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Secrets Never Told
By: Haley Hindsley Whether it was a century, a decade, or just a week, Anima could not tell; she had lost all sense of time. She could only remember her name, that was all. The dark hollows creaked when the rats scurried around scavenging for moldy food, fighting one another to stray from starvation. Barricades on the windows and doors preventing anyone from entering or leaving. The shreds of light that could enter the rooms cast light onto the growing bundles of dust bunnies. Anima was only 11. Only 11 when she was trapped in a limbo, containing no joy for having the chance to spend eternal life with God, but she also received no condemned punishment for eternity. Alone, in the abandoned residence for all of eternity. All she could do was sob in the darkened hollows of the empty dwelling. The only thing to comfort her was the earless white bunny she had. Despite it being covered in dirt. The only memory she had to recall was someone yelling at her. “And you’ll stay there until you understand what you did. You will not even be fed or allowed out of this room until you comprehend that it’s all your fault!!” That voice’s shout echoed in her eardrums, although she couldn’t remember their face, it was someone her age. She recalled falling onto the dirt-covered wooden ground, staring at the floor as her bunny landed next to her in a bundle of damp dirt; the black covered boots with a gold embedded design on the front, walking away from her, locking the door as they left. A day had passed, then another, and another, and before she knew it a week had gone by. Her stomach constantly ached from emptiness, she’d drink the tiny drops of water that fell through the cracks of the roof. All she could do was wait, wait for them to come back. Her hope lingered, as though it was a fading light, a week turned into a month. One day, there were no more water droplets; eventually, she died from dehydration. *** “Why did the ghost cross the road?” “Ummmm. Let me think. God! There are too many choices you could have picked. Okay, okay, how about, to traumatize the humans?” Carter grumbled, he knows how much Hugo adores his ghost stories. He’d always base his amateur jokes on them. “Nope! To get away from the ghostbusters!” Hugo started to laugh his socks off so much that he fell out of his chair and all his worksheets for science fell on the ground. “Hugo Alvaro stand up this instance! And clean up those papers, I’ll speak to you privately in the hallway.” Despite the class having laughed when he fell over, he felt disappointed when his parents were contacted. Not to notify, but to take him home since he had now been suspended officially for a week. Teachers had been constantly complaining about his disruptions during class, but usually, most of the punishments he got were just a few minors, nothing this big. When he got home his parents confiscated his phone, his laptop, even his Xbox. He wasn’t allowed to do anything his parents deemed “too distracting” until he wrote a thousand-word essay saying that he wouldn’t cause any more disturbances during class. He was even given extra homework to do during the week he was suspended, but none of it would go down as extra credit, but if he didn’t do it, his grade would be deducted. That didn’t make any sense to him, how could laughing get him into trouble, it was just a joke. But that was how life was, get blamed take the pain. At least that’s what his friend Carter told him. He started his whole obsession with the paranormal when Carter told him about the local ghost girl. He said that back in the 1800s a girl would try to run away from home every week. It was said that she’d always wanted to go to school but her parents wouldn’t even let her out of the house. They said she was ill with Chronic fatigue syndrome; after she was born, the mother was unable to carry children, they called her the problem child. The first time she ran away the police had arrested the parents for child abuse, but the charges were dropped when the parents also declared her mentally ill. Said she had a personality disorder that made her accuse people at random. At first, no one really noticed what was happening, that everything was a lie. Of course now one really knows what truly happened. Every time she ran away the police would drag her home, but eventually, the police didn’t even do anything. After some time the girl stopped running away, everyone guessed that her family found a way to keep her from running away. Then everyone began to forget about it until a policeman went out to the border of town for reports of noise disturbance. Weird since the house was in the middle of a forest and no one lived there since the ghost girl. They say that the police officer entered the house and just found old family portraits. But later the police officer resigned for an unknown reason, people think he found something in the house he wasn’t supposed to, but no one precisely knows… To be continued… Undaunted
A shrill cry echoed in the distance of the sandy beach. The abandoned lighthouse left alone in the dark unwanted. The creak the floorboards made when even the tiniest of mice stepped on it. Loose nails and bolts scattered on the ground rusting under the moonlight night. Dried blood smeared across the stairs leading down from the lantern room. The bow of the dinghy rocked back and forth, back and forth. Ocean water splashing into the boat, filling it to its edges. The motionless bag rocked with the crashing tides; as a figure pressed against the cadaver bag reaching out, for what could have been their last glimpse of light. When Alexandria returned home, she found that no one was home to welcome her back. She has been gone for a semester studying abroad. She has finally returned home and no was is here to greet her? Alex looked around the house but wasn’t able to find anyone, not even a note of where they are. No one had even surprised her; it seemed that only ants and spiders were there to greet her. After such a long flight home from England, Alex decided that she wouldn’t worry over it; instead, she should just relax and make herself feel at home again. As she sat down at the living room couch, she realized that she may have accidentally given her family the wrong date of her arrival. As she reached for the remote, she noticed a coloring book on the table. Alex is a member of a family of only four and two of her relatives had sadly died from unknown circumstances. She reached over and flipped through the coloring book, landing on a page with letters numbered in a mathematical problem order. Having a minor in calculus, it wasn’t long until she was able to unscramble the letters. Sadly, she was the one who had to read it. Dear