Hauntingly Beautiful

• Paris Hardwick, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2013

“I’m coming, I’m coming!” Stacey shouts, out of breath from racing up the unravelling staircase. As she enters her room she immediately throws herself on her bed with a plate of Lamingtons. “Don’t crease my clothes!” Anne stresses as she frantically collects her clothing from the bed. Stacey just rolls her eyes. “Help me! Look, which one do i wear tonight?” Anne demands as she raises each dress over her body.“Either one looks fine” Stacey mutters not paying much attention. “I came here for you to help me and you’re doing nothing so I’m going home!” Anne hisses. Stacey frowns, she had a weird feeling about being alone. “I really hate you, you know that?” Stacey jokes as she helps carry Anne’s school bag down stairs “Good luck tonight with Nick!” Anne turns around and winks before walking her way out of the lengthy drive way and across a few streets to her house.

The moonlit sky seemed hauntingly beautiful to Stacey as she observed by the window. She loved to just be with her thoughts. Stacey was always jealous of Annes beauty...thats how she got boys like Nick. Handsome and so caring, which seemed too good to be true. “Looks like its just me and you tonight” Stacey sighs as she picks up and opens her laptop from under her sheets scattered amongst her bed. She pauses for a second...and realizes her internets disconnected. After minutes of trying and failing to fix it she closes the lid slowly, slides off her bed and gracefully walks to the bathroom, where her phone is charging. As she enters the tiled room the bright yellow light bulb flickers. Stacey halts. “What the hell...” Stacey murmurs under her breath. She snatches her phone from the electrical output and a spark of light flies before darkness. She drops to the floor the exact minute, her heart now racing 100 pulses. She unlocks the the cold phone in her hand with difficulty because of her violent shaking. “Hurry up Anne pick up the phone!” Stacey trembles. It felt like forever had passed before she saw her phone was out of signal.

Her whole body turns white, she had to get out of the house as fast as she could. With tears of horror running from her eyes she crawls out of her room, unable to see in the pitch black. She feels her way to the staircase and slowly raises herself up onto her feet. “Please...Please don’t fall!” She quails silently. Slowly she steps down the monstrous stairs. Distracted by a piercing, screaming sound she heard in the distance. Her trembling feet miss a level and she tumbles headfirst down the remainder of the stair case landing in a miserable clump on the cold tiles. She slowly lifts her pulsing head from the floor and places her purple bruised hands over her excruciating wound she finds above her eyebrow. Her shaking hands lower themselves to her ears after she feels a dripping sensation coming from them. Stacey, shaking in terror takes a deeper breath than she has ever taken before. With a powerless leg she manages to clutch onto something...not completely sure what it is. With two shaking hands she halts herself up.

After she hobbles up to an injured leg she notices the object that helped her. She leans out to feel the object but it’s no longer there. From the corner of her eye she observes a dim light behind her. She fees herself stop breathing. “I’ve missed you dearly beautiful.” A husky voice projects directly into her ear. In those seconds Stacey forgot about all pain she was suffering. She could not speak, scream, run or hide. Her body had shut down and her mind turned blank.

Ever so slightly she limps around to face the man. The image of the man was blurry and unclear but she manages to still find a picture. With uncontrollable heavy breathing Stacey runs with her fragmented leg limping behind her to the door. Turning the lock at the speed of light. She busts the door open ready to shoot out of the house but a lifeless, hanging Anne blocks her escape. Stacey screams and falls to the ground after Annes body. “ANNE! ANNE!” Stacey screams repeatedly, concealed in the blood that covered the concrete. “ANNE WHAT HAS HE DONE TO YOU! ANNE, PLEASE ANNE TALK TO ME. WHAT HAS NICK DONE TO YOU!” She screams, bawling as her terror filled eyes widen to Anne’s nearly decapitated neck.
“You’re next.” Nick whispers into stacey’s ear, as he brushes the wisps of her blonde hair away from her face. He drags her squirming, begging body back into the house and locks the rustic door behind him.