The Ring Around the Moon Vol. 2 – Images
By J.C. Gonzalez
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in the movie The Ring.
Author's Note:
Just to clear things up: in case you are confused or wondering why some parts of Vol. 1 Bootleg doesn't make sense, everything will be explained in due time. Also, the character's Becca and Rebecca are two completely different characters, just so you don't get a little confused. Becca is the girl in the movie who is sent to the mental institution, while Rebecca's the little girl in my story. It takes place right after Vol. 1 left off, so if you haven't read Vol. 1, please do! Hope you enjoy!
Images:
The second volume of a three volume series based on the terrifying movie The Ring. Samara has been released and is deadlier that ever; ready to unleash a new wave of terror and suffering. Rachel and Aidan are trying to stop it by saving the first victim, a small girl. But they need to reach her, and when they do, it might be too late…
THE RING AROUND THE MOONVOL. 2:
Images
The telephone rang in Rachel's apartment. It echoed through the walls. Rachel looked at the phone and hesitated to answer it. She watched it ring four times, and then she picked it up.
"Hello?" Rachel answered, but then she recognized the number on the caller ID.
"Oh, hi," it was Aidan's teacher.
"Rachel. What was going on yesterday at the Flanagan's? What was with you? You need to return that tape now," she said. "Well, not 'now' exactly because Ms. Flanagan went to the doctor's to find out if she was pregnant. She told me she might be pregnant, from her ex-husband. Isn't that interesting! Oh… uh-oh, I don't think that I should have told you that… Well, never mention a word about it. Just return the tape and—" Rachel hung up the phone.
Aidan walked into the apartment.
"Hey, Aidan," Rachel greeted her son. He had a worried face.
"What's wrong…?" Rachel asked.
"I found out some things about Rebecca. I asked her about the tape, she told me she watched it a week ago," he said quickly, talking as fast as possible.
"Exactly one week ago… 7 days?" Rachel gasped.
"Yes. 7 days," he said. "Her mom gets home one hour after Rebecca gets home for school, she told me."
I need to reach Rebecca. Maybe she understands it. I need to save her, have her make a copy. I need to find out when she saw it. It may be too late…
"We're going over there now!" Rachel ran to her bedroom to get her purse.
*
Rebecca only obeyed the commands. She got the chair and placed it at the foot of the shelf. Then she got a stool from the kitchen and carried it to the chair, trying to stumble on the steps leading to the living room, and placed it on top of the chair with great difficulty. She crawled on the chair first, and then stepped on the stool. She looked at a large black book on the top shelf; she needed to grab it. Needed to. But she wasn't sure why. She just heard her and followed the commands. She was too afraid of her to disobey, so she climbed up to the top of her stand made up of the chair and stool. Rebecca lost her balance, she fell, and everything went black.
Rebecca couldn't move. She tried to. Her limbs didn't respond. She panicked, afraid her limbs were disconnected. Then she heard her again. Whispers in her ear echoed.
"Rebecca… Rebecca… you shouldn't worry about anything. Do as I say, and in the end, everything will be all nice, you'll see, it'll work out… you'll see," Samara's voice wasn't comforting though. Rebecca felt only more frightened. "Everyone will suffer."
*
Rachel knocked on the door. No answer. She knocked again. She knew that Kelly wasn't home yet; this would be a perfect chance to get Rebecca to make a copy. Rachel knocked again.
No answer.
"Rebecca probably wouldn't have the door locked," Aidan said. Rachel ignored him and looked in the window. She saw Rebecca's unconscious body on the floor.
"OH MY GOD!" Rachel opened the door and ran inside. Aidan ran in and followed. They ran to the body. Rachel shook her. Rebecca didn't move.
Rachel felt for a pulse, "She's still alive!"
"Why… I don't understand…" Aidan said.
"We need to get her to a hospital! Aidan, go get a paper and a pencil, I'll leave a note for Kelly!"
*
In the car, Aidan sat in the front passenger seat. He turned around in his seat, struggling to see Rebecca's limp body resting in the back seats.
"Why did Samara spare her?" Aidan said quietly, afraid.
"I don't know. Maybe this has something to do with the new images on the tape," Rachel said.
"There are new images?" Aidan became more frightened.
"Yes, Samara's eye. Then a ring around the moon," Rachel explained.
"A ring around the moon? What's that?" he asked.
"It's when moonlight reflects dust particles in the sky, it is usually most visible on a full moon," Rachel turned to look at him; his face was filled with terror.
"What's wrong, Aidan?"
"Tonight's a full moon."
*
Her eye…Static.
A tape inside a VCR…
Static.
