By Nicole Kearns - Nikki (Me)

All content is original, Do not steal ANYTHING.

Reality Kaye's point of view

Tamora Lee

"Tamora Lee
Sweet as can be
So unfortunate that living
Was not part of her destiny
She awoke that dreadful night
To a horribly gory sight
Her dad lay dead
His killer standing
Right above her bed
Her eyes fill with fear
Her blood he promises to smear
Her neck sliced in two
No one will have a clue
Tamora Lee
Sweet as can be
So unfortunate that living
Was not part of her destiny
Her house haunted on this dreadful night
You won't make it to see the daylight
If you come near
Your blood she promises to smear
To show thee thy dreadful fear
That hides inside
From the night that she died
And they wonder, wonder why
This little girl deserved to die
Tamora Lee
Sweet as can be."

I sang the sad poem softly to myself, and tuned out everything around me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my mom stading at the door, watching me with worried eyes through the window. My dad walked up beside her and they both stood there staring at me. It felt weird with them watching me, and I hoped that they would start paying attention to my younger brothers who were trying to pick a fight with one another. I know my parents have been worried lately, but this is getting a bit ridiculous... Today of all days, I just want to be left alone...shouldn't they be able to realize that?

I growled to myself and stomped up the steps to the house to grab my car keys. As I felt the two pairs of eyes watching me intently, I once again wished for Dante to be there to lift the tension - like he used to. I grabbed the keys of the table and ran back outside and down the steps. I jumped in the car and slid in easily. I felt relief when the car roared to life and I pulled away.
I went back to thinking about the poem, about that night, about her.
Driving in my car and letting my mind drift to that day, it's sad to see how I disregarded that poem so easily. I could have taken it as a warning… Maybe things would be different. No, there's no "maybe" about it. I know for a fact things would be very, very different.

We were just coming back from messing around and making fires in the woods. The book of matches was still in the pocket of my jeans, under my short, black and red tutu. Dante, Jason, and I were walking along the sidewalk in town. As we passed Mr. John's store, we heard his raspy voice tell that poem, and the sad story of little Tamora Lee.

Tamora Lee was a young girl, only about fourteen, that had lived back in the late 1800's. She was said to have been the sweetest girl in our small town. One night, someone broke into their house. This man was there to molest and kill the young Tamora Lee. Her father awoke and ran to Tamora Lee's room to attempt to save his sweet daughter. As he ran into the room ready to fight for his daughter's life, the man stabbed in his chest, over his heart. Poor Tamora Lee had awoke, only in time to see her father get stabbed. She had to watch as he died. The man took his now bloody knife out of her father and walked towards her; she was his next victim. Tamora Lee had begged and begged for the man to spare her and not to take her life. The killer only laughed at her pleas. This man had tortured young Tamora Lee, and did things to her that no girl should ever have to experience. Then, when she was beaten and bruised to no end, he killed her. He made sure that she died, slicing her neck and wrists wide open.

Later that week, people started to worry; they had not seen Tamora Lee or her father in days. When they went in the house to look for them, they only found their bloody remains. That was the tragedy of Tamora Lee, or a bit of it. Of course, there's another part to this little myth. It was said that this killer was feeling remorse for what he had done. So, he returned to their house to try to make amends. This man went in their house alive, but was found dead - killed in the same way he had killed Tamora Lee and her father.
There were other stories of people entering that house on the anniversary of Tamora Lee and her father's deaths, but all of these people were found dead. Everyone in our town believed that Tamora Lee was the cause of those peoples' death, being as how they were killed the same was Tamora Lee and her father were. Then again, I shouldn't say everyone believed it. Dante, Jason, and I sure didn't. I mean, how could a dead person possibly kill someone else? It's simply impossible! I mean c'mon! It was just such a silly thing to even believe! Whenever we were to bring the things up, people brushed off our reasonings. They said that they had their proof. We decided to show them other wise. To show them that there was no Tamora Lee.

When we asked around, we found out that ironically the deaths of Tamora Lee and her father were on that night. Lucky for me, that my parents were leaving for a trip. We made our plans. Later that day, we would head over to Tamora Lee's mansion, we would stay for a few hours, then leave, and finally prove to this town that there was no undead Tamora Lee.

That night, we left and headed over to Tamora Lee's house. The whole way there I had Dante picking on me saying stupid things like "Aw, why so quiet Reality Kaye? Scared of our undead monster?" It was rather annoying, but I couldn't help but laugh at him. Every now and then I'd say something like "Oh don't worry Dante! You can hold my hand if you too get scared!" Trust me, it made Dante shut up real quick.

When we parked in the driveway to Tamora Lee's house, we got out and headed up the steps to the large doors. I noticed Jason had grown more quiet than his usual self, and that Dante shook even though he tried to cover it up with his joking. I laughed to myself and started pushing on the doors. To my surprise, they opened with ease. Dante took off running ahead of us and I looked at him a bit confused. Wasn't he just shaking? Now, he seemed hyper as can be. He started running up the staircase and I hollered at him.

"Dante, where the fuck are you going?"

