text: Narrator: The world is a cruel place. Most people do not know how to survive, more people are just winging it, and some people can't handle it. There is not one person on earth, that understands life, as life. The world has a mild taste, bittersweet, is what you could say. Sep.23 (2023) Narrator: The story you are about to read is about just one life. See, most people think life in the future will be filled with daylight, perfection, and fantasy! But if we are talking about reality, I would say the world will be a disgusting place. Filled with blurry faces and closed eyes, and a young woman feels, in my opinion, the same way. The sun hit her cheek, as she stood in the window of her small cottage in midday. The world was peaceful and quiet. Usually, people would enjoy this time. It was one of the only times you had where there was nothing happening at the moment. But she did not stand there with a smile on her face. She stood there, thinking, ̈Where did it all go wrong? ̈ Everything became blurry as a tear ran down Lila’s cheek. As one tear came down, another followed, and another, and sooner than later, Lila stood there crying. She had so many thoughts, but could not speak, as loneliness took her away. Either way, she had no one to speak to. She was alone....... Lila ́s mother died in a car crash on her way to work, no one crashed into her though. Her father was a firefighter and died when trying to save a family from a random fire. Lila ́s brother, Jenny, was a professional swimmer, he drowned on his 24th birthday. No one knows how he drowned, but there are rumors. Lila ́s sister, Rebbeca, was seen before each death of the family members. After they all died, no one ever found her and assumed she had died too. Lila ́s cousin, and best friend, Keisha, ran away, never to be seen. For some reason, Lila stayed alive through all of the pain. She did not know why she was alive, but she never second guest it because she considered it as a second chance to live. On this particular Monday, there was something different. Lila could not fall asleep, it was as if something was telling her not to. Every time Lila tried to close her eyes, they opened. She couldn't think, hear, or see. Something told her, get up, and stay up, and it gave her the chills. After a while, she fell asleep. In the early morning, she awoke. When she had finally finished her breakfast, she decided to go for a morning run. She got some clothes on and started towards the door. It was early in the morning, so the sun was not all the way out yet. It was damp and dark outside. Then Lila got that chill, that she got when she was trying to go to sleep, only it was stronger. The feeling was like something was there. ̈Anyone there. ̈ Lila looked around curiously. ̈ ̈ ̈ ̈ ̈ ̈I know, that you know. ̈ A voice said aloud. ̈Who are you? ̈ Lila ran towards the voice, but tripped on a rock, and all she could see was a black shadow ran from behind a bush. The shadow gracefully ran next to a train track, near the edge of Lila ́s cottage. ̈This is illegal! ̈ Lila said, panting with fear of the black shadow. ̈ The shadow took one big step and was on the train tracks. To Lila, this shadow was so familiar. ̈I never got to you. ̈ Said the shadow. As Lila stood, watching and confused, the train horn roared. She knew that whoever this was, was a female. ̈Move, the train is coming! ̈ Lila tried to run and push the girl out of the way, but it was too late. The train lights were pointing at the familiar shadow, and the train passed. Instead of seeing a girl’s body, Lila saw nothing. It was like the shadow person vanished. Not a trace of her was leftover. Kinda like the shadow did not want anything to do with it? Lila stood there, wondering what just happened. ̈Am I going crazy? ̈ She walked up to the train tracks, to see if there were any trace of what happened. Then the train honked again, Lila jumped onto the grass next to her as the train came rushing over. Lila had felt that her life just flashed before her eyes. One of the fastest trains in the world almost killed her. She thought if that was what the shadow wanted to happen. Just then, her thoughts got blocked. ̈ That is not the last time! ̈ Lila heard someone’s voice in her head and whispered to herself. ̈That is not the last time for what. Me almost getting killed from a train going one hundred miles per hour? ̈ Then, Lila noticed her arm was bleeding. It looked broken, and it hurt really badly. She knew that the arm did not look like that a few seconds ago. She silently screamed, with pain, confusion, and worry. Lila went to the hospital and got