Safety in numbers | Teen Ink

Safety in numbers

May 9, 2018
By HannahHlzz, Fort Worth, Texas
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HannahHlzz, Fort Worth, Texas
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It was seven minutes after midnight. The snow in the mountains was melting and Miranda has been dead for a week. We still haven't come to understand the gravity of the situation. Miranda Willis disappeared after a birthday party with me (Gail), Caroline, Rose, and Bertha five days ago. They still haven't found her body. After a week they give up. That's how it goes in this dead end town. After one week you just… give up. Miranda was my best friend. We have been out in the woods since seven in the morning. We turned aside, and climbed the hill through the woods. Velvety green sprigs of dog-mercury were scattered on the red soil. We came to the top of a slope, where the woods thinned...There was a deep little dell, sharp sloping like a cup, and a white sprinkling of flowers all the way down, with white flowers showing pale. “MIRAAAANNNDAAAAAA!!”, Rose shouted. “Do you think she’s still alive?” Bertha asked.  “No I….I..I don't know! Ok? My best friend went missing on my birthday. For all we know she could've woke up, walked away, tripped, and went into the woods.”Rose shouted. The thing is, Miranda didn't just disappear. She was murdered. We saw the blood trail away from the car into the woods. She was asleep in the car and we decided that we were going to prank her. I drove the car back behind my house while Rose, Caroline, and Bertha hid and when she woke up we were going to scare her. Well, I dropped the keys to Roses car so we couldn't. While we were looking for them, we would have heard the car go if  she opened it from the inside…. Unless someone found the keys. When we came back the car door was opened and there was blood leading to the woods. The authorities said the blood was just jelly and she was pranking us. That did not look like jelly! We are in the woods searching for her or some kind of clue. “We need to get our minds off of this.”I whispered. “Anyone up for scary stories?” Caroline said. What else can we do to get our minds off of this. “Sure.” “I have one.” Rose practically shouted. Here goes. “A couple of months ago, my friend’s cousin (a single mother) bought a new cell phone. After a long day of work, she came home, placed her phone on the counter, and went watch to TV; her son came to her and asked if he could play with her new phone. She told him not to call anyone or mess with text messages, and he agreed.
At around 11:20, she was drowsy, so she decided to tuck her son in and go to bed. She walked to his room and saw that he wasn’t there. She then ran over to her room to find him sleeping on her bed with the phone in his hand.
  Relieved, she picked her phone back up from his hand to inspect it. Browsing through it, she noticed only minor changes such as a new background, banner, etc., but then she opened up her saved pictures. She began deleting the pictures he had taken until only one new picture remained.
  When she first saw it, she was in disbelief. It was her son sleeping on her bed, but the picture was taken by someone else above him... and it showed the left half of an elderly woman’s face.”

“Hows that?” Caroline asked. “Not bad,” I say. “But I have a better one.” I begin to tell the story. “Last night a friend rushed me out of the house to catch the opening act at a local bar's music night. After a few drinks, I realized my phone wasn't in my pocket. I checked the table we were sitting at, the bar, the bathrooms, and after no luck, I used my friend's phone to call mine. After two rings someone answered, gave out a low raspy giggle, and hung up. They didn't answer again. I eventually gave it up as a lost cause and headed home.
  I found my phone laying on my nightstand, right where I left it.” “Did that actually happen?” Caroline whispered in a raspy voice. “No but…” I get cut off by the sound of a bush rattling behind us. “What was that?” Bertha asked. “I don't know but what…” I  get interrupted again by the snap of a twig; this time sounding closer. I turn around and see nothing but the dark trees towering over me. Then I see it. Drops of blood leading back into the dark mass of trees. I need to follow it. ‘I think I dropped something. I'll be right back.” I leave my friends behind, scared and clueless. I follow the trail of blood back into the mass of tall oak trees. Every step I take I hear a rustling sound somewhere but I can't figure out where. As I follow the trail it seems like the blood drops are getting bigger and bigger. I start to hear the rustling again. It sound like whatever it is is running. Is it running away from me? I start running after the trail. Whatever is running has something to do with Miranda. I start sprinting. The sound is coming from behind me now. Is it chasing me? I Turn around just for a second and see nothing. Right as I turn back around I trip on something hard. “AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!” I think i broke my ankle. I reach around me to find what I tripped on. It's too dark to see anything more than five inches away from me. I get a grip on something hard. Is this a boot. The same boot Miranda was wearing the night she disappeared. It..it...it has her  foot still in it. “Oh my gosh!” I start to turn around when something cuts me in the throat. I fall backwards leaving the world behind me. The last thing I see a crooked smile right above me.
but I can't hear it. He gets a syringe from his pocket and sticks it in my arm. Wow. That just made me way dizzier. “Stop!! What are you doing?!?! Let go of me!!!” He's to strong. Wait is this what happened to Miranda? Am I Miranda? The last thing I see is my head being bashed against the ground and a pool of blood all around me.



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