busy sidewalk close to school when Danny spotted her from his part time work at a local bike shop. She didn’t hear him because she was too busy reading.

“Veronica!” he shouted as he ran closer towards her.

She heard him loud and clear that time. She knew nobody else had a voice like his. It was loud yet soft.

He stopped in front of her and greeted her with a smile. “Hey! How’ve ya been VV?”

Veronica smiled and put her book away. “I’ve been good. How about you? Was your summer exciting?”

He flexed an arm. “I’m just working part time with my uncle. Gotta start saving as early as possible! How was your summer, Veronica?”

“It was okay. I tagged along with my folks to a cruise vacation.”

Danny placed both hands on his hips. “Sounds fun! I bet you were dizzy huh?”

Veronica looked to the side, staring at a couple hugging each other on a bench across the street. “Yeah, but I did visit Jack’s grave afterwards.” She looked back at Danny and mildly grinned, “I cleaned his tombstone along with his parents’ graves out of respect.”

Danny’s smile transitioned into a soft grin. He placed a hand on Veronica’s shoulder. “You still miss him, don’t you?”

Veronica grabbed his hand, then lowered it off her shoulder. “Yes. I still do.” Her grin faded, and her breathing slowed.

She seemed a little more depressed now from how she lowered her head very slowly so Danny wouldn’t notice her eyes starting to quiver beneath the growing shadows of her bangs. Those memories from her childhood of their fight started flashing before her eyes, reminding her of the regretful words she’d said to him. “I HOPE SOMETHING BAD HAPPENS TO YOU!” Then she found out he was killed that very night, which she carried that guilt on her shoulders ever since.

That guilt was too noticeable from her quivering eyes and hung head. Danny sighed and gently rubbed her hand to cheer her up. “Remember, it wasn’t your fault like what Anna said, so please don’t ever think that way again.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve been seeing a psychiatrist to ease my mind.” Veronica raised an arm to flex to Danny and wink at him. “I’m much better now than what I was before.”

He smiled and patted her back, but he knew she wasn’t telling the truth. “That’s good to hear! Well, I’m glad you’re getting the help you need.”

They both said goodbye and Veronica started walking home, leaving Danny to feel worried for his best friend. He returned to his task in his uncle’s shop and sighed.

When Veronica arrived home and walked inside, her parents, who were sitting on their expensive modern couches made of the finest leather, greeted her.

“Come on, tell us sweetheart. I’m eager to hear about your day,” her father asked.

Her mother sipped her tea, placed the cup down on the table beside her, then crossed her arms. “You better have made yourself look elegant my dear daughter. Oh, by the way I made cookies.” she said, clapping her hands with excitement.

Veronica gagged. “No thank you. The last time you did that you almost gave me a diabetic heart attack with all the sugar you put in it.”

“Ugh! Why I never, I’m still learning you know.” Her mother puffed her cheeks out, crossing her arms with her watery eyes. “I really tried. Please try them out.”

Her father chuckled. “I think your mother did wonderful with her cooking. But back to the subject, how was your day?”

She smiled all smuggish and nodded with self appraisal. “I really enjoyed it, especially how I exceeded all of my teachers’ expectations. Hehe!”

“That’s wonderful, Veronica. Anything else?” her father asked as he picked his own cup of tea.

“Not only that, but I even had the privilege of being told I was going to be observed by a group of the top seniors of my school!” Veronica exclaimed as she adjusted her glasses, feeling proud of herself.

Hearing their daughter having a fantastic day brought greater smiles to their faces. They felt very pleased and were glad that their daughter was no longer an emotional mess.

Feeling the bright mood around them, Veronica’s mother got up out of her seat. “I’ll go grab those cookies. I’ll be right back with you two,” her mother said, walking off to the kitchen.

Before her mother’s return, Veronica knew it was time to get the heck out of there. Ever since they’d gotten rid of their exclusive chef,her mother cooked for her family instead of having a paid worker do it. Every meal that she cooked always made Veronica puke, gag, and become scared of her mother’s horrid skills. The last time she tried something that her mother made was several months ago, and that was the final straw. So, for all this time, she’d been surviving on pre-made food.

