Untitled

Untitled by Ariana Hernandez, age 13

The evil looks of the house start to give me the chills, not the chills as if someone’s cold, more like chills because of something creepy… yet it’s a movie. My mom said not to watch these horror movies because I’ll get nightmares. Well maybe she was right all along, even if I try to deny how scared I feel from a scene in a movie. I go to bed wondering what it’s like to be chased by a killer, as if your life depended on it, maybe that’s me though. I shouldn’t watch scary movies, but I can’t help the feeling of almost dying by a female eater, possibly the devil. The past few weeks I’ve been feeling strange. Suddenly on my way back home, the door creaks as I open it, tears slowly forming in my chocolate brown eyes as I see my parents’ heads off. Blood was everywhere, heads were off, the blood still coming out of the torn apart body of my little sister along with my mother and father. I put my right hand on my stomach and a light sob forms in my mouth. My eyes are blurry and trying to see things clearly. I felt dizzy, as if I was about to pass out or collapse on the ground just like my family. “Hello?? Ari, are you even listening to me??” I blink. Woah, have I been at school this whole time? I swore I was just going to bed a few minutes ago... “Huh, what?” I could feel wetness dripping down my face and back. “Oh my goodness, Ari, keep up next time please! I was talking about how Josh broke up with me.” That dream felt so surreal, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, seeing. How could I trust myself? I can’t tell anyone. They’ll think I’m crazy, right? I was walking home, texting my best friend an apology for earlier today. Gosh, my head is pounding as if someone banged

12 Cartoons for all eternity • Caricaturas por toda la eternidad

my head into a brick wall. I slowly walk in front of my home and take three deep breaths before stepping in the door. “Hey hun, how was school!?” My mom popped up from behind me, replying with a slight jump. Once I turned around she was gone?? I thought she was behind me but she isn’t? “Hey, Ari, you good? You look kinda pale..” my sister asked, almost worried. I took a deep breath at least twice, “Um yeah, just uh.. school stress, lots of homework to do.” I’ve done all my schoolwork and did some extra credit since I’m failing two classes. Maybe I should talk to someone. No way. A few hours went by and I looked at the time on my phone, it was 10:58. To add on to that, I took a lovely nap with no nightmares. I felt really good, and cleaned my dirty room which turned into a cozy open-spaced bedroom. It was almost 11 o’clock and I love to be outside at night so that’s exactly what I did, I went out. Walking towards my best friend’s house party, I’m wearing a dark red dress that shows every single curve of my body. But suddenly I heard a random noise as if someone stepped on a crunchy leaf. I did not turn my head around, which I regret, because I felt like someone was watching me. After walking for a good 5 minutes I sense something... off. Off as in killing, murdering vibes. Just those scary things you would often see in a horror movie. This feeling is like when you are aware that there will be a jump scare coming up in a horror movie, not a good feeling at all. I quickly turned around to see if anyone was following me. It’s 11:10 so there aren’t any people out in the dark, spooky-ish town at night. Turning myself back around I feel a sharp pain, as if I got a shot from the doctor’s office - spoiler alert: I hate needles. My eyes started to get droopy and I could feel my eyes slowly drifting away from this reality, then everything went pitch black. I woke up feeling all icky and gross, still feeling dizzy. Maybe

December 2022 13