Anika Johnson was fast asleep when she was woken by a soft noise. Knocking. Gradually, the speed, urgency, and volume of the knocks increased. Someone desperately wanted to be let in. Anika woke up, her heart pounding and every part of her hoping it was just a dream. As she was about to face one of her deepest fears and open the door, the noise stopped. One last, hopeless, knock, and the person was gone. She breathed a sigh of relief and tried to go back to sleep but it was impossible. Anika felt for her teardrop pendant which she always kept around her neck. It used to belong to her mum, who died before Anika was born. Now, it was a sentimental object for the young girl. She wrapped her fingers around where it should have been, but found nothing but air. Gone.
Anika’s brain went into overdrive. Had she lost her mom’s pendant? No, she couldn’t have. She never took it off. Then, how had it disappeared? She stood up and frantically rummaged through all her things but there was no sign of it. A few minutes later, searching seemed pointless. The room looked a mess; every drawer had been hastily opened, junk which had been undisturbed for years suddenly lay on the floor.
Hope was rapidly draining out of her, she was prepared to give up. Then, she saw something. A gleam amongst the clutter. There was nothing left to do, so Anika crumpled into her bed, and cried.
By the time she looked up, a figure loomed over Anika and was advancing on her. Somehow, she knew immediately that the person knocking at her door earlier had come in anyways. The shadowy figure moved unnaturally, like it wasn’t human. Was it… levitating? Anika squinted but couldn’t make out anything in the darkness. Then, the realisation punched her in the gut.
The other residents heard a girl’s shrill wail in the dead of night, and it came from Anika’s room. Because Anika Johnson had just seen a ghost holding her pendant.
