This is a short story, a very short story. It is about a girl who always comes second. Whether it be in competitions, friendships, love or otherwise, this girl is never in the lead. She may think she is for a split second, but that is nothing but foolish naivety. For the truth is, she will always be beaten out by someone else.She can try all she wants, but once people get to know the real her, they decide she is not worth their while, worth their precious time. She can be as nice and as loving as she wants, but there will always be someone or something better than her that people will choose, leaving her lying face-down in the dirt.
She wears her heart on her sleeve, though she has so much trouble trusting people. She just cannot help but give herself completely to the person she loves. She cannot help but let that person hold her heart in their hand and do what they like with it, whether they take precious care of it, or throw it away. She spends endless sleepless nights thinking about that person, when they probably don't even give her a single thought throughout the day. And then, in the end, there is always someone else, someone better. Someone funnier, or easier-going, or thinner, or smaller, or more beautiful, or just...simply better in some way. This has always been the case for her, even from a young age, but the harsh reality of it never really kicked in until she fell truly, madly, head-first in love. A love that was deeply unrequited, a love that will never be, and yet she somehow still clings to this foolish idea, not knowing how to stop her aching heart. Not knowing why she can't simply open her eyes and move on. \She will never find true happiness. She will spend the rest of her pathetic days craving that which she can't have because deep down she thinks it's easier than facing the truth; She is not good enough.
Sunday, 1 December 2013
Wednesday, 10 July 2013
In The Dark
This is my first of many short stories I plan to write. It was inspired by a dream I had last night that left me awake at 3am, terrified and unable to sleep again. But hey, at last I got to watch a beautiful sunrise and the inspiration for this story out of it. It's a horror story, in case that wasn't clear from the explanation...
IN THE DARK
BY MADELINE TOSCA ZABCIC
She wakes up in a hot sweat, her body tingling all over. The nightmare she was having is but a fast-fading memory, leaving nothing but an uneasy feeling in her stomach. The world outside shows no signs of light, and as the darkness consumes her, she sits up swiftly, in-taking a sharp breath. She becomes light-headed, her head spins and for a few moments, what little light she could see fades away until she is in complete blackness. The spell breaks after what feels like an eternity and she is back in the room, no lighter than before, but she can make out the edges of a few shapes with the tiniest bit of silver light the almost absent moon is casting. She has always been slightly afraid of the dark, as if the pitch black of the night could somehow swallow her up. Her dark mind starts to play tricks on her. She sees figures in the room. A large man standing by the door, or is it her coat? Is there a figure by her side, or is that merely her chest of drawers? Finally she looks straight ahead and catches a glimpse of what seems to be a long haired girl standing by the foot of her bed. What on earth could that be? she thinks as a surge of panic courses through her, but then she tiredly rubs her eyes and softly chuckles.
"Wake up girl, you are going crazy" she tries to reassure herself, shaking her head.
Looking up again, she notices that there is no longer a figure or even the shadow of a figure at the end of her bed. She squints into the darkness, trying to see what is not there. After a moment of this, she glances around her room and in a blind panic scrambles out of bed and towards the light switch. She flicks the switch and the harsh light burns her eyes, forcing her to close them tight, opening them again very slowly, letting her pupils adjust. She takes another cautious look around the room, taking a mental note of the things she thought she had seen in the darkness, and comparing them to what is actually there. The figure at the door was indeed her coat, and her chest of drawers the culprit standing by her side, but as she looks to the end of her bed where she had seen another figure, she sees nothing. No clothes, no furniture, nothing that would resemble a person...unless...
A chill sweeps down her spine, thinking about the endless horrific possibilities. Her vivid, over active imagination has always been both her saving grace and her downfall. Her love for horror movies doesn't help much either. The things she has seen on screen all feed into this morbid and flagrant gruesomeness that constantly spins in her twisted little mind. She slowly opens her bedroom door, thinking about the quickest route to the bathroom in what seems like the darkest night she has ever seen. Typically, the light in the hallway is broken, so she has to make her way through the pitch black, only mildly broken by the dim light coming from her room. Halfway down the hall she realises that she has a light on her phone, but as she has nearly made it, she decides against going back for it. A strange noise seems to follow after her, but she thinks of how old the house is and just ignores it, putting it down to creaking beams or something of that nature. The darkness doesn't just play tricks on your eyes, after all...
