To Begin With (II)

“Have you heard about the river, a girl and the book?” they asked.

“Tell me about it.”

“Well, you won’t like it if I say it this way but it’s haunted.” 

“It was dated back to the 16th century featuring a young, disfigured girl with a book in her hand.  They called her “The Lady in White”. The girl would be seen holding a book but nobody really knows what is inside the book. Some say it’s a cursed book; pictures of missing children would be in every page as they were turned into a part of the stories in the book. Bad children who crept at night would be chased by her. The people who went there at night were never seen or heard from again. Few cases of missing children were reported soon after the stories got spread around the town. The legends became so well-known that people refused to even go there during the day. At least that’s what they thought."


There I was in my room, staring at the so-called-cursed book.

It was page 6.

                                   *By the time you’re reading this sentence, 

     you’re now out of sight, out of thought, out of everyone’s mind.

“Who on Earth would believe such legends? Hah. This is just a sick joke made by those townfolks. I’m done with scaring myself with this kind of shit.” I closed the book and threw it on the floor.


Forgot about the dinner downstairs, I dozed off into the dreamland.

                       The next day after school, I went to the river again. Like the first time I went there, I was still mesmerized by the beautiful scenery presented. It was really beautiful and peaceful. I spent half of my days sitting by the river and only went home when the sunset. Going to the river had become a part of my everyday routine. I told mom I had a practice at school, she believed. Day by day, I was used to being alone with the calmness offered by the river. I no longer went out with friends and whenever they asked me out, I’d just made excuses. At one absolute point, I felt annoyed with their existence. Friends stopped coming to my house. I lost my only best friend, Jake. I didn’t talk to families anymore and sometimes I didn’t care if they were or weren’t at home. I decided not to bother anymore as long as I had my special place, things would be okay. At school, I didn’t talk to people because…I felt annoyed. I felt annoyed listening to voices of people. 

                        One evening, I went home after spending my time at the river. It was all silence. I could even hear the sound of the fan spinning in the living room and my own footstep. 

“Hello?” my voice echoed through the room.

“Hello? Mom? Dad?” all I heard was the reflected voice of mine.

“Guess they went out again. It’s been a week since I last saw them. *Sigh” decided not to bother; I went upstairs to my room. I saw a book on the floor. It was the book the girl gave. 

“Well hello there, let me read you since I have nothing else to do.” picking up the book, I started to go through the pages. All the stories in there were about missing kids; with names, details and pictures included.

Amanda Striffe, 10, June 12th

Sarah Lane, 14, December 5th

Adam McGaven, 20, February 17th

Alex Hanz, 7, March 22nd

Anne River, 19, August 13th

“The person who wrote this definitely put a good effort into scaring the people in the town. Heh,”

Few minutes of enjoying myself with the short stories in the book, I came into one page with a picture that looked quite familiar to me.

“Anne River, 19, August 13th”

The girl in white dress.

“Wait, this is the girl. The girl I saw near the river.”

I flipped to the next page.

“Sean Jason, 16, April 14th”

The story of a boy who fell into the river.

I dropped the book. 

I tore the page apart.

I went downstairs.

Nobody’s at home. Still.

I went outside and noticed that the cloud didn’t even move. I couldn’t even feel the air.

They weren’t lying.

                                                                     ----------

                       My name is Sean. Sean Jason. It’s snowing outside but I already forgot how snow feels like. I could hear the kids down the street but I’m not sure anymore what happy is all about. There’s a knock on the door. 

“I’m sorry, stranger. I left the book for you now.”



Opening the knocked door,
“Hello, visitor. I’ve changed the sheet and vacuum the room, do enjoy your stay here."