The little girl had appeared seemingly out of nowhere, at the end of the long row of apple trees. She wore a faded red dress, and looked about the same age as Susan. There weren’t many people in the orchard today; it was cloudy and chilly, and this was the first other kid Susan had seen all afternoon. Mommy was at the other end of the row of trees, picking busily, so Susan went to the girl.
In just a few minutes, they were skipping along together, becoming friends almost instantly, in that way seven-year-old girls do…the little girl’s name was Kristen, and she told Susan she stayed at the orchard all the time.
"There are lots of us here, actually", she said. "Kids have always loved this place…"
Susan was puzzled. “Other kids, you mean? Here?”
"Come on, I’ll show you!"
They raced out of the trees, to a long, low shed. No-one was around at all, and in the gloomy afternoon light, Susan began to feel uneasy. Mommy was out of sight…
"Down here…see?" Susan peered down where Kristen pointed. It was a dark stairway, leading to a cellar under the shed. "I can’t see anyth—she turned to Kristen but the girl was nowhere to be seen. She crept forward, just to the cellar’s doorway, trying to see in…..in the dim light, she could just make out—-was that Kristen? But how…?
It was Kristen, or what had once been Kristen—a skeletal arm protruded from a faded red sleeve, and skeletal legs splayed beneath her skirt…and beyond that, was that another skeleton? And another, all in faded, young girls’ clothing?
Susan couldn’t make herself move away. She needed to go tell Mommy, but she felt paralyzed…
A hand fell on her shoulder, and another clamped over her mouth. “Found yourself some friends, did you?”
Then both hands were around her neck, squeezing, squeezing….”You can join ‘em now…. kids have always loved this place…”
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Credits to: Queenofscots
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