“The Mystery” by Melissa 7A

“Hello? Can you hear me? Are you okay?”

I peeled my eyes open, only to be blinded by the harsh glare of the ceiling lights I blinked and my vision cleared and focused to reveal a policeman shaking me gently to wake me up. Looking around dazedly, I asked myself how much time had I spent at the mall, passed out That particular Saturday was definitely a day I would never forget All those supernatural events that were not supposed to be happening on earth happened on that fateful day, in front of my naked eyes. Just then, it dawned on me that I had not managed to find my friends. My whole body felt like shutting down, all hope lost First of all, I was incapable of saving my friends and my perspective of this world turned upside-down. My thoughts floated to the mind-numbing scene...

It happened on a cheerful Saturday morning My friends and I decided to watch the latest blockbuster at the cinema. As the movie reached to an end, we stood up and sighed contentedly, our stomachs filled with the buttery sensation of popcorn At this point, events started picking up All of my friends wanted to take a restroom break so I patiently waited outside Soon they walked out and we turned to leave Surprisingly, there was no sign of an exit door. Instead, we saw a queer looking door. On this particular door, there were words ‘Enter if you dare’ written in bold red Well, my friends were bored I was bored So, we took up the challenge to give ourselves some thrill. Calmly, I stretched my hand and got hold of the rusty, old knob. The door yielded to my pressure. A blood curdling noise came from the hinges. Taking a deep breath, I braced myself for the worst.

Carefully, I navigated into the sinister room followed by my friends. Chills ran down my spine. Due to the lack of windows, the whole place was almost pitch-black except for a dim light from a single candle on a beaten stool, casting eerie shadows around the room Possibly, someone might have come into this room not too long ago because the candle looked like it had been lit for only a few minutes. I decided to pull out my phone for better lighting Cobwebs lurked in every corner, every nook and cranny casting a haunting aura to the room Oddly enough, at that moment, draughts swept across the room Though how was that possible? There wasn’t even a window in sight. Looking everywhere with curiosity and wonder, I failed to notice a muffled scream and a figure leaping across the room Minutes later, realizing that there was a sudden hush, I looked around, my eyes sweeping the whole area with panic. Strangely, it seemed that my friends had suddenly vanished into thin air. To my horror, there wasn’t a living soul in sight. Looking towards a second door, I dashed through it and tripped down the staircase that came after the door

As I descended the last step, appearing in front of my very own eyes, I literally saw words written with the same bold red colour that my friends and I saw at the entrance of this unknown area This time though, I was breaking into cold sweat. The words were clearly spelt out: ‘They Were Here.’ That surely was not right, did that mean they had been through this room already? Something told me that they had been kidnapped The burning question though, was who might have written those words on the wall Just then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shadow of a person, I could not see clearly in the darkness but I reckoned the person was dressed in black “Nevermind, it was probably just a hallucination,” I pacified myself Turning around, I ventured further into the room. The first item that caught my attention was a spindle that really reminded me of the one in the fairytale, ‘Sleeping Beauty’ What related even more to the story was that there was blood at the edge of the needle Every horrifying discovery urged me to make a run out of this room instantly, but I needed to find my friends. “Hello, Is anybody there?” My own voice, hoarse, alien and unfamiliar to my ears, echoed along the deathly silent room, a plea for reassurance never answered Beginning to feel the first terrifying tinges of desperation creeping into my heart, I resorted to go through another door Wait a second I could not believe my eyes. I just saw the door swinging...back and forth and getting more vigorous.

This was the last straw The room was lit with a ghostly light and the sound of a grinding noise was not too far off. Out of the blue came the figure I saw in the other room. My pulse quickened. I was all alone. It pounced on me with its sharp nails digging into my skin Fighting back, I tried to pull it off At the same time, I frantically looked around the room but instead, I saw blood flecked all across the floor and a machine that was making the grinding noise, the blades of it seemed to stare at me with an evil glint. Stumbling onto the floor, the creature loosened its grip on me and I ran back into the other room, sprinting through the stairs into the first room, my ankle throbbing as I ran for my life. Little did I know that dozens of the figures I witnessed would be guarding the door Now, I really saw all their faces clearly They resembled one of the scariest masks I saw during Halloween and it was intimidating With all the strength I could muster, I crashed their heads into each other Flinging the door open, I emerged out into the strange entrance. As breath after ragged breath tore through me, I slammed the door shut behind me Looking at myself now, there was blood all over my arms and legs and my ankle was swollen after I tripped on those stairs Sobbing hysterically, tears cascading down my cheeks, I was disappointed in myself that I was unable to discover where my friends were taken too. Hopelessness and grief pulled me apart as I succumbed to the thought of who would notice that we were gone