The Possessed

By Anushka Ray

Dedicated to my best friend Ditipriya, to show how true friends care for each other……

Chapter 1

It was a gloomy Friday morning. I was reading the Daily Mirror which was propped against a flower vase. It was captioned:

Young boy and girl killed

We are terribly sorry to say that yesterday night, two youngsters were found dead in a dense forest. There was a wound in both of their chests, as if someone had brutally stabbed them. They turn out to be the son and daughter of Mr and Mrs Campbell who live in Number 68, Silver Star Street. No physical signs of the killer have been found yet.

I was very sad to hear about this incident because I was very close to Mr. and Mrs. Campbell’s son and daughter because my best friend, Lisa, was their cousin. When she heard about the sad news, she burst into floods of tears in class and was send home as she was crying so much, she got a headache.

I was distracted from my thoughts as my pet dog Coffee, was tugging at my jeans for some pieces of bread. I tore of a small piece of bread and gave it to her. I chuckled to myself because when I gave it to her, she swallowed it down eagerly as if she had not eaten for months. My mom shrieked from the kitchen, ‘Will you eat quickly and not show us how to eat like a snail! You will be late for school!’ I shouted back, ‘Almost done mum!’ I gobbled down the last piece of my egg and stuffed the rest of my bread in Coffee’s mouth and I was out of my house like a shot to hop on the bus. 

To my immense surprise, I saw Lisa sitting in the bus wearing an expression like a wounded rabbit. I waved to her and sat down beside her. Her face brightened when she saw me. I asked her, ‘How are you now?’ Lisa said, ‘I am fine. Except that my aunt keeps crying. Me and my uncle keep telling her that it is no good crying anymore. What’s done is done….’ I listened to her intently until the stop for our school arrived. I thought to myself as she spoke, ‘Man, this girl’s going through a rough time!’ I was surprised to see that now there was not even a trace of a tear on her face. That’s one of the things I like about Lisa. She is always determined and easily gets over things. We both went together to class talking happily.

Chapter 2

Me and Lisa tried to figure out how Paul and Lizzie got killed. It seems that on Wednesday night, they went for a stroll and didn’t come back. Lisa’s family thought that they had been kidnapped so they called the police and asked them to comb the entire town for them. So finally, after two days, they found their bodies. But the bell rang for our next class so we could not talk anymore. 

She asked me, ‘Hey Alicia, what’s the next lesson?’ I told her, ‘It’s History (blah, blah, blah!!!).’ She groaned. Miss Johnson always picked on us. But I got an idea. I said, ‘Hey, what if we pass notes in class? We sit at the back bench so William will hardly notice what we are doing.’ William was an annoying boy who always sneaked on us. She said, ‘I don’t know Alicia. What if-’ But her reply was not completed because I grabbed her hand and rushed to class.

 I was right. William did not notice what we were doing. He was too busy doodling in his book. But Miss Johnson spotted us passing little bits of paper and gave us a nice and loud scolding. 

I made a face behind her back at the class ended.

At the end of the day, I was so tired. We still could not figure out how Paul and Lizzie got murdered. But I had another brilliant idea.

Chapter 3

I threw my bag on the floor as soon as I entered the house. Then I ran like a madwoman to my room and sat down on the computer. I wanted to check whether they found something related to the recent murder. I almost fell off my chair in excitement when I found an article about it on Google. It was written:

Girl found murdering a young man

We finally got sighting of the killer of Paul Campbell and Lizzie Campbell. It was a girl, about eleven or twelve years old. She was caught murdering another young girl. She immediately ran away when she saw people looking at her. She has bright blue eyes, straight brown hair and wore a plain black dress. Kindly inform the police if you see her and take care of yourself and also your family members. 

My heart was thumping. So, she murdered another person. What if she targets Lisa this time? Or worse, what if she killed me or one of my family members? Anything like that can be possible. 

My mom shouted from the kitchen, ‘Eat your pizza or else I’ll eat it! It’s going to get cold.’ I replied, ‘Coming!’ I hurried down the stairs like a mini hurricane to eat the pizza. My mom asked me anxiously, ‘Whatever were you doing? You didn’t even talk to me when you entered the house. Is something wrong?’ ‘Nothing wrong mum. Everything fine. It’s just that……’ I told her about the article. 

