Day 12: The Haunted Cliff-side





The hill was called Sophie’s climb and it was said to grant luck to all who made it to the top. Named after a girl who may or may not have existed. She was said to have lived in the castle, hundreds of years ago. Tales differ on whether she was servant or royal, but the legends are consistent in the fact she died by drowning. Whether accidental or by way of force is something to be debated, all people know for certain is at the very top of the hill, on the edge of the cliff overlooking the sea is a tombstone that reads Sophie, 10. 

There were other names on it of course, but they were eroded away, faded by salt water or by wind or by time. Gradually the names above her and below her disappeared until poor little Sophie was all that was left. 

It is the reason why she is reported to haunt the place, of course. After hundreds of years her name appears as though it was carved yesterday. There was probably a scientific explanation, but her grave being so close to the sea, so open to the elements made most people uneasy when they saw the perfectly preserved letters.

To the current inhabitants of the island, she was a friendly spirit. She would track down lost items, returning them to bags or tables, would lift biscuit tins from high up shelves for children craving a treat. Her gravestone was even said to emulate luck. If you touched it, her gentle spirit would rid you of the bad spirits that so often could dominate the world. .


However, visitors didn’t like the girl, or rather she didn’t seem to like them. Whenever buses showed up on the rocky path to her hill it would begin to rain. Even on the sunniest days, the clouds would drain themselves of water until the visitors left. It was perhaps why tourists were so uncommon to the place, especially since the bad press.

The four boys who had climbed the hill and who had come back as three. With one still missing and the others still pale and shaken, completely unable to talk about it. They weren’t even sure why they ventured up there. When they set off they were headed to the park in the opposite direction.


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I HAVE an ending to this one! I don't have time to post it tonight because in my head it's fantastic and shocking and brilliant in all the ways a good ending should be. However, as it stands the ending is currently only in my head, and I'm too busy moving stories from instagram to here to edit it tonight. I will post it soon though. I'm dying to tell it to you.
This was Day 12 of my NaNoWriMo project where I am writing a new short story every day in November! Originally all of these were posted to instagram, but the 300 word limit was a little confining so I've come here to post everything I've written and a little bit more!

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