"Chill out my short, Asian friend! I'm tryin' to find a bathroom! I'll be right back." He looked back at Jason and I and gave us a sly smile, "Don't miss me too much," he added while laughing.

I rolled my eyes and watched him run up the staircase.
I wish I had known that would be the last time I saw him alive...I wouldn't have let him go..
When he was out of sight Jason turned me around to face him. I could see the worry in his eyes.

"What's wrong, Jason?"

"Reality Kaye," his voice was barely above a whisper, "this place… Something's not right here. I'm not being paranoid this time. I feel it."

I didn't know how to respond to that. At the moment, I didn't even know whether to be scared or think this whole thing was a waste of my time. It was quiet between us for the longest time, until I noticed my best friend never returned.

"Jason, shouldn't Dante be back by now?" My voice quivered when I spoke.

"He should have been." Jason started walking up the stairs and I followed after him. When we got to the top we split up and went down different hallways to find the bathroom. At the end of the hallway I was down, I noticed a dim light coming out from the last door on the hall. Perplexed by this, I walked to the door and slowly pushed it open. There was a small flashlight sitting on a sink.

"This is weird," I mumbled to myself. I picked it up and finally realized I was in the bathroom.

"Hm…lucky me, but no-" I lost my voice. The floor by the bathroom was covered in blood. A cold chill went up my spine. How did I not notice this before? The curtains to the bathtub were drawn and with shaky hands, I pulled them back. My scream pierced through the silence. There was Dante in the tub. His mouth and eyes were wide open as if he had been surprised. Everywhere around him was covered in blood and the tub was filled with the scarlet liquid. His neck and wrists were cut open and right over his heart was a stab wound. I fell to my knees when Jason ran in with a rather large knife. He started pulling me up and dragging me with him. How the hell could this happen?

"Jason," I sobbed. "we can't just leave him here!"

"We have to Reality. We're next, we need to get out now!"

We ran down the stairs and started pulling on the door.

"Hurry up!" I screamed.

"I'm trying, Reality! The fucking door is stuck! It won't budge!" I started to panic.

"Jason, let's try to go see if there's a back door!" I took off running before I heard him reply, but I heard his footsteps behind me. We ran through a large hallway and into a room that seemed to be a kitchen. I heard her voice behind me.

"Wanting to leave, are we? Ha! Silly children." Her voice was dry and scratchy, it reminded me of nails on a chalk board. I turned to look at her. Tamora Lee in the rotting flesh, standing right in front of me. What skin she had was a gray color, her eyes were dull and black, and her hair was just a tangled white mess. She was simply disgusting.

"Let us leave, now." Jason said each word slowly and carefully as if he wasn't sure she would understand.

I'm afraid I can't do that, doll," Tamora Lee said," it's your turn to feel my fear, to see what it's like to beg for your life, and to die." I realized I was going to be first. Her eyes were set on me. We had to find a way to distract her and get out. I let my eyes slide to where Jason held the knife tightly in his hands; Tamora Lee still hadn't noticed it. I knew what I had to do now. She walked towards us slowly, her undead eyes still trained on me. It seemed as if she were trying to memorize my form. She got close to me, much too close for my liking. Suddenly I wasn't scared, I felt ready to fight. I glared back at her as she stared at me. I didn't flinch as she let her hand touch my cheek or as she walked around me. She was standing behind me and letting strands of my hair run between her fingers.

"So sad to see such a beauty go to waste," Tamora Lee mumbled more to herself, "it'll be just like my death, doll."
As fast as I could, without even giving a second thought, I jerked the knife out of Jason's hand and stabbed Tamora Lee. It was an adrenaline rush. Tamora Lee fell to her knees and looked up at me surprised, while Jason took off running out of the door. I pulled the knife out of Tamora Lee. A sickening blue liquid was on the blade. I closed my eyes as tightly as I could and slammed the knife into Tamora Lee's head. When I opened my eyes I didn't even look at her, I just ran out of the door as fast as humanly possible. Out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of a small gas tank, and I remembered my matches. I quickly pulled them out and lit some of them. I threw the match book and the lit matches into the small opening of the gas tank. I ran faster than I ever had before to the car. We floored it out of the driveway just as we heard the explosion and saw the fire. It was then I finally grasped the reality of everything that had happened: I lost my best friend and I almost died along with him. When I thought about it, I couldn't hold back the tears. They just started falling.

To this day, Jason and I have never told anyone what happened to Dante, or what almost happened to us. Most people believe that Dante had lost it and decided to run away. Some days, I want to believe that too. It's easier to think that, than think about what really happened. Other people, like Mr. John, well… Let's just say I think they know what really happened that night.

Right now, I see the house coming into my view. It's the one year anniversary of Dante's death, and the night I almost died. As I pass what is left of the house I can see the damage my fire did. I can see what it destroyed and what very little remained from it. When I look a bit closer, I see a tiny blue car, and I start to think about the one thing I was never sure about. The one thing I've thought about in my head and gone over in my mind a million times. Now I think of another question to go with it. Will those people in that car share the same fate as Dante, my beloved dead best friend, or did I finally kill the dreaded Tamora Lee?