Miraculous: Tales of the Unknown (3 page)

“Ben?”

I’m not going to lie. The
sane part of me knew that it was strange that he hadn’t already
come looking for me. The sane part of me began to shiver and cower
in fear of what I would find when I walked into the kitchen. The
insane part of me wanted to run into the kitchen, out the back
door, and then down the street without looking back. Maybe I had
those two parts of me confused.

The only light spilling
into the kitchen was from the moon outside. I was so focused on not
freaking out that it took me forever to realize that the reason
there was so much moonlight was because the back door was
open.

“Ben?” I hissed again.
Nothing.

Then there was a bump from
upstairs. I jumped and inhaled sharply in fear. Then there was a
scream from upstairs.

I looked at my watch, with
my phone dead and the electricity out, it was my only source of
time. From the moonlight I could just make out that it was just
past ten.
I can do this. I can do this. I
can do anything for three hours. There’s nothing in the house.
Everything is fine. I can do this.

The screaming stopped
abruptly the moment I put my foot on the first stair. The silence
that followed was broken only by the sound of my own heart beating
in my head.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The door to Priscilla’s bedroom was slightly ajar
and I crept toward it.

“Priscilla?” I whispered.
No answer.

I opened the door further
and slipped inside the room. The blinds on her window were drawn so
there was absolutely to light filtering through. It took me a few
moments for my eyes to adjust to the dark interior. Once they did I
was able to make out shapes in the darkness. Her bed, her dresser,
the television stand; all were darker masses in the unlit
room.

“Priscilla? Are you in
here?”

Two beady little eyes
rushed forward to me in the dark and I fell backwards onto the bed.
The door to the room slammed shut and I had to hold back the scream
that was threatening to tear from my throat. It was then that I
felt the hand on my arm.

“Shhh… it will hear
you.”

Relief flooded through me.
“Tessa? Is that you?”

“Yes,” she hissed, “Cissy
is in here too.”

“Thank God,” I whispered.
“What about Malcolm?”

Priscilla started
whimpering. “It got him,” Tessa said softly.

Fear seized me and acid
began to sizzle in my stomach. “What do you mean ‘it got
him’?”

“That thing,” Priscilla
whispered, “the monster. It ate Malcolm.”

“It’s not a monster idiot,
it’s a troll,” Tessa informed her.

“You aren’t making any
sense.” I climbed down off of the bed and kneeled beside the two of
them cowering in the corner. “There are no such things as trolls or
monsters.”

“It told us that it was
going to take us away and give our parents the type of children
they really want,” Tessa said. “It said that they were going to eat
us.”

Okay, so this was
definitely spiraling way out of control. It was time to get out of
this house so that I could call for help. “Listen, we have to get
downstairs so that we can go next door and call the police. I know
that you’re scared, but we can do this together.”

Priscilla started crying
again, but Tessa hugged her, “it will be okay Cissy. We have to get
help for Malcolm.”

“I want mommy and daddy,”
she cried.

I sighed. “I know. We are
going to get your mom and dad, but we have to get out of this house
first.” I stood up and waited for them to stand with me. It was
amazing how well my eyes were beginning to adjust to the darkness.
It was almost like it wasn’t dark at all.

Together, the three of us
tiptoed out of the room and down the hall. Downstairs another door
slammed and Priscilla shrieked. “It’s okay, Shaina’s not going to
let anything get us.”

I smiled even though our
situation was grim. It was sweet to see how caring they were of
each other when in a dangerous situation. It almost made them more
bearable. It almost made me regret thinking they were horrible
children in the first place… almost.

We were just about to the
stairs when Priscilla screamed, “Malcolm! You’re okay!”

I spun around and saw to
my immense relief that Malcolm was leaning against the door of what
I could only assume was his bedroom. He smiled when he saw his
sisters, “Of course I am.”

For some reason, his
reassurance wasn’t reassuring at all. There was something off about
him; something off about the way he looked and the way the words
had come out of his mouth. However, when the sound of glass
breaking came from downstairs, I didn’t have time to dwell on
it.

“Come on, we have to get
out of this house,” I told them all.

Priscilla took the hand of
her older brother and pulled him along with us. Even though he
seemed to go willingly enough, there was still something off about
him. I just didn’t have a clue as to what it was.

Downstairs seemed even
brighter to me. The lights were still off, but I found no
difficulty at all in finding my way around. The sound of glass
breaking came again and I could pinpoint that it was coming from
the kitchen. I turned around to tell the children to go out the
front door, but only Tessa was behind me.

“Where are Malcolm and
Priscilla?” I asked her.

Her face filled with fear
when I asked her and she began looking behind herself frantically.
“I don’t know. Are they gone? I can’t see anything.”

“What do you mean you
can’t see anything? It’s clear as day down here.” Only it wasn’t.
The lights were still out. It was just clear to me. That uneasy
tingling feeling began in the pit of my stomach again. “Look, let’s
just get to the neighbor’s house. We will call the police and they
will come back here for the others.”

“No,” she insisted, “we
can’t leave my brother and sister. You’re crazy.”

I let out a deep breath.
“Tessa, we don’t know what we are up against. It isn’t safe in
here,” I whispered.

“Shaina! Thank God, I’ve
been looking for you everywhere.”

I turned at Ben’s voice.
He was standing in the doorway of the kitchen and I frowned. “Did
you just come from in there?”

He nodded, “there’s
glasses broke and chairs overturned. What’s going on? I tried to
call the cops but my phone is dead.”

“You didn’t see anyone?” I
asked suspiciously.

Tessa pulled on my shirt.
“He’s one of them, Shaina,” she cried, “let’s just go. We’ll go
next door like you wanted to.”

