Where details are exaggerated for whatever purpose it serves the subject.

31 October 2015

Saturday

8:20 p.m

"This particular story occurred right here", she made a show of her hands by pointing to the building behind them. "Right here, students found the dead body of a girl. Mangled, mutated- people even threw up at the scene", she exaggerated, her inner self breaking into a small smile at the sight of Rosé's trembling figure. 

Teasing her would be fun, that was the plan. It was revenge for stealing what was hers. Rosé stole her crowns, no matter how many times Elowen took them back, she never learned. But crowns aren't just plastic, some of them are made from bones, blood, and flesh. Some crowns are human. 

Not that it mattered to her, Rosé could keep the empty shells, because Elowen kept the jewels, she'd always find a way to get them. No- she'd never take them by force. Her mother had taught better than to steal - Rosé would hand them over to her, absentmindedly. Elowen had the heart of every crown Rosé possessed.  

"Anyway, you guys ready?" She asked, lowering her tone to that of an eerie whisper once more pushing away every fruitless thought that plagued her mind. They all simply nodded and Elowen began...

"On the 4th of November 1970, a school was built on an abandoned cemetery. This very school whose hallways we fill with jovial chatter, noise, and gossip was built upon an abandoned cemetery nearly 5 decades ago. In 1970 the government had deemed a shortage of schools therefore unused land was developed into massive structures but our school, was a private boarding school built on an abandoned cemetery after the owner and his family vanished. Due to the socio-economic imbalances and geographic difficulties the school became a public one however still offered everything it previously did. Which resulted in many middle-class children flocking to the school to get a taste of the so-called 'aristocratic education. One such student was Marigold Gustavo who like her name, was the golden girl of the school. She had glittering gold her and shiny amber eyes which no one could rival. And her heart was made from pure gold but one-day rumors began to spread, the horrid kind. Distasteful, bad ones, the kind that would drag someone's reputation through the mud. They we-"

"STOPPP!" Clarence instructed. "I swear if someone spread rumors that she was knocked up by a fifty-year-old and there's a bun in the oven, I'm goin' te combust. That shit is tragic 'specially if she ends up dead an' becomes a ghost who kills her baby an' gets revenge on those who killed her but she never ends up restin' in peace anyway çoz that's how cliché horror stories go, and then a paranormal expert team waltzes into the picture with Ed and Loraine Warren. If that crap happens, imma jump off a cliff an' die", she exclaims her accent drawing out a bit which only comes out when she's scared, nervous, or uppity. Clarence had spent four years of her childhood at a commercial farm in the countryside run by her grandmother after her parents went on a business trip to New Zealand for four years. Talk about a long, long time. It was more like their delayed honeymoon trip. 

"Jesus Christ! Don't interrupt her", Astrid argued. Here we go again...

"For the love of Jesus freaking Christ. Stop, I don't think that shit's gonna happen", Rosé cusses. Something which she so ever solemnly does, four heads whip in her direction as she throws her hair into a messy braid. "Carry on or let me go. I have homework to do, you know, as well as tests to prepare for. Mom won't let me rest in peace if I don't take over the hospital in her stead. You know how all Harlow's are", she rants but the point was clear. She might be scared but she was up for whichever horror story was narrated tonight. It was the only way she'd get to leave. Being a Harlow meant that she had to stay put, endure, battle, and solve anything and everything that was thrown her way.  The Harlows are a family of doctors who owned the biggest hospital in town with her mother, Lorelai being the head surgeon, and her grandad, the CEO. Competition arose for the seat of the CEO when her grandad appointed a test between her, her cousins, and her aunts including her mom once Rosé was of age and had acquired the proper credentials. Talk about hardcore. 

"Seesh, fine", Clarence's shoulders sagged as she sent her best friend a wink. "Sorry." 

"Rumors spread about their school. First, it was ten students who believed the rumor, then twenty, then thirty, then more than half the student population. The staff was quick to dismiss them as hearsay, but the students had different viewpoints. They all believed that their school was haunted."

And somewhere in the distance, an owl hooted, a bush rustled in the wind and a cricket croaked. But there was a sound other than that, a noise swallowed by the hooting, rustling, and croaking. The hairs on Emilia's arm prickled and she hurriedly rubbed them, leaving goosebumps in the wake. She was sure she heard it, the noise which was ever so perfectly drowned away.

 It was the sinister sort of noise. 

The sort of sound that told you to run away and never come back. 

The kind you'd hear in horror movies, an accidental pot falling, door breaking; a warning to stay away and not venture any deeper. 

The sort of noise that explicitly indicated that someone was watching.