Teen Ink

Three Times The Scream

“I can't believe my baby girl's going to college.” Mom sobs while she's driving. I can't last another hour listening to her complain about how bored she's gonna be at the house with out me.
“Mom, I'm only six hours away from home.” I try not to make her more upset, but mom is easily disturbed.
One year, there was a spider loitering on our front porch and mom wouldn't leave or let me go out till dad killed it.
“I know, but the house will be so empty without you there,” Here we go again, “and when your father's at work. I just don't know what to do.” She puts her hand on my shoulder, her hand is warm against my cold skin giving me goosebumps down my arm. “I know I'm acting selfish, but I want you to know that I love you vary much.” She moves her hand from me back to the steering wheel.
“I love you too.” I say laying my head back.
We didn't talk for the rest of the way. I was too distracted with my thoughts to speak anyway. They danced in my head. What if I don't get good grades and they have kick me out? What if I make a complete fool out of myself like in high school?
NEEWOLLAH YPPAH
“Here we are.” Mom says with a shaky voice. I look at her eyes and see that she had been crying while I was asleep. “Let me help you with your stuff.” She opens the door and slides out, heading towards the trunk I hear her mumble under her breath.
“Mom, were you crying?” I ask once I was standing in front of her. I already know the answer, but I felt I needed to ask. I pull my duffel bag over my shoulder staring at her waiting for an answer.
She ignores my question and pulls out the other bags and shuts the door. We walk in dead silence into the main building. I checked in at the office and my room number and key, and my schedule. Room 218.
Again, we didn't talk. My stomach twists and turns with nervousness. Every time mom ignores me I feel sick, like some people do after a roller-coaster.
NEEWOLLAH YPPAH
Finally we had finished putting my things away, and mom left. I sit on my bed feeling overwhelmed with the problems that pop into my head. Once I figure out one problem another takes its place.
The room door swings open, and I jump from the surprise. Looking up I see a tall blond girl with a welcoming smile.
“Hello, I'm Emily.” She walks in and sets a box on the other bed.
“Hi, I'm Autumn.” I rub my head hoping the pain would let me have a moment of peace. She sits there watching me like she's reading my thoughts. I try to ignore her and relax, but my muscles won't allow me to. I wish they made an antidote for nervousness.
Seconds later, a tall woman and man walk in with brown boxes cradled in their arms. Emily leaps to her feet and takes each box one by one, and setting them gently on her desk.
“There you go, sweetie.” The woman says stepping back to see the whole room as if remembering the past.
“Who's this?” The man points at me. His eyes drift from my eyes to Emily's.
“Dad, Mom. This Is Autumn. Autumn this is my mom and dad.” She says pointing out everyone. I stand and nod.
“Nice to met you, but we have to go.” Her mom says leaning over to give her a kiss on the forehead. Her father did too and then they turned around and left.
“I'm so exited for to night.” Emily says shutting the door.
“Why?” I sit back down on my bed. She turns and looks at my with disappointment. “What?” I shrug.
“You mean that no one told you what happened here about 200 years ago?” She seems shocked yet happy.
I give her a confused look and she happily skips to her bed. “Okay, about 200 years ago this college was a hose that belonged to the Johnson family. Mr. Johnson and Mrs. Johnson had a daughter named Isabella. They loved each other vary much and would never yell or hurt one another. One day Mrs. Johnson was killed on the way home from the market. Mr. Johnson was so upset that he beaten Isabella to death. To this day Isabella hunts the school killing kids and teachers on campus.”
“So basically, she's trying to retaliate her father by killing kids and teachers?” I start to laugh. I've heard too many stories that end like that to believe them. “Do you really believe this. It's obvious that someone made it up, like Bloody Marry.”
“I know, but I like ghost stories,” She's fluctuate. She rocks back and forth in her seat, “but I always have this temptation that follows me around until I go to where ever that story happened.”
I shrug. “I like to stay away from that kind of stuff.”
