A Collection of Short Horror Stories

5

TLDR: After her best friend Julia committed suicide, my daughter, Sara, started a cyberbullying awareness movement in her honor.

While it took a lot of work to finally push Julia over the edge, I am elated that Sara can add one more accomplishment before submitting her college applications.

My husband and I stood under the platform, looking up at Sara giving a speech about the consequences of cyberbullying. She looked like a shining star with the spotlight on her. Her brilliance and charm garnered a large audience. Some were weeping at the lives lost, and some from sympathising with the harsh experience.

As her speech ended, I could see the tears glistening in her eyes, yet too stubborn to fall. My eyes teared up and I leaned into my husband's shoulder. She looked so strong on the stage, fighting for justice and kindness. It was a stark contrast to the devastation I had witnessed. The news of her best friend's death had turned Sara into a wreck for months.

Julia, her best friend whom she had grown up with, had ended her life due to cyberbullying. It was a very tragic and unfortunate incident. She was as young as my daughter, with a long and bright life ahead of her. However, it had been cut short by the cruelty of bullies hiding behind a screen.

It took a lot of work and effort to help Sara move on from the tragedy, and guide her to use that experience as her strength to fight for the people who are still alive and suffering like Julia.

Thunderous applause and cheering jolted me out of my memories. Sara was bowing to thank the people who had come down in support of her cause. She walked down the platform towards me and my husband, then lunged straight into our open arms. Sobs escaped from where her face was in our clothes, and I could feel a growing wet patch on my shoulder. We hugged our daughter as hard as we could, whispering our encouragement while patting her back.

After she calmed down and her breathing was stable, I cupped Sara's face in my hands and tilted her head up, so I could look into her eyes. Then, I leaned my head in and touched our foreheads.

"We're very proud of how far you've come, my love. I'm sure Julia is moved by your efforts and heart to help the people in need, people like her. But I feel that with your brilliance, you can do and contribute so much more."

I paused, and dropped a kiss on her forehead. Then, I smoothed out her hair as I continued.

"When you expand and grow this movement that you started, you can reach even further. Far beyond our city and maybe across continents. There are people out there beyond our city who need your help too, dear."

Her attentive eyes looked so endearing as she asked, "how can I do that?"

I smiled gently and replied, "you can pursue an education that will provide you with the knowledge and skills to do just that. We can look at which college offers what you need, together, after we reach home. How does that sound?"

She nodded her head and agreed to my suggestion.

After we reached home, we unpacked and settled down before we started college screening. After countless hours of intensive research, we successfully narrowed down her choices.

"That's great, honey, the next step we need to do is fill in your college applications and send them in before the deadline. Make sure to include your cyberbullying awareness movement in your application. It'll give you an advantage against the other applicants and raise your chances of being accepted.

You don't need to do all these tonight, it's quite late already and you're tired. You can start on it tomorrow after a good night's rest."

"Yes, mummy. Thank you and dad, for everything."

My heart melted at her sweet smile, and she gave each of us a peck on the cheek before going upstairs. My husband and I cleared up the table filled with our notes from our discussion while Sara prepared to turn in for the night. We coincidentally finished our chore at the same time, then exchanged greetings before we returned to our respective bedrooms and closed our doors.

My husband and I laid in bed, but we didn't sleep. We laid side by side in silence for a while, until my husband broke the ice.

"Are you still awake?" He asked softly.

"Yes." I affirmed, matching his soft volume.

"Can't sleep?"

"Not really, you?"

My husband turned to lie on his side facing me, then replied.

"I have some things on my mind, it's bothering me and I can't sleep."

I turned to face my husband too, as I asked, "what's bothering you?"

He frowned and hesitated, before opening up.

"I'm not sure if changing the direction of Sara's intended course of education is the right thing to do... What if there's something else she wanted to do? What if she's only listening to your advice because she feels obligated to?"

I held on to his trembling hand, and my thumb caressed the back of his hand.

"She has talent for this kind of work. Look at how fast her supporters and sponsors grew not long after starting this movement. Luck is on our side and I believe we should seize this chance to groom her talent so that she can blossom."

My husband's internal struggle to accept my words were visible on his face. He had never been good at hiding his feelings since I first met him.

I waited patiently for him to gather his thoughts and find his words. His hold on my hand tightened as he whispered, "but this movement wouldn't have started in the first place if Julila didn't die."

He shifted closer to me and brought our hands to his chest as he continued, "what if there was something else she wanted to do before that incident happened? What if we're actually harming her and not helping her?"

My eyes widened and disbelief seeped into my voice, "do you think that what I'm doing is wrong?"

I squeezed out a few tears as I continued, "Sara is the daughter I raised with my own blood and tears. There is nobody I love more than her in this world. Everything I did was for her sake, or do you see me as a monster now? Because I pushed Julia too hard, she ended up taking her own life? Do you think I'm responsible for Julia's death? That I'm a murderer? I just wanted to remove someone who was a bad influence on our baby girl, does that make me bad?"

My husband panicked at the sight of my tears and stumbled over his words in his attempt to console me.

"No, no, no. That's not what I meant, dear. You didn't kill Julia. You only wanted to drive her away from Sara. It's not your fault. I'm so sorry I brought this up. I'm not blaming you. Don't cry anymore, I'm sorry."

He brought me into his embrace and I snuggled my face between his neck and shoulder, muffling out, "it's not my fault?"

"No, it's not."

"So I didn't do anything wrong?"

"You didn't."

I smirked as I hugged my husband tighter. My foolish and naive little husband had always been weak to my tears. What a simple fool, blinded by love. Well, that's what I love about him.

With a partner like this, I can focus on making sure that no one can outshine my baby girl.