A Crimson Diary

• Tara Hodson, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2016

There was a young girl who loved to paint, she would paint all day, all night, and any time she could. She had a flow of creativity, she would always think outside the box when it came to ideas. Her special art book was full of sketches and paintings that she had done. Until one day she went missing from her home, it is said that she was banished away from the earth, but I don’t believe that. This artist turned out to be my great aunt Gladys, I would always idolise her but never knew what actually happened to her. She went missing in 1977 and was never seen again after that. After a year or so, the police gave up on finding her as there was no trace of how she disappeared.
As I read through the old missing reports I wondered where she actually went, we still lived in the old fashioned house that she, and many other generations had lived in and modified over the years. But the one place no one ever touched was the attic. My parents said that the attic was a very special place full of sacred memories and remains of the past, so when I own the home to never, ever, touch the attic. Little did my parents know that when I said I was going to a friend’s, I was actually reading about my great aunt Gladys and what she did during her short life. I had many questions about her, so many that couldn't be answered.
As I stared through the dirty window pane, I noticed the large tree outside. It really was a beautiful tree as such so it was hard to take my eyes off of it. I really do wonder what great aunt Gladys did near the tree. Once I snapped out of the daydream, I resumed my goal.
After scavenging through the piles of books, right at the bottom I found what looked to be one of my great aunt Gladys’ diaries. It was a deep crimson red on the cover and had an eerie feeling to it, I questioned whether it was hers. It was in fact her diary, but what I saw was something I never expected.
The first page in itself was just plain scary. It was covered in red scribbles in what looked like a fountain pen because of the drips and in the background I couldn't even make it out properly but it was like some sort of figure. A dark, dark, figure.
I frantically turned the page, now finding a painting… a painting of my aunt Gladys! And even worse her face was twisted and distorted making her look demon like. The pages were flicking themselves! The words wrote “JUST DIE ALREADY”. Closing the book as fast as I could, I went under the tree. Immediately burying the book in the rich soils and dirt, I ran back inside. Was that really a red fountain pen on the page?