A Haunting of Words
Page 41
He whispered to the two most loved women in his life before drawing the blade against his own throat. “I love you both so, so much. I’m sorry. I hope you can both forgive me in the next life.”
We hope you enjoyed A Haunting of Words, an anthology of authors selected from all over the world. Scout Media looks forward to bringing you the next instalment in our ‘Of Words’ series, A Contract of Words. To quench your reading thirst until its release, we offer you this story of a ghost bound by a contract, written by ten-year-old aspiring author, Duaa Hyder:
NIGHTFALL
Duaa Hyder
Iana’s mother stared, wishing to be with her one last time. She missed her; she would trade the world just to spend one last day with her daughter.
“Zoë! What do you think you’re doing?” Octavia sped toward her. “You’re here to haunt! No one ever told you to sneak up on your child! How embarrassing it must be, to have a child who’s alive! Even more so to have one who doesn’t believe in our existence!”
“Octavia, calm down,” Zoë ordered. “Iana would believe in ghosts if you let me talk to her!”
“Enough! Letting a mere mortal speak to such powerful beings like us!”
“You were a mortal once, and you always brag about how your mortal family were so good to you, and I’ve seen you talk to them before,” Zoë argued.
Octavia’s face went red.
Zoë smiled. “Oh, has the leader of the dead finally shut her big mouth?”
“Fine then. Why don’t you be with your precious mortal daughter.”
Iana’s jaw dropped. “No, it … it can’t be. August deliberately put it there so that Jen thought Aliya did it! This is the best TV show ever!”
“IANA!” a voice shouted, making Iana drop her popcorn. “You are fourteen and you still watch animated TV programmes? I am disgusted!”
Iana’s jaw dropped even farther. “Mum? You’re … you’re here!”
“Of course, I’m here! Are you blind?”
“N-No … I’m not blind.”
“Good. Now what do you wanna do?”
“What do you mean? You’re dead!”
“Oh, I’ve been given a day to spend with you.”
“Next season, August must find a way to sneak past Jen and Aliya to steal the Sacred Green Flower. Will she do it? Find out in all new episodes.”
“Iana, you were right! This is the best programme ever!” Zoë exclaimed.
“I know, right? Do you wanna sit down?”
“Iana, I’m a ghost.”
“Yeah, sorry. How did you actually get here?”
“Oh, this girl called Octavia sent me here.”
“Why?” Iana asked.
“I dunno. Something about getting you to become a ghost by nightfall, or I’m banished from the clan. I wasn’t really listening because I was craving some salty fries.”
“Wait … WHAT?”
“Yeah, even when you’re dead and you can’t eat, you can get these annoying craving feelings,” Zoë started.
“No! I mean the nightfall thing!”
“If you don’t sign this contract to become a ghost by nightfall, I’m gonna be kicked out. I was going to tell you about it, but I kind of forgot—”
“What about Dad?”
“Oh, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind. He’ll probably have one less problem without you.”
“Hey! I’m not that bad! What do you even have to do to become a ghost?”
“You could die or just jump into this portal thing that was here this whole time.”
“Okay. Weeeeeeeeeeee!”
Iana was never heard of again.