Veronica quickly walked up to her father, kissed him on the cheek, then stormed out of the living room to go upstairs. Though it was barely dusk, she didn’t want to hang around for too long, especially for… dinner.

Walking inside her room, Veronica closed the door, and set aside her book bag. The photo of her and Jack on top of her desk briefly caught her eye. She frowned, picked it up and stared at it. She closed her eyes and breathed slowly. Opening her eyelids, tears started flowing out, the remnants of her past still confined within feelings of guilt.

She looked out the window and smiled, wiping away the inner guilt from her eyes. I hope you’ve forgiven me… Jack.

She placed the picture back down and headed into her bathroom. Going in, starting the shower, taking off her clothes, Veronica untied her ponytail to let down her long brown hair. Once the waters warm enough after touching it multiple times after a minute or two, she hops in, bathing away the day's burdens to run its way down her body to the drain. After a nice shower, stepping out, drying herself up to fully wipe away the mistakes of today for a new tomorrow, Veronica wrapped herself in her towel and walked into her room. Once in her room immediately she went to her phone to text her friends to make sure they were okay, especially with how funny they were acting this morning.

“There we go!” Veronica exclaimed, sending the texts. She set aside her phone to walk to her dresser to put on her sleeping wear and jumped onto bed once she was ready for her slumber. “What a great day. Hopefully highschool will go this smoothly through the whole year, but I highly doubt it. Things never go in your favor, don’t they… Jack.”

She stared at the photo again and slowly closed her eyes. Please forgive me… Jack. Please. Veronica soon fell into a deep sleep.

Even though her sleep felt soothing, a confinement of inner peace eased Veronica’s guilted soul. But something out of the ordinary interrupted her amazing slumber. First it was a knock, secondly a hard thud, then intense benign. Not only was it the only sound intruding into her dark slumber, the sound of horrid bantering ruptured into Veronica’s dreams. The sound of anger then made its way to the banging, and from the direction it came from it was from her door.

The wooden door rattled from each hit, which left her feeling scared and confused inside her dreams. Veronica thought, someone trying to break in. Or if her parents were mad at her. But the voices weren’t her parents. While questioning the apparent sounds in her mind, shattering glass echoed below and were all around her. It startled Veronica within her slumber but she couldn’t wake up.

Such noise would have awakened anyone without the slightest hesitation, but for Veronica she couldn’t wake up for some reason. It bothered her. No, it scared her. Just when things couldn’t get any worse, ghostly howls ruptured into her room from every gap available. The broken windows brought an eerie wind howling through, chilly enough to make her shiver in her permanent sleep.

Veronica was completely aware of all the events happening around her from how her eyes struggled to wanting to open to her slow heavy breathing. She even felt every hair on her body rise out of her growing fear as she tossed and turned to bring herself to awake.

Floorboards started creaking and the walls sounded as if someone was scraping them with a rusty pitchfork. All the wretched sounds continued for another couple of seconds then came to a complete stop, which left Veronica wondering what would happen next. Succumbing to silence, feeling the urge to burst out of her damned sleep, matters turned for the worse.

Veronica felt something ruffling her hair with fingers that were colder than winter. There was no warmth to the person’s touch. It left Veronica shaking violently as the person made contact with her face. She wanted to scream, wanted to lash out at whoever was using such a vulnerable opportunity to violate her.

Please… someone help me.

The sounds of sadistic giggles burst into her dark dreams, interrupting her inner self calls for help. The same giggles crept their way through her mind, out her ears, and into the world around her. The sound echoed off the walls of her room, clawing their way into them, and shattering the most fragile things around her room. At last, that was enough to lift her glued eyelids. Veronica raised herself up on her bed and clutched her head, screaming out all the terror that felt dormant only a moment ago.

“I-I’m awake… Oh my… goodness,” she whispered. Her breathing felt short and her eyes were wide with fear.

