Our Voice 8

by Scot McAtee

  ~

  Devin left after we ate ice cream and watched a movie together, because her parents were going out to eat. I haven’t looked at my phone thinking maybe one of them would text me. But I couldn’t stop wondering if they had, so I decided to look at my phone. I had about 5 messages from Chad and about 5 from Dakota. Debating if I should open them, but my heart choose over my mind and opened the messages.

  From Chad they read:

  “I’m sure you’ve heard and I’m so sorry. I don’t know what came over me. Please answer.”

  “Olivia, I know you have your phone.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Please Olivia”

  “I know I don’t even deserve to have you text me but I need you. I just don’t know what to do. I have no idea why I did it either. It’s my fault. All of mine. Don’t be mad at anyone else. I’ll be here whenever you want to talk.”

  He was right, I didn’t want to him, at all. I don’t know how he thought that I’d have the slightest chance in wanting to. I will let that conversation rest, while I move on to read Dakota.

  From Dakota they read:

  “I’m sorry. I wish I could apologize more or show how sorry I am. But I feel like you understand maybe, I don’t know.”

  “I love you, Olivia. We have been best friends since like 5th grade! I wasn’t thinking straight, I had something in my system. Please forgive me.”

  “I hope you will respond.”

  “Don’t forget I love you please.”

  “The Three Musketeers.”

  The last message sent from Dakota made me bawl like a baby. That was the nickname Dakota, Devin, and I were called. I decided to text Dakota and Chad telling them to both come over so we could talk. They both responded gladly and said they’d be over soon.

  I went to the bathroom to fix my appearance before they came over. Me crying did not help either. There were pink around my eyes and a little bit of swelling too. My clothes were just sweats and a tank top. I was about to change, but I thought… Why should I cover up for them, I should show them what they did to me. How they broke me.

  A knock at the door, broke me from my thoughts. I ran back into my bed, covering myself with a blanket before letting them in. The door opened letting a cool breeze hit me. I never realized how warm my room is in the winter. Dakota had her purple coat on, with a pair of uggs, and a beanie. Chad was wearing his letterman and his normal attire.

  “Come on in. Make yourself comfortable,” I say as my voice is hoarse from the lack of talking for the past hours and crying. They looked at the ground before sitting down in chairs.

  “I’m-” Dakota started to say, but I put my hand up.

  “Before you two start apologizing and what not I’m going to explain how I felt about this whole situation. I felt so betrayed. I mean, come on did you think I wouldn’t find out? I mean I just would think my best friend would not try to do that, especially if she knew I liked him. Chad, you kept talking to me and calling me sweet names. Then you asked me to Winter Formal. You kept talking about dating and everything, this just makes me second guess everything. I know you are sorry and everything, but I believe I will be able to forgive you, but I cannot forget.”

  Dakota keeps opening and closing her mouth while Chad has his jaw tight, rubbing his hands together, looking anywhere but at me.

  “Let’s just become new friends and try to put this behind us?” I say as they nod, “Alright let’s watch a movie or something. I’ll text Devin to come over.”

  Dakota came and sat on the bed with me, while Chad took a beanbag chair. We made popcorn and picked out the movie “Ice Age” and waited for Devin.

  Now rumors can ruin people and tear them down, but as for me? That was one bad rumor that brought me and my friends closer through the years.

  Looking Into the Eyes

  Hailey Morgan

  October 30, 1940

  I pulled down at my dress as the wind tried to yank it back up. I put my carry handbag up my arm. Holding onto my hat at the same time I tried to whistle for a taxi. Luckily, I got one. The yellow taxi pulled up as I opened the door to smell a cigar and flowers. The man looked into his mirror, from where I was sitting; he looked like a middle age man, with a ruff chisel of hair on his face.

  “Where to?” an orange light of a cigar lit up his face, while blowing out the smoke causing me to cough.

  “Corner of 9th and 10th, sir,” I replied setting my bag in my lap; peering out the window.

  He pulled onto the side of the road, passing buildings and very few people. We stopped at lights as I noticed the time of night, 10:52. I bit my lip noticing it was almost past my curfew, feeling my stomach getting nervous. I gripped onto my hand bag and peeked at the man.