After I finished, her face was as if she had seen a ghost. I asked her if something was wrong with her this time. She said, ‘No dear. I’m just scared that she might attack any one of our family now.’ ‘Are you kidding me!!’ I thought to myself. My mother, one of the bravest people in the world, scared? I said to her, ‘That’s what I thought. Do you think she’ll really attack us?’ She said, ‘We’ll be safe honey.’

Chapter 4

On Monday morning, I was a zombie because I hadn’t slept all night because of the irritating noise of the rain splattering on the windows and the thunder roaring like a hungry tiger. But my mom forced me to go to school because there is a test today. It feels so exasperating when your head lolls off your desk during the lesson. 

Lisa kept poking me so that I don’t fall asleep in Mr. Davies class. He is the headmaster of the school and teaches Math. He is kind, but can get very stern when somebody is sleeping in his class. At last, when I fell asleep (a big mistake!) because Lisa forgot to poke me, Mr. Davies spotted me and gave me a hard slap on my head at which I popped my eyes open and squealed. I normally do not get much slaps from my parents and even if I do get, I don’t scream. But this slap was hard. 

He asked me, ‘Alicia! Is this class a cozy place for you to sleep?’ I said in an apologetic tone, ‘Sorry sir. I did not sleep last night. Won’t happen again.’ 

After the class ended, Lisa caught up with me and asked if I got any news about the killer. I nodded and told her about the article. Her eyes were glittering with anger as she listened to me.

 When I completed, Lisa shouted out, ‘I HATE HER! I’M GOING TO FIND HER AND KILL HER!’ 

‘Oh snickerdoodles!’ ‘Keep your voice down please!!!’ I requested. Lisa whispered, ‘I’m sorry. It’s just that, it’s so unfair! I agreed with her and said, ‘I know. Why does she even kill people? Murderers always have a reason to kill people (I read that in a mystery book). She said to me, ‘I have no idea why she’s murdering people and I am not even bothered to find out. All that matters to me is that the police catch her and put her in jail.’

 I said, ‘Yeah. Anyways, the bell for Geography class rang so we’ve got to go now. We’ll talk when we’re walking on the way back home.’ 

Chapter 5

While walking on the way back home, we kept discussing how to protect ourselves from the killer. We certainly could not stay at home because we’ve got to go to school. Eventually we could think of a few sensible methods which are very common. Lisa even wrote them down on a piece of paper.

1.Do not open your door to strangers.

2.Do not talk to people you don’t know.

3.Do not go out alone, especially in the evening.

4.Keep your mobile phone handy so that you can call the police.

When we reached my front door, Lisa bade me goodbye and turned to walk towards her own house. I suddenly remembered something. I told her, ‘Hey Lisa, remember the third point of our rules?’ She remembered and smiled at me, ‘I’ll be fine Alicia. Don’t worry. I’ll be really careful.’

I was still worried as she faded away in the darkness. But I knew she was a tough girl so I somewhat went inside my house with a comforted feeling. 

When I entered my room and changed into my nightie, I heard a faraway scream. 

Holy pants, it was Lisa’s voice!

Chapter 6

I quickly wore my jacket over my nightdress and flew outside to see what was the matter. To horror, I couldn’t see anything apart from the dry leaves rustling the ground. I ran to my house again to grab a torch. Even with a torch, I couldn’t see anything.

I went back inside my room and jumped on the bed. ‘Maybe I imagined the scream because I was too tired. Perhaps if she does not come tomorrow to school, I’ll dial her mom.’ With these thoughts, I slowly drifted off to sleep.

The next day, I was very energetic because I had a good night’s sleep. I was so eager to see whether Lisa had come to school or not that I didn’t even finish my apple (which is my favorite fruit in the whole universe). 

When I hopped on the bus with full expectations that Lisa will be there, smiling at me, I was shocked to see that there was an empty seat where she usually sat. ‘Maybe she’s sick.’ I thought hopelessly.

***

After a long day at school, I reached home and immediately dialed Lisa’s mom’s number and held the phone to my ear. A voice answered at the other end. Without even letting the person to speak I said in a rush. ‘Hello Mrs. Walker it’s Alicia here. I just wanted to know why Lisa didn’t come to school today. Can you please tell me?’

There was an absolute silence.

Mrs. Walker replied in a shaky voice, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry dear but she didn’t come back home from school yesterday. Do you know where she went?’

My blood turned ice cold.

I said, ‘No. I don’t have any idea where she went.’

Chapter 7

I cried in my pillow for a lot of time at night. I thought I was in a nightmare. Everything seemed wrong to me after I heard the news. 

