“I spoke with the preacher. He’s a good guy and I think you’ll like him,” he said in the most sincere voice and with a comforting smile.
Carla eased a bit with her dad’s reassurance, her frown turning into a smile. A few blonde strands had fallen out of her ponytail, so she moved to fix it. When she was done, she looked up at her father again.
“Perfect,” he said, smiling approvingly at her. Clayton took a sip of his coffee and watched his daughter fuss with the rest of her outfit, making sure everything was perfect for her first day at church. “You look fine.” He laughed, stopping her before she could find anything wrong with her look. He could tell her nerves were getting to her. “My little girl is growing up.” A sad smile appeared on his face.
“Dad, I’m only thirteen,” Carla corrected him. “You’re stuck with me for thirty more years,” she joked, making her dad feel better.
The two finished their breakfast and placed dirty dishes in the sink. Clayton headed to the living room and motioned Clara to follow him. “Come,” he said. “I have a surprise for you.”
“Really?” she asked excitedly. “What is it?”
He gestured for her to stand right in front of him. When she was where he wanted her, he pulled out a necklace from his pocket. It had a silver chain with a cross pendant dangling on it.
“Oh dad, it looks so pretty!” Carla exclaimed. She held her hair up so her father could place it around her neck without getting any hairs tangled up in it. “Where’d you get it?” She touched the cross and looked at it with amazement.
“I bought it yesterday at that jewelry store you like,” he answered, watching as she kept staring at the necklace with that same wide-eyed expression. “Careful or you're going to be stuck with that look on your face for the rest of your life,” he teased her.
She stuck her tongue out at him before turning her attention back to the necklace. “It’s beautiful. Thanks, dad.” Carla wrapped her arms around her father, hugging him tight.
“You’re welcome.” He smiled down at his daughter, then looked at his watch. “I guess it’s time for you to leave. Take this in case of emergency.” He handed her a phone. It wasn’t fancy or anything like an iPhone. It was just an ordinary flip phone. “My number is on speed dial. All you have to do is press 2 and the call button, and it’ll take you right to me. I’m just a call away so don’t be afraid to contact me if you’re nervous. Oh! Be nice to the kids and the pre—”
Carla had to stop her dad’s rambling before she ended up spending hours listening to rules she already knew by heart. If she didn’t stop him now, church would be over by the time he would finish.
“Dad,” she laughed, interrupting him “You’re rambling.”
“Oh, right.” He let out a chuckle and hugged his daughter one last time before he sent her on her way. He watched as she walked out of the house and headed towards the bus stop close to their home.
As she walked, Carla felt an odd sensation in the pit of her stomach. She ignored it, thinking it was just her nerves, and continued on her way. She stopped right next to the bus stop sign her dad had pointed out to her the previous day. The bus wasn’t there yet so Carla passed her time by kicking around some pebbles and braiding and unbraiding her ponytail. It was cold, quiet Sunday morning and no other kids from her neighborhood were in sight.
She checked the phone her dad gave her to see only a few minutes had passed but to her, it felt like it had been an hour. Her feet were starting to ache so she sat on the sidewalk and began fiddling with the cross on her necklace, closing her eyes and tilting her head sideways as she did so.
The sound of a vehicle rumbling nearby was like music to Clara’s ears. She opened her eyes just as a big yellow bus stopped in front of her. It looked a lot like a school bus, except that it didn’t have the usual signage and it was supposed to take her to church. She stood and walked up little steps into the bus.
Hi, there!” the bus driver greeted her with his hand outstretched. “You can call me Mr. Natas.” She shook his hand and then headed towards middle of the bus, where the only empty seat was. All the other passengers, who were all kids, paid no attention to her and she was perfectly fine with that. She hated it when all the attention was on her. It made her feel uncomfortable.
She rested her head on the window and looked out at everything they passed by as the ride dragged on. First, there were cornfields then farms with cows and horses. The smell of manure made Carla wrinkle her nose in disgust. All of a sudden, the kids on the bus started singing songs with Mr. Natas. She didn’t pay attention to the lyrics because the phone in her pocket started to vibrate.
She flipped it open to see that it was her dad calling. She covered one ear as she answered it to make sure she could hear what he had to say.
“Oh, thank god you’re okay. Where are you?” her father asked in a concerned tone, making his daughter a little confused.
“On the bus,” she answered. . She didn’t get why her dad seemed so worried.
“The preacher called me saying he’s waiting at the bus stop for you and you’re not there.” he said, anxiety growing in his voice. “You might have gotten on the wrong bus. Ask the bus driver to bring you back.”
“Okay,” She stood up and carefully walked to the front of the bus. “Excuse me,” she said to the driver as politely as she could. “I think I got on the wrong bus. My dad wants you to take me back home.” She held the phone close to her because her father was still on the line.
“Is that him on the phone?” the driver asked, pointing towards the silver flip phone. She nodded. “Can I see it?” He looked her in the eyes, then directed his gaze back to the phone. She hesitated for a second, but then she handed it to him. And right in front of her, he just snapped the phone in half. “This is your home now, darling.”
She stepped away from him and gulped, sensing evil for the first time.
