Death

Introduction

Elizabeth Winters was ten years old, she had a river of long, black hair and ice coloured eyes that were said could see through anyone. She also had one Sister named Alice who was always kind and considerate to her. She had chocolate brown hair and dark brown eyes. Elizabeth's Mother and Father were named Peter and Victoria. She lived in the country and enjoyed reading under the big oak tree in the meadow, she would go out everyday to read as she listened the the leaves rustle.

Chapter 1

One day Elizabeth asked her Mum a question "Mum can I please go to read under the oak tree?" Yes you may, replied Victoria. "What are you reading?" I am reading "Wild Flower Girl" she replied. "I better not delay you then ". Elizabeth ran off forgetting to bring her coat in case it rained, she strode silently through fields and long grasses while closing her eyes and letting the morning air waft into her face. When she finally got to the meadow she sat under the oak tree. She didn't get her clothes dirty because there was a medium sized rock under the tree for her to sit smiled and leaned against the tree. She immediatly recognised the familiar sound of the leaves rustling and the birds chirping. She opened her book and began to read.

She read non-stop for over an hour until something unusual happened. Suddenly the wind blew and motivated the wheat in the fields, Elizabeth's hair blew behind her like a black flag in the wind

.She was quite puzzled so she returned to her reading, when she looked up she almost screamed but the sound just wouldn't come out. There was a hooded figure standing in front of her. It's hood was the colour of black ebony and the silky velvet was draped carefully over his gloved hands. It's shape was not of an animal, but of a man. Elizabeth knew not to talk to strangers so she thought it would be sensible just to ignore the man. The man just stood there as if he was a statue. After that Elizabeth just accepted him as being harmless so she just went back to her when she looked up, the man had disappeared out of sight, she was very confused and afraid so she went home and up to her room.

When she got upstairs she sat on her bed and fell into a deep sleep. She tossed and turned in her sleep as she dealt with a horrible nightmare. In the nightmare, her family were Mother and Father were being thrown into a furnace and her Sister was drowing in a black sea of Death. Suddenly in her dream, a pair of red eyes were staring at her with an evil glare. She woke up with a start and a shudder was sent down her spine. Stray tears flowed down her cheeks and she went to the bathroom to rub them off with the towel but when Elizabeth returned to her room she fell asleep again and the same nightmare was repeated again.

When she woke up the hooded figure was standing there in front of her . Her jaw dropped in horror. The figure raised his hand as if to harm her so she turned her face away and curled up in a ball but nothing happend to her so she got back up. The figure was ran downstairs to tell her Sister Alice about what had happened but she remembered that she was in the park all day, as were her parents probably sounds bizarre but it was for her safety, Alice was bad with animals and often made them angry so she wasn't allowed to go near them. (Elizabeth was more mature so she was allowed).

Elizabeth went inside to ask her Mother where she was to make sure(sometimes she was allowed home during the day but she came home at night). "Where is Alice?" asked Elizabeth curiously. "I don't know, I haven't seen her in around two hours". Elizabeth frowned, "Did you give her permission to come home today?" No. This answer told Elizabeth that Alice was in the park.

She had no one to tell about the figure in her room so she told her Mum. "Half an hour ago I fell asleep randomly and when I woke up, there was this skeleton thing standing in front of me,did you possibly hear anything?" said Elizabeth with heavy breath(just talking about it made her nervous)" No" replied Victoria. She started laughing. You want me to believe that? You must be kidding me!" Elizabeth's Dad was just fixing the sink right next to her Mum. "Thing's like that are only found in myths! You were probably just imagining it, here have a glass of water, you are probably just a bit de-hydrated". She gulped it down very quickly then set it back on the table where it was. She was furious with her parents, they never believed her! Ok, she had told a few stories in her life but this time she was telling the truth! "Oh, by the way Mum, Alice is in the park but you can Dad(Peter)went to check...

Chapter 2

Fifteen minutes later, Peter returned. He lifted his hand to his forehead and wiped it dry, then he put his hand on his knees and bent down. After a few minutes he got back up. Elizabeth and her Mother had noticed Peter's worried expression so they were frowning in fear of what was to come.

"Alice isn't in the park". That was all he needed to say to strike fear into their hearts. Alice spent all day in the park, reading or anything she liked, Victoria and Peter had ordered her to and Alice was a very obedient girl. She had disobeyed her parents a few times but this was for her safety so she understood how important it was. This is how they knew something was wrong. Victoria called the police with a shaky hand and quickly dialled in the number.

10 minutes later a single police car pulled up outside the house, a well dressed man in a police uniform climbed out of the car. He was holding a notepad and a blunt, black pencil. Victoria invited him into the house to speak with him, he asked her many questions and swiftly scribbled the information onto a single page of his notepad. Elizabeth didn't want to be downstairs listening to her Mother and Father weep so she went upstairs to read to take her mind off things. She began to read, she read the page as a tear streamed down her face and drenched the page. Suddenly her eyelids closed.

