Outside had been bright and sunny, peaceful even, but inside the cave was dark and full of unseen terrors. Amy had been on the verge of denying Tom's request to accompany him to see the cliff's edge until Dennis said he'd join them. Amy had been sure that Tom would not terrorize her in Dennis' presence. The older boy usually saved his most haunting behavior for times when he had people alone and at their most vulnerable.
Little Amy had been wrong – so wrong about Tom's modus operandi. Once they were at the cliff's edge, peering down at the crashing sea, Tom grabbed both of the children by the hand and jumped. Amy felt the salty air rush past her as she plummeted to a certain death. Only the splash and slow suffocation did not come. Instead her feet hit hard ground. How did they get to this rocky shore?
Glancing at Dennis, Amy could see the horror in his eyes too. Neither of them dared to move or speak, they were hardly daring to breath for fear of Tom. As if bidden to follow, Amy's legs kept her only a few paces behind Tom as he entered a cave ahead of where they landed. "Do you like my cave?" he asked Dennis and Amy. Neither answered immediately. Tom's voice came them as harshly as the waves outside, "Do you?"
Dennis nodded without looking at more than Tom's pallid face. The word liar appeared on Dennis' face. Amy gasped at the sight of blood leaking from the word. Tears stung Amy's eyes then burned her cheeks and they rolled slowly to her chin. Tears never burn like this.
Angered, Tom contorted his face in a way Amy had seen in many ominous occasions in the past. Chest heaving, she reached out to Dennis for support. "Neither of you are my friends!" Tom yelled causing dust and rocks to swirl around the two frightened children. "You only pretend! Liars!" Amy fell backwards as a blast of hot stinging air hit her with tremendous force.
She was falling into blackness as cruel words lashed at her. Unloved, ugly, mistake. Each sank into her like the point of a knife. Amy tried to cover her ears to block the words but they were inside and around her. Idiot, unworthy, abandoned. These were her private fears and yet they were all around her. Suffocating, she was going to choke on these words as they assaulted her.
Somewhere close by, Amy could hear Dennis muttering to himself incoherently while the dark laugh of Tom Riddle cut into her as dangerously as fear itself. Without warning, Amy hit the soft grass back on top of the cliff where Tom had asked for her company. Now, it was almost nightfall. Breathing deeply, as if her head had been under water for several minutes, Amy tried to call out for Dennis. Words refused to come.
Tom's shadow cast over her as he approached. "Did you enjoy my cave?"
A/N: This was written for the Ravenclaw October QTR challenge. Scary and 500 words were the requirements. I thought of Amy and Dennis' story with Voldemort for this because it felt like a clearly scary moment in HP. Let me know if it gave you the creeps/scares/fear.