Persistence is a virtue by Sophie Dyke (good books to read for teens TXT) 📕

I do not own any of the images, only the story. This was for a school assignment to write a gothic genre based story. Enjoy!

Persistence is a virtue.

Prologue

You could hear the distant chimes as the feathers fell whilst birds soared though the sky. The wind whispered as it sent the unknown message that had always been ignored by the habitants of the world. Deer’s tracks were found by the hunters of the night, eventually being covered by the silent clever minded particles. White Mountains towered over all. The night of Christmas was not necessarily the most joyful time of the year. A family of four were singing in their car as they travelled down the road that had a history of certain accidents. A wide range, from slaughters to car incidents to even ghost trains.

The family who merrily went down the haunted road had no knowledge of this, well until something happened. Shadows zoomed from left to right, seeming like a man’s figure. Some seemed like there was another but it wasn’t certain. It was the full moon, no hunting time. For all that were on the other side that humans sensed but did not prove was real.

The same thing happened in 1970, when there was a young couple in which were going to a fair but ended up lost. They had decided to have a romantic time in the place that they stopped at… until…

BANG! CLATTER!

“What was that?” The female asked, jumping at the sound. She swivelled her body round to look at the back window.

There was a scream that rang though the woods, making the pleasant silence being interrupted. It was like two children talking to each other, one talking then the other cutting through.

“What is it?” The male questioned with no enthusiasm but rather impatience.

The women’s wide eyes began to fill with tears and she shakily pointed a finger to a figure that was gradually going smaller due to the sphere world. “A- A person! They look like they are d… de..dead!” She wailed seeming to use her chair as a thing of protection. She waited for her partner’s response to find that there was no man beside her. “Br- Bradley?” She whimpered quietly, her tears seeming to stop for only a second before they began again.

She sobbed until there was an obsidian shadow at the speed of lightening. Her heart beat stopped for only a moment because she began to screech again.

“No please! Leave me alone! I beg of-” Then her sentence ended with a gurgling sound, her wide fearful eyes that had light in them soon faded away to a dull blue. The last thing she heard was a whisper, an almost non audible voice. It wasn’t pleasant at all; no it was the voice of your worst nightmare…

Chapter 1

“Hey loser!” The school’s bully yelled into a nine year old girl’s face. Her name was Hira Cameron who had four fears. One of them being aphenphosmphobia- fear of being touched. The bully knew this and took advantage of it to the fullest. The boy grabs hold of her strawberry golden hair. She screamed in terror, her huge hazel orbs wide with terror, and her usually pale face now a ghostly pastel skin colour.

“What is wrong? Are you scared?” He snarled making the others laugh at him. It was always like this for Hira, the same insults, physical contact. It pained her and sure, she was strong and could take a certain amount but she was near limits.

“I- I, just leave me alone… please!” She mumbled, her wide eyes now looking to the ground so that she didn’t have to face everyone’s intimidating gazes.

“Oh did you hear that! The thing said it wanted to be left alone!” He wailed in laughter.

“Michael! Stop right now and leave Miss Cameron alone this instant!” One of the teachers scolded making the little girl that was in her scruffy school uniform astounded. The large boy scurried off towards his classroom after hitting the girl rather violently over the head. After that the teacher walked away, not even bothering to check if Hira was hurt.

Typical, they all hate me. Well if they hate me so much why don’t they try and make me like them? Hmmm oh wait no, no one cares about losers. Once a loser always a loser, great!

Hira picked herself up and glared at the school, deciding to skip school and walk around the area. She soon found her thinking tree and smiled slightly though it looked more like a frown. She couldn’t really smile properly since the incident, since she was left stray in this cruel hideous world.

She sat down, her rosy cheeks seeming to radiate from her face due to running. She had always liked to run to her favourite place because then she could hide from reality quicker. Her mind kept lingering onto her previous thoughts.

Make me like them. No one cares. Once a loser always a loser.

She mentally screamed at the repeating poisonous words. She knew she didn’t need to be like everyone else.

You’re nothing special. Hahaha! You can’t even look normal you freak! Weirdo! Ugly! Worthless junk! NO STOP! Worthless…. Freak… weirdo. Please… stop…

The voices continued to insult her.

You deserved being an orphan you demented hideous beast!

“Please stop...” She murmured her eyes full of tears.

You can’t do anything right! You are such a failure! You don’t deserve to live!