Veronica quickly looked around and couldn’t see much, because her vision was hazed and a little foggy. She grabbed her glasses sitting on the bedside table and put them on. Grabbing her phone and turning on the flashlight feature, she got out of bed and wandered around her room to investigate. During her observation, she spotted the shattered glass she’d heard in her sleep scattered all over the floor. She then shone her light on her wall. Nail marks were engraved into it, which freaked her out.

“No… what’s the meaning of this?” she asked, frightened.

Panicking and feeling shocked from such a sight, Veronica decided to run out of her room and into the hallway. As she shined her light down the hall and to the walls beside her, they had the same claw marks just like in her room. She swallowed out of terror, with her mouth dropped and her eyes being erratic, she slowly walked down the dark hallway with the light of the moon gleaming through the broken windows. As Veronica walked slowly, a piece of glass laying on the ground in front of her, when she took another step forward, she suddenly flinched out in pain, then quickly flashed the light at her foot.

She spotted a cut she’d made to herself. “Damn… It hurts.” She started limping and used the wall for support to keep walking onward.

Continuing forward, Veronica was getting closer to her parents room. The moon’s light helped her path also, so that way she didn’t have to rely so much on her phone. But she questioned why her house’s windows were all shattered, along with those claw marks. To Veronica, this was out of the ordinary, especially knowing if this was done by an intruder or robber. They wouldn’t make all this noise and leave such evidence behind only to be captured by the law. Nothing could explain the situation she was in, so instead of stopping and thinking too hard about it, Veronica wanted to know why her parents hadn’t reacted to the abnormal occurrence.

“Mom… Dad?” she said quietly, but the cut on her foot kept distracting her, giving her a burning sensation from the exposure to air.

Determined to find an answer to her current question, Veronica wasn’t going to let some silly cut slow her down. She bit through the burning pain and continued limping until she finally reached her parents room.

At last, she arrived and knocked first. “Mom! Dad!” Nobody answered, except for the night’s whistling outside.

Knocking again to see if they would answer, Veronica continued her meaningless knocks. Each thud echoed down into the half lit halls inside the big manor home. This time, she banged with more force put into it, enough to actually wake up any parent. After trying for a minute longer, she decided to open her parents door to try and get an answer to the strange paranormal.

“Sorry guys but…” As she walked in, nobody was there. “Huh…” The room was nothing more than an empty hollow of pitch black.

Poor Veronica whimpered, feeling desperate and afraid. Her innocent tears flowed out of her foggy brown eyes and down her cheeks, drenching her neck and shirt as the terror inside her overflowed.

It finally got to her. She broke down and began shouting for her parents in desperation. “MOM! DAD!”

Her breathing felt erratic. Paranoia overwhelmed poor Veronica to the point she kept yelling helplessly for her parents in the empty vessel that was her home. Continuing to yell out in desperation, Veronica covered her face with her hands and cried profusely, but only the sounds of her own scared voice echoed throughout the home, making her feel completely abandoned.

Why is this happening to me! Where’s my parents? What happened to their room? Why are there red markings on the walls? Why?!

After venting out through her agonized terror, Veronica made a decision to check downstairs. Limping away from the vortex that was her parents room, Veronica made her way to the staircase and carefully guided herself down the steps, making sure she didn’t hurt herself any further. The moment she got to the bottom step, giving her a better view of the situation downstairs, Veronica found it was the same situation. Every window was broken and all the walls had those same bloody nail marks. Determined to find an answer Veronica limped her way into the living room and when walking in, the first thing she spotted was the picture frame of her and Jack on the middle of the floor surrounded by dead flowers.

Veronica limped closer to get a better view of the strange ritual. She noticed the dead flowers were roses, but what stood out the most to her was the fact that the picture of them together was shattered. Feelings of despair and solitude faded away the moment she laid eyes on that broken picture of her final memento of her dead best friend. Every feeling of terror disappeared, and her emotions expressed irrational anger by how Veronica’s eyes glinted, growing dim, her teeth mildly showing to be grounded to how her fingers twitched.

Clenching her fists and widening her eyes in anger, Veronica breathed heavily in anger. “Wh-Who would dare… dare do this!” she snapped in a cold, distasteful tone.

