Dark storytelling by our daughter Olivia Speck (15). English school work. November 2020.
On a cloudy afternoon a little girl went on a 4-day vacation to the old house where her grandma lives. Her grandma picks up the kid from the train station.
«Are we finally here?»
«Yes sweetheart, there’s my lovely house.»
The grandma opens the old door.
«Here we are.»
«Eww, the house is full of dust and cobwebs!»
«Yes sure, what did you expect, it’s an old house. Don’t wonder if you see some rats.»
«Eww, that’s gross.»
Both of them are eating dinner:
«This house is spooky.»
«Well, if you think so … anyway do you wanna hear some things about my life here when I was a child?»
«Yes please. That would be interesting.»
«At the very beginning my parents bought the house from an old man who was too poor to keep the house proper and clean. So he had to leave his lovely house. My parents and me moved in and made some changes.»
«For example?»
«We made the whole kitchen new and the bathroom as well. We bought some new telephones and radios. And we also changed the yard into a better state. Nowadays it is still in a good state. I’ve planted some berries. But there is one problem.»
«And what’s the problem? Don’t the berries grow?»
«Yes they do and how, you don’t even know that.»
«So what’s the problem then?»
(the ajar door opens with a crack.)
«Grandma! What was that? The door opened by itself!»
«Amy my dear, don’t panic now. I opened the windows in the next room. The air is stale.»
«And?»
«A storm is on its way. It’s very windy outside. There’s a draft. Everything’s okay. Don’t be afraid.»
«Huu – if you think so … well … »
«You asked me about the problem in my yard. It’s actually pretty simple. The birds are a plague. They are eating away all my delicious berries …»
«Oh.»
«You know what?»
«Wha -» (The rest of the word is going down with the loud clink of a cup which falls out of the cupboard.)
«Grandma! This house is haunted. There’s again a strange happening inside this house!»
«My dear, this house isn’t haunted! It’s my fault. I’ve put the cup on the wrong place. It was too close to the edge. I guess you’re just exhausted from that long journey. That’s why you overreact. Go to bed now, come on.»
«Umpf.»
«And tomorrow I’m gonna show you the yard.»
«Ok.»
In the girls bedroom:
«Although there is a storm outside I’ll open your window just a bit.»
«Mmm.» (she goes to bed.)
«But Grandma? What if this house is haunted?»
«This house isn’t haunted.»
«But what if? I mean the door opened by itself, the cup fell out the cupboard. What’s next?»
«Darling, it’s an old house. Of course you think it’s spooky. But don’t be afraid. There’s nothing. And tomorrow will be a great day. Just sleep now. If you need me, I’ll be in the living room. I’m going to listen to the radio.»
«You don’t go to sleep now?»
«Not yet, I’m not very tired and I couldn’t sleep anyway since this storm is raging.»
«Ah ok. So, goodnight Grandma. I love you forever!»
«Goodnight Amy. I love you too, even if I’m dead I’ll alway be by your side.»
«Where?» (confused.)
«In your heart sweetie.» (she closes the door.)
In this night the little kid has an awful nightmare about a hangman in her garden. He swings his scythe up and down. The girl wakes up. And takes deep breathes in and out. She suppresses a scream. At this moment a draft comes from the window. The curtain winds around. Slowly the girl gets up to close the window. Right as she reaches the window, the girl sees a lightning.
«Ahhh, my nightmare came true!»
The big scary hangman of her dream is standing in the dark yard. In his hand is a big scythe which he swings up and down. In the light of the next lightning the little girl doesn’t see the hangman anymore.
«He’s gone! Holy cra-.»
(A thunder crashes loud in the atmosphere.) Amy pushes the curtain over the window and runs right to her grandmas room.
«Grandma!»
«Grandma!»
She opens the old door. And turns the light on. She screams loudly.
«Holy crack.» She whispers. In front of the girl lays her grandma without a move in her bed. Without one move.
«The hangman.»