She finally reaches the bathroom, switching the light on and once again must flinch away from the burning sensation in her eyes, which had already re-adjusted to the darkness of the hallway. But even with the sting of the harsh fluorescent bulb, the bathroom feel like a sanctuary of sorts. She looks at herself in the mirror, observing the haggard, mascara-stained face that is looking back at her. Had she been crying? It must have been in her sleep, because she doesn't remember any of that. She turns on the hot tap, but nothing comes out; instead, she hears a creaking noise and a strange humming follows. Switching it off, she tries the cold tap. Again, nothing emerges and she hears that same strange humming. She turns and reaches for some tissue, and failing water from the tap, reluctantly spits into it and begins wiping the mascara off her cheeks. As she opens her eyes, she sees some form of movement behind her in the mirror. She immediately turns around to see a black blur disappearing out of the cracked door. The strange noise returns, only louder this time, so this time it makes her freeze to the spot. What the hell is going on here?
"Hello?" she finally calls out when she can find the courage to move again.
"Is someone there? Mom? Dad?..."
She looks out the bathroom window to see her parent's car parked outside. A sigh of relief sweeps over her. Though she is determined to have a word with her folks for putting her through this ordeal, it is a nice sensation to know that they are behind all this weirdness. But still, they had just left for London that morning, why were they back already? They had told her they would be away all weekend. Have they come back early? And if so, what the hell were they thinking playing a trick like this on her? With this thought in her mind she storms out of the bathroom determined to face her tormentors.
She stops dead in her tracks in the hallway, unable to move, unable to breathe. She sees the same figure that she thought she had seen at the end of her bed, only this time the light of the bathroom is shining bright, illuminating her, and not only that, but there are two of them. Her mouth opens and closes, as if she is trying to speak, but words do not seem to make sense right now, all she can manage are strange guttural sounds that escape her throat swiftly and quietly. She has never seen anything like it. How can this be possible? What is she even looking at? She has never even imagined such a horrific image, even in her fucked up little mind.
Standing before her are two little girls, but not just any ordinary little girls; these girls are mangled and warped beyond belief. They are both staring at the floor, so she cannot see their faces properly, but they too are undoubtedly just as horrifying as the rest of their bodies. Now I know I must be dreaming, she thinks to herself. She stays still, surprisingly calm, though completely terrified. These little girls look like they have been to hell and back. There are parts of them in all the wrong places. Torn flesh and filthy skin covers them, their hair long, greasy and black, almost waist length that flows down their blood-stained dresses. The dresses themselves seem like a nightmarish image of something a loving mother would have picked out for her child on a warm, sunny day, but now all that remains of such warm times and the tattered bows and frayed ribbons that have the distinct red markings of blood spatter. They are not wearing any shoes, so their exposed feet show more gruesome wounds and blood pools surround them.
She cannot believe or even begin to comprehend what she is seeing. A million questions pop into her mind - not that she could find the courage to ask any of them - and Just then, her mother and father pop into her mind. These girls are covered in blood, and though her parents seem to be home, she has not heard a sound out of them. Its very unlike them to not come and say hello to her once they arrive home. Once again, dark thoughts begin to form in her mind. She hesitates for a moment, trying to shake these horrible thoughts but then tries calling out to them.
Her voice catches in her throat, which is dryer than it's ever been. It feels like she has choked down a bag of sand; a lump forms in her throat as she struggles to breathe. Her body begins to warm up again, feeling the intensity of the situation. her skin prickles as every hair stands to attention. She looks at the girls again, scanning them for any potential weapons, not seeming to find any. The urgency in her mind begins to rise, as panic is building deep in her stomach. She simply must find her parents, that is all that matters right now. She builds up all her courage to try and speak to these...things, but all she manages to let out is a high-pitched squeak, to which both girls look up in a move that sets off another set of chills. Their faces are worse than she'd imagined. They don't have eyes, but rather just deep holes that seem to have been mauled open by some kind of animal. One of them has a hole in her cheek that reveals her teeth and gums underneath and the others jaw seems to be broken or unhinged in some way. The both of them just stare in her direction and give her a wicked grin as blood from their mutilated eyes trickles slowly down their faces. They do not move, they remain in this position, perhaps it is her move...perhaps this is some wicked little game...