“I did!” said a random, soothing, girly voice that came out of thin air. “I presume I’d do you a favor and make you move on.”

She giggled, making Veronica realize who was behind the tormenting, childish laughter.

“Wh-Who are you?” Veronica asked without turning or looking over her shoulder.

The girl hummed a creepy song for a while, not replying to Veronica’s request. Instead, she walked around the living room in a childish manner as if it were some game.

Noticing Veronica’s angry aura, she stopped a couple of feet behind Veronica to finally answer her question with a vile tone. “Huh? What a greedy little girl you are, hmph. Though we’ll meet each other soon enough. Well, sooner or later… Actually, hopefully never if I were being honest.” She started laughing, which angered Veronica more.

Veronica courageously turned around with a glint in her eye and saw the being who’d been ensuing such madness. Scanning the little girl from head to toe, Veronica saw she had long black hair that covered her face. She was adorned in a white and black dress which resembled a romantic gothic style.

With her fists still clenched and tightening further into her palm, Veronica replied in a more angry tone, “Did you do all this? Where are my parents!” Veronica waved a single finger around her, pointing out every detail.

The girl clasped her hands behind her back and leaned forward then back, tilting her head from side to side, giving the assumption that she wasn’t taking Veronica’s question seriously.

She hummed a song from the Dark Ages and yawned. “Hmm… Perhaps I did! Or not! Heh heh, sorry for breaking this picture frame though… or…?”

She quickly hovered a hand over where her mouth would be.

“Wh-what? What’s so darn funny?” Veronica asked.

“Because… Sike! I’m not really sorry, actually. Teehee!”

That aggravated Veronica ten fold! She felt like punching the girl, but her ideology was against violence, not to mention she was still questioning herself if everything was real or not.

The girl lowered her hand and walked towards Veronica with loud heels clipping the ground with each step. She stopped within an arm’s reach and turned her attention to the picture close to them instead. She then glanced back at Veronica and playfully waved at her, then approached the picture, picking it up with her wicked pale hands.

“You see… seeing this picture irritated me, so… guess what, girl.”

“What?”

“Hmm, I broke it!” She laughed and dropped the picture again, then stomped on it with all her force.

Watching the picture break into a million pieces made Veronica’s world come to a sudden stop. Her jaw dropped out of pure shock.

“Whoops… I’m actually not sorry. I meant to do that!”

Veronica was scared but the pinnacle of anger dwelled upon her, and wanted to give this girl a good round or two. She tried grabbing the girl with her hands, but they went through her, almost as if she was trying to grab a cloud of cold smoke.

Veronica fell face first, and as she stood on her hands, she looked over her shoulder to the girl still standing. “Wh-what… are you?”

The girl didn’t reply, she only hummed a song, which pissed Veronica off even more. That was it. She decided to grab her again but this time, she tried going for the girl’s black sea of hair. However, to Veronica’s surprise, she actually did grab it. Though the girl didn’t seem fazed, she just kept humming the creepy song again. Veronica couldn’t see her face too well, so she lifted the hair off her face.

Veronica’s eyes grew from the horrifying sight she’d unveiled. “Where’s your… fa-fa-face?!” Veronica shouted out in horror.

Hearing Veronica scream out in terror from her facelessness made the little girl mad. As she angrily pulled her hair away, Veronica let go for her own safety. The little girl started panting and twitching violently. She let out a blood induced scream that vibrated through the air and haunted one’s eardrums, along with the entirety of the home. Seeing something that freaky made Veronica run away, but she still had the bad cut on her foot, which made her trip midway through the living room. While the girl continued screaming and grabbing at her hair, Veronica got up and limped away as fast as she could.

The first thing that came to Veronica’s scared mind was to get out the front door, but she tripped again, almost in reach of the front door. Getting up onto one knee, everything became dead quiet, way too quiet for anyone’s liking. Even the wretched screaming had stopped. The only thing Veronica could hear was her own heartbeats pulsing loudly inside her eardrums.