My dad saw that I had a high temperature when he came to check on me at night. I told him everything about Lisa. He was pale white when I finished. But even though he was scared, (I know when a person is scared) he assured me that he’ll keep me protected. 

I was still petrified that me or my family will be the killer’s next victim. He kissed me goodnight and went to sleep in his room.

I kept thinking about good things such as ice cream, pizza, apples, teddy bears, parks and things like that. But I couldn’t get the thought of Lisa being kept imprisoned by the killer. 

‘Stupid killer!’ I thought to myself. ‘Can’t she find anything else to do rather than murdering people for literally no reason!?’

 I suddenly thought of wearing my dressing gown and look for Lisa in the forest. But I ruled that idea out of my mind because that was a terrible idea. 

The next morning, I was really ill because I didn’t sleep the whole night (again!!!). I had a severe headache in the crack of dawn, but I didn’t tell my mom that time. A few hours later I was feeling so sick that I finally told my mom. So, she forced me to come with her to the hospital.

The doctor informed her that this can be caused when a person is too much worried about anything and can sometimes lead to a heart attack. He said that I must stay in the hospital for at least one day. I just sobbed the whole day in my pillow.

Chapter 8

I felt so horrible in the hospital. I thought that the more we waste time, the more Lisa’s in danger. I coaxed my doctor to discharge me but he pushed me back into bed and told me to keep my mouth shut.

Finally, the next day they took me home and I joyfully leaped up on my own bed and took up my phone for any news about Lisa. To my relief, there was nothing and they said that the police found no more murders. 

I asked my mom if I could look for Lisa at night. She bellowed at me, ‘Are you insane? Look for Lisa at night on your own?! Don’t even think about it!’

I smirked to myself and I went up the stairs. As if I would listen to her! I had an epic plan.

At midnight, when my parents were snoring loudly in their beds, I crept out of the house with all the necessary things in my bag, a first aid kit, a rope, a torch, a small cutter, some holy water and most importantly, my phone. 

I went inside Wild Thicket and began to look for Lisa. I searched and searched until I heard a scuffling noise behind me. I turned around and my heart jumped when I saw who it was.

It was Lisa!

But how different she looked! Her hair was messy, her dress was ripped, she had a wound on her arm and her face and hands were covered in mud. Her face was surprised when she saw me. She whispered, ‘Alicia? You found me?’ 

I was overjoyed! I ran and hugged her. I didn’t care that she was covered in dirt (and a little smelly). It only mattered that she was back again!

Chapter 9

Suddenly, we heard footsteps. Lisa said, ‘That’s Isabella. She is the killer.’ I saw a girl standing right beside me.

 I screamed.

 Isabella said, ‘Oh my god, calm down! I’m not going to do anything to you! I can explain.’ 

I shouted, ‘EXPLAIN WHAT? EXPLAIN WHY YOUR’E KILLING PEOPLE? I’M DON’T THINK THAT YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT IS A CRIME!’ She said, ‘I don’t do it on purpose.’ I said, ‘What do you mean you don’t do it on purpose?’ 

She took a deep breath and said, ‘Many years ago, when I was little, there was a kind of spirit named Sophia. She possesses people to take their lifetime energy and makes them do evil and cruel things. She is kind of like a zombie you know, how they bite people and stay alive. Well, my parents all the time kept me locked up in my room and forbade me to go outside. One day, I was really frustrated so I secretly went outside to enjoy the nature. But Sophia went inside me and turned me half-evil. So, she makes me kill and harm people so everybody thinks that I’m a murderer.’ 

I asked, ‘Is there any cure?’ Isabella said, ‘Yes. There is a small tube called the Extractor that sucks Sophia out of a person’s soul. But nobody has found it since the 20^th century so I doubt that we will.’

Chapter 10

‘We?’ I spluttered. ‘What do you mean “we”? I’m not going to chum up with a crazy possessed serial killer!’ 

Isabella hung her head said dejectedly, ‘Please, please help me get Sophia out of my body. I’ll do anything you say. J-just do it, please.’ 

I felt a bit guilty. After all, it must be hard to have an evil spirit thingy trapped inside your body. 

I made up my mind to help her. I asked Isabella, ‘How do we know that you’re not going to strangle me or Lisa at this moment?’ 

She replied, ‘Only when I’m having a strong reaction like anger or extreme happiness then I attack. Actually, Sophia attacks not me.’ 

