Do U HAVE A HEART
Hello. My name is Hazel.
It is one in the morning. Me and my younger brother Rony and five other people are locked in a bunker.
The bunker is dark. We can hear noises from above. The wind is loud.
We have been locked here for one month.
Going outside is not allowed.
Because out there is it. The Last Word.
It is one hour until two.
And between two and four, it comes.
Let me tell you from the beginning.
One hundred years ago. The year was 1880.
This was a small town in Pennsylvania. Small but full of life.
One night people started disappearing.
First one. Then two. Then ten.
Every body they found had no heart in the chest.
People got scared. They locked themselves in their houses.
Then a woman appeared. Black dress. Hair covering her face.
She came at two in the morning and asked everyone, do you have a heart.
Whoever said yes, she took their heart.
Ten shadows walked with her. No faces.
In three nights six hundred people died.
Then suddenly she stopped. She disappeared.
The elders said someone made a sacrifice so she left.
But she said she would come back.
Everyone forgot.
Now back to today.
Two months ago.
My dad got a transfer. To a town in Pennsylvania, America.
We were so happy. We got a new house. Big house with a garden.
We moved in two days. Set everything up.
The first three days were fine. Laughing. New neighbors.
On the fourth morning we got the news.
A dead body was found near the woods.
Police came. Ambulance came.
The body looked normal. Face normal. Clothes clean.
But when the doctor checked, there was no heart in the chest.
Just an empty space.
People got scared. But no one talked about it much.
Near our house lived a woman who acted strange.
She stood in the street every day and shouted.
She said a hundred years are over. They are back.
There will be destruction again. There will be ruin again.
Everyone called her crazy.
Two days later I got into college.
Life got busy. I made new friends.
One friend is Nick. He became my boyfriend.
And one friend was Daisy. She was weird.
She always read books. Collected old newspapers.
One day we were sitting in the canteen.
Daisy ran in with a very old newspaper in her hand.
Look what this says, she said.
This newspaper is seventy years old.
Six hundred people died in this town.
Going out after eight at night was banned.
We said forget it Daisy. These are old stories.
But Daisy said no. Listen.
We should never go out after twelve at night.
We laughed and said okay okay we wont.
Right then Nick held my hand.
Lets go to the library, he said.
No one is there.
We went to the library. We talked for half an hour.
I do not know when we got so close to each other.
Daisy came looking for us.
She stood at the door and said hmmmmm enough already.
You start this everywhere.
We both got shy.
That night when I was going home I felt someone was following me.
I turned around. No one was there.
Only a black shadow far away. Then it vanished.
The next morning another dead body.
Two days after that, another one.
Every body was fine. But the heart was gone.
That is when we believed something was wrong.
But we pushed the fear aside.
That week was Nick's birthday.
He had a small party. Only close friends.
There was music in the house. Lights. Laughter.
For the first time I held Nick's hand and danced in front of everyone.
Everyone clapped.
At twelve at night Nick whispered in my ear, you are so good Hazel.
I lowered my head.
After the party the four of us sat and talked.
Me, Nick, Daisy, and one other friend.
We decided to go on a picnic to the woods next week.
We talked late into the night.
When I got home my mom said, go to sleep early.
Something strange is happening in town.
I laughed and went to sleep.
The next morning there were police sirens.
Two houses down from us, another body.
No heart.
And that same night a guy named Adam was going home.
It was two in the morning.
The town roads were empty.
He saw a black shadow. He ignored it.
He was on a call.
Suddenly someone put a hand on his shoulder.
He turned around.
A woman was standing there.
She asked, do you have a heart.
Adam said yes I do.
The woman said, I do not have one.
And she took his heart and left.
After that day everyone knew.
A lady comes. Between two and four at night.
She asks a question.
And whoever says yes, she takes their heart
