Demon of the Well
by, Smeagol's Girl
(A/N: This was written for an assignment for English last year. It recieved the highest grade of all the freshmen, and gave the teacher nightmares (which really isn't saying a lot). Rated PG. I own nothing.)
Anna Morgan circled around the track for the third and final lap. Her horse, Shadow, was only inches away from the snow white horse in front of her. The crowd around them was screaming and cheering her and the other racers on. She only had a little ways left to go. She smiled and looked down at her horse. "Come on girl. We can do it!" she whispered.
Miles away, in an orphanage, a little girl sat alone at a table, busily scribbling away bizzare, and mysterious drawings. Her long black hair draped over a portion of her face, and she had very noticeable dark circles under her eyes. The child looked as though she had not slept in years. She glanced up casually at the TV where many other children had gathered to watch the race. She sneered at the horses. She hated them. They were so big and feirce and they scared her. She turned her eyes back to her paper and drew a new drawing. She poured her anger and feelings into it and smiled when she heard a boy gasp, "Oh my gosh! Look at her horse!"
Anna was not sure of what had happened next. All she remembered was seeing the world around her go flying in every direction and feeling the pain of her skull smashing onto the ground. She woke in a hospital about five hours later. Her husband, Richard was standing over her. She scanned the room with her eyes. The hospital room was small. There were a few beds near hers and a window that looked out to the country land. Richard shifted in his seat.
"Are you alright, Anna?" he asked, his voice filled with concern.
"I think so," she answered softly. "What happened?"
"Your horse died in the middle of the race and you took a terrible fall." Anna raised her eyebrows.
"Died?"
"None of the vets could figure out why. Shadow just collapsed and you fell with her."
"Is the damage bad?"
"No. You have a mild concussion. Shadow did land on you though, and the nurse is taking some test right now to make sure the baby survived." Anna gasped. She had not considered the baby. She was two months pregnant now and it had been their second try at having children. Their last child had been a miscarrige, and Anna would give anything to know that this baby would survive. She had even considered dropping the race, but it had been so important to her. Now that she knew her child's life was at stake, she began to wonder if it had been that important.
The nurse walked in with a clipboard in her hand. She looked first at Anna, then at Richard. She shook her head mournfully.
"Mr. and Mrs. Morgan, I'm afraid I have bad news..."
(Three months later....)
Anna could not wipe the smile off her face as they drove down the road. Richard, who was driving, did not look as excited. Anna looked at him and smiled.
"Do you think we should get a boy or a girl?" she asked softly. Richard shook his head.
"I don't know," he grunted. Anna stared at him for a minute.
"Honey, you are okay with this, aren't you?" He turned his head towards her and gave her an unsure look.
"I just though we had agreed that if we were to have a child, it would be of our own flesh and blood." Anna nodded in understanding.
"I know," she said softly. "I wanted that too. But Richard, maybe it's not meant to be. Maybe god wanted us to adopt."
"Maybe god didn't want us to have a child," he said gruffly. Anna reached over and took his free hand.
"Richard, I want a child more than anything." Richard felt a stab of pity. Somehow the pain in Anna's voice made him want to take it away. "If you don't want a child..."
"No," he cut in, squeezing her hand a little. "I do want this." He had lied, and he hated lying to her. Anna smiled again and looked out her window as they pulled up to the adoption agency.
There were childeren everywhere. Big, small, some very young, some almost teenagers. Anna looked around with Richard.
"See any you like?" he asked softly. Anna giggled.
"You make them sound like merchandise," she teased. She looked around. "I think I want... a girl," she said firmly. Richard pointed towards the window.
"There's some girls over there."
Indeed there were about five or six girls all sitting in front of a big pop-up book, smiling and laughing at all the funny pictures. Anna turned towards them, then suddenly stopped. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted another child sitting alone. The girl was about seven or eight, wearing a white dress, white stockings and small black shoes on her feet. Her hair was very long. It came down to about her waist and draped over a half of her face. She was sitting in front of a tv screen that had nothing on it, but the crackling of static.
"Richard look," Anna said, pointing to the girl. Richard saw the girl, and felt a cold chill rush down his spine. Something about this girl sent off a warning in his mind. There was something wrong with her. Anna, however, did not seem to sense this and approached the child.
"Hello," she said, as friendly as she knew how. The girl did not move or make eye contact, but Anna somehow knew she was listening. "What's your name?"
"Samara," she said softly.
"That's a pretty name. My name's Anna."
"My name isn't pretty," said the girl sadly. "No one here likes me. They're afraid of me."
"Why?"