Standing back on her feet, Veronica reached the door and leaned against it, preparing to storm out of the house. Her foot still bled, and her knees were ready to give out from overwhelming fear. Veronica started whimpering, foolishly calling out for her parents one last time. Hoping for the lucid nightmare to come to an end, she heard flesh pound on the floor. The little girl’s heels clacked loudly, approaching in her direction. Veronica panicked. Out from the corner of the wall, the faceless girl came crawling backwards on all fours.

Her head was near the ground, with her hair dragging on the wooden floor, the little girl twitched her head violently, making terrifying sounds of broken limbs as she walked towards Veronica’s direction, all spider-like. Seeing such a horrifying sight made Veronica burst out into tears. She rushed out the front door and to her shock, upon looking forward then walking near the edge of what would’ve been a full sidewalk, her home was floating in a giant cloud of black mist.

“No!” Veronica screamed into the void, as she clutched her head and shook it repeatedly.

She cried heavily and cowered away from the door. When she looked back, the girl was running towards her. Veronica blanched at the sight of the demon and hyperventilated, becoming dizzy. She finally fainted from all the madness and collapsed at the edge of the porch.

On the floor lying down and unconscious, Veronica didn’t realize she’d soiled herself too. The little girl, who moments ago terrified Veronica, suddenly went back to normal with her arms relaxed to her side, hair not being ripped by her erratic grabbing nor movement, and walked forward, approaching Veronica’s motionless body.

Reaching Veronica, the girl slowly leaned towards her unconcious face and giggled. “That… oughta show you, poor girl. Poor you, no… Poor me especially, you greedy selfish fopdoodle.” She laughed momentarily then shrieked like a demon into Veronica’s ear.

After doing that terrifying screech, the little girl sat on her knees, and then patted Veronica’s head as if she were some dog. She swiftly dragged her hand towards Veronica’s neck and spotted a necklace. Tilting her head to the side, she examined it and tried grabbing it. Her hand burned upon touching it and she Immediately regretted being curious. She screeched in pain and saw a cross pendant on the necklace. The girl let out one final bloodcurdling scream and dissolved. Everything around Veronica melted into an empty void.

The only thing left floating in the empty void was Veronica’s motionless body, floating lightly like some lonely cloud in an empty sky. Mist, gusting winds whistling, white orbs, sparkles floating around brushing past her as she floated. Some of the mist started wrapping around her, but it dispersed when a Holy light suddenly broke into the dimension like paper being ripped apart, and shone on Veronica as if she were in a spotlight.

“It’s going to be okay! I’ll watch over you!” a voice called out. The light got brighter until Veronica finally awakened. This time, she was on her bed and back in reality.

Veronica looked around and everything seemed normal. She massaged her head due to a headache flickering immense pressure, which made her groan. Then she felt something wet on her butt, so she lifted her blanket and turned bright red. Embarrassed by the fact that she wet the bed she wanted to cry, because she’d soiled herself. Veronica sighed deeply and got up, then walked into her bathroom and washed her pale face.

As water glistened off her cheeks, Veronica looked into the mirror. “Was that a dream? It felt all too real though, huh… Nah! It must have been some lucid dream. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to watch The Exorcist before bed a couple nights ago.”

Veronica felt thirsty so she grabbed a glass that she likes to have on her bathroom sink sitting next to the faucet in case she felt the need to quench her thirst. She grabbed the glass, poured some water from the open faucet, drank it and wiped her mouth. She set the glass down, turned the faucet off and walked out the bathroom.

She walked up to her bed and changed the sheets on it. Once she finished replacing the sheets with fresh new ones, Veronica hid the sheets covered in pee in the very bottom of her laundry basket so her parents wouldn’t notice. She could wash them herself in the morning. Veronica went back to the bathroom, quickly showered, changed her clothes, and finally went back to bed to fall asleep.

Ignoring the entire event that took place, Veronica thought it was best not to think about the night. But the abnormalities weren’t finished and she didn’t realize that a woman in a red gothic dress stood outside in her front yard, staring at her bedroom. The woman quietly chuckled and turned round, walking away as she disappeared into the dark street. At last, Veronica slept peacefully and stayed oblivious to the strange phenomena that had just happened.