The Land of Lost Souls

My dad used to tell me stories about his sister and how carelessly brave she was. He used to tell me that they were very close, even though she was almost ten years older than him. One of the biggest pranks they used to play on each other, he had once said, was the Scare Order. The Scare Order required one person to sneak up on the other and turn off the lights of the room, followed by slowly swinging the door so that it creaks, rolling a handful of marble along the floor and finally jumping up in front of the victim accompanied with a scream. I had tried scaring dad a couple of times before, but it never really worked. My dad always ended up wide-eyed when he thought that I was his sister. He would just shake his head disappointingly and sulk out of the room.

But things haven't really been the same for a while lately. The lights of our practically ancient two-storied Victorian house keep flickering on and off while we watch TV or the door to the kitchen would slowly swing shut. But what's been driving my dad crazy is that on the night of his sister's death, the Scare Order was complete. As we all silently lazed around in the living room, our glass bowl of guest mints had shifted off our coffee table and shattered to the floor, the mints scattering everywhere, making that sound that marbles make when they are let loose on the floor...

My dad hasn't come out of his bedroom in weeks! Mum has to feed him food from a small cat door that dad installed for his "safety". The only time I have seen him come out was for mum's birthday, he came out to give her a peck on the cheek and buy her a bouquet of roses, then he was back in his bedroom locked up.

Since the completion of the Scare Order, everyone has been very cautious. Mum swings her broom around the kitchen before cooking and we all check behind the doors whenever we enter a room. But there is something that I haven't told mum or dad, and that is the fact that I can feel a presence in the air. When we eat I feel like someone is watching us or when I sleep I can feel someone standing and the foot of my bed. It was only yesterday where I completely lost my mind and felt like ripping the hair from my head.

It was around three in the afternoon and I was just leaving for the supermarket to purchase a carton of milk for mum when my skin tightened as I passed through the doorway into the corridor. I remember standing back and my skin relaxing and stepping forward resulting in my skin tightening again. I had started backing up when I felt a brush past my shoulder and then there was nothing. I had sprinted out of the house at full speed straight to the supermarket and stayed there for as long as I could.

Today, I have a plan. I will find out what is going on and I will put anend to this madness!

I am sitting on my bed, waiting. I know it will come. It has to come. I have been going crazy. I sprayed my room with multiple substances. Ground lavender, ground cumin and crushed magnolia all dipped in boiling water and sprayed around my room. My senses are all on edge, and my breaths are very shallow. There! I feel it! I jump to my feet and grab the first thing I can hold; a plush toy. Great. I let the plush toy fall to the ground and I start walking around the room. I have the spray can of herbs and flowers in my hand and then I suddenly feel it. My skin tingles and tightens. I take a few steps back, raise the spray can and give a generous spray in the direction I felt the... the thing.

I cannot believe my eyes! It's glowing, a luminous figure standing, orrather floating off the floor in the middle of my bedroom. A young girl,around 14 years old with a face like stone, frozen and emotionless. She slowlytilts her head to the side, her night gown hanging from her small frame. Eventhough she is wearing a night gown, her feet aren't bare, dirty leather bootshold her feet loosely. I start tumbling backwards, my eyes growing wider by thesecond, she doesn't just stay there, she begins to glide forward towards me. Ican hear voices, she is saying my name, no she is saying dad's name. It isn'tjust her voice, I can hear other voices too, but they seem further, like lowrumbles in the distance. She is only about a meter away and I squeeze my eyesshut. One... two... three... four...fi– a scream, a loud piercing shrill scream fillsmy ears and my bones turn cold. Before I know it I am on the floor, crying andscreaming too. The scream gets louder and then it fades until I hear nothing.