S H O RT S TO R I E S F R O M T H E G LO B A L C LA S S R O O M |
2014
‘No, Becca. Get back here … Please,’ her mother pleaded, softly whispering, so as not to disturb what lay in the
cupboard.
‘I can’t lose you like I lost your father. I don’t know what’s in there and I do not want to find out!’ Her tone now a
rasping hiss. Yet, her daughter disobeyed this instruction. She continued to advance towards the cupboard.
When she was about two yards away, what seemed like an invisible force hauled her upwards. Tugging at her waist,
it caused her back to curve like the hunched shadow had when it first appeared. Squirming and wiggling, Becca
attempted to free herself from the merciless grasp of the air around her, but the air seemed to be thickening with
every second it held her up.
‘BECCA!’ her mother cried, for the force had then thrown her daughter in the direction of the cupboard with such
power, the intensity of the landing made her unconscious.
Before her mother could shoot to her feet and rush over to her unresponsive child, a black, claw-like figure snuck
out of the cupboard. Grimy, grey fingernails sprouted out of the tips of its fingers in serpentine arcs and twists, each
one a different length. Worming down the side of the cupboard door, it reached the arm of the helpless Becca and
wrapped its reptilian fingers around her wrist …
Petrified with panic, her mother did not dart towards the cupboard to save Becca from the sinister talon that
threatened to harm her daughter. As the distorted hand tightened its grip it drew the poor, senseless girl under
the stairs.
Becca’s mother’s legs finally allowed her to move. When she reached her destination, the cupboard door swung
open violently, crashing into her shins and making her collapse on herself. The arrival on the floor caused her to
wince slightly but she refused to let the fall slow her down. She was determined to get her beloved daughter back
in her arms.
As she pushed her torso off the dusty floorboards, Alice’s eyes pointed in the way of her daughter as well as the
creature that possessed the retched hand.
The sight was absolutely vile. The beast that stole Becca had the body of an extremely underfed girl. Each vertebra
on her back was visible, along with the exposed ribcage under the skin of her chest due to starvation. Every limb
looked to be only bone. Her disgusting nest of hair sat on her shoulders, layered with dead leaves and bugs, as black
as the space around them.
Although her body had the appearance of just a child, the face on her head was truly atrocious. It was etched with
lines and wrinkles, like that of an ancient woman on the brink of death. However, this was not what sent horrid
chills down Alice’s spine. Right below its forehead, vast, black holes were carved replacing its eyes. The ghastly
crevices peered downwards—at what, the mother could not see. The light that was radiating from the cupboard
before was now sucked out of the small compartment, leaving only the monster to be visible.
Becca’s mother found herself surprisingly calm as she forced herself onto her feet. Then, lifting her foot with
extreme circumspection, she began her descent into the darkness.
Instantaneously, the head of the revolting creature faced Becca’s mother as she lowered her foot into the cupboard.
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