In A Heartbeat

• Nikita Lobo, Grade 11, Glen Waverley Secondary College - Glen Campus
• Short Story
• 2013

Excellence Award in the 'Dream Big 2013' competition

I still remember the first time I saw her. They were usually all the same, no distinct features, nothing to tell them apart. It was the middle of the night and I had woken up because my room was stuffy. It was the room at the end of the house and it didn’t get much light. I thought I would take a stroll around and try to tire myself out. So, I walked. My footsteps sounded like drum beats against the cold, hard, wooden floor. I was trying to tread lightly so I wouldn’t wake anyone. I was almost to the kitchen when I saw it. Her. I stopped. The hair on the back of my neck stood up. I wanted to scream but my voice wouldn’t work. My heart started beating faster. It felt like she knew that. It felt, like we could somehow feel each other’s presence. Like we were the same. That made it worse. Her face had no features. It was just white. Pure, glowing white. Her hair covered a large portion of her face and hung down. It covered what would have been her eyes. But I could feel them there. She was glaring at me. I had what she didn’t. I had what she wanted. What she would do anything to get. Her eyes bored into me and I could feel her hatred, her disgust, her longing. But, behind that, I found sorrow. I blinked. She was gone.
I wanted to scream but no one would believe what I had seen. A single tear fell from my left eye. The sound was magnified as it splashed on the ground. I knew what she wanted. What I had and she didn’t. My body. She wanted it. She wanted to strip my life away. And she would do anything to get it.
And that’s when it began.