“Why do we have to move again?” Sophia, a fifteen year old girl, asked her mother. She and her family were currently driving to their new home. “Honey, I understand you don’t like moving around so much,” her mother replied, “But, you know that our last neighborhood was unsafe; There were reports of murders and children being kidnapped for Christ’s sakes.”
Sophia look at her little sister, Claire, who was sleeping, drool slowly dripping from her mouth. She could understand why her mother wanted to leave. Clearly, the last neighborhood wasn’t an ideal location to raise your four year old child. She went back to looking out the window, watching as the world went by.
***
“We’re here,” her mother said quietly, as to not wake up the still sleeping Claire. “Would you mind taking your sister to her room? The beds should already be set up.” Sophia nodded and went to pick up her sister. She carried her sister into her room, only stopping a few times to readjust her.
The house had two stories, with the kitchen, living room, and the biggest bedroom with its own bathroom on the first floor, and two more bedrooms and another bathroom on the second. Sophia put Claire in the first second story bedroom, then went back outside to help her mother unload the boxes they brought with them in the car.
She and her mother were halfway through unloading everything, when Sophia heard talking coming from upstairs. She decided to go check on Claire, since the voice sounded like hers. Strangely enough, the door to the room was closed. ‘I thought I left this open,’ Sophia thought, getting closer to the door. She could hear the voices clearly now, and one of them was defiantly Claire.
“What happened to your arms? They’re covered in red,” Claire asked.
“Just a had a small argument with my father,” another voice said.
The second voice didn’t sound like Claire, it was more monotone and quiet, not as happy and young. Curious, Sophia put her ear to the door, listening to the conversation.
“Why do you wear that thingy on your face? And why do you put your hair over your eye?”
“I can’t show my face, sweety. I would be put in danger if I should my whole fa-,”
“What’s wrong?”
“….”
“Are you okay?”
“…Someone’s here…”
Sophia’s hand accidentally twisted the doorknob, causing the door to swing open and her to fall face first into the floor. Quickly, she got up and looked around the room in search of the person Claire was talking to. When it was clear no one else was in the room, she started to question her sister.
“Claire, who were you talking to?”
“The girl who you left me with.”
“What girl?”
“The one who was talking to the ghosts.”
Sophia decided to shrug it off, telling herself that it was just her little sister’s imagination the whole time. Still, she didn’t like there being no explanation for the second voice.
***
Later that night, Sophia had stayed up to watch YouTube on her phone. While she was waiting for a video to load, she heard Claire and the other voice talking again. Once more, she found herself pressing her ear to the door.
“Why’d ya leave earlier?”
“I couldn’t let your sister see me, sweety.”
“Why?”
*sigh* “It’s hard to explain…”
“Ya don’t hafta tell me. Can I pet your puppy?”
“Sure, but she’s not a puppy, she’s a shadow beast.”
“What’s that?”
“An animal that was reborn as a creature who can use the shadows to travel. It’s how we disappeared earlier.”
*giggle* “She’s licking my hand!”
“She must like yo- …”
“Something wrong again?”
“…”
“Is someone listening again?”
“…Yes, D.S. let’s go.”
Sophia opened the door as fast as she could, hoping to get a glimpse of the girl this time. Still no one else was in the room, except Claire. “Why do ya have to keep scaring her off?” Claire asked. “I’m not trying to Claire, I’m just making sure you’re okay.” Claire pouted, and pushed Sophia out her room. “Go away, I was happy with her.”
***
Claire’s talks with the mystery girl kept going on for several nights, even their mother heard her talking. Their mother tried to view the mystery girl as well, but just like with Sophia, the girl always disappears quickly. Sophia had even gone as far as to place her phone on recording, trying to get the girl on video. Instead her phone disappeared, and when it was returned all footage was deleted.
After about two and a half weeks, her mother and Sophia tried to ask Claire about the girl. They handed her a piece of paper and a box of crayons. “Claire, could you draw your friend for mommy, please?” Claire nodded, smiling brightly. The finished product was a messy picture of Claire holding hands with a brown haired girl, and what looks like a dog sitting by the girl. Although the picture was just stick people, and didn’t have good details, it was enough for now.
The girl’s hair stopped at her shoulders, covering the left side of her face. A black mask with yellow dots covered the bottom half of her face and she had black headphones on her head. She had a gray hoodie on with hole on the sleeves, all messily colored with red around them. “Her name is Silent, and she says she can see ghosts.” Claire calmly said. Then she pointed at the dog, “This is D.S.. Silent said it is short for Dark Star, I think.”