Carla looked out the windows and watched as the world outside started to change. The trees and flowers fell limp, losing their leaves and colors. The grass looked dry and dead. The sky went from a baby blue shade to a dark, murky red color. She stared at the deteriorating world in horror, chills running down her spine.
She turned to the children at the back of the bus and saw that they had also changed. Their eyes were lifeless and completely black as if the pupils had devoured the white of the eye. Their bodies looked so thin that she could almost see their bones. It was like they hadn’t eaten in months. All of their soulless eyes were on her. Panic struck her when they started to get up from their seats. Carla turned towards the door and tried to kick it open.
First kick. It didn’t work, but it seemed to loosen the door up a little. The kids were now walking towards her. Second kick. She could see the door was starting to give in. She needed to get out fast before the children reached her and did who knows what to her. She got ready for the next kick. Third kick. She put all of her weight and power into it, and finally the door opened. She raced down the bus stairs and ran out into the evil world.
“After her! Now!” The bus driver screamed at the kids, sending them out after Carla.
The dead grass crunched under her feet as she ran. There were trees ahead of her and they were on fire.
What’s happening? she thought as she dodged the flaming branches. Why are these trees on fire? Where am I? Her legs were growing weak pretty quickly because she had used all her energy to break down the bus door. She knew she couldn’t keep running much longer. The children were gaining up on her, screaming like crazy people. Carla didn’t know where she was or where she was going. Her hope was fading fast.
Finally, her legs gave in and she fell to the ground. She tried to get up but she couldn’t and she was so out of breath and panicked that she couldn’t call for help. All she did was hold onto the cross pendant of the necklace she received from her father. “Take me home. Take me home. Help me, please,” she whispered to herself, curling up in a ball with her eyes shut tight. The screams of the ch
ildren stopped, the running ceased and after a few seconds, she gained the courage to open her eyes.
Her little heart stopped upon seeing the bus driver and children surrounding her. “God can’t save you now.” Those were the last words she heard before she became one of them—one of the kids on the bus sitting there like zombies, waiting to pick up their next victim.
Friends Forever
Friendship. What would you do to keep it?
“Annie, it’s time to put your toys away and get ready for bed,” Annie’s mom, Tess yelled from across the hall.
Annie ignored her mom’s orders and listened to her friend. Her friend’s name is Jasmine.
For Tess, Jasmine was just an imaginary friend that her daughter would soon get over, and she would move on to having a real-life friend. On the other hand, Annie didn’t see her friend as temporary or imaginary. She saw Jasmine as an ordinary little eight-year-old girl just like herself.
“Keep playing with your toys,” Jasmine whispered to her, and Annie did as she said.
Moments later, Tess marched into the room looking pretty ticked off with her daughter’s disobedience. She thought she didn’t have to deal with a rebel child till the dreadful teenage years, but here was her daughter at ten years old, disobeying what she said.
“Did you hear me?” Tess crossed her arms over her chest, looking down at her daughter who was still playing with her dolls.
“Yes.” Annie looked up at her mom for a second to answer the question, then she turned to her toys again.
“Why aren’t you putting your toys away, then?” Tess asked her daughter, expecting her to finally do what she was told. But Annie only ignored her. “So you’re going to ignore me now?” Her annoyance grew by the second. If this were some cartoon, her face would be as red as Rudolph’s nose and steam would be bursting out of her ears. Tess gave up and began picking up the toys off the floor and shoving them into a bin.
Annie just shrugged, got up and walked over to the toy bin and grabbed her dolls again. She sat back on the floor and resumed playing with them.
“You are unbelievable,” Tess scoffed, threw her hands up and began to walk out. She wasn’t wasting another minute trying to get her daughter to listen to her. She knew she was fighting a losing battle.
“Speak,” Jasmine whispered into Annie’s ear. Tess couldn’t hear what her doll wanted to say, but Annie could.
“Jasmine says I don’t have to listen to you,” Annie spoke loud enough for her mom to hear. Just as she suspected, her mother stopped in her tracks. Tess turned around and slowly walked back to where her daughter was.
“Jasmine isn’t real. She’s just an imaginary friend,” her mother said quite proudly. Normally, she wouldn’t try to crush her little girl’s imagination. But tonight, Annie was testing her patience and Tess couldn’t help but be angry.
“No, she’s real.” Annie’s face didn’t change at all when she spoke. She stayed as calm as possible, while her mom was getting even more upset.
“That’s it! If you don’t put these toys back in the bin right now, I’m going to take them all away and you’re going to be grounded.” Tess tried not yell, but she couldn’t control her anger anymore and it showed in the tone of her voice.
“Tidy up your toys,” Jasmine told Annie with a smile. She knew what that smile meant. Jasmine had a plan in mind. But what was it? That question that played in Annie's head over and over as she began picking her dolls up and placing them in the bin. She crawled into her bed and her mother looked at her in astonishment. Tess didn’t really think the threat of being grounded would actually work on her daughter after her deliberate display of disobedience earlier.
