The Spirit Child
Chapter 1: Best Intentions
Suddenly I realised what I never hoped was possible. I found that despite my very best intentions,things don't always work out the way we might have always hoped or planned.
"Bec" my mother called. "REBECCA GET OFF YOUR PHONE AND COME DOWNSTAIRS" my mum yelled furiously. "COMING MUM" I called back. "Wow, I must be in big trouble" I thought to myself. I quickly ran down the stairs towards my mother. "Mum, what's wrong?" I asked. "I'll tell you what's wrong" she replied. "You spend all your time on the computer or on your phone playing games or whatever the hell it is that you young people do these days.. BookFace I think it's called." I chuckled, despite the very tense and serious discussion taking place. I found it funny that my mum called Facebook Bookface. She continued "Rebecca, I need you to focus on your studies more. I need you to try your hardest. I won't always be there to push you and I need to know that I can rely on you to do your best". This stopped me for a moment because despite the fact that I knew I needed to put more time into my school work I was shocked that my mum was talking about not being with me anymore. This brought back a wave of memories. You see although my family looked normal from the outside it was far from that on the inside.
I know this story feels repeated.. Like something that's been written a million times this is where it gets different. Please don't think I'm weird when I tell you this but I suppose most people would. One night about two years ago my family was completely normal in terms of a small home in Texas standards. My family and I were all sitting around the fire playing pictionary and eating popcorn. This was our usual Monday night. This is what we had done for years. After this we would have an early night and go to bed. But on this specific night everything felt different. Like we were being watched and if this wasn't creepy enough we could hear strange noises coming from the ceiling and walls. I didn't believe in ghosts or anything supernatural or I didn't want to believe that I did so I just laughed "must be the wind" I said to reassure my family, but more so myself that everything was going to be ok. "Probably just a creaky floor board" my father stated. My father was a builder and was use to fixing things like this so surely he'd know how a creaky floor board would sound. This was also reassuring.
Then something moved. I screamed when I looked up I saw a black human looking shadow on the old roof. I gulped as I felt I could no longer breathe. You see if it was a shadow on the floor It would have made sense it could have been dads, mums, my brothers or mine. But the fact that the shadow was on the roof meant that the thing that the shadow was reflected from had to be above or next to the roof. I then heard the floor boards creak again I screamed and heavy tears began to fall down my face. In that moment I was more scared then I had ever been in my whole life.
Chapter 2: The black shadow
"A song she heard, of cold that gathers, like winds tongue among the shadows, it rose like blackness in the sky, that on volcanos, vomit rise, a stone of ruin from burn to chill, like black moonrise her voice fell still". - Robert Fanney.
Then just like that my dad disappeared. Never to be seen or heard from again. Life went on. But whenever we heard a creak or heard something strange we thought of the night that my dad just vanished. Not even ash was left behind. All the photos of him were gone. It was as if he had never existed and perhaps he hadn't. Now my mum was talking about how she may no longer be with me anymore. I had nothing else to say. Deep down we all knew the reason my dad disappeared We just didn't want to let anyone know that it was my fault he was gone. "Bec" my mum said. "Bec, what are you day dreaming about. You need to get ready for school." She woke me up from my thoughts. I rushed up stairs and grabbed my school bag, packed my lunch and left for the day.
