HOLLYBROOK HOSPITAL,CAMDEN
The first thing Lea Lancaster noticed wasn't the sterile hospital bed or the IV needle pricked into her arm.It was the shadow-tall,motionless-looming silently at the foot of her bed.It wasn't just standing there;it was
watching,waiting.
Then it spoke.
A voice,cold and breathless,slithered through the silence,''Lea…wake up.You have work to do.''
Upon hearing this,Lea let out a scream-raw,sharp,and laced with terror,bouncing off the walls of the hospital.Moments later,a nurse burst into the room,her face taut with concern.''What's wrong dear?'she asked,rushing to Lea's side.Lea,trembling,eyes wide open with fear,lifted a shaking hand and pointed behind the nurse.
''B-Behind you..''The nurse turned,but her expression softened into confusion.''There is nothing there sweetie.''
But Lea knew what she saw.The shadow had vanished-but not for long.
Before she could respond, icy pressure gripped her shoulders.Her breath caught as she turned her head slowly.Standing right behind her was a woman-if she could be even called that.She appeared to be in her mid-thirties,but death had long since claimed her.Her skin was as pale as bone,stretched tight over her hollow cheeks.Her lips curled into a smile that revealed rotten green teeth,and her lifeless black eyes were pools of emptiness with pupils that twitched and drifted as if they had minds of their own.She wore a wedding gown,once brilliant white,now faded to sickly cream.A veil clung to her head,torn and fluttering despite the still air.
Lea tried to scream again,but nothing came out.Her throat seized.Her vision dimmed.The last thing she heard before the world vanished was the ghost's whisper in her
ear-''You belong to me now.''
And then-darkness
2 days before
MONTCLAIR ACADEMY
The wind tugged at the edges of Lea's sleeves as she sat alone at the far end of the playground of Montclair Academy.Lea had a kind of beauty that often went unnoticed.Her hair,long and straight,cascaded down her
back in dark,silky strands,with bangs that framed her face,hiding her forehead.Her skin was fair,with a hint of rosiness on her cheeks,and her eyes,a soft shade of brown,often appeared distant,as though she was lost in her own thoughts.Lea stood at an average height,neither too tall nor too short,and her figure was slender,almost delicate in it's proportions.She wore a crisp white blouse with navy satin ribbon at the collar,paired with a perfectly tailored navy blazer adorned with the school's gold-embroidered crest.Her knee-length charcoal grey skirt was pleated,flowing with each step,while black opaque tights and a pair of polished black leather oxfords completed the look.
The voices of other kids rose and fell around her like waves;shouts,laughter and the screech of sneakers on pavements everywhere but none of it touched her.A
soccer ball rolled a few feet from her,then bounced away as a group of boys chased after it,not even glancing at her.She could have disappeared and no one would have
noticed.
Lea just sat there looking at her phone hoping her mother would pick up.''Hello dear,''finally her mother's voice,Evelyne crackled through the speaker. ''Hi mom how are you?''Lea resonded in a calm voice.''I am fine my dear,how is school?''her mother's tone clipped like she was already thinking of something else.Lea hesitated,her fingers tightening around the phone,''I just…I want to tell you something...''There was a pause from the other side,a muffled sound of papers being shuffled.''What is it sweetie?''her mom said.''Well mom…'before she could even say what she wanted to,she heard a sound of an emergency siren from her mother's end.''Oh no I have to go my dear there was a car accident today…I won't be able to come back home tonight,I will call you later okay,I love you.''She gave her goodbye kisses then she hung up.Lea just bit her lips left completely dumpfounded.She was used to this anyway.
From the moment she can remember,her life has always been something to endure,not to enjoy.Lea's parents divorced 10 years back when she was 7 years old.She therefore lived with her mom her whole life in Camden town in London and was now she was studying at Montclair Academy in Hampstead which was a 20-30 minutes journey by public transport.Despite living with her mother since childhood,there was a constant barrier
between the two.Her mother was always busy,rushing from one task to another as she was a doctor at Hollybrook hospital which may be one of the so called reasons why her parents decided to divorce.Lea therefore learnt to watch her mother from a distance.As for her father she last saw him when she ten and ever since he had only been sending money for her upkeep.
Lea has never had a friend,never been part of a group and her grades were neither bad nor good so both students and teachers barely noticed her.