‘Mom, I’m going to get something from the car!’ Amanda yelled as she yanked out the keys from the stand and made her way down the stairs. She could sense the strong scent of the soil, thanks to the rain that’s been pouring cats and dogs since that morning. How she loved that smell.
She frowned into the car’s window to see the Spring Water bottle that lay there forgotten. Amanda’s dad had got the car a reflective film just last week and her reflection was smiling back at her. Opening the car’s door she realized something. She had seen something white and foggy behind her reflection. She instantly closed the door to check. Nothing. Nothing at all. A chill ran down her spine and she hurriedly took the bottle and ran home.










“ Good morning Mr.Robertson” Amanda whispered to the librarian as she stepped into the library that was two blocks away from her place. It was not the best one in town, yet, it had a good collection of books that Amanda loved reading. Moving to the fiction section of the library, she glanced at all the titles that were neatly arranged in the shelves. Some she had read some she had not yet.
‘A Company Of Swans’ by Eva Ibbotson. Amanda read the back cover of the book which was about a young ballet dancer who escaped her oppressive family to join her group on their way to The Amazon. “Interesting!” Amanda said to herself after read a few pages. On informing Mr.Robertson she left the library.
The thought of a refreshing lemonade on a Sunday afternoon, left Amanda enthusiastic. Taking a small sip of the drink she had made, she flipped the pages of the book trying to find out the point where she had stopped. She rubbed her eyes, pinched herself hard. This couldn’t be true.
The pages were blank. Not. Except for the red scribbling on the pages that read: “ I’M HERE”. The hair on Amanda’s neck stood and she felt she could speak no longer. She wiped the sweat that rolled down her cheeks. She heard her 8 yr old brother watching Tv.
“Hey Daniel! Could you read what this says?” She handed over the book to him.
“She was a thin girl brown haired and brown eyed.”
Definitely not what she read.
“Amanda?”
“Yes Daniele.”
“I thought you could read.”
Amanda started to shiver as she flipped the pages that read “I’M HERE”. She became numb as she thought of what had been happening since last night. what she had seen, what she had read. She couldn’t sleep that night.
“School could be distraction after all the stress on my nerves.” Thought Amanda. She sat in history class with three of her best friends; Julian, Violet and Martin. When all of sudden beautiful, melodious, piano music poured into Amanda’s ears. The music room was kind of near their class.
“Hey, who’s playing the piano, guys? Asked Amanda.
“What do you mean Am? The music room’s locked. Not open yet.” Said Martin. He was right.
No one could hear it except for Amanda. That is when Amanda realized that the music was melodious but….haunting too. She wanted the music to stop now. She couldn’t. “What was happening to me? Am I going mad?”she wondered.
Amanda called Julian over. They sat in Amanda’s room talking of all kinds of things. After two days of terror, Amanda was relaxing her mind at last. Amanda’s cell rang when she was pouring sprite for Julian.
“Hey it’s your cousin, Ellie.”
“Put it on the speaker.”
“Hey Amanda how are you? Thanks a lot for that bracelet you gave me. Your buddy Julian gave it to you right? Why didn’t you like it? I mean..It’s so cool!”
Julian’s face turned red. “You gave it away? It was my present to YOU! You hurt me.” She said as tears rolled down. “ I didn’t do that Julian, I did not” yelled Amanda. Too late. She had left the place. The phone died. It had full charge just a minute ago. “why are you ruining my life?” She shouted facing the ceiling.
She heard something in her room. Slowly, with trembling hands she opened the door of her room. She gasped! Her room looked like it had faced a hurricane. All her old photos lay scattered on the floor. She narrowed her eyes to see something that was marked on a photo. And another. And another. She realized that, on every photo her image was circled with a red mark. She let out a scream, gathering herself together she ran to the door. When the bell rang. She opened the door to find a letter on the doorstep.
Before she could realize the letter flew in and the door locked itself. Tears rolling down her face she opened the letter. No other way, she had to do it.
There lay a newspaper cutting. It was about a car accident in Oklohoma that killed a family of 3, including a teenage girl. Merlin. She recognized from the photo included in the article. She cried. “Merlin it’s you? Are you the one who’s been doing this?” Amanda cried hard.
Amanda thought of the lean, curly, brown haired girl she used to love so much. Amanda had moved to San Jose just a year ago. Before that she was in Oklahoma. Her birth place. Merlin was her first friend. They shared lunch, did homework together, played on the trampoline together, knew each other’s secret. They shared a beautiful bond. Merlin saw Amanda as a sister more than as a friend.
When they were in the 8th grade the so called ”popular” gang of girls tried to break their friendship. They were jealous of them. Of Merlin’s piano playing skills. Amanda abandoned Merlin for the sake of fame and being called “popular”. Poor Merlin felt betrayed. She wouldn’t have imagined this in her wildest dreams.
Amanda teased Merlin along with her new “friends” and Merlin had nowhere to go. She lost interest in piano, in everything.The suffering of Merlin couldn’t be put down in the form of mere words. Amanda had then moved to her new home, started at a new school, and cared not one bit about Merlin.
There was a piece of paper in the envelope. Amanda took it out and it read:
“Amanda, do you remember how we promised each other that we would be friends for ever and never let go of each other? You broke your promise but…I WON’T BREAK MINE!”
She could hear the piano again. Yes. Right behind her ear.