The girl looks around to see if the hangman’s behind her and closes the door. She runs straight to the old telephone. As fast as she could she dials the number of her mother. At the same moment the girl recognizes that the radio’s on.
«Grandma forgot to turn it off.»
«… this night all the telephone cables in our village got broken because of the storm. We’ve never had such a big storm. It has the strength of grade 7. We try to fix the cables but it’s complicated. According to a weather forecast the storm goes on for 4 hours.» (radio in the background.)
«Oh no! What should I do now … Please can someone help me …»
She walks back to her room and lays back in her bed. She is desperate.
«Wh … Wha … t shoul- … What should I doo …? The hangman came and killed my grandma, I guess he will soon come and kill me. I bet she knew that … Nonono that can’t be … But she knew she would die soon. Why else did she say that she will always be by my side …»
The storm outside seems still like it would never end. There’s a heavy thunderstorm outdoors.
Suddenly Amy hears a strange noise out of all the other noises. She hears footsteps.
«Oh gosh he comes! The hangman! I’m dead!»
She puts her blanket over her whole body.
Slowly and silently but still with a little crack the door opens. A big hand pulls away the blanket. The kid frightens. She panics and again suppresses a scream.
«He comes …»
(Pause)
«Grandma!»
As she slowly opens her eyes, she stares in the soft eyes of her grandma. Amy screams again.
«But … but … you’re dead! Are you a ghost?»
«Darling, what are you talking about? I’m not dead! Yesterday I took a sleeping pill. I can’t sleep naturally with such a loud storm outside. But I woke up because I heard a scream. It was literally next to me. I guessed it was you so I thought I should go and have a look if you’re alright.»
«Well, well, well you’re not dead. Do you lie?»
«Sweetheart, calm down, why would I lie? No I’m alive. What’s wrong?»
«First of all I dreamed about a hangman then I woke up. I wanted to close the window so that I could sleep again. But then I saw a hangman in our yard.»
«Oh no … you imagined this because you’re tired you see literally ghosts. Don’t be afraid. Go to sleep again.»
The girl isn’t really convinced but she listens.
«But Grandma … all the telephones are broken …»
«Yeah that’s clear in a storm in this strength.»
«Amy just go back to sleep. Everything’s ok, don’t panic. Tomorrow will be great.»
«But why did you say, that you’ll always be with me even if you’re dead?»
«Just for your information. Not that I think that I die soon but one never knows. And I think it’s better if it’s said as early as possible.»
«Ah ok so everything is good?»
«Yes darling it’s a promise! Sleep well!»
«You too!»
In the next morning:
The sun is shining and it’s not windy anymore. Amy and her grandma are going outside after having breakfast.
«Now you’ll see my yard!»
«And I’m gonna show you where I saw the hangman tonight.»
«Yeah you can do this … ah your hangman.» (a bit annoyed.)
«Ahhh, there he is! He lies on the ground. Grandma! Let’s go inside and call the police. I bet he’s gonna kill at least one of us!»
On the ground in front of Amy and her grandmother lies a big, black thing. It seems really scary.
«Oh no, calm down Amy, haha that’s just my scarecrow. It fell over because of the storm. I bought it, so that the birds maybe don’t always eat my seed. But it doesn’t really help. And it’s not a hangman but just my scarecrow.»
«Holy crack! It seems freaking realistic. So … okay … just a scarecrow, not a hangman … your house is a bit scary, don’t try to excuse that!»
«Yeah at the moment perhaps, but you will soon get used to it.»
The old grandma picks up the scarecrow and puts it back to its place.
«Thank you.» – an old mysterious voice says.
It’s the voice of the scarecrow.
Thank you Olivia for this marvellous dark story!
Enjoy Olivias manuscript.
Please wait while flipbook is loading. For more related info, FAQs and issues please refer to DearFlip WordPress Flipbook Plugin Help documentation.
Images: Selfies (of myself ;-), as probably most of my selfies are). Hmm really? Scary, aren’t they?
Home
Thank you for reading.
You can sign up for my newsletter here.