NEEWOLLAH YPPAH
I awake from a scream. I turn to see if Emily was awake. She's sitting up rubbing her eyes.
“Did you hear that?” I say looking for the light switch.
“Yeah, it sounded like it came from the pool area.” She tries to hide her eyes when I flipped the switch.
“Wanna go check it out?” I head toward my desk pulling out a flashlight from the bottom drawer.
“I thought you try to stay away from the unknown.” She stands up looking at me, waiting for me to answer.
“I said ghost and the supernatural world. Not the unknown.” I slip on my jacket and my tennis shoes.
“Okay lets go.” She throws on her jacket and slips on her flip-flops and was out the door before I could change my mind.
“Wow, it sure is dark for a college.” I walk slowly trying not to wake anyone, or anything.
“Can you walk any slower?” Emily says from the end of the hall. I start to run to catch up.
NEEWOLLAH YPPAH
“Here we are.” Emily says opening the door. I walk in and look around.
“No one's here.” Emily looks around and heads toward the pool. I start toward the supply shed when Emily falls screaming at the top of her lungs. Her scream rings in my ears making them feel they're bleeding. I rush to her.
“What?” I try to move her, but she keeps her face hidden.
“T-Tory i-is...” She tries to force it out, but she's too shaky to and scared to say anything else. I stand and walk slowly to the edge of the pool. My heart beating so fast I hear it. My ears ring with the sound of Emily's scream and shaky voice. I clinch my hands into fists not knowing what to expect. I close my eyes and reach the edge, holding my breath and my head to the moon shinning in on me. I slowly look down.
Tory’s body is immersed in the bloody water. For a moment the world seemed to freeze. I couldn’t move a muscle, I couldn't speak. I could only hear a heartbeat.
I see a little girl about 9 on the other side of the pool. Her hair is long and silky, her face is soft and shinny, but in her hand is a knife with blood running down the tip, and blood on her hands. Now that I look closer, her clothes are ripped and blood is smeared across her face.
“Autumn? What are you looking at?” A male voice says next me. I turn to see Danny next to me looking down into the pool. He looks down shocked to see her there.
Tory and Danny are twins. This must be all full for him to see his sister dead.
“I'm so sorry.” Jake pats him on the back.
I turn back to the girl to see her with two other girls that look like her. They're standing there watching Jake.
“What are you looking at?” Jack taps me on the shoulder and I jump.
“Do you see them?” I point to the girls.
“See who?”
“The three girls over there.” I look at him and he fronds. “How can you not see them? They're right there! They're covered in Tory’s blood!” He just stands there squinting in their direction. “What about you? Danny please tall me you see them!” I feel my face getting hot and tiers fall down my cheeks.
“All I see is my dead sister, you, Danny, and Emily standing next to the door calling the police.” His voice is shaky, about to cry.
I can't see ghosts. I can't see ghosts. It's impossible. I can't see them. I open my eyes to see the girls in front of me. Smiles across their pale faces. THIS IS SO NOT MUNDANE!!!
“Lets get you back to our room. Your just tired so your seeing things.” Emily says grabbing my arm. She's still shaky and her voice.
NEEWOLLAH YPPAH
The translucent window lets the sunlight on my face making me wake up. I open my eyes to see the room brighter than what it was yesterday. It all seemed white like I've died and gone to heaven.
“Good morning. Class is in two hours.” Emily says while she's typing on her laptop.
“Morning. Hey, are you okay about what happened last night?” She looks at me for a moment and then back to her laptop.
“If you mean that I'm not dramatize then yeah, but I still screaming from seeing Tory in the pool stabbed to death.” She sighs. “Are you okay?”
“I had a dream about those girls I saw. It's bugging me that I saw them and that no one else did.” I stand up and stretch, and then sit at my desk and turn on my laptop.
“You want some coffee?” Emily asks opening the door.
“No thanks.” I go to the internet to try to find the story of the Johnson family. I find a website that is all about scarey stories.
