Chapter 4
I stand up and hurl the metal box across the room, and it narrowly misses the full length mirror hanging on the wall next to my wardrobe. I begin to pile up the books in hope of finding it hidden amongst them, but I have no such luck. I scramble over to the window and glare out into the dark night. All I see is yellow-tinted streetlights and cars whizzing by as people make their way home from work. I let out a groan and slam the window shut.
“Why?” I mutter under my breath.
I storm downstairs and cry in frustration on the sofa. My cat, Merlin, saunters over to me and nudges my arm with his soft, furry head. I reach out and stroke his chin, and then wipe my tears away.
“Merlin, what am I going to do?” I moan, my voice crumbling apart. His yellow eyes flash upwards and he meows at me.
Only then I realise that it’s his food he wants, not me. I go into the kitchen and find his dish empty on the floor; I refill it and then wander back into the living room. A picture of my Dad sits on the mantel piece, and I stare at it mournfully. After a few moments, I pick it up and hug it close to my cool body. I shiver and pull a blanket over myself.
“I miss you dad… I need you. I need you to help me, please… Please…” My words blur and merge together as I choke on the last part of my plea. “I love you..”
Tears fill up my eyes once again and I lay in the warm light of the table lamp next to me. I curl up, alone and scared, and try not to think about anything that happened today. The soothing, familiar sound of the clock ticking calms me, and fades into the distance as I fall into a calm, relaxing sleep.
Hours pass until I am gently woken by the dull jangling of my Mum’s keys in the front door lock. I raise my head sleepily and lazily open my eyes. Staring right at me a pair of piercing blue eyes, I jump and gasp in shock and close my eyes spontaneously in fear. When I dare to reopen them the eyes are gone. I pant and try to regain control of my breathing when my Mum walks in the room. I stare into space where the eyes were, and mumble something to my Mum as I vaguely acknowledge her presence.
“Hey sweetie, what are you doing down here?” She strokes my cheek, chucks her keys and bag on the table and comes and sits next to me. “You’re so pale! Are you feeling okay?”
“Um… I’m not too sure…” I say as the stabbing pain returns to the back of my throat, and the ache in the back of my head comes back.
“You should go to bed, it’s getting late, and you have school tomorrow!” She smiles at me and pats my leg. “Come on, you go on up, and I’ll bring you some hot chocolate up in a little bit.”
I instantly remember the state of my room.
“No, no. I’m not thirsty, sorry Mum,” I quickly respond in panic.
“Oh, okay. Well, have a lovely nights sleep, darling,” she says, kissing my forehead.
“You too. I love you.” I slowly stand, walk out of the room and go back up to my bedroom. I quickly push all the mess into one pile and tumble into bed.
I don’t want to sleep in case I have dreams as real as the ‘hallucinations’ were earlier today, so instead I stare up at the ceiling and finally decide it’s time to think about who could’ve taken my diary. I think of Charles at first, but then realise that he’s only recently come to our town, let alone have enough time to figure out where I live. Then I remember that he had my file earlier today, and all my contact information is there, including my address. But why would Charles want my diary?
Then I think about Abbie, and the argument. And when I slapped her. She probably hates me now, and I don’t blame her at all. She’s put up with a lot of stuff coming from me in the past few years. I’ve relied on her for everything, be it to help me get ready for exams, to picking out the right clothes to wear to go out with friends, she’s always been there to support me. We rarely argue due to the amount of agreeing I submit myself to daily, and so it feels weird to be so angry with her.
All of a sudden, while I’m drifting into my thoughts, singing fills my ears. A little girl’s voice, singing nursery rhymes, in the purest, most innocent voice imaginable. I squint into the darkness, but see nothing. I reach up to my earlobes, but my headphones aren’t lodged in them. It’s definitely coming from inside my room somewhere, but once again, I find myself frozen with fear, so instead of looking for the source, I wrap my pillow around my head and try to blot out the eerie, almost angelic singing. The voice torments me, coming closer, and then resuming back to its distant volume. I bite down hard on my lip until I taste the bronzy blood ooze into my mouth. The taste makes me reach and feel nauseous, and I bury my head even further into the pillow, and pull the bed sheets over my face.
Suddenly the singing stops. The new found silence spooks me even more than the singing did. The little girl voice hangs in the air, paused halfway through the line of the song she was singing. I uncover my ears from the pillow, drag the sheets off of my upper body and slowly, but surely, sit up.
There’s a little girl perched on the end of my bed wearing a silky summer dress. Her mousey blonde hair curled into ringlets drapes around her shoulders. She notices my gaze is fixate on her and giggles.
As I watch her, she stands up and spins around. Her delicate face contorts into a fiendish grin as she lets out a blood curdling scream, and then vanishes.