  “What’s a lady like you doing out here?” He questioned, he must’ve noticed me looking at him.

  “Oh, I’m just trying to go back home, sir,” I smiled at him looking away.

  “Well, tomorrow is All Hallows Eve and you know that’s when the dead rise up and become part of the living for a night right?” The man smirked at the mirror, “You should be careful.”

  “Will do, sir,” I smiled back and looked out the window once more. I noticed that we were passing 9th Street which caused me to speak, “Hey, you missed the turn, sir,” I politely informed him. He gripped at the stirring wheel causing his knuckles to turn white. Fear began to bubble in my stomach. “What are you doing?”

  “Shh,” he whispered as he locked the doors. I tried to move the lock up but it wouldn’t budge. I started to bang on the window and scream for help. But it was useless, no one was in sight.

  October 30, 2015

  “Autumn! It doesn’t take that long to put on a costume!” My best friend Rick yelled from the hallway.

  “Fine, whatever,” I huffed as I opened my bedroom door to show him. I was wearing a costume from “The Incredibles”; I even put on a dark wig to look like Violet.

  “Man, we look so awesome,” Rick stated while laughing. He also dressed like me except his blonde hair could be spiked like the character Dash.

  I put on the mask and looked at him and said, “Let’s get to the party.” I put my arms in the flying position and ran out of the room; hearing Rick laugh, he followed behind me.

  -

  When we arrived there we were one of the first. The party was at a girl named, Morgan Greene’s house. She was one of my “friends”. She always said she was but didn’t seem to act like it. We got ourselves some punch and sat on her couch waiting for others to show. Morgan was dressed like a cat of course, like every other girl on the planet.

  “So are you guys ready?” Morgan walked to us wiggling her eyebrows. She took a sip of her punch and sat in the chair next to us.

  “What do you mean?” I asked confused.

  “Why do you think no one is really in my house? It’s because I have a haunted house in my back yard!” She squealed with excitement. I looked at Rick as his eyes widened with excitement.

  “Let’s go!” He grabbed my hand and took me back through the door to this humongous house sitting in back yard.

  “I don’t know if I want to,” pulling my hand out of his grip and rubbing my other arm nervously.

  “Come on, Autumn, you’ll be okay. I’m going to be right here the whole time,” he smiled at me with one of those smiles you couldn’t resist.

  “Oh alright, but I swear if there are any spiders,” I trailed off as he laughed at my actions.

  A man stood at the entrance of the house and said in a deep voice “Welcome to All Hallows Eve” and opened the door in the slowest yet creepiest way. Rick squeezed my hand reassuring me he was still here as we walked into the house. There were cobwebs everywhere we turned and there were black lights making the scene even more eerie.

  We turned a corner as a man with a mask popped out making me scream. Rick wrapped his arms around me as I cowered into him. He rubbed my back, to soothe me from the scare. We continued in the h
ouse, getting spooked by the little things until suddenly a man stood between two tunnels.

  “One must go the left, the other right,” a low whisper came out of the man. I looked at Rick and he smiled at me, mouthing “you’ll be fine.” He went down the left tunnel. I took a breath and went down the right tunnel. There were “cobwebs” all around the tunnel getting stuck in my hair. I finally got to the end of the tunnel but I was in a room full of mirrors, as creepy circus music played in the back ground. I turned all around, to look for Rick or anyone else, but there was no one.

  One mirror was farther back the others; I soon realized this was a mirror maze. Every time I turned a corner or looked into the mirror I could see my tear covered face and terror in my eyes. I saw a light underneath a mirror, confused; I pushed it back to see if it would budge. The mirror opened to a white room, with a single chair in the middle. The wall in front of the chair was covered in newspaper articles from 1940-1965. As I looked at all of them, the door creaked behind me making me jump and turn around.