“Goodnight.” She looked at her daughter skeptically for a second, then turned off the light and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her. Annie didn’t feel tired yet, so she just stared at the wall and hoped she’d fall asleep soon.
“You need to get rid of her,” Jasmine said, crawling onto Annie’s bed and sitting in front of her.
Annie sat up and faced her friend. “Get rid of who?” She had an idea what Jasmine was trying to say, but she didn’t want to believe it. There could be a small chance her friend was talking about someone else.
“Your mom. She doesn’t really care about you,” Jasmine spoke with a disgusted face, like nothing angered her more than speaking of Annie’s mom. Annie looked doubtfully at her friend. Could she really do what Jasmine was telling her to do this time? Usually, she just asks her to do harmless things like not doing what her mom said or hiding her mom’s things, but this time was different. She was talking about murder here.
“Come on, Annie. If she’s gone, then we could play whenever we want and for as long as we want to.” Jasmine said, trying to persuade her. She was making it seem like getting rid of Annie’s mom would make everything better.
“I don’t know.” There was still that uncertainty in her mind.
“If you don’t do it, then I won’t be your friend.” Jasmine spat out the words no kid ever wants to hear. Annie felt hurt that her only friend would say something like that.
“Okay, I’ll do it,” she finally agreed. “But how would we do it?” she asked, not quite sure how they would carry out Jasmine’s outrageous plan.
“Your mom drinks until she passes out every night after you fall sleep. We could take her out easily using…” Jasmine looked around the room. “That!” she pointed to the rock collection in Annie’s room.
They both hopped off the bed and walked over to the rock collection. Some were tiny pebbles, easy enough to choke on, while some were huge enough to smash someone’s face with.
Jasmine pointed at the biggest rock she could find. Annie picked it up and looked to her friend for further instructions. “Follow me and be quiet,” Jasmine said.
Annie did as she was told, carrying the huge rock in her hand. They made it to the landing of the stairs, where they could see the first floor. Below, Tess was sitting with a drink in her hand, watching television. The couch she sat on was directly below the landing. “Drop it on her,” Jasmine ordered.
With one hand grasping the big rock, Annie carefully slipped her arms between the wooden bars. Then, she closed her eyes and let go. She opened her eyes just in time to see the rock land on her mom’s head. Jasmine ran down the stairs and she followed. As they moved closer to Tess, they saw that her head was bleeding but she was still breathing.
“Take the rock and smash it a few more times on her head,” Jasmine told Annie but the little girl just shook her head. “If you don’t do this, she will live and ground you forever!” Jasmine yelled at her. That was enough to scare Annie into picking up the rock again. She raised it up and smashed it down repeatedly on her mother’s head until they were sure that Tess was dead.
Her mom was gone, and all Annie could do was stare at her with blank eyes.
“Goodbye, Annie.” Jasmine said, snapping her friend out of her trance.
“Where are you going?” she asked, her expression resembling that of a lost puppy.
“Away,” Jasmine answered, not bothering to explain where she was going or why she was leaving. “Goodbye forever.” Those words hit Annie as hard as the rock she dropped on her mom.
“No, you can’t go! You’re my friend!” She began to beg and plead for Jasmine not to leave her. If she did, Annie would have no one.
“I can’t be friends with a killer.” Jasmine looked at Annie like she was a pathetic human being.
“But you told me to!” Annie yelled at the top of her lungs. She couldn’t believe what her friend had just said. She wanted to think it was all a sick joke that they would laugh about it later. She wanted her mom to be alive. She wanted to take back every moment that she was cruel to her mother.
“Do you always listen to what your friends tell you to do?”
With that, Jasmine disappeared, not to be seen or heard of again. And Annie was left all alone.
To Stop a Monster
Eliza is haunted by the same dream every night. If given the chance to stop it from happening in real life, will she be able to do it?
Everyone gathered around on the field to watch a movie on a projector. The film showing tonight was a classic, Stand by Me.
While there were some teenagers—including myself—in attendance, the field was mostly populated by children and their parents. One certain child caught my eye. She was staring intently at another kid, observing him like he was some toy.
The movie started, but I was still focused on the girl. She continued staring at the boy near her. I had this weird feeling at the pit of my stomach. Something wasn’t right.
The young girl stood up her figure blocking most of the screen, everyone’s attention was on her now. Behind her, her shadow grew and obscured little boy’s silhouette, even though she was just a small child herself.
When I leaned in to look at her closely, her eyes met mine. To my surprise, I realized she wasn’t the same kid I was observing five seconds ago.
This one was an evil version of that girl, with eyes as black as soot, teeth as sharp as needles, and a scream that could haunt any child’s dreams for the rest of their life.
The girl looked away from me, and then the frenzy started.
She charged towards the young boy she was starting at for so long and feasted on him like a starved zombie. When she was done with him, she went on a rampage, targeting the other children. She ran faster than any of them so it was easy for her to capture them and end their short, short lives. She ripped out their hearts and feasted on their bodies like a hideous beast from the most horrible of nightmares.
She bellowed, overpowering the sound of everyone’s screams. All I could do was watch. My head told me to run, but I was frozen on the spot and had no choice but to watch the gruesome killing of small children.