The Johnson family was a loving and caring of the people
around them. One day, Mrs. Johnson was coming from the market
when she was murdered by a man named Gary Smith. Ever since
then Mr. Johnson had never recovered from his lost that he went insane
and beaten his three daughters to death. Isabella, Alice, and Abigail
were triplets. Also, legion as it that when ever you hear three
little girls sing “Ring Around the Rosie” you need to run or get out
of were you are because they are ready to “attack”.
So Emily left out some important information about them. There were three of them not one. That’s probably why there was three of them last night.
“I'm back.” Emily says opening the door.
“Emily there was three.” I say as she shuts the door and sits at her desk.
“Three what?”
“There was three girls. Isabella, Alice, and Abigail. They were triplets and I saw them last night.” I pull up a picture of them. “I saw them last night excepted they and raggedy clothes and blood all over them.”
“Can we talk about this later, school is in like 30 minutes.” I jump up from my seat and run around trying to get ready.
NEEWOLLAH YPPAH
“So how was computer editing or what ever it is that you and Danny were filming for?” Emily says taking a seat next to me in the the cool grass.
It has been weeks since Tory had been killed. “That would be photography and we were testing camera angles.” I hold up the camera that is in my hand.
“Oh, are you taking pics now?” She takes a drink of water.
“Yeah.”
“Of what?” I give her a look and she shrugs saying. “I'm just asking.”
“I'm taking pictures of flowers, trees, and other things that have to do with nature.” I spot a blade of grass that that has a drop of water still on it. I slowly place the camera in place and take the picture.
“Did you take some of bugs?” She takes another gulp of water.
“Yeah, I took one of a spider. Wanna see?”
“No thank you. Spiders creep me out.” She shrieks.
“How do they creep you out?” I smirk at the thought of being scared of such a harmless creature.
“Just the way they look make my skin crawl. Their hairy legs and they have 8 of them. 8!” I laugh. “Its not funny.”
I look up as someone comes running up to the front doors screaming. “THEY'RE BACK! AND THEY WANT BLOOD!”
The head master walks out. “Tell me. What happened?” He says trying to comfort the guy that was running.
“Jake and I were in the woods when we heard three little girls sing “Ring Around the Rosie” and once they said “we all fall down” the wind started to blow fast picking up all the leaves and dirt, but when it stopped Jake was hanging by a rope that was on a tree that said “Play a Game”.” Once he stopped talking everyone was literally shaking. I was the only one that was not.
“Okay. Everyone go pack up and I'm calling all your parents to come get you.” The head master said taking the guy inside.
“Oh my gosh. I wanna go see it.” Emily says jumping up and down clapping her hands.
“Are you nuts? I'm not going any where near the woods now.” I shake my head picking up my bag.
“Fine.” She sighs real loudly hoping that it will make me change my mind.
NEEWOLLAH YPPAH
“MOM STOP THE CAR!!” she slams the breaks sending my body forward.
“What is it?” She asks scanning the front of the car.
The three girls stand in front of us. I open the door and slide out. “I'm sick of this game.” I mumble standing next to the car door. “Lets play.” I grin at them.
They look at each other then at me. The one in the middle, Isabella, walks forward towards me. I hear Mom yelling at me to get back into the car. Ignoring her I take off running towards the school. My heart is beating in my ears getting louder with every step I take. All three of them are running behind me getting closer and closer. Foot steps pound against the earth and tires rolling on the road.
I reach the school and everyone is staring. Mouths open and eyes wide as I pass them I run to the cemetery. I scan for theirs.
“Help us!” Their voices shriek. I turn to see them crawling on the fried grass. Their nails dig into the dirt as they scream and curl up trying to hold it in.
“Autumn, Help Us!” their bodies twitch like a glitch on an old movie.
Not seeing their graves I run to the woods. I trip over some thinking I look back, but I-I.