‘OK fine. Then from today night onwards, we’re a team!’ I said thumping Lisa and Isabella on the back.

                                                         ***

At school, I noticed that Lisa was a bit quieter that before. Maybe it was the shock of suddenly being kidnapped by Isabella. All the teachers and her friends greeted her and asked where she had been for a few days. 

We had already decided what to answer for this question. Actually, the police had already been informed of her absence since Tuesday morning but it was not on the newspaper.

Lisa answered, ‘Oh, I was just having a severe bout of cold that’s why I didn’t come. Of course, I really missed you guys and Alicia here even if it was only for a few days,’ she said with a wink in my direction.

                                                     ***

During school dispersal, me and Lisa were walking together towards the school main gate. I saw Hannah, a first-grader walking in front of us. 

Hannah had really taken to me the first day she started this school and met me. I don’t have any reasonable explanation why she likes me so much. 

Lisa nudged me and said, ‘Hey Alicia, look there’s your admirer. Is she going to lick your boots again today?’ I blushed and said, ‘Don’t be silly. She’s actually a really nice little thing’ 

Lisa laughed and said, ‘Yeah, nice to you because she’s the only one who loves to rub your stinky feet, I suppose. I don’t think she even…’

Chapter 11

But I wasn’t listening to her. Something was sticking out of Hannah’s bag. It looked like a long fancy looking tube which looked similar to- the Extractor! Without thinking, I wrenched my arm out of Lisa’s and ran like a hare towards little Hannah. I caught her on the arm as she tried to run away.

Hannah whispered, ‘W-w-what d-do you want?’ 

I said fiercely, ‘How come you got hold of the Extractor? How are you just carrying it around in your bag?! Yes, yes, I know about Sophia alright but just spit it out!’

Hannah explained, ‘My great grandmother was best friends with Sophia. They used to meet up in the evening every day. However, one day, Sophia just suddenly turned, weird. Great Granny says that it was a work of dark magic. And then before I knew it, Sophia somehow turned into an evil spirit and went inside poor Great Granny Patricia. My grandmother, means her daughter, invented a magical tube called the Extractor to save her mother. What you need to do is that you have to place that tube on the possessed person and press a small button on the top. But you need to be careful while closing the lid because if you don’t shut it properly, Sophia can come out and go inside you. After that you need to throw it in a river and abandon it completely. Are you happy now, Alicia? I told you everything!’

I was stunned to even say a word. I nodded my head as in yes. 

Lisa said, ‘Hannah, will you lend it to us please? A- um… friend of ours is in trouble and we need to help her.’ Hannah agreed and lent us the Extractor. It felt bit heavy and felt slippery in the hands. 

It’s time to fix this. 

Chapter 12

I quickly dialed Isabella’s number on my phone. (Yeah, she has a phone and gave me her number) 

I told her everything that happened. She sounded very delighted and told that we can meet tonight. 

At night, I quietly got dressed and went out of the house within seconds. 

In the woods, I found Isabella and Lisa fully dressed and Isabella was clearly exploding with excitement. ‘Don’t get too excited or else Sophia’s going to attack, remember?’ I warned her. Isabella replied, ‘Don’t worry, I’ve got it a bit under control.’ 

Isabella demonstrated how to do the Extracting and after nearly half an hour, I was a pro at handling Extractors. ‘Okay, on the count of three then.’ said Isabella lying on the ground and her voice trembling a bit. ‘One, two, three! EXTRACT!’ she shouted. 

I placed the tube on Isabella’s chest and pressed the tiny button. It came up with such force that I left the tube before realizing that it was a BIG MISTAKE! A translucent figure of a woman came up and glared at me. Yep, that was definitely Sophia! I thought I must be in a horrifying nightmare! 

Before I even opened my mouth to say something, Sophia swooped on me and then everything went blank in my mind. 

I felt as if my whole life was being controlled like a human puppet. At least I got to see my best friend before I died a painful death. Then all of a sudden, I felt a long tube being pushed onto my chest. After what seemed like forever, I felt my free body. I took a few gulps of the night air and to me, it seemed like the beginning of life. I got up cautiously and smiled up at Isabella and Lisa as I saw the Extractor deep inside the clear river. I said to Isabella, ‘Well, at least you are going to have a peaceful, Sophia-free life now, Isabella.’ Isabella grinned and said, ‘Yeah, I guess so!’

After that incident, Isabella enrolled at my school and she, Lisa and I became a trio forever.

The End

By Anushka Ray