Awakening

chapter 1

It all started on the Thursday when my brother and a group of his friends had been given homework about looking at different graves in local cemetery, and, being 2 years younger than him, he had to take me with him. They thought it would be a good idea to go at midnight because it would be a lot scarier looking than in the light. They also wanted to go out of town to the nearest village which was supposedly haunted and even creepier. Now, I don’t get scared easily, so my brother and his friends took it upon themselves to try and scare me. They took with them a bag filled with things like food, torches, sweets, knives, fake blood and a spoon (don’t ask; it’s easier).

Now before I tell you about the night’s events, you’re probably interested in why it’s haunted.

(Cue spooky suspension music (just imagine it, okay?))

Long ago in about 1932, a little girl of around 3 went to a church service with her mother. At the end of the service as everyone prepared to leave the church, a loud, spine-chilling squeal sounded through the church. At first no-one knew what was going on, until a cry immerged through the crowd. It was the little girl’s mother.  “My baby! Where did you go? Help! Help! My child has gone!“ She wailed but nobody listened.

The woman ran outside and looked for the source of the scream. There she was on the grass, stiff as a board and surrounded by liquid that looked almost black in the darkness of the night. The woman ran over to her child and cradled her in her arms gently sobbing into the child’s beautiful blonde hair and closing her scared brown eyes. A rustle in the trees amongst the grave stones alerted her to someone else’s presence.

“Hello?” The woman called, “I know you’re there. Come out and show yourself!” Surprise, surprise, no-one came. (Why do people always say ‘hello’ in horror stories? Do they expect the murderer to be all like: “Yeah here I am in your kitchen, I’m just making a sandwich. Want one?” (SuperBatman4 the editing queen would love one)) So, the woman laid her daughter back down in the long grass and walked slowly and carefully towards the bush that had made the noise.

That’s when she felt it. At first it was just a cold breeze - she thought came from the night’s air – but, then, she felt as though she had been plunged into a freezer. Then, the presence of a frozen, dead hand resting upon her bare shoulder. Gradually she turned around to see what was there - but to her surprise, there wasn’t anything. The woman decided to leave her child’s body there, hoping the vicar would take care of it, but when she walked back to the church, passing her daughter’s body, she noticed something about it that she hadn’t before: The body was surrounded by blood, but there were no wounds at all.

I know, totally unbelievable right? Like, why would you leave your dead child just lying there in the middle of the grass, covered in blood? Who knows? But somehow, it was scary or real enough to leave a whole village deserted.