"A monster?" Erica's incredulous voice spoke up, looking at the younger girl with a clear 'what the hell' look.
Emily nodded vigourously, flailing her arms exaggeratedly, "Yeah, it was huge and skinny and-"
"And it had no face?" Erica continued, still skeptical about the whole situation. Her friend nodded once more, confirming the fact that she was going insane. "Sure," the dark brunette girl nodded slowly.
Emily rolled her eyes, she knew that she didn't believe her. It sounded insane. Maybe she was insane. "I know it sounds weird-"
"No it doesn't," Erica interrupted her, "It doesn't sound weird. You sound like my brother. That's even worse." Emily sighed in defeat, if her best friend didn't believe her, nobody would. She rubbed her eyes tiredly, she was very tired. Erica turned a little more serious, "Are you sure you weren't hallucinating? I mean, how long have you slept in the last three days?"
Emily dropped her face into her crossed arms, her words coming out muffled by them, "I don't know," she lifted her head and propped it onto her right hand, "I don't use numbers if I don't have to."
"Of course you don't," Erica deadpanned, resting her fork into her lunch box.
Emily looked down at the lunch she had quickly packed that same morning. One of her brother's energy bars and some peanuts and raisins. "Are you sure you consider this a secret?" She looked at Erica, whose face clearly said 'Yes dumbass'
This was one of her rules, "Don't trust your brother with your secrets." The Harrington girl didn't really think it was a secret, but more of a life threatening situation. Emily sighed, dropping her head back onto her arms. "I'm scared though," she accidentally kicked Erica's shin as she swung her legs forwards under the table, which resulted in her getting a harder kick in return, "I'm going to have nightmares again,"
Erica exhaled heavily as she took another bite out of her lunch, "You don't sleep anyways,"
"But I want to"
"But you don't,"
"But i'm tired,"
"Fine, but when he uses it against you, don't come complaining. I will just smack you with the list and say I told you so."
Emily stared at her for a couple of seconds, and then, dead seriously asked, "Can I have some of your food?"
*...*
"And as I said, you'll have to try and draw a portrait using whatever material you'd like. The due date is next week on Friday." Mr. Anson spoke to the third grade class as they wrote the assignment on their planner.
Kelly Martin, one of the students, raised her hand, "Yes, Kelly," the teacher pointed at the girl with the marker he was holding. The blonde girl asked, "Who do we have to draw?"
She said it at the same time as Miles, one of Emily's desk neighbours, "My drawings look like a three year old spilled paint on paper," that made Emily smile to herself. She liked drawing, but she didn't know if she was necessarily good at it.
Emily looked down at her hands that were rested on her desk, still thinking about what had happened the night prior.
She still couldn't explain it. It was so... strange.
The long and sharp claws, the slimy skin, the animalistic way of walking, the sound it made while it ran behind her, the non existent face, the...
"-Emily," her teacher spoke, "Emily are you listening?" The girl looked up to everyone looking at her, she squirmed in her seat at the piercing gazes. She then turned to look at the teacher, who was looking at her weird. Emily understood why.
She always paid attention to his art lessons.
She straightened herself in her seat, "Yeah, yeah..." she looked around at the expectant stares, focusing on Erica's clueless expression, "No, no, i'm sorry..."
*...*
The classes had just ended, and Emily was heading out of the classroom surrounded by a bunch of eight year olds. The girl was about to head out of the room when she heard her name being called from behind her. She stopped and turned around, to see her teacher heading towards her and standing in front of her at the doorframe. "I'm sorry Mr. Anson, I was just... distracted, and I wasn't paying attention, but I swear its not your fault, its just-"
She was stopped by him, he reassured her saying, "Oh, Emily, it's ok. I'm not mad."
The young Harrington furrowed her eyebrows together, confused about the reaction, "You- you're not?"
Her teacher shook his head, he was calm. She waited for a couple of seconds to make sure he was telling the truth.
He was.
Her dad always got angry...
"Look, Emily, I just wanted to tell you that you can talk to me if you want to, you have my house number from that time you had that origami project in second grade." Mr. Anson smiled at the little girl, "You called many times back then."
Emily wasn't the best at origami. She knew that. But something told her that that wasn't the actual reason why he had stopped her. "Yeah, but, about what?" she looked around, focusing on the worn out doorframe, "I don't have anything to say,"
"Oh I'm sure you don't," the teacher continued, "But maybe you'll sometime need to consult someone on your worries, especially if it tampers with your concentration, alright?"
Emily nodded, still half thinking about the huge grey monster that lived in the woods. "Alright," she adjusted the books she had in her arms.
*...*
"Harrington!"