"I don't know." Anna kneeled down in front of her. They began talking for a while. Inside, Richard was becomming more and more uncomfortable. There was something wrong with this child. He could not put his finger on it. If Anna chose this child, that would mean they'd have to put up with her forever. And judging by the way they were talking, she was going to be the one. It did not take long for Richard's fear to be confirmed. About and hour later they were driving home with Samara sitting in the backseat. Anna was constantly looking over her seat as though she were checking to make sure Samara was still there. Richard partially wished she would dissapear, but she didn't.
When they got home, Anna let Samara out of the car and walked into the house with her. She lead her up to her room and smiled.
"This is your room, Samara," she said happily. Samara looked around the room. The floors were old and wooden, the bed had a black metal frame and white matresses with a quilt draping over the white blankets. The drapes where white and hand made. Samara walked over to the window and looked out. There was a flower garden down below the house, and a field of wheat about thirty feet away. Not too far away from the house was a big white barn and an old shed built near it. The last thing she noticed, was about twenty feet away, standing by itself was a well. It was old and made of stone. The only thing near it besides crab grass was a tree growing three feet away with bright red leaves. Samara felt a hand softly squeeze her shoulder.
"It's a beautiful day, isn't it, Samara?" said Anna. Samara looked at Anna's hand and back at her.
"I like it," she said softly.
The next few weeks went by slowly. Samara slowly adjusted and Anna couldn't have been happier. She loved Samara so much, but Richard could not open his heart enough to accept the child. There was something about her that made him uneasy. He tried though. One day he had gone out to feed the horses when he spotted her watching them through the fence. He wanted to turn around, but his feet continued to carry him in that direction. He carried the sack of oats up to the gate and began to unlatch it. He looked over to the side and saw that Samara was watching him. He shuddered. He could feel her brown eyes peirce through him, as though she were seeing into his very soul. He force himself to look away and continued through the gate and poured the oats in the feeding trough.
Ginger, their chestnut colored horse, was the first to aproach the food. She had always been Richard's favorite. He stroked her tenderly and looked up. Samara was still watching him. Her eyes were cold and her face did not change or show any sign of happiness. Suddenly he felt as though it was his turn to see inside the heart of the girl. Through her eyes he could see nothing but hatred and anger. No love or happiness. The vision was so terrifying to him that he had to turn his back completely from her.
Samara looked away from Richard. She scolded herself. She had shown him too much. Now he knew most of what she was, and as she expected, he didn't even care. She knew that he did not like her. She had seen how he had done everything he could to avoid her. She looked into the feilds at the other horses. There was a black one and a dark grey one. Both stallions from what she could tell. She hated horses so much, and inside her head a voice spoke out.
"Trampling each other..... let them fight!" the unheard voice shouted.
Richard's attention was called toward the feild where he heard two loud neighs and grunts. He turned and saw both horses attacking each other brutilly. They were knocking each other over and trampling each other. His adrenelline went off and his heart began pumping rapidly. He felt that he should run. Something bad was going to happen.
"Run the horrid man over!" said the voice in Samara's head. The white horse turned and faced Richard. It snorted, and scraped the earth with it's hoof. Before Richard knew it the horse was charging at him! He climbed over the gate and ran. The horse crashed through the gate as though it were thin air and charged at Richard. Samara watched, a small smile spread across her face. The horse continued to run, but in its haste, was not careful of where it went. Its hoof caught in a hole in the ground, and it flipped over, breaking its leg as it landed.
A door from the house burst open, and Anna came running out of the house. The horse was trying furriosly to stand up, and even in its condition it inched foreward towards Richard. Anna ran to Samara and grabbed her protectively.
"Are you alright?" she asked frantically and carried her into the house. Richard ran into the barn and came back out with a shot gun. BANG! The gun went off, and the horse lay there dead. From inside the house Anna held Samara.
"I'm..... sorry," whispered Samara. Anna looked at her perplexed.
"It wasn't your fault sweety," she answered back, though her gut feeling told her it was. And she also felt that there was more to come. Richard came into the house, and Anna wrapped her arms around him. "Are you okay? That horse could've killed you!" she gasped.
"I'm fine," answered Richard. "Where's Samara?"
"She's alright. She's right here," she said, pointing to her in the living room. Richard stared at Samara and shook his head. Anna turned and looked in Samara's eyes. Samara's brows suddenly lowered and her eyes became a pale blue. Her left eye seemed to becoming closer and closer....
"Anna!" called Richard. Anna blinked, and whatever it was she had seen was gone. She shivered and left with Richard to take care of the dead horse.
