Flash Fiction

The Playground

Genre- Horror

Object- Umbrella

Setting- Playground

She had caught my eye when I sought refuge on the old creaky rusty swings, which thankfully was hidden by the climbing frame and trees, and watched as she swayed upside down on the monkey bars. This playground was as old my great great great grandfather and very secluded from strangers and not many people knew about, but it was enough to keep children busy as their parents got a chance to relax in a way.
Dressed as though she had come from a rich family from the 1940's, her white frilly dress was frilly enough to keep her decent hung from her knees, she was definitely something to look at. Her eyes were closed but seemed to snap open when a parent stared for to long. Parents made sure they're children were pivoting around the monkey bars and making sure they were on something else like the climbing frame or the slides. As I managed to sit myself on the swaying seat, the girls eyes were already trained on me, her head coming to angle that didn't look comfortable. Deciding that my shoes had something different about them, I let myself relax even though a certain girl stare was burning right into my head.
A cold breeze blew made me shiver and noticed how dark it was already. I didn't think I was sitting at the swings for so long. Looking up I notice every man and his dog had left this dark park, the only lights were the crappy orange glow street lights. A sinister giggle caught my ear making my heals snap towards the monkey bars. The girl was missing, and the eerie coldness of this park made want to leave as fast as I could.
It was like someone had replaced my bones with rocks, as my lower body felt heavy and I couldn't find the momentum to move. My head as able to turn side to side, but it felt painful to do so. The sinister giggle was heard again and this time it was from the climbing frame. Perched on the climbing frames platform the girl from the monkey bars sat as though she owned the world and had a lacy white umbrella perched on her shoulder. She giggled strangely, she held the back of her wrist to cover her creepy smile as she giggled again. If it was at me I wasn't sure, my body had gone into a shock of some sort and that's why my bones felt like rocks (that's what I was telling myself). Her head tilted at the unnatural angle again, and something in my twisted gut told me I should've not stopped at this playground. As she let out another sinister giggle I calmly closed my eyes and told my brain to stop dreaming and wake up.

When I opened my eyes my breath caught in my throat. Old wise eyes bored into mine, yet held a bright twinkle of curiosity, but any sense of colour in the eyes was gone and they just looked like a void as nothingness. Telling myself to breath, I let out a shaken breath but it came out as a silent wheeze. The girl backed away and pouted as digging one of her prestige white shoes into the ground below, holding her hands behind her lower back. Any sign of her umbrella from before was gone, like a wisp as air.

'Will you help me?' She chirps as though we had been friends for years. I couldn't seem to find my voice so I gaped at her like s goldfish, which I think she took as a "yes". Smiling creepily she asked her help.

She wanted me to kill someone. There name was familiar but reality was becoming a fast blur for me, colour seeped into one another. I wanted to ask why she wanted this person dead, but my voice felt as though it had been thrown into hole which had been thrown away.

'With this smile I could get away with anything,' she smile cheekily at me flashing me her rotten teeth. ' But this person is much to difficult to find you see.'

Somehow I managed to nod my head, as I understand what she meant. People were such a hassle to find these days, perhaps thats why I never kept many friends in my life. She started to ramble about eating peoples souls but I wasn't listen as I realized how disappointing my life seem to be. Her shrill scream snapped me out of my negative thoughts and my eye met hers again. This made her smile again and black foot start to seep out of her eyes and mouth leaving streaking lines down her face.

'Will you let me end your life?' She queried, her smile still shone through my black hoop on her face. The goop made me feel giddy as that's what my insides felt like, drippy and goopy. Her words didn't really filter through my head as once again I nodded. This caused her to happily let out that creepy smile on her face again as the shadows seemed to pool around as.

And then I realized. This wasn't a normal little girl. This was something else. It might've look, talked and acted as a little girl but it sure as hell wasn't.

My body found its will to move, but by then it was too late. The last feeling in my body was overwhelming pain, the fear of being consumed by darkness and that little girls' creepy void less eyes burning into lifeless ones.