Her whispers… …everyone will suffer…
Static.
A ring around the moon…
Becca awoke screaming.
"HELP ME! HELP ME, PLEASE!" Becca shrieked. Nurses ran to her cell in the psycho ward. They all circled around her with injections in hand, ready incase if she would turn violent.
"What's wrong, Becca, what's wrong? Another bad nightmare?" One of the nurses asked her in a soothing voice. Becca's tears ran down her face and dripped off her chin.
Becca nodded.
"Becca, what happened in the dream?" the nurse asked.
"She's alive again! She's… she's," tears rolled down her face as she began to sob violently.
"Becca… Becca!"
"Everyone will suffer," she whispered.
*
Rachel drove faster to the hospital; it was only a few minutes away.
"They're going to ask you what you were doing there, mother," Aidan informed. "What are you going to say?"
"Uh… I-I'm not so sure," Rachel said, stuttering.
"If you don't give an answer they'll think you beat her or something."
"Well, then I'll just tell them that she fell. That's what it looked like, right?" Rachel glanced at Rebecca's body in the review mirror.
"And what were you doing there?"
Rachel sighed, "I'll just tell them that I'm her mother. As soon as she is revived, I'm going to take her to make a copy of the tape."
"Do you have the tape with you?" Aidan asked.
"Yes, can you check in my purse just to make sure?" Rachel pointed to her purse, which was out of her reach. Aidan grabbed it and opened it.
"Yes, it's here."
*
In Rachel's apartment, a puddle of water spread across the floors. The television flicked on.
Static was on the screen. A tape was ready to be pushed into the VCR.
More water spread in the kitchen.
*
Kelly turned the knob of her apartment. It was unlocked.
She sighed, "Stupid Rebecca, she's so irresponsible," she told herself. She made a mental note to scold Rebecca about it.
"Rebecca? Rebecca?" She looked around the house. No one was there. Then she walked into the living room, a chair and stool lay on the floor. There was a piece of paper next to the fallen furniture. She ran towards it and read it, worried.
"Hospital?" She dropped the paper and ran out to the car.
*
Rachel and Aidan looked at Rebecca's hopeless limp body lying on the hospital bed. The white raw florescent lights hurt Rachel's eyes and gave her a headache.
Rebecca's eyes fluttered open and she groaned. Rachel gasped.
"Rebecca! Rebecca! Thank God you're alright!" Rachel hugged her.
"Who… who are you?" Rebecca said groggily.
"Remember me, I'm Rachel Keller, Aidan's mother," Rachel began to pick up Rebecca as she was speaking.
"Where are we going?" Rebecca asked. "Where are we? Where's mommy?"
"You'll see mommy in a little while, I promise," Rachel assured her.
*
"What are we going to do here, Rachel?" Rebecca asked as she sat in the small grey room. The little girl scratched beneath the bandage on her head. Two televisions were in front of her and surrounding equipment that she didn't know what they were.
"Okay, just let me help you press the buttons, Rebecca," Rachel guided Rebecca's hand to push the tape in. Then the 'play' button, followed immediately by 'play' and 'record' simultaneously. Rebecca gasped once she saw the images on the televisions.
"That's her tape!" she shouted.
"Yes… and now, she can't hurt you," Rachel smiled, feeling relieved that she had saved Rebecca's life.
*
Kelly Flanagan ran into the hospital screaming for her daughter, only to discover that she was already gone. She knew that it was Rachel who took her because of the doctor's description of the woman.
Kelly reached for the address book in her purse as she was running to her car in the parking lot. She pulled it out and scanned the names until she found Rebecca and Aidan's teacher's phone number. She dialed it on her cell phone. The sun was setting so it was hard to see the numbers.
"Hello?" Kelly said as she entered her car.
"Oh, hello, Ms. Flanagan! How are you—?"
"Listen, I need to know where that bitch Rachel Keller lives! I think she took my daughter to the hospital, but the doctor said that they left. I need her address now!"
*
Rachel, Aidan, and Rebecca entered Kelly's house to drop off Rebecca. No one was there.
"I guess she's not back from the doctor's," Rachel said. "You need to rest, Rebecca, but I'm worried to leave you… or to even be in this house. Samara's already made an appearance here. So I think it would be safer to go back to my apartment and have you rest there. I'll leave another note."
Using the same sheet of paper on the floor, Rachel wrote down another note explaining where Rebecca would be. She assumed that Kelly would be home soon, it was already night outside.
"Once this is all over, how will you explain it to Rebecca's mom?" Aidan asked.
"I don't know how I'm going to explain this to Kelly yet," Rachel said.