Over the next few months Anna became more afraid. She heard whispers, voices in her head saying horrid things. Images would appear in her mind that scared her and she couldn't make them go away. She could barely sleep at night, and often woke up screaming and sobbing like a little child. And they would always happen when Samara was near. She would wake from a horrid nightmare to see Samara standing next to her side of the bed. She would pass Samara's bedroom in the hallway and hear screams or whispers. The things she would hear made her afriad. The images were far more worse though.
She was brushing her hair one morning in front of a mirror near the living room. She was trying to put it back in a bun. Her hair was very long an difficult to work with sometimes. She dropped the clip on the floor and bent down to pick it up when she heard the whispers again. "....out the well..... through the static..... don't turn around...... she's coming....... you will suffer......... you will suffer....." Anna slapped her hands over her ears, and collapsed, trying to get the voices out of her head. She saw the visions again. A face pressed against a black plastic bag, the mouth open in a scream. A nail with a drop of blood falling from the tip. A three legged goat, limping into the barn......
Richard came home and found Anna curled up on the ground screaming. He ran too her, and kneeled down next to her.
"What's wrong?" he shouted over her screams. "Anna, what's going on?"
"MAKE IT GO AWAY! MAKE IT STOP!" she shreiked. Richard looked into the hallway at Samara who was standing in the door way, staring at both of them with a blank face. He knew immediatly it was her fault.
That night, both Samara, and Anna were taken to a psyciatric ward. The doctors wanted to watch both Samara and Anna to make sure that neither of them had anything wrong with them. Anna was fine by the next morning. Her room was far from Samara's and she was fine. Samara didn't show any signs of anything unnormal either, except for one thing....
"She never sleeps," said Doctor Stevens to Richard as he sat down with him. "We've been watching her for three days now, and she has not slept once. She shows signs though of fatigue. Does she do this at home?"
"I don't know," said Richard. "Anna puts her to bed, she should know."
"You don't pay attention to these things?"
"I don't check on her every night just to see if she's asleep," said Richard impatiently. "I'm usually out working or asleep by then." Doctor Stevens wrote down a few notes on his clip board.
"How often do you spend time with your daughter?"
"Er.... I work a lot so not much."
"Well maybe this lack of sleep is a cry for attention."
"Maybe," said Richard. In his mind though, he really thought it was something else.
"Well, tonight we're going to give her sleeping medication. She's only a child she has to sleep. I just wanted to run that by you and see if it's okay."
"Yeah, sure. Whatever it takes." Doctor Stevens nodded and left.
That night, they gave her a strong sedative and Samara lay on her bed, fast asleep. Stevens watched the monitors that showed what the security cameras saw in her room. She did not move at all. She didn't roll over. She lay there like a dead thing. Anna, on the other hand was restless. She paced around her room over and over again, muttering gibberish. She never touched her bed once that night, until Samara woke up the next morning. Stevens finally decided it was time to question Samara about Anna's behavior. He sat in the padded room, adjusting a video camera and tape recorder. He waited at his desk, and soon one of the nurses brought her in. She sat in a chair in the middle of the room, staring at the floor, never making eye contact. Even though he knew she had slept that night, the circles under her eyes were still dark. The nurse clipped a small microphone to her shoe and left, leaving Stevens and her alone in the room.
"Well," he started off with. "Do you know why you're here?" She shook her head. "You're here because your hurting people."
"Can I see my mommy?" she asked softly.
"No, Samara," Stevens answered none too gently. "Not until you talk to me."
"I love my mommy," she said softly.
"Samara, please look at me when you talk," said Stevens. Her eyes did not move. She looked like a prisoner being held there. He went through a file and pulled out some x-rays of a couple of drawings she had done while in the ward. "What are these drawings?" he asked, holding them up so she could see. She did not look at them. "Can you tell me about them? Where'd you get these?"
"I didn't get them. They're in my head and I see them and they just...... are."
"What about your family Samara? Why are you hurting them?"
"I love my mommy. But daddy doesn't love me."
"Yes he does. He just wants to help you."
"No he doesn't. Daddy loves the horses. He wants to make me go away. He doesn't know though."
"Doesn't know what?"
"Everyone will suffer," she whispered. "People get hurt when they're around me." Stevens stared at her for a minute.
"But," he said breaking the silence. "you don't want to hurt anyone, Samara." For the first time she looked up at him.
"But I do," she answered softly. "and I'm sorry. It will never stop....."
They spent another week, trying to talk with her, but it did not help anything. Finally, Anna and Samara were released and allowed to go home. But Richard knew Samara was not safe anymore. When they pulled in the drive way he pulled Anna off to the side.
