Fears In Town

• Tegan Catterall, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2007

Rain smacked Cassidy’s window. Since moving to Evergreen Town, all Cassidy had seen was rain. Her father had moved here after their mother lost her third child to pneumonia. Their new house was a blue two story on the edge of town.
Downstairs Cassidy heard her brother Norman shrieking with delight at one of her father’s old jokes. Next door Cassidy heard her mother’s gentle sobs. After an hour Norman burst into Cassidy’s room, his red/brown hair a mess and his eyes screaming with delight. “Cass! Daddy told me the tale of Evergreen! Want to hear it?” squealed Norman. While he screamed out the tale Cassidy snuck downstairs to see her dad straightening the lounge room. Ignoring the mess Cassidy strode up to her father. “Daddy can I please ditch Norman tomorrow?” asked Cassidy hooking her long, sandy blonde curls behind her ears. “Ha, ha, afraid not Cass, but you can get your mum down here to eat dinner” laughed Cassidy’s dad, his face red from laughing too hard and his brown eyes as playful as Norman’s.
Mumbling Cassidy walked up to her parent’s room and found her mother crying into the pillow. “Mummy?” said Cassidy. Lifting her head and moving her long, sandy blonde hair, Cassidy’s mum looked at her. “I saw her Cassidy! I saw her!” panicked her mum. Cassidy walked up to her mum and sat down next to her. “Saw what mummy?” she asked, unsure if she wanted an answer. “Her! The dead daughter of Evergreen! Please help me, she said I’m next! Or the first!” whispered her mum trembling in fright. Pulling her mother closer Cassidy hugged her lovingly. “Silly mummy no one will take you away from us” she smiled. But if Cassidy had bothered to look outside she would have seen a small girl with two red braids sitting on the picket fence. “Liar!” the girl said, but her words were lost on the wind.
The next morning Cassidy led an upset Norman to school. “Cass, what if mummy saw Miriam?” asked Norman more than a little scared. “Who?” replied Cassidy stopping to look down at Norman. Before he could reply a third voice joined in from the stone fence. “Hi” said a boy’s voice.
“Who are you?” demanded Cassidy squeezing Norman’s hand. “Henry Smoulder” the boy smiled. “I’m Cassidy Derek and this is Norman, my brother” frowned Cassidy stepping away from Henry. Easily Henry leapt to Norman’s side. “How old are ya Norman?” asked Henry. “Eight, and Cassidy is eleven,” said Norman now hugging Cassidy’s waist tightly. “Beware, Miriam won’t quit till your mum is dead!” shouted Henry. His words froze Cassidy’s blood and made her wish she could go home, but she couldn’t it would scare Norman even more and anyway, Henry was probably teasing them.
As they walked home that afternoon Cassidy couldn’t help noticing an old woman curled up in the street. “You okay?” asked Cassidy rolling the woman over. Cuts were all over the woman’s face and her hands and feet were held on by a fine piece of body tissue. Breathing deeply, Cassidy let out a blood curdling scream as the woman’s blood spread onto Cassidy’s hands, thick and crimson. People ran into the street to see what was wrong.
“You kids okay?” asked the Police officer when homicide showed up. “No! We just found a dismembered body!” shrieked Cassidy ready to run home and beg to move far from Evergreen. “Boss, this is strange. Neither signs of weaponry use nor any evidence of any kind,” whispered one officer to Cassidy’s interviewer. “What?” asked the interviewer. Cassidy tried to cover Norman’s eyes as the body was moved into an ambulance.
To be continued…