Something odd is happening. Every time I go back to the place where I buried Cara’s corpse, something new is growing. Last time it was a bush, and this time it is a tree. The leaves were as red as berries on both the plants, and they were both full grown. Now they are gone. This is curious, because I go back there almost every day.  Something about that place and that girl has always intrigued me, and I feel a pull to go back there. I always feel as though someone or something is watching me, and I cannot shake the feeling. 

The last time I went there, there was a puddle, even though there had been no rain. I covered the puddle with dirt, but ten minutes later it was full again. This game of me covering the hole and water coming back up went on for an hour or so, but then I just left it went home. Sometimes, at night, I can barely sleep because shadows dance in the hallway. I have asked Mother many times to turn off the light in the hallway, but she doesn’t like to. People’s silhouettes sway on the walls and I can hear voices.  They are faint, but they say,

“It is your fault. She was not supposed to die. You were supposed to take care of her, not kill her.”

Today at school I was at the library and I could feel the eyes of the unknown being on my back. I was the only person other than the librarian, but she had dozed off in her chair at her desk. After almost half an hour feeling like I was being watched, I went back to my locker, packed up my things, and went home. I almost missed the bus stop. Luckily, however, I made it off the bus and got home safely. 

~

As soon as I arrive home, I drop my bags off and go back out again. I walk through my backyard and enter the forest behind my house. As I walk along the trail I hear whispers and think I see shadows creeping through the woods and in between the trees. 

“Basia,” they seem to say, “Come with us to and we will show you something beautiful and it relieve all of your pain and troubles.” 
I shudder and ignore them. Now I can tell that they are not a figment of my imagination.

I wander down the trail until I find Cara’s resting place. I kneel down where she is buried and bow my head. I feel those eyes again, watching me, and I turn around and see a shadow disappear behind a tree. Those shadows seem to be everywhere; even in my hallway at night. 

A layer of clouds covers the blue sky and it begins to rain.  The walk back to my house is over half an hour, so I decide to stay where I am—with the shadows—by Cara’s grave. I feel an icy hand on my shoulder and look up. It is Cara. Her face is pale and almost transparent, and her only clothing is rags. Her black hair is long, but the ends are uneven and her feet are bare. 

I scream and fall backwards, hitting my head on a rock on the way down. She laughs and it echoes throughout the forest. 

“Wh-what are you doing here?” I stammer, my heart beating fast.  “Aren’t you dead and buried?”

She laughs that haunting laugh and it echoes even louder this time. 
“Dead? What do you mean, dead? I have no body, but that doesn’t mean I’m dead. My soul is still very much alive, and I am the Queen of Shadows. We haunt the forest and punish those who are guilty of murder. Namely, you.”

I stand up and stumble backward. “You are dead. I killed you and I have proof. Your body is in the grave. 

She rolls her eyes. “Am I, though? Dig this grave and see for yourself.”

She drifts through the trees and watches me dig up her grave with a shovel. I dig deeper and deeper until I have dug up at least five of earth. I gasp—her body is not there. 

I cry out in anger and frustration, “It’s not there! What’s happening?”

I feel her icy finger on my cheek, “You’ll never know where my body has gone, will you now?” Her fingers move down to my neck and he tightens her grip. I swallow and fist my hands. 

“Just get this over with,” I say, trying not to convey my fear.

“This won’t take too long will it, Shadows? They say it won’t take long.”

Her hands are still on my neck as she guides me along the trail.  The shadows follow us, and I shiver even though the rain has stopped and the sun is peeking out from behind the clouds. 

We stop at the same cliff I pushed her off. She laughs again—that laugh! —and turns to me.

“This is for all the times that you made fun of me, that you called me ugly. For all the times you called me fat—but most importantly, for the time you killed me. So I guess this is goodbye.”

I look out beyond the cliff at the view. The purple mountains cast shadows on the ground below. The sky is a beautiful pinkish orange, and the clouds are golden.

What a wonderful day to die.