Emily looked up at her fuming maths teacher, flinching at the hard edge to her voice. Her teacher, was looking straight at her through her thick circular spectacles that rested half up her nose. "What are you doing? Are you at least paying attention?"
The girl looked down at her desk, more specifically at the piece of paper she was drawing on. The white space was mostly covered by a flower like shape, but the delicate nature was sharply contrasted by the sharp triangles at the edges of the 'petals'.
The point is, it wasn't a flower, and those triangles weren't just triangles, like they should've been during a math class.
They were teeth.
*...*
Emily was now walking out of school after a long and confusing day at her elementary school. She hadn't been able to concentrate, not even at Erica's rambles during recess. Everything she could see was that faceless monster, and all she could hear, was the sound it made while it ran behind her.
The crunching of the twigs under its weight.
The screeching noise it made.
The clawing at the trees as it moved faster towards her.
She began walking the way she always went when she had to get home. Exiting the school to the right, then to the left, and a little path at the entrance of the woods.
Yeah she was going to run those last meters.
She was about to do that right turn when she heard someone shouting her name behind her.
"Emily!"
She turned around at the sudden noise, wondering what the actual hell her brother was doing at her school. His friends weren't with him either.
Something was off.
"Steve?" the girl asked while walking towards the teen boy.
"No, my name is Patrick, it's a pleasure to meet you," he rolled his eyes, even though, Emily kinda found it funny. Not that she would ever tell him. "So, mom told me to come pick you up,"
Of course she did.
When Emily didn't move, Steve started to get more frustrated, moving forwards, with a hand on his sister's shoulder, he guided her (maybe a little too harshly) towards the back door. "Now get in short stuff,"
*...*
She was running again, running, she was always running. Why was she running? She was tired. She stopped. She turned around.
She sat up on her bed, letting out a loud scream, enough to wake up the whole United States. She wiped her face, she cleaned it from the cold sweat she was drenched in and the few stray tears that had fallen on her cheeks. She cowered into a corner of the bed, hugging her knees and shutting her eyes tightly. Her heavy breaths were the only sounds she heard in the room.
Breathe in and out.
She knew how to breathe. She knew.
In and out.
Emily heard thumping on the outside of her door, it sounded like someone was running through the corridor. She exhaled shakily, trying to hide her face behind her hair.
It was that thing again.
It wasn't just a dream.
It was too real.
The door was pushed open sharply, making the young girl pull her knees even closer to her chest, her breathing getting even more uneven.
"Emily, what the hell!"
She opened her panicked eyes, still waiting to see the huge monster in front of her bed. Emily only saw Steve, though, which surprisingly didn't calm her down. His eyes were still half closed, but his features were hardened. Granted, he had just been awoken in the middle of the night, but when he caught his sister's gaze he found it hard not to do something.
Things like this happen often if you have a 10 year younger sister, but Steve had never seen her so genuinely scared before, and given the recent happenings in the small town, a small glint of concern crossed his mind. He leant forwards to turn on the small nightstand lamp she had, going to sit on the edge of the bed.
Emily closed her eyes again, and she kept them closed when her brother started talking.
"Look, you look like you just shit yourself, so, what the hell happened," he was new to this.
The little girl opened her eyes slowly, trying to adjust to the bright light. That's when she noticed something. "Oh my god, Steve," she looked away, covering her eyes.
"What?" the teen boy looked confused, but once he looked down, he understood what she meant. He still had no shirt on. "Oh come on! I'm trying to be nice here,"
Emily looked back at him, trying to only focus on his face. Now that she looked, his eyes were surrounded by black eye bags.
He hadn't been sleeping either.
"What happened?" Steve asked again, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes quickly, "And if it's the killer rabbit in the closet again i'm going to kill you,"
The killer rabbit isn't a priority anymore.
Emily let out a short breathy laugh, wiping at her nose, "No, no, it's got nothing to do with rabbits." she turned more serious, making the teen boy focus more on the redness in her eyes. She shook her head at the stupid thing she was about to do.
Steve sighed, as if he expected that answer, "What happened then?" he was getting impatient.
The girl didn't know if she should tell him. He wouldn't take her seriously anymore, and it was already a miracle that he was speaking to her.
It was a miracle that he cared.
"Uhm," Steve's expectant gaze grew on her, making her even more nervous about what she was going to say.
Emily dropped her head in her hands and went with the best option.
Not telling the actual truth, but a truth in some way.
She exhaled and let it out, "He hit her again."
*...*
holy shit.
i'm sorry it took so long.
I started school and I started 8th grade. where i live, at the end of this year there is a really big exam, so we're already full of homework.
i'll try to update soon though.
what do you think about emily's decision? and erica's rules?
it's not edited i'm sorry imao
(on an unrelated note, I think i may have a crush, fùck)