Chapter 1- Sarah In Darkness
Sarah in Darkness
Sarah couldn’t remember much about her life with her biological parents. Only vague shadows and harsh words. And closed fists. She remembered spending endless, faded days in the garden, waiting for the shouting to stop.
There was one day she remembered more than any other. She was sitting in the centre of the front room, staring at her feet. Around her, her parents shouted. First at her. Then at each other. Then at each other again. On and on and on. It only stopped when the police broke down the door. They picked up Sarah without a glance at her parents and carried her away. It was only when Sarah was told that her parents had been found dead in their bedroom that she understood. An icy feeling of dread filled her that day. She was only young, but Sarah knew that what she saw was unnatural. And being unnatural gets you in trouble.
Life became a blur of foster homes and foster parents. No-one wanted to keep her for long. Sarah got used to seeing a look of unease in people’s eyes when they saw her. She thought she looked like an ordinary girl with her frizzy red hair in bunches, her permanently scraped knees and a gap-toothed smile. But the sense of the uncanny must of come pouring out of her, covering everything around her in it’s scent. She never blamed anyone for sending her away. She never expected anyone to want to be around her for long.
As she grew she saw more and more ghosts. Sometimes they talked to her, but mostly they just stared. Everywhere she looked she saw eyes staring back at her. At school. On the street. In her room. They always looked so lost, on the verge of begging her for something. She began to find out what they wanted when she left her last foster home at 18. They began talking to her more. Begging for injustices to be put right, demanding revenge.
“My sister took my engagement ring off my corpse. Please tell my husband” One told her
“My family are going to try and steal everything from my daughter, please warn my lawyer” Another said
“Some arseholes looted my body. I want them found!” Another screamed
Some just screamed in her face, driven to a incoherent rage. But none of them touched her until the fateful night a ghost tried to freeze her to death.
One night she came home and pulled back her hand when the switch burned her hand. She hissed in pain as the burning cold spread across her arm. Her breath steamed in the freezing air around her. She could faintly see a small figure curled into a ball at the centre of her apartment. Their hair was torn out in places, and Sarah could see fresh bruises on their thin arms. They were rocking slightly muttering to themselves, clinging a thin jacket to them. Sarah sighed. This wasn’t going to be easy. She slowly walked towards the figure.
“Hello? My name is Sarah, I think I can help you”
The figure turned it’s head slightly towards her, pausing in their rocking.
“It was just a joke” The figure said. They sounded like a young girl.
“What was?” Sarah asked, kneeling down to the girls level.
“Putting me in the freezer. They told me they had a present in there for me... then they closed the door”
“That was a joke?” Sarah replied, horrified.
“They seemed to find it quite funny. They were laughing a lot” She replied, giggling slightly
“That doesn’t sound very funny to me. Who was laughing?” Sarah asked
The girl didn’t answer, she was still giggling to herself. It was a breathless, high pitched giggle. It sounded painful. The sound of laughter built up in Sarah’s head. The girl didn’t seem to get any louder, but it slowly broke Sarah down to her knees. She felt cold all over, her eyes closing as the numbness slowly closed around her.
“Tell me how to help you” Sarah whispered.
The girl looked confused. “I don’t need help. I just need to wait. They’ll open the door and we’ll all laugh soon”
“They’re not.. They’re not...” Sarah gasped.
Sarah couldn’t remember what was said after that. The next thing she remembered was waking up on living room. In a puddle of water. She got to her feet and slowly changed her clothes, stumbling round in the dark. She didn’t dare touch the light switch again. She doesn’t know she’s dead, Sarah thought. I have a horrible feeling that I am going to have to tell her that.