She had the nightmare again although this one was different. In this one her Mother had disappeared and the hooded figure was standing there. Then she woke up. Then she figured out the link to her nightmares. The hooded figure was in every nightmare! Elizabeth went downstairs to tell her Mum about the nightmare again but she wasn't there, neither was the policeman. Although, when she turned around her Father was asleep in the cream armchair in front of the fire with the newspaper over his lap. She smiled. She tip-toed over beside him and gently nudged him on the woke up slowly, wiping the sleep from his eyes."Did they find Alice? No" replied Peter. Tears welled up inside both of them. "Where is Mother?" she asked him. Peter had forgotten and was now fully alert. "I don't know! Quickly,call the police!". Elizabeth ran to the phone and dialled in the number with sweaty fingers and agitated hands.

A receptionist answered. "Hello, Riverdale Police Station, How can I help you?"Hello, my Mother has disappeared, a search party was organised for my Sister, Alice Winters yesterday. We need another one for my Mother, Victoria straight away! said Elizabeth with heavy breath and muffled speech. Ok, we will organise one straight away" said the could hear the receptionist write the information on a piece of paper and call on of the policeman. "Thank you, we will be there in 10 minutes, we have the address" Then the woman hung up.

10 minutes later, as the woman said, the police turned up again. They asked Peter if he wanted them to continue with the search party, he agreed. They heard the slam of car doors and the police sped away and searched for Alice and Victoria. This was now too much for Elizabeth to bear so she ran up to bed and dived under her covers so no one would have to see her bawl her eyes out, she thought of her Mother and Sister and wondered how would she live without them. She didn't know if she would fell asleep again...

This was the final and worst of the nightmares. Every time she got a nightmare, the pictures were more sickening and horrifying, this was the worst though, her whole family drowning, burning, falling, caged, whipped and even starved. Then the eyes and hooded figure came back and it was laughing an evil laugh as her family suffered. Then she woke up again, back into the cruel world again. When she opened her eyes again, the hooded man was standing in front of her again but this time he was holding the sharpest scythe you could ever imagine. It was polished so well that she could see her reflection in it. But that's not what mattered, Elizabeth always wondered why this figure kept showing up in her room and why he never showed even one patch of skin.

Elizabeth started to shout at the figure (she was feeling very brave)" Go away! Why can't you just leave my family alone!? What do you want!?" The figure cackled and pulled down his hood revealing himself. Elizabeth cowered in fear and almost felt like getting sick but she almost fainted instead. She had always imagined the figure as an average man but she was far from the truth. He had no flesh, blood or guts, just weather beaten bones, a cracked smiling skull and snakes crawling out from his bones and eye sockets. He cackled in pleasure as he realised that his appearance could easily scare people off.

"I want your blood and soul". At this point, Elizabeth almost got sick. She was already going green. She screamed and tryed to run away but the door and windows were blocked up with some sort of invisible tape. "If you can find them in one whole day I will go and everyone will be let free, but if I win I will claim your soul and I will take you to hell to serve me as a servant. "Hell?"thought Elizabeth puzzled. Then you must be...Elizabeth couldn't get herself to say it. "Who are you?" asked Elizabeth. "I AM DEATH"

Chapter 3

Elizabeth screamed and closed her eyes, when she opened them Death was gone. Then she heard a ticking noise that she couldn't escape from but soon after she had realised that Death had put some sort of timer inside her skull that would beep when her time was up for finding her family. Elizabeth was very sensible and knew that the best thing to do was to go downstairs and see if her Father was there. He wasn't, she cursed under her breath, she felt like crying but she knew that the more she cried the more time she wasted. She wasn't going to give up.

Elizabeth thought of her nightmares, she thought that they might give her clues so she experimented with it. She remembered Alice drowning in the sea so she headed down to the beach and waded around in the water. Alice emerged and was crying, her eyes were red and she was clearly VERY frightened. Elizabeth comforted her and soon after, Alice was up to date on the story and Alice was helping to find the rest. Before the end of the day, Elizabeth and Alice had found the rest of the family. They were hugging each other and crying tears of joy. Elizabeth told them the story and they apologised for not believing her.

About an hour later, Death returned, he was very surprised to see that Elizabeth had suceeded. He was very sick looking, his bones were very cracked and they were making a creaking noise, some knuckle bones and other bones were missing, including about three teeth. "I have announced that you have won, I am going to set you free" The family started clapping but Death turned his head around sneakily and smiled, he did not mention the part of the deal that he muttered quietly and that Elizabeth didn't hear. He didn't say that Elizabeth would be sacraficed for her family. Suddenly, a hole appeared in the floor like the gullet of a giant animal. Elizabeth fell down and screamed until she could scream no more. The invisible tape was on the top again so the rest of the family were unable to save her, they all screamed as they witnessed Elizabeth's life being stolen. Her soul was taken.

A WEEK LATER

The rest of the family survived and they wept for her every day for many years, just like Queen Victoria. They were grief stricken but also very proud of Elizabeth for her loyalty and devotion. They held a memorial the next day in their house, inviting only their best friends who would believe the they had left of Elizabeth was her book, Wild Flower Girl which they picked up and kept in a glass case.

Elizabeth took Death's hand and walked towards a large red opening into which they entered. Elizabeth was happy of what she did for her family and that was what mattered. She entered hell and worked as a servant for Death for all had taken her and stole her soul and her life. Everynight Death took her and the family could hear her screams in the basement and they never sent Alice to the park again and they taught her how to be good with animals.

She was taken by DEATH

The End