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."

To Begin With (I)

                It is that time of a year again; where people wear thick clothes and nose turns red. The view of a road down the street from the window-view is blurry due to the cold temperature outside. Wiping the window with the sleeve of my sweater, I can see kids throwing snows at each other down there. They are running and laughing. They looked really happy. At least it seems like. The snow is still falling down and cars are covered with thick snow now. It's been two days of snowing. Being distracted for few minutes by the sounds of those kids, I turn my focus to the room I'm in. The room is not really big. Probably a good size for a hotel room. It's covered with vintage wallpaper and Lavender aroma is filling in. At the end of the room situated a small brown table that portrays the element of 80's. On the top of it is a book with a dark red cover. Everything seems to be well-arranged and welcoming. The hotel management did a great job. A knock is heard on the door.

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               I was a sixteen year old boy at the moment to begin with. I lived in a small town at the outskirt of the city, out of sight. Moonlilies grown on the river banks and fireflies gathered on its surface at night, making the water glow and sparkle. It was a beautiful place to gain peace but there was something unsettled about the river. Whenever I had a bad day or sad things happened, I would sit by the river and all my sorrow seemed to fade away, along with the river flow. Mom used to tell me to never go near the river because it's dangerous. I heard about it. Everyone was talking about it. My friends talked about it too. I've learned that curiosity killed the cat, but I did survive.

               On the April 14th, ignoring all the talks and stories of the townfolks, I went to the river for the first time. It was tremendously beautiful. Fortunately, the river was not far from my house, I could possibly go there whenever I wanted to. I put my school bag on the ground and took a sit near the river, facing the wide beautiful scenery. It was amazingly peaceful and calm. I decided to close my eyes for a while, enjoying the sound of the water swooshing on the rocks, chirping of birds, dancing grass, a laughing from a distance, the smell of flowers-- There was a laughing. I opened my eyes and remained still, trying to confirm the sound I heard just now. 

"Nope. That should be my imagination. Nobody else is here anyway." 

A laughing came again, it sounded closer this time, I weren't alone in that place.  

Heart beat faster.

          I picked up my bag and tried to remain calm. It's strange then that everything seemed to stop by the motion. It felt like even the Earth itself stopped spinning for the moment. Turning around, I saw a girl in white dress holding a book. Her bright light blue eyes was staring straight at me and for a second I forgot what color the sky was. She handed over the book and smiled. I blinked; book in hand, and she's long gone. I ran back home feeling confused and scared, all mixed up in one. 

I reached home around 6 pm.

"Where have you been for the whole day, young boy? Dinner's ready at the kitchen." mom greeted me with a warm smile but not warm enough to settle down my thought.

"Later," I ran upstairs.

          I went into my room and opened my school bag. There's the book. It wasn't a daydream. They weren't lying. I flipped through the pages, trying to figure out the contents of the book. The book had a dark red cover and few worn out pages. There's a small note written at the top of the page 6.

- By the time you're reading this sentence...

Curiosity killed the cat.

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

"Tell me about it."

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