"I do not feel like attending the Halloween night," Steacy let out her thoughts.
She watched her friends admire themselves before her wall mirror. She should have felt the vibe of the long-awaited night but she could not. Rather, she felt goosebumps all over her.
Her costumes lay beside her but her hands refused to reach out for them. She has a sudden bad feeling about everything.
"What?" her friend named Cassie stopped admiring her witch costume and turned to her friend sitting on her bed with a crestfallen expression, "Have you lost your mind? You were all over the phone last night and this morning also, talking about how sexy you would be tonight. Girl, what the hell happened?" she bugged.
Steacy rubbed her arms, trying to feel alright, "I can't tell why but I suddenly feel strange tonight. I feel like staying indoors at least for this night. I feel like it would be a good decision,"
Cassie sighed and plunged onto the bed beside Steacy, "You should not feel this way. We came from our houses for you. You haven't had your makeup done and we have less than an hour before the party begins," she groaned.
"How do you feel, C?" Daniella the last girl in the room, who had stayed quiet from the start spoke up.
Among the pair of friends, Steacy has, Daniella is the most quiet, observant, and sensitive of them all. She listened to her friend's worries carefully unlike Cassie and pondered over them.
Cassie rolled her eyes, "She's probably going through one of her weird delusions. Remember how she always spaces out most times, claiming to be in her world and how she speaks to herself. Maybe this is one of her dramas but Steacy, to be honest, this is no longer funny. Get dressed so we leave," she ordered.
Daniella dropped the book she was reading to pass the time on Stacy's reading table and walked towards the bed.
She stood before her friends, "Steacy, how do you feel? It's fine if you do not feel like coming with us but first tell me how you feel," she smiled softly.
Steacy sighed, "It's weird but I can't tell. My costumes suddenly look ugly and I feel so sick on the inside," her voice came out low.
Cassie gasped, her hand flew over to her mouth and her eyes sparkled in astonishment, "You feel sick inside? You... you and Jonathan, have... have you both done the deed? Don't tell me you forgot to take_"
"Shut up, Cassie!!!" Daniella and Steacy snapped at Cassie at the same time, their voices sounding serious.
Cassie was startled by the sudden shun. Feeling insulted, she blinked rapidly at her friends, and in annoyance, she dropped off the bed and strolled out of the room, slamming the door hard behind her.
"I'm sorry she sometimes lacks manners," Steacy apologized as she had always done whenever Cassie's attitude pissed Ella off. From the glare Ella fixed on the door, Steacy need not be told to apologize to Ella immediately.
Ella tore her gaze off the door and fixed it on Steacy, "That's fine. Now tell me, why don't you want to attend the party?" she sounded so soft as usual and it encouraged Steacy to come out clean even if she would come off as awkward.
She shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know and I can't tell why," she picked up her costumed angel wings from the bed and started at it, "I'm sad I won't get to put this on but I think I should stay home and read some books," she said, returning the wings to its initial position.
Steacy fanned herself with an uninterested expression. The tired feeling came creeping in again. She can't tell what makes her tired, it just seems like a force holding her back.
Ella nodded, "If that's the case, I'll get going. The party started long ago,"
"I_" Steacy was about to let her thoughts out but the second she parted her lips, low whispers crept up at the back of her head.
It frightened her and she let out some low whimpers.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Ella stood up from the bed to leave but paused when she heard Steacy whimper.
She turned to her friend and felt her temperature with the back of her palm placed on her friend's forehead. She frowned, feeling. everything to be normal.
The whispers continued but became more intense as they were conflicted. It started as a single normal whisper ordering her to stay home and not head out but now, another part of the whisper asked her to heed out.
She fell on her pillow and held onto it in great fear. She felt like she was going crazy as the sounds of the abnormal whispers continued.
It sang in her head like a chant, invading her personal space. It all felt unreal.
"Steacy?" she could hear someone calling but the voice sounded so far away, like a faded dream. The voice came again and all she did was to shut her ears with her palm.
"Fine, I'll text you later," the voice continued, and like a blurred image, she reorganized the back of her friend leaving the room but she wasn't able to turn around or even say goodbye.
She breathed heavily to calm down. She laid on her back and looked towards the ceiling and the worst of all happened.
She was staring up at her ceiling but not her ceiling. Rather, she was staring back at the blurred image of a woman dressed in a white dress and lying in a casket. This was the most among all of her insanity because even her mother never believed her.
This image has been reoccurring to her. Her first encounter with the image was when she turned six but no one believed her then.
She tried not to scream. Her mother promised to make her live in a psychiatric treatment someday and she would fulfill that promise if she dared scream tonight.
Steacy stared at the heavenly beauty lying in the casket above her. The casket presented itself to her as if she watched a movie and she could swear their house was haunted.
She believed that from a very tender age but grew to live with it after being constantly told to keep shut.
She had always thought this was one more of her imaginations - as everyone had always said. So she did not expect it when the woman suddenly opened her eyes.
A horrific scream left her lips when the woman blinked at her.
"Arrgg," she rolled off the bed and landed hard on the floor, "Mum!" she screamed, racing to her door but on getting there, her once-opened door refused to be open.
Rather, her window was forcefully ripped open, and immediately, a strong storm battled with the soil outside. It poured heavily.
As if hallucinating, she saw a man walk past her window and all the hairs on her body stood erect.