The Trance Killing

Most people have fears of darkness, of monsters, spiders, clowns, small spaces, and many others. I wasn't. I used to be fearless. I would walk head on into any dangerous situation and stop it head on. I would take control. My friends would call me 'The Fearless Girl.'

I used to be her.

I used to be.

But then I met Blank.

It was a day like any other. Except, there was a new girl in town who was joining school that day. Like any other new student that came to our school, only a few people who were like her went to meet her. I was one of those people.

We called her 'Blank,' because she never told anybody her name. It wasn't in her school files, her parents never showed, there was no proof at all of her name. People simply called her 'Blank.'

Me (Asha) and a few friends walked up to Blank and introduced ourselves. It was Me, Fay, Dawn, Cher, Josh, and Mich.

"Welcome to your new school!" We all said happily in unison. Blank had smiled.

"It's nice to be here. So many new people..." She had said, trailing off and looking at all of the unfamiliar people around her.

"Just stick with us and everything will be fine." I said. The rest of the group smiled and nodded in agreement.

I had been attending this school since kindergarten, so everybody in the school knew me. I had also somehow been made one of the born leaders of every grade I went through. With how brave everybody had seen me be, they all looked up to me, so it was my responsibility to greet any new student, stand up for every bullied kid, and help whenever anybody needed it. It was a big job, but I had stuck to it for 8 different years and 8 different grades, and I wasn't going to give up now.

"Thanks." Blank responded, going back to a unreadable expression.

"Cher, Dawn and Mich, lead her around school and show her where her classes will be, then get her a class schedule."

"Yes, Asha!" They said as they lead her off down the halls.

The rest of the day had gone normally, with Blank introducing herself to new people along the way. Lunch went by in a snap, and before anybody knew it, school ended.

Blank left a few minutes early, so nobody got to see her and say goodbye.

That night as I got home, there was a note on the table.

"Had to go to a meeting with you father, dinner is on the table. ~Love, Mom."

Being an only child with no pets, that meant I was home alone. I didn't really feel hungry, so I simply put dinner in the fridge and walked to my room to get ready for bed.

As I slipped into bed, I heard a soft humming, so soft I didn't know if it was my imagination or not. I simple ignored it and fell asleep.

The next day as I headed to school, my head was spinning and I could barely stand up straight, so Fay helped me to the nurses office.

"I swear, I'm fine!" I said as I was helped sit in a chair.

"No, you're not. You are going to get checked over by the nurse and that's final!" Fay scolded. I knew she was only concerned for me, just like a lot of other people in the school.

The nurse gave me a basic checkup. No fever, no bumps on the head, nothing seemed wrong. As I stood up, I was still so dizzy that I fell to my knees. The nurse quickly called my parents to come pick me up and take me home.

My parents came to pick me up seven minutes later, entering the room after talking to the nurse. My mom simply watched as my father picked me up and carried me to the car, setting me down in the back seat and buckling me up like I was a three year old.

As we started the drive back home, I started hearing the humming again. It made my head hurt so badly that I started silently crying. My mom helped me into my room as my father drove back to the meeting. He was reluctant to leave, but mom had insisted that she would take care of me herself.

She made me a bowl of soup and had me in a sitting position next to my window.

"How does your head feel, honey?" She asked, a worried look on her face.

"I'm fine now. Thanks, mom." I said, hugging her before she left to put my now empty bowl in the sink.

I had been in a daze the rest of the day, sleeping for a long time. The dizziness had left my head, and I could safely walk around again without stumbling or wavering from my path.

As I woke up from my third nap of the day, I saw that it was dark outside. I simply turned on my bedside lamp and started reading.

A quarter way through the book, the strange noise started again, but this time somebody was singing with lyrics.

 Dusk has left us all, now come, walk to me so that I may sever your soul and you will no longer be

I shall sing you my sad song of grief and sorrow and pain your thoughts will be controlled by me and you shall be no longer sane

The sad, terrible lyrics made me feel sleepy, and I closed my eyes for a few minutes or so.

It seemed like I had awoken again, but when I tried to look around, I couldn't control my body. I felt myself getting up out of bed as I opened my eyes, but I didn't want to. I could still hear a sad soul singing the song. It was like I had all of my senses, but I couldn't control them.

'I' walked out of the house and started down the road to the old graveyard, along with many other mindless children. I heard soft screams, most likely the others trapped inside their minds.

'We' approached the old graveyard, but something looked different. All of the old, crumbled tombstones were restored, and they had different names on them. I looked in shock as one of the graves said my name.

The soft screams got louder, and I started screaming too. I wanted to get out of this!

As we approached the middle, Blank stood in a black robe and candles around her. She kept singing her same two versed song.

 Dusk has left us all, now come, walk to me so that I may sever your soul and you will no longer be

I shall sing you my sad song of grief and sorrow and pain your thoughts will be controlled by me and you shall be no longer sane 

Suddenly, the bodies dropped to their knees in a huge circle around her. Blank walked over to one of the children and took a big butchers knife out of a slit in her robe. In one, swift motion, she sliced off his head.

It fell as a short scream emitted from the throat, the body falling backwards into a gruesome position.

She slowly went in a circle, the same thing happening with each child. With one, Blank missed the throat and hit up into the jaw. As she yanked the knife back, there was a tearing sound as the head was ripped off instead of clean-cut. The ragged flesh hung out of the throat and off of the head. She then acted like nothing happened, moving on the the next person.

As she came to me, the final one, she smirked.

"You got to watch all of your little followers die. Now it's your turn!"

She raised the butcher knife above her head, planning to split my head down the middle.

A scream came from behind me as a group of police rushed over and shot her, the knife falling out of her hands as she fell to on her side with blood pooling around her. I fell out of my trance, but then fell in to shock as my thoughts drifted away.

Girl survives 'Trance Killing'
One young girl at the age of 16 was the only survivor out of 45 children murdered last night by a new student at the local school. The girl refuses to speak to us directly, but her parents say that she explained it as 'Being in a trance.' She says she couldn't control what she did, only watch as her body moved without her. More at 8:00.

I wish I could forget that day. Now, I never speak to anybody in person except my parents. I don't go to school, I don't go outside, and I don't go in dark areas.

I now know what fear is.

But I wish I didn't.