  It was a man. Smoke came up above him as I understood he was smoking a cigar, at least it smelled like it. He smiled as he shut the door and blocked the only way out that I knew of. He walked slow, taking in my appearance as I took in his. His face had a little facial hair, the kind that looks like he hasn’t shaved for a week. He had brown hair that was pushed out of his face, and surprisingly he had green eyes that could pierce through mine. He pointed to the chair, I pretended I was confused, but I just didn’t want to sit, I had no idea who this man is or what he wants.

  “Sit,” his voice is a whisper, but it was still deep and husky. I looked into the man’s eyes once more and saw they were dark and looked like there was no life inside of this body. I did what he pleased this time, just in case anything happened. When I sat the man walked in front of me peering at me once more.

  “You look exactly like her,” he whispered once more, “you look exactly like Amanda Daring.”

  I gave a confused look of course. I knew Amanda Daring. She was my great- great grandmother, but she was killed by a taxi serial killer in the 1940s. I peer at the wall behind him to see the newspaper clipping from the time. As I look down the wall I see that this was all of his victims. He was caught in 1965 because he let one girl escape by accident.

  “What does she have to do with me?” I manage to squeak out at this man. He gives a little smirk as he bends down to my level. He takes one more puff of his cigar before throwing it across the room.

  “It has everything to do with you. Did you know it is the 50 year anniversary of when he was caught and sentenced to death? No? Well, I thought since he didn’t get to finish his last victim, I could finish for him, so why not be a decedent of his first victim?” He smiles once more at his words as I feel my stomach churn. I wish I never left Rick.

  Just as I wish for him, I hear a creak of the door again. I turn around to see Rick standing there with a confused face.

  “What’s going on here?” I hear the concern in Rick’s voice. The man grabs me quickly and holds me while putting a gun on my head.

  “Leave now,” the man growls at Rick. Rick puts his hands up as he gulps.

  “Help,” I manage to say to Rick before the man tightens his grip.

  “Hey we don’t have to do this,” Rick tries to calm him down.

  Rick gives me wide eyes as I begin to think of what I can do. I realize my right leg is between his. I know what to do. I kick up as he lets me go, groaning in pain. Rick runs over to us as he picks up the light metal chair and hits his head, hard. I pick up the gun as I point it at this man. Before what I think of what I’m doing, I pull the trigger.

  The blood ran down his neck and with one last gasp for breath he was gone. I dropped the weapon as I was left to take it all in. Tears fell from my eyes and down my cheek. Death truly had been forgiving. I was only left with one thought, “Why?”.

  Rick walked over to me and picked me up; putting his arm around me as we walked out of the room, wondering what was going to happen tomorrow on All Hallows Eve. He called the police as he sat me down on a rock. I look back at the building as I see a figure. I fell as I am imaging this figure. But I also feel like this is death. Waiting and watching. Rick tells me they are coming as I turn back to where the figure was, to see it was gone. My mind was swarmed with everything, but I knew one thing for sure. I don’t think I’ll be going out next Halloween.

  Welcome Home.

  Hailey Morgan

  She walked down the hallways not caring what anyone said about her. Her hair, which was black, was cut down like most guys. Her nose piercing stuck out since she was the only the one in our grade, who has it. She only wore T-Shirts, skinny-jeans or sweatpants, even though she was a girl. This is Jensen Orcky and she was my best friend.

  “Hey Jensen!” I shouted to her.

  She ran to me and jumped on me, making me fall into the person behind me. Laughing, I turned around to see I only fell back on Trent. Trent was the captain of the football team, which was surprise since he wasn’t that big or anything.

  “Sorry, what did you need, Trent?” questioning, as I moved a fallen hair out of my face as I reached for a book.

  “Just to see my beautiful girlfriend,” he smiled at me, but saw a couple of football jocks coming. He kissed my forehead and caught up with them.

  “So why were you hiding behind my locker?” I laughed asking Jensen as she moved the door.

  “Because since you told him, he is always awkward around me.”

  I gave her a sympathetic look, feeling the regret rush over me. She shrugged and began to walk away. I closed my locker and caught up with her.

  “Do you want to hang out after school?” I held my books closer to my chest and looked at the floor.

  “I guess,” Jensen stated, walking away to talk to others.

  Sighing, I walked into my last class of the day.