Rachel finished the note and left it on the floor by the fallen furniture. They left the empty house behind. Rachel, Aidan and Rebecca closed the door and ran for the car. She was carrying Rebecca since she was still weak and recovering. Rebecca was in the back seat again; Aidan was in the front with Rachel. Everything was quiet and calm, for once in that day. The apartment was only three minutes away. Rebecca fell asleep, she laid down on the back seats, and she looked peaceful.
"Mother…" Aidan whispered.
"Yes, Aidan?" Rachel answered.
"There's a ring around the moon," he said, looking out of the windshield. Rachel looked out too, he was right.
"Something's going to happen. Something's going to happen this night," Rachel said, scared.
Then Rebecca screamed. Her shriek was loud and painful to their ears. It was a cry of terror and pain. Rachel turned around in her car seat, so did Aidan, the car almost spun out of control during the moment when Rachel saw Rebecca's distorted face.
*
Rachel ran into the apartment, carrying Rebecca's unmoving body. It was limp and heavy like before, except there was no breath or pulse. Aidan had opened the door for her and he closed it behind them. He was crying, so was Rachel.
Rachel laid Rebecca's body on the hard wooden floor. She sobbed and tears dripped down to Rebecca's face.
"Come on! Please, Rebecca! Please!" Rachel begged the dead body.
"Don't do this! Don't die! Don't die! DON'T DIE!" Rachel screamed and pleaded as she gave Rebecca CPR. She pressed on her chest repeatedly, and then breathed into her mouth. Rebecca's heart did not begin to pump blood. Rebecca's lungs did not begin to take in oxygen. Rebecca was dead. Aidan watched helplessly as his mother tried to revive the small girl. He slowly walked away, not wanting to see the outcome, despite the fact that he knew there was no hope.
"DON'T DIE! DON'T DIE, DAMN IT!" Rachel cried.
Aidan walked down the hall. The bedroom door was slightly open.
"DON'T DO THIS TO ME! DON'T DIE, REBECCA!" Rachel yelled.
As Aidan got closer, he could see that the television was on. There was static.
"REBECCA! PLEASE!" Rachel pleaded.
There was water on the floor, collections of puddles.
"REBECCA!"
Aidan reached the door and pushed it open slightly. He saw the tape ready to be loaded.
"RE-REBEC-CA!" Rachel sobbed uncontrollably.
He walked through the puddles toward the VCR. He sat in front of it, wondering what the tape was doing there, wondering if it contained answers for Rebecca's death even though she made a copy.
"REBECCA! Rebecca! No! No… please… don't…" Rachel's sobs grew stronger as she began to stop giving CPR. "Rebecca." Rachel collapsed on the girl's dead body, crying.
"Why? Why did you die?"
Aidan pushed in the tape.
"Rebecca… why'd you die? Why'd she die? WHY DID SHE DIE? She made a copy! She made a damn copy! Do you hear me, you bitch?" Rachel started screaming, her crying ceased and turned into anger toward Samara.
Aidan's pupils dilated. The images flashed faster and faster.
Her eye… her blood…Her screams… her laughter…
Her hands tattered and bloody… her eye…
The well… her arm reaching over it…
Her hair seeping through the cracks…
She's out now… she's here now…
She's walking… closer… closer…
She jumps forward in a flash and is inches away from the screen…
Out she comes… she's here…
Her bloody and tattered fingers find there way on the edges of the television and pull her out…
She's on the wooden floor now… She laughs when Aidan steps backward in an attempt to get away…
She's here now… Out of the television… Aidan screams when the door behind him slams shut…
She tries to crawls forward, but her finger nails are all gone… she gets on her knees and stands…
She jumps forward… only inches away from Aidan's face again… and whispers in his ear…
…Everyone will suffer…
Images appear again, but he's not looking at the TV screen… they're in his head… Samara put them there…
Her eye… the ring around the moon… a bookshelf… the ring around the moon… Kelly screaming and with her arms wrapped around her, staggering backward… the ring around the moon… her eye… static…
Black.
*
"Aidan! Aidan, where are you? AIDAN?" Rachel looked around the apartment. She heard him scream. She stood up and walked towards the hallway, leaving Rebecca's dead body lying on the floor.
"Aidan?" She called out. She heard the ripples of water once she stepped in the puddles. Oh my God! She thought as she ran toward the bedroom door, holding on to the wall for support so she wouldn't slip. She opened the door.
No one was in the room. The lights were off. The television was on, there was static. She began to cry again.
"Aidan?" She looked around. No one. No answer. "Aidan? AIDAN!"