Tears begin pooling in her eyes as reality kicks in and she realises that she is definitely not dreaming any of this. The salty drops stream down her face and hit the floor. She doesn't dare wipe them as she is afraid any movement may set these monsters off. She takes a deep breath, involuntarily sighing inwards as she does so. This noise makes the girls twitch in an inhuman way. They move slightly towards her, almost mimicking each others movements, as if they were twins copying each other, this made all the more menacing by the fact that they cannot see each other. They stop, and as they do she lets out a sigh of relief.
Its then that she realises that their movements are based on noise, as this sigh causes them to react once again. They move towards noise it seems. If only she had taken her phone with her, she could lay it out to distract them. No time for that now, she can see her parent's bedroom door from where she is standing, she just needs to get past the twins. The hallway is quite narrow so the only thing she can think of is throwing something down the stairs to lure them that way. She tiptoes back to the bathroom and finds a few scented candles. They should do nicely. She returns to the hallway where the girls have gotten significantly closer to her. The closer they get, the more gruesome details she can make out on them and her heart begins pounding hard. Beads of sweat begin forming on her skin. She doesn't waste any time. She trows the candles down the stairs and they make several loud thudding and banging noises on their way to the bottom. The twins turn their heads toward the stairs and for the first time, she sees a glimmer of hope in this crazy situation. She gets ready to run, but they turn their heads right back towards her and now they are walking with a quicker pace. Even the way they walk is sinister, as if on broken limbs. She sees no other choice now, she gathers all the courage she can find and screams at the top of her lungs, running and jumping between these demon twins.
She makes it to the other side of them. she looks down and sees blood on her where she grazed against them. This nightmare is definitely real...
No time for these thoughts now. She turns to see the twins facing her once again, with those evil smiles painted across their faces. But this time she does not freeze, she runs as fast as she can down the hall, stopping by her parent's room. She sees nothing out of the ordinary, and that reassures her somehow. She calls her mother's name and gets no answer, then her father's name. No answer again. She knocks on the door and in creaks open. The room is dark and very warm. Hot in fact, as if someone had left the heating on for a few days without cracking a window or a door. And the smell, it makes her recoil in disgust, then the reality of it all hits her. She hesitantly looks back down the hallway to see the girls have disappeared.
"Oh god...this can't be good..." she says to herself, he voice scratching in her throat as her eyes once again swell with tears. She opens the door fully, still seeing nothing but black. she reaches for the light switch, unable to find it in the darkness. She slowly inches her way in, still searching the wall for the switch. Eventually she is in the room and as she takes the final step in, the door swiftly and very loudly slams behind her, making her jump and let out a little yelp. The tears are now flooding down her cheeks, she is unable to control them. Her fingers finally find the light switch in the darkness. It seems to have something on it, it's wet. She flicks it quickly and facing the wall she spots the switch and her hand, both now covered in blood. The wall around it is also tainted with blood. She doesn't want to turn around. She is too terrified of what she will see.
She hears laughing. Ghoulish, childish laughter fills the room, it's coming from behind her, from her parent's bed. She decides to turn and face the music. She turns slowly with her eyes to the floor, all the while looking and the patterns of red all over the once beige carpet. She takes a deep breath and looks up. Her face warps in horror as she gazes upon the abomination in front of her. All she can see is blood and bone. Her parent's room has been turned into what looks like the aftermath of a great battle; a slaughter. Her eyes are wide and her mouth open, unable to say or anything. She can do nothing but look upon the vile remains of what used to be her mother and father, the only two people she ever truly cared for. Among the mess, the twins are playing as if in a playground. They laugh and giggle as they throw body parts around like toys. Nothing is recognisable, its all just a big mess of red. The girls start playing with something. She cannot make out what it is, but they stop and look towards her, then throw it at her feet. Her father's head stares up at her, a warped expression of fear and horror remains on his face, revealing the true depth of the horror they must have experienced.
