INK

Once upon a time there was a small school at the most isolated corner of the posh neighbourhood of La Moraleja, Madrid. In that school there was a girl who was not like the others, as she was not interested in clothes, make up, parties, boys or any of the things that drove girls her age crazy. Instead of that, she was passionate about werewolves, vampires, spirits, zombies or anything that had to do with halloween or paranormal activities.

Her elder cousin, Annabelle, aware of Caroline’s unusual thoughts, had the habit of telling her terror stories. She had told her so many stories that she probably knew every single one that had ever existed, except for one...

A week before halloween, Carol was dealing with her usual, boring, dull routine in French class, when surprisingly Lucie (her teacher) started talking about something that caught her attention. It was a terror story, different from those which her cousin had always been telling her:

At that same school, ten years before, there was a  young girl who suffered from bullying because of her unusual feelings for the unreal. In consequence of the things she had to go through she drew everything that went through her mind in her beloved notebook.

Once she was drawing alone at the back of the school bus when a group of girls started making fun of her,she felt so powerless that she threw her book in an attempt to hit those girls.

The book flew over everyone's head and when it was just above the groups of girls some ink came out of it and the monsters inside the book that represented the little girl’s weaknesses came out of it. The day after no bus was seen around that area, no one could ever find the kids or the driver, not even their bodies.

While listening to this story,Caroline remembered Annabelle, since she also had a book where she drew everything she felt and thought.

That same evening Caroline went to Annabelle’s house and knocked on her cousin's door, and she felt a chill before she decided to enter the room.She found her cousin lying on her bed while listening to some music. Carol managed to catch her attention and told her, excited, the same story she had been told in school and how the main character reminded her of Ana.

When Caroline finished the story she looked up at her cousin, and she was surprised to see her reaction.

Annabelle had a vacant look, her skin was pale as snow and she looked terribly shocked.She looked at Carol’s eyes and started screaming at her,telling her not to ever mention that book again.Caroline was confused and asked what the matter was. Annabelle’s only answer was to grab Carol’s hand as she pushed her out of the house.

It was late,so Carol returned home hoping she could talk to Ana the following day. But the next day Ana wasn’t at home. Carol, fearful, entered her room and found a little red notebook on top of Ana’s bed, her notebook. Carol remembered Ana’s reaction the other day so her first thought was to leave everything as it was and not to touch the notebook, but the intrigue was so hard that she found herself opening the forbidden book slowly. A blast of cold air came out of it, followed by some spectral laughs which frightened the life out of Carol. As she trembled with fear,she threw the notebook on the floor and ran away as fast as she could out of Ana’s house. Some hours later,when Ana arrived home she found the most terrible of the surprises… her notebook, half-open, lying on the floor. “Oh Carol, what have you done?”

Time passed and it had been one week since the girls hadn’t seen each other.Caroline was at school, not paying much attention to her maths teacher, when she looked at the window and saw a tiny black drop of ink stuck to the glass. Terrified, while remembering what happened with the book,she asked if she could go to the bathroom.

When she crossed the corridor she saw her cousin apparently waiting for her with a look of concern.

Annabelle explained as fast as she could why she had freaked out the other day, and Caroline couldn't believe what she was being told.

The spirits inside her cousin’s book were the spirits of the kids in the story, who had been dragged inside the drawing book. If anyone opened that book,the spirits would search for the sacrifice of the closest relative of the book owner, in order to carry out their revenge.

Those spirits were coming for Caroline and for a moment she felt like fading, as a mix of fear and incredulity covered her whole body.

Annabelle asked Carol to please believe in her and let her try to save her.Carol took Anna's hand and ran with her,as she was the only person she had ever trusted so much to put her life in her hands.

Both entered a dark room to hide from the spirits, Annabelle struck a match while she held tight Carol’s hand.Carol was looking around as she heard some growls from outside the room.Suddenly the light went out. She could no longer feel Annabelle’s hand.

Caroline waited for a few more minutes, until she was absolutely sure that she could hear nothing outside and she went out and ran without a direction.She fell down to the floor, and, as she got up and lifted her eyes she saw her cousin at the end of the corridor.

She ran to her and jumped into her arms to hug her, but the only thing she felt was a cold chill crossing her spine.

She fell to the floor and as she looked up she could hear her cousin whispering “Im sorry...Im sorry...Im sorry…”

Caroline blacked out.

She finally opened her eyes, and as she looked around she couldn't see anything but a white,infinite room.She looked down at her black,sticky skin.She couldn't hear anything but a empty silence as she looked up again to encounter Annabelle at the distance of that white space.

Written by

Claudia Prieto, Bárbara Recio and Sara Gómez