Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Fear. That was all she felt as she squinted around the park, the rain filing up her glasses. She had gone there, not long ago to sit quietly with her book and read, to get away from the bullies. She was pretty sure she was the only one who knew about the clearing and all her life she had tried her hardest to keep it that way. She knew where she was, behind the hedges in the furthest corner of the field across from Mrs Blackfornette's office, but the problem was getting out. In the summer, the blossoms would bloom and the large Willow tree in the centre would release its numerous chains of leaves. She didn't go there too often, only when Jack and his cronies were getting extreme. Like the time when they hung her up on the fence by her white socks and made sure she knew that if she so much as moved to get down they would know. That's how she ended up finding the garden in the first place. The garden was her safe place, somewhere to hide. Somewhere to let go. And then it became her nightmare. She could remember every moment of it. As if it were yesterday.
The heavy rain felt like needles on her skin, relentlessly pattering down on her skinny frame. She had grown up in Montgomery Prep and thus knew all of the scary, spooky tales and myths that hung around the school like phantoms of the past. However, in her unfortunate situation, the most bone-chilling, twisted tale came to the front of her mind. It was said that every thirteen years the ghost of Dr Montgomery Montgomery would make an appearance, as a child. She, unsurprisingly, did not believe in such fantasies, but when one is stuck in the middle of a storm, in a park that no one knows about, with no path to escape, one does begin to speculate, about the truth of said myths. Suddenly, something long and rough blew into her mouth. Spitting it out, and coughing with disgust, she held it up to her face, barely being able to focus over the deafening beating of her heart. It was one of the leaves of the great willow. Rather than relaxing with relief, a heart-wrenching panic gripped her brain. She had never gone further than ever looking at it. The daunting tree was frightening enough in the daytime, with the towering branches casting spooky shadows across the gorgeous garden. And now, she was shivering underneath it. The chill biting away at her bones. She was standing underneath the Willow tree.
As the rain cleared, a figure stood, lonely in the distance. She bit her lip staring at them as they walked forwards. She could see something around their neck, flapping in the wind, and assumed they were wearing a thin scarf of some sort. As the figure drew closer, she realised that they were a boy. About her age, maybe a little younger. She would put all of the 50p she owned on the fact that he was not having one of the best days of his life. She internally rolled her eyes; Jack and his pack of idiots had probably found someone else to pick on in her absence. Maybe they could be friends. She started to be able to distinguish his more prominent features as the fog cleared and he drew closer. Not talking. Not changing his expression. Just stoically moving forward, as if he was a robot. His dark hazel hair swayed across his emerald eyes. She suppressed a small gasp at his complexion. Rosy cheeks were inflicted with scabbed, peeling skin. Rotting skin. As he drew closer, she opened her mouth to let out an almost strangled scream, but nothing came out. The thin scarf around his neck was not a scarf at all. A large chunk of his neck was missing, and his throat was partially slit. Shaking uncontrollably, she found herself stumbling backwards until she heard the most pitiful of sounds. A small wail of despair, so sad, and so lonely, that she thought it was almost inhumane, stopped her in her tracks. Slowly and carefully, so as to not startle the figure behind her into attacking, she turned. The small, damaged boy spoke again, his begging words forever imprinted on her mind,
