Random Stories

Haunted By One's Self

A/N: I hope you enjoy!

I light another candle and watch as the flame burns bright in the surrounding darkness. I write something quickly onto a parchment.

Anyone could walk in this room to see me at this moment. This is the time where everyone haunts the hallways because they couldn't sleep.

No one could. Not after...... I shake myself out of these thoughts. I brush my brown hair back and jot down some more things on the parchment.

Footsteps click and clack in the hallway and it gets louder and louder until it gets outside the door. I pocket the paper and hide in the closet. There's just enough space for me to fit.

The doorknob jiggles and the door opens, letting some moonlight in. My eyes land on the still burning candle. Shoot. I forgot to blow it out.

A slender figure enters with a candle in her hand. The candlelight shines on her face, highlighting her black eyes and her hair.

It's just Bella. Bella, who is extremely smart. I hope that she won't find me in here. She probably will though, it doesn't take much to piece the puzzle pieces together from the burning candle and the slight crack of the closet door.

Bella doesn't notice the candle that I lit. She just sets down her candle at the table and takes out a fresh piece of parchment from the drawer.

Something's wrong. Bella always notices if something is out of place. Well, who could blame her? Ever since the incident, everyone is off.

Bella begins to draw something with her quill. Her strokes are graceful and possibly calming to even watch.

"Come out Jane, nobody's going to hurt you." Bella says, still focused on her drawing.

I hold my breath. Maybe she's talking to the drawing itself. Bella shakes her head.

"I'm not talking to the wall, Jane. I know you're in the closet." Bella says.

I take a deep breath and step out of the closet. "How did you know I was here, Bella?" I ask, even though it sounds like a stupid question.

"I noticed the slight crack and the candle still burning. Even though the incident happened, I'm still on my toes." Bella answers.

I stand next to her and look at what she's drawing. It's a bunch of scribbles and words that I can't decipher. "Do you want talk about it?" I ask.

Bella stiffens. "No, especially after what happened."

At her words, images come to my head. My best friend betraying all of us for the other side. That we didn't find out until a life among us was taken.

Her death still haunts me, even after a month since the death. Bella was the most devastated. After all, the two were the best of best friends.

Sara and Bella. Two beautiful names. They were so uplifting. Now, Bella is the only one to be uplifting. At the thought of Sara brings tears to my eyes.

I blink them away. Bella needs the most comfort right now. I hesitantly rest my right hand on her shoulder. I've never been good at showing signs of affection.

She leans into it, so I must be doing something good. I start humming a melody that my mother used to sing to me when I was sad.

The melody is calming. It sets the mind at ease.....well.....it always set my mind at ease.

Bella's eyes slowly close and her tight clench on the quill loosens. I set a firm, but gentle grip onto her shoulders so she doesn't fall while I keep on humming.

The melody ends and silence ensues in the room for a moment or two with only heavy breathing from Bella.

Bella's asleep now and for the first time, it seems like she is at peace. For tonight, she is at peace.

I carry her to a couch and settle her on top of it. I drape a blanket over her and whisper, "Good night."

I sneak out the door. My soft steps patter on the floor in the hallway. I can't go back to bed. My mind still races.

I encounter the door that goes to the backyard. I go through it and find a garden. I allow myself a small smile. Flowers always calm me. Planting them was the only time my mother and I really form a connection.

I sit right in the middle of the walkway and just close my eyes, basking in the fragrance of the flowers surrounding me.

A noise sounds to my right. I instinctively open my eyes and stand up. My eyes land on the cause of the noise. It was only a squirrel.

I return to my position on the grass and just relax. I think about Bella.

Bella's haunted by all these memories. I am too.

These memories that we are - the rest of us too - are haunted with are the happy ones. The fact that we would all never create new ones with the most important person in those memories breaks our hearts.

If I could change the past, I would save Sara. I can't though. I can only cover the empty hole in my heart.

Sara is haunting us, like a cloud in the sky that blocking the sun. She will haunt us in our dreams, our waking moments and our life, until we die.

If we accept her death, the haunting is lighter upon our shoulders.

If Bella and I do.

If I do.

I let out a sigh and begin to stand. I smooth out the dirt in my skirt.

Sara is with me tonight. I just know it. I feel her presence.

She is haunting me.

She is with me.

Each moment is a nightmare.

I am Sara's spirit. I am the nightmare of my own life, by entertaining the memories of the dead.

I am haunting myself.