The silence is too much, she grabs her stomach and lets out a blood-curdling scream. She can't stop, she just keeps screaming and screaming until the air is gone from her lungs, then when she manages to breathe in some more precious oxygen, the screaming continues. She is delirious, she is broken, what little sanity she managed to save herself over the years dissipates. The screams turn into hysterical laughter mixed with cries of pain. She doesn't know what to do with herself, so she lets herself fall to the floor. Laying there, she sees her father's disembodied head laying next to her, and in the corner of her eye, the twins are walking towards her again. This is it, she closes her eyes and waits. When she opens them, the twins are standing over her, one on each side of her. She closes her eyes again and lets out her final scream. The darkness finally consumes her.
IN THE DARK
BY MADELINE TOSCA ZABCIC
She wakes up in a hot sweat, her body tingling all over. The nightmare she was having is but a fast-fading memory, leaving nothing but an uneasy feeling in her stomach. The world outside shows no signs of light, and as the darkness consumes her, she sits up swiftly, in-taking a sharp breath. She becomes light-headed, her head spins and for a few moments, what little light she could see fades away until she is in complete blackness. The spell breaks after what feels like an eternity and she is back in the room, no lighter than before, but she can make out the edges of a few shapes with the tiniest bit of silver light the almost absent moon is casting. She has always been slightly afraid of the dark, as if the pitch black of the night could somehow swallow her up. Her dark mind starts to play tricks on her. She sees figures in the room. A large man standing by the door, or is it her coat? Is there a figure by her side, or is that merely her chest of drawers? Finally she looks straight ahead and catches a glimpse of what seems to be a long haired girl standing by the foot of her bed. What on earth could that be? she thinks as a surge of panic courses through her, but then she tiredly rubs her eyes and softly chuckles.
"Wake up girl, you are going crazy" she tries to reassure herself, shaking her head.
Looking up again, she notices that there is no longer a figure or even the shadow of a figure at the end of her bed. She squints into the darkness, trying to see what is not there. After a moment of this, she glances around her room and in a blind panic scrambles out of bed and towards the light switch. She flicks the switch and the harsh light burns her eyes, forcing her to close them tight, opening them again very slowly, letting her pupils adjust. She takes another cautious look around the room, taking a mental note of the things she thought she had seen in the darkness, and comparing them to what is actually there. The figure at the door was indeed her coat, and her chest of drawers the culprit standing by her side, but as she looks to the end of her bed where she had seen another figure, she sees nothing. No clothes, no furniture, nothing that would resemble a person...unless...
A chill sweeps down her spine, thinking about the endless horrific possibilities. Her vivid, over active imagination has always been both her saving grace and her downfall. Her love for horror movies doesn't help much either. The things she has seen on screen all feed into this morbid and flagrant gruesomeness that constantly spins in her twisted little mind. She slowly opens her bedroom door, thinking about the quickest route to the bathroom in what seems like the darkest night she has ever seen. Typically, the light in the hallway is broken, so she has to make her way through the pitch black, only mildly broken by the dim light coming from her room. Halfway down the hall she realises that she has a light on her phone, but as she has nearly made it, she decides against going back for it. A strange noise seems to follow after her, but she thinks of how old the house is and just ignores it, putting it down to creaking beams or something of that nature. The darkness doesn't just play tricks on your eyes, after all...
She finally reaches the bathroom, switching the light on and once again must flinch away from the burning sensation in her eyes, which had already re-adjusted to the darkness of the hallway. But even with the sting of the harsh fluorescent bulb, the bathroom feel like a sanctuary of sorts. She looks at herself in the mirror, observing the haggard, mascara-stained face that is looking back at her. Had she been crying? It must have been in her sleep, because she doesn't remember any of that. She turns on the hot tap, but nothing comes out; instead, she hears a creaking noise and a strange humming follows. Switching it off, she tries the cold tap. Again, nothing emerges and she hears that same strange humming. She turns and reaches for some tissue, and failing water from the tap, reluctantly spits into it and begins wiping the mascara off her cheeks. As she opens her eyes, she sees some form of movement behind her in the mirror. She immediately turns around to see a black blur disappearing out of the cracked door. The strange noise returns, only louder this time, so this time it makes her freeze to the spot. What the hell is going on here?