I open my eyes fast and shoot myself to a sitting position. I was... DREAMING? I look around the room seeing that I'm back home in my bed. Mom walks in with a glass of water.
“Are you okay?” She asks sitting the water on my night stand.
“I need to go back to the school.” I demand leaping out of bed and dialing Emily's phone number.
“Oh no. You are not going back there.” She looks at me scared and worried.
“Mom, I have to go. I know how to stop the girls.” I hold the phone to my ear.
“Girls?”
“The ghosts are girls. And I know how to stop them.” The phone is ringing.
“How do you know that the ghosts are girls?” She gives me a confused look.
“I've seen them, now please.” A second or two she nods and leaves the room.
“Hello?” Emily says from the other end.
“Hey Emily, its Autumn. I need you to meet me at St. Johnson college.” I say slipping on my sneakers.
“Why?”
“I think I know how to get rid of those ghosts.” There is a long pause before she answered.
“Okay, why not.”
“Thank you. I'll see you there.” We hang up and I run down stairs to see Mom waiting by the door.
NEEWOLLAH YPPAH
“Okay so whats the plan?” Emily asks, again. I sigh in disappointment.
“Just follow me.” I start to walk towards the cemetery.
“So we're gonna wake more spirits? That’s the last thing we should do.”
“Will you just be quiet.” I snap at her.
5 minutes passed, but nothing happened. I stop in my tracks when I see it.
Max Owen Johnson
1740-1825
A loving father and husband.
If he was so loving then why did he kill his daughters? I turn to Emily.
“Stay here. I'll be right back.” I hand her the shovel. “Don't do anything or you'll mess this up.” I turn to leave.
“Autumn. If we die tonight, I'm going to kill you in death.” She cracks a smile and I do too.
I head back to the front seeing Mom still in the car waiting for me to return.
“Drive.” I tell Mom once I got in the car.
NEEWOLLAH YPPAH
We had been driving for ten minutes when I see them. Make it like the dream.
“MOM STOP THE CAR!!” she slams the breaks sending my body forward.
“What is it?” She asks scanning the front of the car.
The three girls stand in front of us. I open the door and slide out. “I'm sick of this game.” I mumble standing next to the car door. “Lets play.” I grin at them.
They look at each other then at me. The one in the middle, Isabella, walks forward towards me. I hear Mom yelling at me to get back into the car. Ignoring her I take off running towards the school. My heart is beating in my ears getting louder with every step I take. All three of them are running behind me getting closer and closer. My foot steps pound against the earth and tires rolling on the road.
I look for Emily, and when I see her I stand next to her clenching my hands into fists ignoring her questions.
“Help us!” Their voices shriek. I turn to see them crawling on the fried grass. Their nails dig into the dirt as they scream and curl up trying to hold it in.
“Autumn, Help Us!” their bodies twitch like a glitch on an old movie.
I grab the shovel from her and dart towards the woods. I keep running till I trip over something. I quickly turn and dig. I start to see yellow-white lines.
I keep digging. Rain drops hit my nose and arms. I can't stop now. I keep going till there was bones all around me. Isabella, Alice, and Abigail stand in front of the bones. Their faces look amazed at the bones.
“Is this what you were wanting? For someone to find this?” The sky seems to be crying with them. Tires run down their cheeks and rain drops run down mine.
They stand completely still. The wind starts to pick up speed making my hair a tousled mess.
The wind blows faster, sweeping away the girls souls. They disappear in thin air leaving nothing behind, but the terror they struck into the hearts of the innocent.
NEEWOLLAH YPPAH
“Thank Goodness that you're okay.” Mom says hugging me. She squeezes me till I gasp for air.
“What happened back there?” Emily says walking up from behind Mom, and patting her on the back signaling her to let go.
“I found their bones. That's why they never left.” I pause, not know if I should continue.
“Alright lets get you girls home.” Mom opens the car door so that we can get in. I shivering from the cold rain pouring down on my bare arms and face. I look at Emily and hop in.