a check up on her right arm. ̈This is like an unfixable fracture. How did this happen? ̈ Said the nurse, as Lila sat on the emergency bed. ̈Way to keep the positivity up, and I do not know how this happened. ̈ Lila told the nurse the whole story. About the shadow, and the train, and the blood. Even about the small voice in her head. ̈Maybe the side effects of the medicine I gave you are kicking in? ̈ The nurse looked at Lila worriedly. ̈I am fine. It is all true! All of it . ̈ Lila swore it was true, but the nurse ignored it and thought it was the laughing gas. A day later, Lila woke up, it was midnight. She went to the police station and stated what happened. No one believed her. Then, she came to her cottage and saw something. ̈What's this? ̈ Lila asked herself in worry. There was a piece of paper on her cottage door. The words on it were, ̈Evicted ̈ in big red letters across the paper. ̈No, no no no no no, not today. Please no! ̈ Lila started to cry, as she wondered what she was going to do with her life. ̈Hello again. ̈ Said a voice. ̈Hello, shadow girl? ̈ Lila got the chills, again. ̈I promised I would finish you. I plan on keeping that promise. ̈ There she stood, the shadow girl. This time she came with a clue. She grabbed scissors, and cut her hair. You could not see her do it though, because she had a black hood and a mask. Then, the shadow grabbed a piece of hair from under the hood. It was golden brown. ̈Can I ask a question? ̈ Lila said voice cracked. ̈Yes, but I do not know if I will answer! ̈ The girl replied. ̈Are you related to me. ̈ The shadow nodded, and if the girl was telling the truth, there were only two relatives to Lila that had that colored hair. Keisha, and Rebbecca. ̈How, could you be.... ̈ Then Lila remembered. Rebbeca was seen before each death of the family members Lila had. The police concluded Rebbeca was dead, but never found the body. Rebbeca was not the best person. She was ruthless and hated everyone and everything. Even still, it hurt Lila so badly when the police gave up while trying to find Rebbeca ́s body. Lila was still trying to take in her idea. If this shadow is Rebbeca, then she could be who killed all of Lila ́s family. If this was true, Rebbeca would be the reason for all of Lila ́s pain, hurt, and distress over life. And what is worst, is that it would be all because of Lila ́s sister. Then, the shadow girl came closer, there was something in her hand. It was sharp and clean. It looked like a knife. The girls was coming closer, knife in hand. Lila was scared, she ran the other way and when she did, the shadow was that way too. Anywhere she tried to run, the shadow was there. The shadow came closer. ̈Just let me put your misery to an end! ̈ Lila took this opportunity to take the hood off the girls head, but instead of seeing a girl, she saw nothing. She couldn't see what was there, because she did not want to believe that the person under that hood, was under that hood. Then before Lila could even think, everything around became hopeless. This might have been the end. Lila did not even care. Loneliness seemed to have taken her away again. Lila could not see, but she could hear. ̈Wanna see who I am. ̈ The voice shouted. Then, when Lila could see, she could not believe it. No, it was not Rebbeca, it was Lila ́s very own best friend. Keisha...... ̈What, why, why a......... ̈ Lila could not even finish her sentence. She was all of a sudden in a room, it was dark and dingy. ̈But why not, is the real question? ̈ Keisha shouted, in Lila ́s ear. ̈What do you mean, my family gave you everything? They bathed you, loved you, I loved you. ̈ Lila said, tears running down her face. Keisha had a knife in her hand and was now crying too. ̈My only goal is to kill you and your family. ̈ Said Keisha. ̈But you did not reach the goal of killing my family did y.... ̈ Lila realized, that all of those times the family members had died, it was random and unknown how each death happened. ̈YOU KILLED THEM! ̈ Said Lila, angry and confused. ̈And all I want is to finish the family off. ̈ Keisha grabbed the knife. ̈I have promised me that I will be the last person you see when you die. And that I would be the reason you die in the first place. ̈ Keisha could barely speak, but part of her did not care. ̈And I will not let you keep that promise. ̈ Lila grabbed the knife as fast as she could. ̈Noo! ̈ Keisha tried to reach for it, but it was to late. Lila had stabbed herself. Not because of her misery, but because God does not like ugly. Narrator: Now you see what I mean. In the end, there was no happy ending. Life is no fairy tale.