reader, it seems you have found my coloring book. If you would be so kind as to return it to the following address, I would wholeheartedly love to have it back. Thanks so much! 907 Roosevelt Street Alex knew it was only honest decency to return it, but she did find it a bit odd that they just didn’t write their name in it. She thought she should wait just a bit longer for her family before she left. It was after she unpacked; then, she called an Uber to take her to the address. He looked a bit puzzled by her request but didn’t ask any questions. Alex hasn’t visited long enough before to remember the layout of the town; she was too busy with work that she nearly never got to come to visit. She figured that since her father wasn’t home that there was a good chance that he was already at the address looking for the owner. But then why hadn’t he taken the coloring book with him? Either way, she still wanted to meet the owner, but something in her gut had told her to just walk away. After having waited in the car patiently for a few minutes already, she started to worry about where this location was. She turned toward the driver to ask him where exactly this address was. “Excuse me, sir, but where exactly is this address?” “Oh! You didn’t know. Well, that would be the old lighthouse building, quite odd to want to go there, there have been many casualties up there,” he spoke in an old rusty voice even though he looked as though he could just barely be twenty-one. “Really!? I’m afraid I had no knowledge of that. Do you know of anyone that lives near the lighthouse?” “Well currently no, no one lives even in a mile radius of that place. But…” “But what? Please do tell me.” “Well, about a few years back the old light housekeeper would practically live up there. Sadly though, he killed himself by jumping out of the window. They say that no one has gone up there once since that incident. Sad story honestly, that man was quite well known even in this little town.” “Oh my. That truly is upsetting.” For the rest of the ride there, they were silent. It wasn’t until she finally saw the open water that she gasped in awe of the tremendous view. A wooden dock leading out into the water with an old dingy attached to it; and the rising water splashing against the lighthouse. It was quite a sight to see. She didn’t have a clue what to do with the coloring book, as it had no owner. But that didn’t mean she wanted to waste such time along the shore. So she took a long walk around the port but didn’t dare wander over to the lighthouse. After a good walk around, she headed home, hoping to see her father waiting for her. She wished that she never did leave home, for what she came home to. When she returned home, she noticed that the door was left ajar. Perhaps her father had forgotten to close the door, he doesn’t have the best memory after all. But, when she stepped inside she noticed claw marks on the floor, and that some kitchen utensils had been left all around the house. A knife had been dropped right next to a pool of blood. Where the word kill had been spelled out in someone’s blood. She raced to the phone, but, before she could, a rag was covering her mouth. She went still, falling asleep against her will. Alex swayed side to side, she felt sick to her stomach and most of all she felt traumatized for what could happen next. Alex started to panic more and more when she realized what had happened. She had been kidnapped. She started pressing against the bag, she would have to rip her way out. Using her nails, she clawed at the bag; when she was about to give up, she finally made a dent in the bag. Using her last breath of air, she punctured the bag enough that she could escape. She sat up gasping for air. Her body was tense and sore, she wondered to herself, Why didn’t they just kill me on the spot? She searched her surrounding area trying to find somewhere she could get to for safety. The closest spot she could swim to was the lighthouse. Hopefully, it would be safe enough for her to go to. As she swam, her muscles would have sudden spasms, her legs especially have seen better days. She was covered with bruises from head to toe; although she can’t remember what happened Alex was able to picture an idea. While she was swimming, certain cuts would reopen, gushing blood poured into the ocean. It was when she reached the sharp rocks that she started to relax just enough that she could think more clearly. She hobbled onto her legs limping her way towards the lighthouse. She limped her way to the door of the tower, luckily the door was unlocked. Perhaps they don’t care what happens here since it’s no longer in use, she thought to herself. When she passed through the door she saw that the walls were filled with graffiti, couples had even written their names in hearts. Making her way over, she sat down on the cold floor. Checking her limping leg, she finally reacted to the sudden pain. Her foot was twisted and there were scratches and bruises all over her body, not just her legs. She knew that if she tried to walk in this dark it wouldn’t be long before she would get even more hurt, or worse that person might try to kill her again. But what stopped them from just killing me then. Why put me in a bag on a boat, they could have just drowned me or worse. Too tired to want to worry she lay her self down using some loose bricks to prop her foot up. It was before the crack of dawn that she heard the door creak. The person was breathing heavily since she could hear them breathe in, out, in, out. Laying on her side, she squinted her eyes so that she could still appear asleep. She saw black pairs of shoes and black baggy pants, but she couldn’t see their face. “Get up.” Stunned that they knew she was awake, she was too scared to move. Still squinting, she saw as the man knelt down. Now knowing what to do or who it was, she scurried herself up attempting to put distance between them. But it was too late, the man had a hammer in his left hand. Reaching the door to escape, Alex fell from having used her broken foot. Then, the man in all black with a ski mask rushed towards her hitting her in the head with the hammer. Being dragged up the stairs Alex was barely starting to regain consciousness. She was in enough pain that even as her head smashed against each floorboard and her now open scratches spewed blood it didn’t even phase her. It was when they lifted her up onto an open window she gained enough strength to tear the ski mask off them. It was at that moment she realized why no one was ever home, and how her two relatives’ deaths had never been solved. As she drew her last breath of the ocean air, she felt the wind push against her body as she fell to the rocky bottom of the abandoned lighthouse. By: Haley Hindsley |