“That’s right, of course I am not. I don’t deserve to live… I don’t need to do I? I am worthless, a freak, a weirdo. I don’t care though, I am strong and none of you understand. I don’t care… I don’t… I do…” She grabbed hold of her hair in frustration. Why her, she was so young but she had these disturbing thoughts daily. She knew she was near her braking point but she refused. She didn’t have the guts to; she would have betrayed her mother and father if they still care in heaven.

Chapter 2

In the most the gloomiest of thoughts there are creatures, those creatures live on the thoughts of humans. Generations they have always done this; it drove people insane then goes into a beast that is known but anonymous by the beings that habit the world. Those beasts were much like Wendigos and though they were cousins they were still human, known as the einsamkeit. Translated from German to English it means loneliness, they were the real victims to the creatures but humans were victims to both. They worked together for years now to bring the apocalypse but if they were to succeed were down to a human. They needed an army, a battle field and weak things to fight so they could win. The creatures were to toy with the beasts and the beast’s puppet with the humans.

The creatures were as silent as the shrillest knife slicing the air. Their voices so high pitched that by even a dog’s ear they could not hear it. Their scent was the downfall though; the smell was not pleasant one bit. The smell was the odour of decaying skin slowly rotting away but the particles latching stubbornly onto them. Their skin where like onions with thin layers however every now and then there were thick clumps.

The beasts were a foul shade of turquoise and looked quite like vomit. Their eyes were slit with a colour of a purple portal. Their nails were as long at a strand of hair and the thickness of a glass plane. They were almost bold with a few clusters of greasy oily ebony hair. Their teeth were as sharp as needles, like their pupils. Their feet were purple with bruises. The clothes were filthy rags that were worn out; had some embodied signature to say that they were the beasts that were the intimate hunters.

They were edging near the country now but they still had far to go. It would be a few months now for them to get to their goal. After they get the vessel they can hunt the whole world. They would be victorious in the apocalypse, the end of the world, the new world. At the thought they smirked, their razor sharp teeth showing slightly.

I wouldn’t get too excited; there are still those of the dark.

We might have to kill those first, I know. I just cannot wait to get the sweet taste of blood in my mouth.

They had said to each other in their native tongue. They talked through the winds and their tongues. They used their tongues to make noises for certain words and they used the wind mostly talking in their anonymous high pitched voices. They chuckled at the thought of killing. Their voices were low for once as their insane minds making them act a little over the top. They were different to humans though; they thought different and had an even worse mind of a psychotic killer.

Chapter 3

Hira sighed as she walked down the street it had been a few days since the latest bullying and of course everyone heard about it. She just glared darkly at everyone who had spread gossip and rumours. It didn’t help that the whole village had heard about this bullying and supported it or just left the whole thing alone as they were cowards like her. She didn’t mind though, she was immune to it. It was always like this as far as she can remember only when her parents were still alive they protected her with a wall. Now that wall was broken there was no point in even trying to build one up again as it seemed that all of her attempts keep turning to ash. She didn’t have the right equipment to build a wall. It all was too broken and her skills were not the best.

It was Monday, the start of another horrible week though it was normal for her as all of her life was. Enough with those silly thoughts and think positive! She scolded herself in her mind, though she knew it would be no use. When did anything go her way anyways? She had the bullying then in the weekends she was abused and came to school and home with multiplying bruises. She is always famished and thirsty making her weak. It didn’t help with the late nights she had out of fear that she would be hurt by the arguing ‘guardians’ on the floor below her. She had to put up with it, shaking so much she felt even sicker then she already felt. Hira hadn’t thought of it at first when her foster father had hit her really hard for the first time, she thought she had done something wrong as she didn’t understand as much.

“Hey loser!” Someone yelled, she looked behind her still in half a daze. She mentally died when she saw one of the people that she hated the most. Hira sighed and tried to walk on wards to not have any trouble but it resulted to only make things worse. He tucked a large filthy white hand around her blond hair making her gasp in fear. “Oh are you scared? How about you go and crawl to mummy and daddy? Oh yeah, they’re dead!” Laughter erupted around her and the boy. She growled suddenly gaining some sort of confidence. She stepped away from him.
“Fine, if you want to play that card go ahead. I am sick of your pathetic bullying! What is wrong at home then! Whatever happened to you for you to do this to me! I am sick of all of you!” She screamed before stopping, realizing what she had just done.