creepshow (wattys2018)

Bestfriends

'I have to be honest, my best friend is better than anyone I've ever come in contact with. She is literally the essence of perfection, even her name is perfect- belle.

Belle is amazing, but she is most definitely not normal. She is always saying the craziest things and getting me into the most... unique situations.  She has the best advice, but even the best of us make mistakes.

It was hot that night, unusually hot, so hot that I actually slept with my bedroom window open. My room was on the second floor so naturally I assumed there was no way anyone could get in through it, anyone aside from Belle that is.

Belle had a way of always ending up in my room at night, waking me up to talk, so I wasn't surprised to see her there that night. She woke me up with her tinkling laugh that so clearly resembled her name, standing across the room, admiring a drawing I had made a few years back.

"Belle?" I peered at her carefully, brushing my hair back and swinging my legs over the edge of the bed. "What are you doing?"

The expression on her face was one that I remember like i had witnessed it yesterday. Her eyebrows were knitted together and her lips were drawn into a tight line, and her eyes, oh her eyes, they were a deep black.

Belle always had this glow to her, like an orb of light that surrounded her everywhere she went, causing her skin to sparkle and shimmer. The orb that night though was red, a color I had only ever seen surround her once.

"Belle?" I asked hesitantly, drawing her forward to sit with me on my bed. "What happened?"

"They did it again." She spoke through gritted teeth. "They were talking about you. I heard them, Amber, I heard them. They were saying awful things, so awful." She rocked back and forth with her arms wrapped tightly around her torso.

"That's okay. They can talk all they want. Their words will never hurt me, you know that."

"No!" She rose from the bed glowering over me just as she had done that one other time, causing me to shrink back. "We can't let them do that. They'll ruin you! Everyone at school already calls you a freak, the stupid girl who talks to herself, all because their too stupid and ignorant to acknowledge me. Well, I won't have it. You know what you have to do."

She reached behind her back and pulled out a large butcher knife, the same she had shown me before. "Don't look so frightened, I'll be with you the whole time."

I took an uneasy breath as I accepted the weapon from her, twisting it nervously in my fingers. "Who-who should we start with?"

"Your step sister started the rumors, why not start with her?" Belle grinned an unnaturally large grin, her lips seeming to stretch to an odd length.

I took her hand and smiled lightly as she locked our fingers together. We walking slowly down the darkened hallway, Belle whispering words of encouragement the whole time.

I cracked the door open slowly, delighted to see that she was laying on her back, her front completely exposed. We approached her bedside quickly, gazing down at her as she took gentle breaths in and out, her chest rising and falling with each motion.

We climbed slowly onto the bed, Belle settling behind me as I startled my victim, careful not to wake her.

I stared down at her for a few more peaceful seconds before feeling Belle raise my arm high into the air and dropping the knife down into her chest with one slick movement. The blade penetrated her skin easily, sliding in and out without a struggle.

Her hands grasped at the wound as she let out a startled shriek. Without hesitation I slid the blade across the length of her neck, from side to side, leaning back and gasping a bit as her warm, crimson blood spurted out onto my face and chest.

Belle laughed behind me, reaching around to coat her hands with the sticky substance that was pouring out of my step sister and running her hands up and down my arms, squeezing lightly as she did so. "Well done." She whispered into my ear as I felt her hands retract from my skin just as another startled cry of horror rang out.

"Amber! What have you done?!" My mother shrieked, shoving me roughly. My knees were still weak from what I had just witnessed, giving away easily and sending me tumbling to the floor. I wiped my hands on my night gown before using them to cover my ears upon hearing my step father cry out.

"What have you done? What have you done?!" He raced forward, lifting his daughter into his arms and rocking her body back and forth. "Why would you do this?"

"Belle said I had to. She said-"

"Stop!" My mother shrieked. "Belle is not here! She is not real!"

"She is! She is! She is!" I chanted over and over again, screaming and thrashing as my mother attempted to pull my hands out of my hair.

They didn't understand me. They didn't understand Belle either. That happened four years ago and Belle was still my best friend. She told me she left that night before they could see her because she got scared and knew they would probably ignore her anyway, just like they always do.

She was right, I had told her. We shared a room here at this place they sent me to afterwards, it wasn't too bad. It wasn't the biggest room in the world, me and Belle shared a bed, but it wasn't bad.

We spent all day everyday together, laughing, talking, and enjoying each other's company.'  I placed the pen down in the center of the journal as the large metal door swung open revealing my personal nurse.

"Time for your medicine." The plump woman smiled, scurrying over to me and placing three pills into the palm of my hand. I swallowed them with the small cup of water she had brought and opened my mouth after for her to check.

"Did you bring Belle any?" I asked, blinking at her as she frowned and placed a hand on my shoulder before hastily exiting the room.

"I told you they don't pay attention to me." Belle smirked as she tossed her legs over one arm of the chair she was lounging in. Lowering her eyes and her voice, she smiled darkly at me, as she often does. "Good thing I have you, my best friend."