She saw the tape in the VCR, ready to be loaded. She ran to it and pulled it out.
"What'd you do to him? WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY SON, YOU BITCH?" Rachel cried. She clutched the VHS tape tighter.
"This isn't the tape I had before… this isn't Rebecca's tape," Rachel whispered to herself. She looked on the side to see if it read 'copy'. It did not. It was a new tape. Rachel cried harder, her headache grew stronger. "Aidan!"
"You bitch!" Rachel looked at the tape.
What did you do to my son! What's on this tape? She looked at the tape. She thought that the answer to where her son was might be on the tape. But she also knew that watching the tape could be deadly. But she needed to know. She needed to save her son.
Angry, she jammed the tape into the VCR roughly and pressed play.
Static.
Then, images so fast that it caught Rachel off guard.
Her… the well… her eye… the well, her arm reaching over the edge…She's out now… she's here… she's coming forward…
Her fingers snake around the edge of the television… her eye… the ring around the moon…
Static.
Rachel screamed. There was nothing more on the tape. She held her breath, waiting for more flashing images. There was nothing.
Rachel turned around. Samara jumped forward. Rachel screamed and cried again.
"NO!"
Samara ran up to her in a flash. She whispered in her ear.
Blood in a puddle…a butcher knife… her eye… the ring around the moon… Kelly screaming… the ring around the moon… her whispers… …everyone will suffer…
Black.
Static remained on the television screen.
*
Kelly Flanagan ran up to the apartment door, furious. She pounded on the door, yelling.
"Listen, you bitch! Open up! I've called the police and they'll be here any minute. You'll never come near my daughter or me again! Give her to me!" Kelly slammed her fist on the door again. No answer.
"Open the damn door! NOW!" She screamed. No answer. Kelly turned the knob and swung the door open fast. She thought that the door would be locked so it caught her by surprise. She jumped back. She saw no one. She took a step into the apartment. She couldn't breath all of a sudden. She whispered, "Rebecca…"
She ran inside as fast as she could and collapsed on the floor next to her daughter's dead body.
"Rebecca! REBECCA!" Kelly shook her daughter violently, thinking that she was only unconscious. But she soon discovered she was dead. Tears flowed down her face.
"Rebecca!" Kelly lay down next to the body and sobbed for a few moments before she sat up again. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER, YOU BITCH? YOU BITCH! YOU MURDERER! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY DAUGHTER?"
Kelly jumped up and ran further into the apartment in the moment of rage. She slipped as soon as she reached the hallway. She fell hard on the cold, wet wooden floor. She began to cry again. She stayed on the floor, sobbing for her daughter. She pulled herself up, slowly, crying. She limped forward down the hall; the kitchen was on the right hand side. Then, from the bottom of the door, she could see shadows moving inside the bedroom. Kelly was consumed by fear. She glanced inside the kitchen, noticing the set of knives. She quickly went inside the kitchen area and slipped out a butcher knife. She carried it back into the hallway. Kelly began to walk down the hallway again, stepping through the floor covered in a centimeter of water.
"Listen. You're not going to get away with this, you evil bitch. The police will be here any minute," Kelly warned as she stepped closer toward the bedroom door.
"Hello?" Kelly called out; she began to doubt Rachel and Aidan's presence in the house.
She pushed the door open. It was dark, but the television was on. There was static. Kelly felt the wall on the left-hand side, searching for a light switch. She found it and flicked it on.
A wet, small, black figure stood a foot away from Kelly. She screamed as it came towards her in a flash. Kelly was thrown against the floor; her knife fell in the puddle.
She pushed herself up; she rubbed the water off her face. There was blood in her hands. Her nose was bleeding. The blood dripped down into the puddle of water. It swirled in the water. Kelly became enveloped in fear and terror. She crawled to her knees and stood up. She turned around to see Samara, the small black figure, standing at the doorway. Her face covered in lock thick black hair. Samara walked forward and looked up to Kelly. Her hair parted, her eye pierced through Kelly.
Kelly began to scream and sob. There was a suddenly pain in her stomach.
The ring around the moon…Her insides twisted and cramped inside her. Kelly yelled in pain.
Samara's eye… Samara walked closer… and closer… Her head thrashing inside a trash bag…Kelly staggered backward and slipped, holding her stomach in pain. When she hit the floor, Samara ran towards her faster.
The well being closed…
The pain spread through out her body.
"NOOO!"
The ring around the moon… …everyone will suffer…
Black.
*
THE END OF
THE RING AROUND THE MOON
VOL. 2:
Images
*
COMING SOON
THE RING AROUND THE MOON
VOL. 3:
Resurrection