"Hello?" she finally calls out when she can find the courage to move again.
"Is someone there? Mom? Dad?..."
She looks out the bathroom window to see her parent's car parked outside. A sigh of relief sweeps over her. Though she is determined to have a word with her folks for putting her through this ordeal, it is a nice sensation to know that they are behind all this weirdness. But still, they had just left for London that morning, why were they back already? They had told her they would be away all weekend. Have they come back early? And if so, what the hell were they thinking playing a trick like this on her? With this thought in her mind she storms out of the bathroom determined to face her tormentors.
She stops dead in her tracks in the hallway, unable to move, unable to breathe. She sees the same figure that she thought she had seen at the end of her bed, only this time the light of the bathroom is shining bright, illuminating her, and not only that, but there are two of them. Her mouth opens and closes, as if she is trying to speak, but words do not seem to make sense right now, all she can manage are strange guttural sounds that escape her throat swiftly and quietly. She has never seen anything like it. How can this be possible? What is she even looking at? She has never even imagined such a horrific image, even in her fucked up little mind.
Standing before her are two little girls, but not just any ordinary little girls; these girls are mangled and warped beyond belief. They are both staring at the floor, so she cannot see their faces properly, but they too are undoubtedly just as horrifying as the rest of their bodies. Now I know I must be dreaming, she thinks to herself. She stays still, surprisingly calm, though completely terrified. These little girls look like they have been to hell and back. There are parts of them in all the wrong places. Torn flesh and filthy skin covers them, their hair long, greasy and black, almost waist length that flows down their blood-stained dresses. The dresses themselves seem like a nightmarish image of something a loving mother would have picked out for her child on a warm, sunny day, but now all that remains of such warm times and the tattered bows and frayed ribbons that have the distinct red markings of blood spatter. They are not wearing any shoes, so their exposed feet show more gruesome wounds and blood pools surround them.
She cannot believe or even begin to comprehend what she is seeing. A million questions pop into her mind - not that she could find the courage to ask any of them - and Just then, her mother and father pop into her mind. These girls are covered in blood, and though her parents seem to be home, she has not heard a sound out of them. Its very unlike them to not come and say hello to her once they arrive home. Once again, dark thoughts begin to form in her mind. She hesitates for a moment, trying to shake these horrible thoughts but then tries calling out to them.
Her voice catches in her throat, which is dryer than it's ever been. It feels like she has choked down a bag of sand; a lump forms in her throat as she struggles to breathe. Her body begins to warm up again, feeling the intensity of the situation. her skin prickles as every hair stands to attention. She looks at the girls again, scanning them for any potential weapons, not seeming to find any. The urgency in her mind begins to rise, as panic is building deep in her stomach. She simply must find her parents, that is all that matters right now. She builds up all her courage to try and speak to these...things, but all she manages to let out is a high-pitched squeak, to which both girls look up in a move that sets off another set of chills. Their faces are worse than she'd imagined. They don't have eyes, but rather just deep holes that seem to have been mauled open by some kind of animal. One of them has a hole in her cheek that reveals her teeth and gums underneath and the others jaw seems to be broken or unhinged in some way. The both of them just stare in her direction and give her a wicked grin as blood from their mutilated eyes trickles slowly down their faces. They do not move, they remain in this position, perhaps it is her move...perhaps this is some wicked little game...
Tears begin pooling in her eyes as reality kicks in and she realises that she is definitely not dreaming any of this. The salty drops stream down her face and hit the floor. She doesn't dare wipe them as she is afraid any movement may set these monsters off. She takes a deep breath, involuntarily sighing inwards as she does so. This noise makes the girls twitch in an inhuman way. They move slightly towards her, almost mimicking each others movements, as if they were twins copying each other, this made all the more menacing by the fact that they cannot see each other. They stop, and as they do she lets out a sigh of relief.
