Lucy, my favorite almost 13 year old, has finally agreed to be a guest blogger on my blog. The following is a short story she wrote (in under an hour) for a class assignment. I think she's brilliant, what do you think? Enjoy!
Shattered
I turned over. “Alexa? Still awake?” It was a moment before Alexa’s soft breathing stopped and I heard the rustling of sheets.
“What, Carlie?” She asked. I could hear the telltale sounds of sleep in her voice; maybe she hadn’t been faking it.
“Do you believe in demons? Like the ones summoned from the Underworld to…break your heart?”
“No, of course not. Carlie, are you feeling okay?” There was the sound of creaking springs and Alexa’s dark shape navigated around my bookshelf and desk before she sat on my bed. I felt her cool hand against my forehead and I knew she felt my racing pulse and high temperature.
“Carlie!” He hand slipped down to my cheek, which was hot with anticipation, or fear. I didn’t really know.
“I need to tell you, Alexa. It’s like something is pushing me from the inside, pushing me to spill,” I whispered. My heart beat faster.
“Okay, Carlie. If it going to make you feel better,” Alexa said. She pulled up my quilt and laid on her side, like she had done countless sleepovers before we got too big to share. I straightened up, and smiled. It felt strange, because I hadn’t smiled since…what, three months ago?
“You remember Elizabeth, right?” I started. Without waiting for an answer, I kept going. “Well, her death wasn’t an accident.” My voice dropped. “It was my fault.”
“Geez, Carlie, don’t be so hard on yourself,” Alexa said sympathetically. She reached for my hand and squeezed. I pulled away.
“All my fault.” I closed my eyes and went back, speaking as I recalled the last two weeks before my sister’s demise.
“Come on, Carlie!” Elizabeth shouted. I kicked harder, and as the wall approached, I put my head down and in a pure sprint I touched second. I saw the pink cap and shiny gold goggles of the girl who beat me by a millisecond. She was smirking at me with chapped lips, and the way people were cheering for her was a little scary. When I looked up at my mother, her eyes were focused on the winner. She was clapping mechanically, and smiling a smile that stretched across her face in a disgusting way. My eyes found my coach. She had the same wide grin as my mother plastered across her face and was clapping in a way that made her look possesed. I yanked my goggles off and looked at the girl. She had taken her goggles off too and was treading straight upright, eyes closed as of she was drinking in the applause. The horn sounded, and the next heat stepped up to the starting blocks. It was time for us to get out. I was out before anyone else. Ms. First Place was out soon after me, but not before I saw her in the water.
She wasn’t treading, just floating.
Like a corpse.
Like she was dead.
After the meet was done, I was sitting on a stair to the parking lot when Creepy-Girl came up to me. Up close, she seemed more like a corpse then when I saw her in the pool after the two hundred breaststroke. Her eyes were like black pools of water, holding fear and evil deep inside them. Her hair hung like a crow’s wing: thin, sleek and sharp. I didn’t even think it was cleaner than a wing of a crow.
“Good swim, Caralyn,” she said. I nodded at her, a little creeped out. She knew my name? My full name, no less!
“Thanks.” Though to me it sounded more like a question.
“I’m Adrienne, by the way.” Her voice was no more than a whisper, like something evil on the wind as it passes through the trees. I also noted that her name was uncommon, rare at the most. She smiled as if she could read my thoughts. Her chapped lips turned up at the corners, and then I realized that her lips were not actually chapped. They were tattooed with little white lines, spidering and twisting in odd formations. I smiled back at her and picked up my bag. I planned to walk in the other direction, but I saw three kids from my swim team; and all of them had tattoos across their lips, even though I swore they didn’t have them last time I saw them, but here they were, smiling creepily at Adrienne like she was their savior. Now that they were closer, I saw that they were Jason, Maggie and Opal. Maggie and Opal had raced against Adrienne, and lost. If they had any sense left (which they clearly didn’t) they would've avoided even being near Adrienne. Jason hadn’t raced against her but he was against tattoos. I started freaking out and turned the other direction, towards the pool, where I saw Elizabeth. She held out her hand and Adrienne and her new friends backed up really fast. Elizabeth came to me and together we walked into the parking lot. As we passed Adrienne, I swear she muttered something like “geis.”
Read the rest of Shattered next Monday!
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