Chapter 14: The Invisible Girl in Room Thirteen by Stephen Simpson

September 17, 2024

Chapter 14: The Invisible Girl in Room Thirteen by Stephen Simpson

I put my head down, hiding my face to avoid his eyes.

“Hey, guys,” Evelyn said. “We were looking all over for the two of you.”

Looking up, I saw her and Colin, silhouetted against the night sky, their shapes hovering above us.

Quickly I moved away from Oliver and sat up, folding my arms around my legs as I pulled them up to my chest.

“Can we join you?” Colin asked as he sat down next to Oliver, dangling his legs from the dock.

I lifted myself quickly. “I need to go to the pod for a second.”

Evelyn glanced in my direction. “Hope it’s not something I did.”

Colin agreed, “Just as we arrive, you run off.”

I chuckled dismissively. “I need the loo if that’s okay with the two of you.”

“Have you been here since we got back from sailing?” Colin gave Oliver a bemused look.

As I walked away from them, I heard him say, “Yeah. I wanted to talk to Alison, but we got side-tracked, a little.”

Evelyn giggled and each note from the sound escaping her mouth cut like a piece of glass through my soul. She had turned the moment, which a second ago felt special, into something dirty.

They were laughing at me.

I won’t allow Oliver to hurt me.

No-one will ever hurt me again.

The forest loomed dark beside me and from the corner of my eye I saw a shadow move across the tree trunks to my side and then there was a flash of silver, maybe a reflection off an old discarded can. The wind whistled through the branches above my head and it sounded like a whisper, “Alllliiisson.”

I spun around, peering into the dark, trying to see if there was something between the trees.

My heart started pounding in my chest. “Is someone there?”

A voice said softly, “It’s me, Lily.”

I was not sure if the voice came from the darkness between the trees or if it came from inside my head.

Terror threatened to overwhelm me, and I took a step back before I twirled around and bolted as fast as I could to the campfire and the safety of light, not looking back.

Mrs Scott called my name as I sprinted past her, but I did not stop.

I was running away from me and I could not run fast enough.

I only slowed down when I entered the communal bathroom, leaning against the cool, beige tiles to catch my breath. The small light bulb overhead barely lit the two white porcelain basins against the opposite walls from the puke green stall doors, which were pushed shut and had pockets of shadows hiding behind them.

Pushing away from the wall, I walked to the first stall slowly and pushed against the door to push it open before walking in. Silhouetted in the shadow, behind the separating wall of the neighbouring stall there were two feet in the bottom gap, I gasped as I took a step back.

When I looked again, the pink Vans were gone and then a hand grabbed my wrist making me stumble in panic.

“Alison?” The girl asked.

I yanked my hand down hard to release the hold of icy cold fingers around my wrist and looked down, glimpsing a long sharp blade.

I hardly managed to turn before the long steely blade rose high in the air. It came down with force and I felt a warm oozing liquid splatter my face as the knife thrust in and out of the girl’s chest who tried to put up a fight but it was useless, she never had a chance. Then she fell to the ground with a limp puppet motion.

In terror, I took a couple of steps backwards and slipped down the smooth tiles on the wall behind me until I was sitting on the cold concrete floor. I felt numb and scared to death as I stared at the lifeless body and then I heard a voice screaming and screaming, not realising the sound came from me.

Oliver came running into the bathroom and ran straight to me, pulling me up from the floor and the screaming stopped.

He was going to think I had committed all these crimes. He was going to think I was the psycho killer on the loose. The girl he kissed was the mass murderer. I had to get away from him. I would never be able to handle the loathing in his eyes. I would become invisible to him as well.

Shoving him away from me, I pushed past the gathered crowd to get out of the room.

Wiping my hands over my face, I felt the sticky sensation of the blood now glued to my skin and panic again threatened to overwhelm me.

I had to get away from here.

Aiming for the trees, I sprinted across the open clearing as fast as I could.

I could hear Oliver’s voice calling my name and his footsteps were pounding the ground behind me.

His voice became further and further away as I ran in between the trees. My foot got stuck in a fallen branch and I fell on to the ground. I squirmed until I got up on my hands and knees, looking over my shoulder in the direction I came and saw nothing. Only darkness.

Then I heard voices right beside me, on the other side of a large bush.

The girl was crying softly. Quiet, whimpering sounds.

The boy’s voice said, “It just happened, Carly. I love her. I never meant to fall in love with her, but it just happened. I am sorry to do this to you.”

Rage filled me and a red hazy mist started swirling between the trunks of the trees surrounding me. It seeped up from the ground and curled its wispy tendrils around the branches.

Then the girl was screaming, and I saw a bloodied body on the ground next to her. He was gutted from the neck down and his insides had become his outsides.

Turning, I saw Oliver racing toward me. “Alison, we have to get out of here,” he screamed. “There’s a killer running loose.”

I kicked my legs in front of me to scoot backwards. “Don’t come any closer, Oliver,” I warned him.

The bright glare of a flashlight blinded me for a second and two people, one on either side of me started to lift me from the ground.

“This camping trip is over,” Mrs Scott said to the side of me. “The entire camp is a crime scene and we all have to get back to the dorm as quickly as possible.” She was standing a few feet away from me, her expression was dismayed.

I was terrified. Could I trust these people?

The way the flashlights threw dancing shadows on their faces made them all look like pure evil demons. The shadows made their mouths look full of little sharp teeth, and their eye sockets were bare. When I was on my feet again, I took a step away from them.

Mrs Scott was trying to calm everyone and telling us, “Follow me. We need to get out of here.” In a tightly formed group, they started to rush back toward the campsite.

Taking a couple of steps backwards into the dark forest, I collided with Oliver who had moved to stand behind me.

I spun around to face him.

He grabbed hold of my hand and I saw a frown flicker across his face. Lifting my hand, he looked down.

When he looked back at me, his face was etched with shock. “Alison? Where did you get this knife?”

I looked at my hand which he was holding up between us. Clutched between my fingers there was a long, silver knife covered in blood.

A knife I never realised I was holding.

My fingers felt numb and lifeless. My knuckles were a strange yellowish colour.

I pushed him hard against his chest, knocking him onto his back. I straddled his chest and my fingers grasped tighter around the knife in my hand as I lifted it high above my head and I stabbed him, again and again.

“Alison?” His voice croaked as a pinkish foam frothed from between his lips.

Drawing small circles on his chest as my finger glided through his blood, I replied, “Alison hasn’t been here since the night she met me.”

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