Prompt 8 -
Word Limit: 2000 words.
Word Count: 979 words.

👻🎃

★★★

Sinister Secrets

A giggle emitted in the quiet upstairs room, disturbing the occupant from their slumber.

"Casey..." The young voice whispered in the dark, followed by another laugh.

The twelve year old groaned as she opened her eyes, noticing the light streaming from her open window that was blowing a chill into the room.

Another giggle resounded before she looked to the end of her bed and there sat a young boy.

"I wanna play, Casey!"

"Who are you?" She asked as she wiped the tired stuff from her green eyes.

"Simon," the little boy answered with a grin.

The young boy seemed to be about four years old and was dressed in blue shorts and a white singlet. His clothes seemed to be a little ripped in various places and his feet were bare. In his arms, a brown teddy bear was nestled.

"This is Happy," he added as he pointed at the bear.

"Uh, hi," Casey murmured with uncertainty.

"Why are you in the room? Who are you?" She asked again as she sat up, staring down at the young boy with curiosity.

"I'm Simon, your little bwother." Simon replied as he looked up at Casey with a gentle smile.

"But I don't have a brother," she said as she trailed off, feeling a strange knot forming in her stomach.

"You used to," he mumbled back with a frown as he hugged the teddy tighter as his eyes welled up with unshed tears.

"No, I've never had one," Casey fired back in defiance.

"You used to," he repeated ominously as his hollow eyes stared back at her.

Casey shook her head before pointing to the family photo on her night stand. It depicted two adults and a little girl who was about six. There was nobody but the three of them in that photograph.

"That was later," Simon continued as he scowled.

"Before mummy and daddy did a bad thing."

"What are you talking about?" Casey asked as fear gnawed at her bones.

"I'll show you." He answered as he got off her bed and walked towards her bedroom door.

Simon turned back around to his older sister and gestured for her to follow him.

Curiosity got the better off her and so she followed the young child through her open bedroom door and all the way to the stairs.

"But this leads to the attic," she commented, unsure.

Simon only nodded before traveling up the steps into the darkness that awaited them.

As Casey reached the top of the stairs, she flicked the switch on the left wall so the light could illuminate the room for them.

The light was minuscule and only shone a dull glow onto the many boxes upon the floor. It kept flickering every now and again as if it was almost out of power. This caused an unsettling feeling inside of her but she persevered.

The young boy, who claimed to be her younger brother, pointed towards an old, tattered chest in the very back of the attic. It was as if he was leading her towards something that she could never unlearn.

The chest itself was beckoning her forward and her feet obeyed almost instantly as if she was in a trance. Her eyes were wide with interest and fear.

"Open it," he stated, ominously as he pointed at a key on the ground beside it.

Casey bit her bottom lip anxiously before she grabbed the key and inserted it into the lock. She paused for a moment before she then slowly opening the lid of the chest.

It was as if she had to know the truth now. She had come this far after all.

'What will I find?' She wondered as she looked down at the contents of the trunk.

Inside it laid white bed sheets and upon ruffling them around, entwined with them was a piece of clothing that she noticed had a dark crimson red on them. Casey gasped and almost fell backwards for a second.

"Keep going," he commented in a low whisper.

It was as if she was at the tip of an iceberg.

Underneath the sheets and clothing, she noticed something silver glistening in the low light. She hesitantly reached out her hand to pick it up. The moment the knife entered the light, she had dropped it in fright.

"It can't be," she whispered in a broken tone as she picked up a stack of photographs.

Each one featured a particular little boy alongside her family.

In some of them, they all wore huge smiles and pretty clothing. In each one, they were doing various different activities.

In the first one, a picnic whereas the second was at the swing set at a park she did not recognise for the life of her.

He looked to be only a year younger than her younger self in these photos. He really did have a striking uncanny resemblance to her father.

She turned to the back of the last photograph where he wore the very outfit in this chest and in calligraphy it read as plan as day: 'Casey & Simon, 1982'.

Casey dropped them to the floor, watching as the various polaroids fluttered around into a pile across the floorboards. There had to be almost forty of them alone. Hard evidence that they were really a family once and she was his big sister.

'Why can't I remember you though?' Casey thought with a twinge of sadness as a gaping hole began forming inside of her chest.

"But what happened to you?" She asked brokenly as she looked towards her brother with a frown as tears brimmed in her eyes.

"Mummy and daddy took me away," he responded cryptically.

"You're here now though," she asked with hope, feeling as if they finally now had a second chance together.

"Not really though," Simon replied in a soft murmur, "I am long gone."

With his last words, his spirit faded away, leaving Casey alone with the truth, the evidence to back it up and her own broken heart.

©️©️©️

I hope you all enjoyed this take!

Please let me know all of your thoughts down below and please vote if you liked this short piece. ♡

Until next time,

©️ E. C. Xalfa ♡