Later that night, Claire ran into Sophia’s room, crying. “Claire, what’s wrong?” Sophia asked. “S-sile-ent’s ma-ad a-at me,” she sobbed. “She-she sa-aid I shou-uld-dn’t h-have t-t-told you and m-mommy a-about h-her.” Sophia held her sister until she was calm enough to talk properly. “Is Silent still here?” Sophia asked. Claire look up at her and nodded.
“Stay here,” Sophia said, “I’m going to get Mother. Don’t open the door until I comeback.” With that, Sophia went downstairs to retrieve her mother. She knock on her bedroom door. “Mother,” she spoke quietly. When there was no response, she enter the room and turned on the light.
Sophia gasped in mute horror. Blood was splattered all over the bedsheets. Her mother layed still on the bed, chunks of her flesh missing, and pieces of her bones visible. Her stomach was torn open, guts spilling out onto the floor, some of the organs even had teeth marks on them. One of her arms was gone completely, and the culprint, what appeared to be a monstrous version of a wolf, was still chewing on it.
The wolf creature growled at Sophia, baring it blood coated, yellow teeth at her. It’s dark, crimson eyes glared at her, as if to say leave or you’ll regret it. Which is exactly what she did. Sophia screamed and ran back upstairs to her room. When she got there, she found mystery girl holding her sister.
The girl had black headphones on, a black mask with gold spikes, and a black choker around her neck. Her hair was just like in Claire’s drawing, revealing only one brown eye, dark purple bags visible underneath. Her gray hoodie had bloody holes all along the sleeves, showing off still bleeding cuts, and her hands were covered by her black gloves. Her black jeans were ripped at the knees, and she had on a pair of black boots.
“Oh, I’m sorry, did D.S. scare you?” The girl asked. Sophia was too frightened to answer. “She was hungry, so I just let her go eat.” Silent ran one gloved hand through Claire’s hair, the other gripping her tightly. “Y’know, I thought Claire was going to be my friend,” Silent sighed, “I guess she’ll have to be like all my other friends.” It was then that Sophia noticed Silent had a belt with two leather sheaths connected to it, one of which was empty; Silent had a silver dagger in her hand.
Sophia charged at Silent. She didn’t have a plan, she just wanted to save Claire. Suddenly, Silent pulled down her mask and let out the most horrible sound both Claire and Sophia had ever heard. Well, the scream didn’t have a sound, but it was still horribly painful for some reason. Sophia went stiff and dropped to the floor. She couldn’t move at all, the scream paralyzed her. She heard movement, and found Silent crouching down beside her, examining her. “Hm…” She hummed thoughtfully, “My name’s Silent Scream, honey. You can probably guess why. Well, anyway, guess you’ll become my friend like your mother has and your sister will.”
Sophia tried to punch Silent, and it work, she could move again. Silent fell back from the impact, her head hitting the nightstand. She groaned in pain, one hand touching her hand, the other still clutching the dagger. “Heh, you can put up a fight. Alright then, looks like I’ll need some help.” Her eyes turned white and strands of her hair started floating slightly, a light blue aura appearing around her. Wispy blue and white shapes started forming around the room into human shapes, one of which looked like Sophia’s mother.
Silent picked up the still paralyzed Claire and gave her to the ghost of Sophia’s mother. “Hold her and don’t let go, please,” Silent commanded. “Mother!!! Help!!!” Sophia exclaimed. Her mother didn’t respond, she only did as Silent told her, eyes blank of emotion. Silent unsheathed her other dagger, “Your screams won’t be heard.” Then, before Sophia could react, she charged jabbing one dagger into her shoulder. Sophia screamed in pain, falling onto her knees while clutching her wounded shoulder. She tried to get back up, but two ghosts had grabbed her and held her in place.
“You should’ve never asked Claire about me. The ghosts showed me this would happen if you kept meddling, and it did,” Silent said, breathing heavily. Sophia realized summoning all those ghost must’ve taken a lot of energy from her. If the ghost would just disappear, she might have a chance at beating the girl. Luck must be on her side, because the ghost started to flicker. Taking her chance, she lunged forward and tackled Silent, pinning her down.
Silent Scream just smiled. “You forgot about my friend,” she said darkly. Growling was coming from the doorway, and Sophia turned her head fast enough to catch a glimpse of the black wolf monster, before her vision went dark.
