Scary Stories

6

My mother says I'm a magnet for the paranormal. Strange things always happen around me. I never go looking for trouble, but I always find myself at the centre of all things weird or supernatural.

My family and I recently moved in to a new house. We needed to escape all of the odd things that kept happening.

It wasn't hard for me to move - I didn't have any friends left. Every friend I'd ever had always ended up dead in some freak accident, so people didn't tend to want to be friends with me anymore.

"Stay away from her, she's bad news." People would whisper as I passed by them at school.

But it doesn't matter now, a fresh town means a fresh start. No one knows who I am. No one knows what's happened. And more importantly, I've left my old - probably haunted - house behind. So many strange occurrences happened in that house, not a day would pass by where something creepy didn't happen.

I had hoped that when we moved into this house all the strange things would stop, but I soon stopped hoping.

Doors still slammed, glasses still smashed, furniture and objects still moved and voices still whispered.

The other things I could deal with, but the voices, they drove me insane.

At first, they were just muffled whispers. I couldn't hear what they were saying. I'd think my parents were home from work only to come down stairs and find that I was still alone in the house.

I used to think that they were in my head, but even my cat refused to go downstairs when the whispers started up.

Eventually they began to get louder.

I started to be able to hear what they were saying. They were talking to me.

"Allison, I know you're in there." They'd whisper as I hid underneath my bed with the door locked.

"Come out and play with us, we know some really fun games."

Whatever I could shout at them - "Go away", "Leave me alone", anything - it never worked.

I told my mother about them when they started getting more violent. They said they'd burn the house down if I didn't come out to play. That didn't bother me too much though, it's an ugly house anyway. But what really scared me was when they began to say how they'd torture everyone in my family, mutilating them and causing them pain and doing all kinds of things that I couldn't even begin imagine before locking them in a room and filling it up with water so that they drowned.

My mother began to cry. "This is your fault." She sobbed. "Wherever you go you take the devil with you! Why did I have to give birth to such a cursed child?"

"I'm sorry." I whispered.

She shouted at me to get out of her sight. I ran to my room to cry on my bed. I hated the way she blamed me for everything. It's not like I asked for any of it to happen. It's not like I wanted any of it to happen.

"Allison." The voices whispered at my door.

"Go away!" I shouted hopelessly.

"We can fix your problems. We can help you." They offered.

"The only thing you can do to help me is leave." I replied.

"Your mother doesn't understand, but we do. She blames you for everything, even your older sister's death. She's wrong. It's not your fault. She needs to pay. Come, let's play a game." They cooed as my door creaked open.

I stared at the empty hallway, my heart pounding. I knew I shouldn't go. But the voices did have a point. None of this was my fault. It wasn't my fault these things happened. It wasn't my fault my sister drowned in that rowing accident. It wasn't my fault. Maybe I could make her see that.

I left my room and walked down the stairs. My parents were having dinner.

When my mother saw me she immediately snapped, "What do you want?"

"I-" I began, before being cut off by her telling me that my dinner was in the kitchen and that I could go and eat it alone in my room.

"I hate her." I whispered once I was in the kitchen as a tear rolled down my face.

"Then do something about it." The voices replied.

"Like what?" I growled angrily through gritted teeth.

Suddenly a drawer opened beside me. The one with the sharp knives in. At first I was unsure, then it all made sense. So this was the game they wanted me to play.

I grabbed one and walked back in to the dining room.

"What?" My mother snapped again.

My father gripped her arm and looked down at my hand holding the large, sharp knife I had selected from the drawer.

"Do it." The voices whispered.

"Allison!" she bellowed, "What do you think you're doing with that knife? Put it back right away."

"No." I replied.

"No?" She questioned with a raised eyebrow. I remember the look of shock on her face. She was not used to being refused.

"No. I'm tired of you treating me like the cause of all the bad things in your life." I said firmly as I began to step closer to them.

"Allison, go to your room." She ordered, but I could hear the fear in her voice.

"No." I said again as I got closer. With my next step, all the doors slammed shut and locked, and the voices began to murmur again.

"Allison, do as I say." She said with a shaky voice. "Tell her Harold." She turned to my father, who, as he opened his mouth to speak, was immediately stopped by receiving a knife to his stomach.

My mother screamed as he dropped dead, blood getting all over her precious carpet. That's probably why she screamed.

"Allison!" She shouted through angry tears.

"Do it!" The voices urged me.

I grabbed a cushion from one of the chairs, and watched as she was dragged under the table and to my feet.

"Allison, please." She whimpered.

I just smiled before holding the cushion over her face.

She screamed and thrashed around for a while, but eventually she saw reason and gave up.

I don't fight with my parents at all anymore, they're so much more understanding. They barely even talk, and I have to help them move around the house, but that's okay because they're far more polite now.

The voices told me I should invite my friend over from school soon so that we can play together. She's coming over tomorrow.

Normally my mother would never agree, but when I asked her she didn't say a word! I took it as a yes.