"I don't care what you think. She can't stay in our house. We have to take her back." Anna gasped.
"We can't do that. She's our daughter."
"She is not our daughter. There is something wrong with her, Anna."
"She can't help it!" Anna protested.
"I don't care. She's not sleeping in our house. She's not living in our house. She's never setting foot in our house ever again."
"Then where will she stay?" Richard looked around.
"There's a room upstairs in the barn. You can keep her there."
"Richard, she can't live there!"
"Then send her back to the orphanage and let some other family deal with her. We can't do this anymore." He placed his hands gently on her shoulders. "I don't want you to get hurt again." Anna looked up to him with tears in her eyes, but knew he was right. She moved all of Samara's things in the barn that night and felt horrible because keeping Samara that far away gave her a sense of relief.
One night while they were asleep, Anna lay awake tossing and turning. She knew something was wrong with Samara. She kept seeing visions in her head, horrible nightmares. All were the same. Samara was in a dark, unreachable place screaming for her. She looked at her husband who was sleeping peacefully. He would be angry if she left. She knew he didn't like Samara. Still she felt that Samara needed her. She stood up slowly and climbed out of bed. As she headed for the doorway the sound of Richard's voice stopped her. "Leave her alone, Anna." Anna turned and looked at him. His words were so hateful and it startled her. She knew that if she stayed she would be showing that she was loyal to him. Yet if she went to her daughter, who had been haunting her dreams and mind, she would be showing loyalty to Samara, but none to Richard.
She finally made up her mind and went out to the barn and into Samara's room. Samara was kicking and screaming in her sleep. Anna ran to her and gently woke her. She took her into her arms and rocked her back and forth, singing softly. The voices she had almost forgotten were screaming now in her head. Samara reached down, trying to get a hold of Anna's hand. She couldn't reach so she held on to her forearm instead. Anna felt as though thousands of hot coals were burning onto her skin and she pulled her arm away.
After she had gotten Samara to calm down she left, rolling up her sleeve as she walked. There was a large burn on her hand in the shape of a handprint. Her eyes widened in horror and she reached down to touch it. The pain zinged through her arm and suddenly she saw a vision of a tree on fire, burning right before her. It was coming closer and closer. The heat scourched her skin, and just when she thought she would burn to death, it left and she was alone again. She closed her eyes and sobbed. She couldn't let this continue much longer. And she didn't.
That morning she waited in the kitchen, watching out the window, like a lion waiting for its prey. She knew Samara would be out soon. She always stood by the well and sang as the sun rose. Anna moved toward a cupboard and pulled out a black plastic bag. She could hear a voice against the wind. Samara. She closed her eyes, tears falling from them. She knew what she had to do. She took in a deep breath and walked outside.
Samara sang her sad song in front of the well. She looked at the sunrise. The land around her was beautiful, but she was not happy. She was very sad and hurting. She had sensed the fear in Anna the previous night. She knew Anna was afraid of her like Richard was. She also knew that Anna was carrying the black plastic bag without looking.
Anna placed a hand on Samara's shoulder. "It's a beautiful day isn't it, Samara?" she said softly. Samara looked down at her hand, then back at the horizon. Anna bit her lip, then moved quickly. She slapped the bag over Samara's face and tightened it. She was shocked that Samara did not fight back or even try to break free. She just stood there, allowing this to be done. Anna felt Samara's body go limp in her arms, and her heart froze. The reality of what she had just done hit her like thousands of stones. She picked Samara up into her arms for what would be the last time and then tilted her body, head first into the well.
It seemed like years before she heard Samara's body crash into the water. Anna stood there, sobbing, unable to leave that spot. She finally forced herself to look over the edge at Samara. To her complete horror, Samara was standing, and staring back up at her. She wasn't dead! Anna looked around quickly. There was no way she could get Samara out, and it they called the fire department, they would know what she had done. She had to hide this. She spotted the larg stone cover laying in the grass nearby. She struggled to pick it up, and slid it slowly over the well, sealing Samara inside.
Inside the well, Samara watched as the cover slid over, blocking out the last ofthe sunlight. All that was left was a white ring of light that had managed to shine through. Her heart sank. Anna had been her last chance of finding someone who would love her, even hear her. But she hadn't. Samara lasted longer than Anna had thought. She lived for seven horrible days in that well. And on the seventh and finall day, as she was floating on her back, breathing in her last breath of air, the last thing she saw before she died was that ring of light.
Inside the living room in the Morgan's house, the tv turned on by itself with static flashing on the screen, and a video slowly ejected from the VCR......