Its then that she realises that their movements are based on noise, as this sigh causes them to react once again. They move towards noise it seems. If only she had taken her phone with her, she could lay it out to distract them. No time for that now, she can see her parent's bedroom door from where she is standing, she just needs to get past the twins. The hallway is quite narrow so the only thing she can think of is throwing something down the stairs to lure them that way. She tiptoes back to the bathroom and finds a few scented candles. They should do nicely. She returns to the hallway where the girls have gotten significantly closer to her. The closer they get, the more gruesome details she can make out on them and her heart begins pounding hard. Beads of sweat begin forming on her skin. She doesn't waste any time. She trows the candles down the stairs and they make several loud thudding and banging noises on their way to the bottom. The twins turn their heads toward the stairs and for the first time, she sees a glimmer of hope in this crazy situation. She gets ready to run, but they turn their heads right back towards her and now they are walking with a quicker pace. Even the way they walk is sinister, as if on broken limbs. She sees no other choice now, she gathers all the courage she can find and screams at the top of her lungs, running and jumping between these demon twins.
She makes it to the other side of them. she looks down and sees blood on her where she grazed against them. This nightmare is definitely real...
No time for these thoughts now. She turns to see the twins facing her once again, with those evil smiles painted across their faces. But this time she does not freeze, she runs as fast as she can down the hall, stopping by her parent's room. She sees nothing out of the ordinary, and that reassures her somehow. She calls her mother's name and gets no answer, then her father's name. No answer again. She knocks on the door and in creaks open. The room is dark and very warm. Hot in fact, as if someone had left the heating on for a few days without cracking a window or a door. And the smell, it makes her recoil in disgust, then the reality of it all hits her. She hesitantly looks back down the hallway to see the girls have disappeared.
"Oh god...this can't be good..." she says to herself, he voice scratching in her throat as her eyes once again swell with tears. She opens the door fully, still seeing nothing but black. she reaches for the light switch, unable to find it in the darkness. She slowly inches her way in, still searching the wall for the switch. Eventually she is in the room and as she takes the final step in, the door swiftly and very loudly slams behind her, making her jump and let out a little yelp. The tears are now flooding down her cheeks, she is unable to control them. Her fingers finally find the light switch in the darkness. It seems to have something on it, it's wet. She flicks it quickly and facing the wall she spots the switch and her hand, both now covered in blood. The wall around it is also tainted with blood. She doesn't want to turn around. She is too terrified of what she will see.
She hears laughing. Ghoulish, childish laughter fills the room, it's coming from behind her, from her parent's bed. She decides to turn and face the music. She turns slowly with her eyes to the floor, all the while looking and the patterns of red all over the once beige carpet. She takes a deep breath and looks up. Her face warps in horror as she gazes upon the abomination in front of her. All she can see is blood and bone. Her parent's room has been turned into what looks like the aftermath of a great battle; a slaughter. Her eyes are wide and her mouth open, unable to say or anything. She can do nothing but look upon the vile remains of what used to be her mother and father, the only two people she ever truly cared for. Among the mess, the twins are playing as if in a playground. They laugh and giggle as they throw body parts around like toys. Nothing is recognisable, its all just a big mess of red. The girls start playing with something. She cannot make out what it is, but they stop and look towards her, then throw it at her feet. Her father's head stares up at her, a warped expression of fear and horror remains on his face, revealing the true depth of the horror they must have experienced.
The silence is too much, she grabs her stomach and lets out a blood-curdling scream. She can't stop, she just keeps screaming and screaming until the air is gone from her lungs, then when she manages to breathe in some more precious oxygen, the screaming continues. She is delirious, she is broken, what little sanity she managed to save herself over the years dissipates. The screams turn into hysterical laughter mixed with cries of pain. She doesn't know what to do with herself, so she lets herself fall to the floor. Laying there, she sees her father's disembodied head laying next to her, and in the corner of her eye, the twins are walking towards her again. This is it, she closes her eyes and waits. When she opens them, the twins are standing over her, one on each side of her. She closes her eyes again and lets out her final scream. The darkness finally consumes her.
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