I backed away from Ben and
his eyes widened in what I guessed was fear. “You can’t just leave
me here alone.”

“He’s one of them Shaina,
he has to be!” Tessa cried.

Too late I saw my
reflection in the glass of the front window. Too late I noticed
that in the light of the moon my chestnut hair took on the
appearance of tree roots and branches. Too late I saw the hungry
expression in my eyes that were glowing slightly in the
dark.

Too late I saw the figure
moving behind Ben and devouring him… but it wasn’t too late for
Tessa.

She screamed and threw
herself in my arms shaking and whimpering. “We have to get out of
here, Shaina.”

It was too late for me
though. I remembered everything that my mind had been trying to
block from me. We let those memories stay lost so that it was
easier for us to remain unknown amongst the humans… but I was not
one of them. I was one of the others. I was a troll… and I was
hungry.

It was just before one
o’clock when the Anderson’s drove into their driveway. I was
waiting for them.

“Welcome home,” I told
them when they walked into the house from the garage. “How was your
night?”

“Oh it was fantastic.
Thank you so much for watching the kids Shaina, I hope that they
weren’t too much trouble for you.”

I smiled at Mrs. Anderson.
“Oh no, they were fine. In fact, we had a long talk and I think
that you’ll be surprised when things begin to change around
here.”

She frowned and Mr.
Anderson laughed, “Well I’m sure you did your best, but I wouldn’t
count on it.”

I smiled back. If only he
knew.

He handed me a hundred
dollar bill. “I know how my kids are,” he told me with a
wink.

I smiled and accepted it.
Then I grabbed my jacket and walked out the door. Ben was waiting
for me. Of course he wasn’t the other Ben. That Ben was gone
forever… but that was okay with me. This Ben didn’t know what he
was; he only knew what memories we gave him.

Somewhere in the Anderson
house tucked away in the darkest of corners was a troll who was
particularly good with memories. After all, changing places with
the Anderson kids had been a big job. Four humans in one night is
like a buffet for us. There was no need for me to be there, no need
for Mr. and Mrs. Anderson to be harmed. We rarely ate adults. At
his age, Ben was sort of a stretch for us.

“Is it just me or do you
get prettier in the moonlight?” He asked me, holding my hand as we
walked.

I shrugged and thought
back to the moment my memories awakened. “Everything looks better
in the moonlight,” I told him.

Soulless

By: Amber
Streed

©2013 by Amber
Streed

I am a regular high school girl.
Nothing ever happens to me that's out of the ordinary. I make good
grades, I do my chores and I go to work. Life is boring. I envied
Jessica. She was my best friend but somehow our social lives were
never in sync. She played soccer, cheered and was the most
beautiful girl in our senior class. Blonde hair, greened eyed and
legs for days. I was unfortunately short and seemed to always be in
a fight with my ever so boring brown hair. I wore glasses that
always seemed to slide down my nose and make up never seemed to
help bring out the hazy brown color of my eyes. I accepted it, I
dealt with it. Sometimes it would get me down but for the most part
I tried not to think about it. Until he showed up in my Bio class.
A new student from Seattle, Washington. He took my breath away.
Unfortunately he also took away my grace. Every time I saw him I
did something totally clumsy; I dropped my books, spilled my drink,
and stumbled over my own feet. I was hopeless. Love would never
find me. I attempted to converse with people in class or at lunch,
but normal the response was eye rolling or one word answers. The
only guy who ever talked to me was Charlie, who probably only
talked to me because we sat together in art class.

Dustin was in my math class. He
was smart; which surprised me. Most guys in this school could care
less about their education. All they cared about was parties,
girls, and parties. He had it all I thought; looks, brains and
mystery. If only I could stop being so awkward around him, maybe he
wouldn’t totally dismiss me. I told Jessica about my crush and she
just laughed. Maybe it was because she was trying to make me feel
like I should just go for it but maybe down deep she knew I never
had a chance. After school I headed straight home. My dad was
always at work and my mom left us when I was 3. I ran upstairs,
threw my backpack in the corner and plopped on my bed. I laid
there, thinking about my life. I just wanted to be happy and fall
in love…was that too much to ask? Just before I was ready to cry
out of desperation, I heard the doorbell ring. I slowly walked down
the stairs, not even caring who was there on the other side. I
looked through the peephole only to see Jessica putting on her
shiny pink lip gloss. Reluctantly I opened the door and felt her
strawberry smelling hair brush my face as she ran to the kitchen to
find something to eat.

“
So, dad gone again Rhy?” She
asked in her bubbly voice.

“
Yes, as always. He left me here
all by my lonesome.” I groaned.

“
Get your ass upstairs. We are
going to Matt’s party tonight. Everyone will be there.”

“
Um in case you haven’t noticed,
I’m not the most popular person in the school and I’m pretty sure
no one wants me there.” I hissed.

“
Don’t be dramatic, you will be
there with me. I promise I won’t leave you by yourself tonight. It
will be fun. You need to get out and socialize Wednesday Adams.”
She joked.

“
Haha. You are so hilarious. Fine.
I will go. I can be the dorky girl who follows you around.” I
mumbled.

We ran up the stairs to get me
changed. She was going to do my hair and my makeup so I had to
admit I was a little excited. Maybe this would be the night things
would change for me.

She dressed me up in cute clothes
and did my makeup and hair. When I looked in the mirror it was
almost like there was a different person looking back at me. I kind
of liked it. When she was done dolling me up, we jumped in her car
and headed off to Matt’s house. I had butterflies in my stomach the
whole way there and I pleaded with her to take me back home. Of
course she refused and kept on driving. She was determined to make
me have a great time even if it was against my will.