Wicked Annabella

This is the first chapter in a new horror story I'm Co-writing with the lovely Anna! She's who this chapter is dedicated to. She wrote this chapter and then I added in some as well.

Please give feedback on what you think so far loveys :)

Vote if you feel we deserve it.

 Cover and side banner made by me :) JANE!

Cover photo's are property of Faestock on Deviant art. No Copywrite infringement intended. :) Check her out on that site!

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"Mommy!" Rylee called out for her mother who stood a couple of feet away from her, "Catch!"

Rylee then threw the ball as hard as she could with all her might, sending it flying through the air. On the other end, her mother reached down and caught it.

"Alright now, don't get too close to the lake." Annabella told her cautiously, then smiled at her pretty brown haired daughter with pride and love as she tossed the ball gently back to her. The little girl grinned at her mother when she managed to catch it.

As Rylee was playing with her pink ball, Annabella lounged on the ground a few feet away from her. She let her eyes wonder around the lake, taking In the pretty flowers and trees that were just coming into bloom. A few plants hidden among the bushes near the lake caught her eye and she narrowed them, trying to get  better look at them.  

With a sinking heart she got up from where she’d been sitting on the moist ground and walked over to bush to investigate. When Annabella got closer she started to realize more and more it was exactly what she feared. .

Pot was growing in their own yard, the yard where their 7 year old daughter plays In every day. Where they had pot lucks with their neighbors and family almost weekly only a few yards from where the plants grew.

Annabella was enraged with anger, she knew it was her careless husband. If someone had found the plants Rylee would most certainly be taken away from them because who’d believe that Annabella had no idea what was going on in her own home!

Curiously, Rylee watched as her mom stomped into the house yelling for Daddy on the top of her lungs, but then went back to playing with her ball. This time she wanted to play on the docks with her ball, it was fun to hear the ball bounce on the wood and Rylee knew she was old enough choose where she wanted to play.

She skipped down the path that lead down to the dock and started dribbling the bright red ball  on the wooden dock just like she’d seen the basketball players do on tv the night before. It made a hollow sound that filled Rylee with giggles. Suddenly, the ball hit a knot in the wood and bounced right off the dock and into the dark water beside it. It bobbed gently in the lake, only a few inches from the edge of the dock, easily within reach.

The dock was close to the water so Rylee thought that she could get it with no problem.

Rylee got onto her knees at the edge of the dock, her long hair falling all around her face in a curtain of brown. She reached down into the water to grab it. Almost reaching it, she lost control of her balance, her body toppled over into the cold water.

Rylee kicked desperately and flaled her hands, trying to reach up to the surface for air. Rylee could hear the distant arguments and yells of her parents whenever she managed to break the surface for a couple seconds, tears leaked out of her eyes and she was so afraid.  

She screamed hoping in her mind that her screams would overpower theirs. Rylee's lungs were getting sore from all the yelling, her clothes were dragging her down, but she still fought with all her might to get help. As she took another breath to scream, water rushed into her mouth and filled her lungs with nasty tasting scum, making her throat burn. She coughed violently, “Mommy!” She cried out weakly, barely able to hear her own voice.

Reaching the surface again she tried to overpower her parent's voices inside the house.

"Why in the world would you have pot plants out there?!" Annabella yelled at Carter, demanding for answers.

"It doesn't matter what I'm doing with my life! At least I'm providing for you and Rylee!" Carter snapped back at Annabella.

Before Annabella got the chance to argue back, an ear-piercing scream came from the backyard. They knew it was their daughter, Rylee.

"Rylee.." Annabella whispered to herself.

Annabella ran out the door behind her husband, looking for their daughter. Carter was already on the dock, diving into the water. She ran onto the dock waiting. The next seconds were agonizing. Carter reached the surface with Rylee in his hands. He put her on the deck then tried CPR.

He pushed on her chest, begging her to breath but their daughter’s face was pale and her brown eyes open wide with a look of terror on them…Dead eyes with no life behind them., Carter gasped in a breath, crumpling into a ball over his tiny daughter’s lifeless body. There was nothing he could do but cry and grip her soaking body to his chest.

"Carter, I'm so sorry." Annabella whimpered. Kneeling beside Rylee’s body, stroking her cheeks gently with one hand while trying to get Carter’s attenchion with the other, “Please don’t hate me, I can’t take that.”

There was no response from Carter, all he did was hold his daughter tight and ignore the comments from his wife. Tears streamed down his face, he had never felt pain until this dreadful moment.

Annabella tried to get the attention of her husband, but he wasn't giving in. She looked out into the water where her daughter lost her life. She saw something floating ashore, sure enough it was her daughter's red ball, rolling gently in the little waves along the shore.

Annabella looked away and landed her eyes onto her dead daughter. Rylee's skin was all shriveled and pale from the cold water. Her daughter's eyes were staring directly at her. Guilt flowed through her veins. She tried one last time to apologize to Carter, "Please, I'm so s-"

Carter held his hand up, he didn't want to hear her voice at this moment. All he wanted was his daughter back.

Annabella collapsed across from them, bringing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms across them as if to keep her chest from exploding from the hurt and guilt.

‘It’s my fault, I killed our daughter.’  She thought, wishing she could die and end all this pain.