I’m delighted to have a very special guest on my blog today – short story writer Paige. I was introduced to her via my wonderful author pal Pauline Barclay. This guest is a little younger than my usual readers. In fact, she’s WAY younger lol. At just eleven years old, Paige is already a talent to be reckoned with. Paige, like me, is a writer and when Pauline approached me and asked if I would like to help a youngster with an imaginative mind, I jumped at the chance!
Paige has written a wonderfully dark short story. And I would very much like to share it with you today. So, hold on tight, you’re in for a spooky ride…
Where Am I?
A short story by Paige, aged 11-years-old
It was a miserable wet day and I was walking home through the woods. I hate walking through the woods it takes forever to get home, but it was a no no to go the way I usually go as the road was closed. The woods are a scary place and I’m not the type of person who gets lost all the time, but I was. I’ve no idea how long I’d been walking, but it felt like hours. It seemed like more hours had past and you know what, I was definitely lost.
Suddenly, I tripped over a massive tree root. ‘Ow,’ I screamed. I looked down and saw blood oozing out of my damaged leg. Bright red blood flooded into my sock. ‘Oh my goodness,’ I cried and bent down to try clean the mess up. Like something out of a horror film, the branch poked out of my leg. The cut was extremely painful and it was made worse as I’d cut my hand on the branch sticking out of my leg. Now my hand was covered in blood too.
I started to limp along the rough path, when out of nowhere a tall man with ginger hair and a bushy beard, jumped out from behind a large tree and grabbed me. ‘Aaaargh get off me,’ I shrieked, my voice echoing through the woods. Without a word from his lips, he pinned me down and pulled my head back and then out of the blue he grabbed my hair and ripped out a massive chunk of it. Before I could get up and try to escape, he grabbed my bag and opened it. He pulled out my pencil case. I shouted, ‘What are you doing in my pencil case?’ Even as I spoke it all seemed unreal. I took a huge gulp, ‘There is nothing in there you would want to steal. Don’t hurt me please,’ I added and took another gulp of air.
Then the ginger haired, creepy, tall man said in a dark scary voice, ‘I don’t want to steal anything or hurt you.’ As he spoke, he laughed out loud. A shiver of fear ran down my spine. ‘What do you want me for?’ I shouted, surprised how even my voice was despite shaking like a jelly. ‘I want to do this,’ he replied, his voice sounded more like a growl of an animal than a human. Suddenly he ripped out my small scissors and before I could move, he grabbed my hair and cut it off.
With my hair on the ground around me, he threw me down on to the ground to join it. ‘Do you think I’m real?’ he asked and pulled me back on to my feet. Before I could answer, he continued. ‘Maybe I am and maybe I’m your nightmare.’ As suddenly as he appeared, he disappeared. I looked around, but he had gone. I raised my hand to my head and to my shock my hair was all there. I looked down and the only thing on the path was blood, my blood. No hair. Shivering with fright, I set off back down the path, blood was still dripping from my leg. Walking was painful.
Still lost, I tried not to think about what had just happened when I was hit in the face with a clump of mud. Stopping, I wiped the mess from my cheek. Looking around all I could see was dirt flying everywhere. What is going on? ‘Excuse me!’ I shouted as I saw a man, standing in a large hole, with a shovel flicking mud and dirt into the air. On hearing my voice, he turned and twisted his head. To my horror his head spun round like an owl’s. He aimed the spade at me. I quickly side stepped. ‘Hey leave me alone,’ I cried and before I could get away a hand popped out of the hole. ‘Aaaaargh,’I screamed, but it was in vain as a corpse climbed out of the grave. I just stared, unable to move as it grabbed me. He slapped his hand over my mouth while the man with the shovel beat me multiple times.
Even as the blows rained down on me, I didn’t feel any pain and the blood on my leg had stopped. The corpse released his hand from my mouth then dragged me into the grave. ‘You silly little girl,’ the corpse said, his hands as cold as ice. ‘Where do you think you are?’ I tried to answer, but the man with the shovel leaned down the hole and pulled me out. ‘You don’t know, do you?’ the corpse cried out as I stood on the side looking down. ‘Are you in the woods or are you in your nightmare?’ And like the ginger haired man, the corpse and digger suddenly disappeared, along with the hole.
As they disappeared her leg started bleeding again. Where was she? Was she really in the woods or was she in a nightmare?
The End
A spooky short story, right? Paige certainly has a wonderful (and very dark!) imagination and writes brilliantly for her age. I hope she continues to hone her skills and keeps on writing! Best of luck Paige!
For more dark and spooky tales for kids, check out my Young Adult Books page!
*Images courtesy of www.pixabay.com
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