The Omen

The warm colour of dusty orange filled the sky. Children filled up the playgrounds as the day came to an end. The November wind slapped on my skin as I read Atonement by Ian McEwan. While I read the last few pages, I felt the wind quickly picking up. I looked up at my surroundings and noticed no one was there, I frowned to myself on how the playground was so empty in just a matter of seconds. The wind was now harder and more aggressive, the skies became dark and cloudy, the feeling of safety wasn’t existent, the feeling of unease sent waves through my body. The merry-go-round spun by itself due to the intense wind, the swings were swinging and the leaves remained flying everywhere. That’s when I feel my instincts kick in, I quickly stood up and shoved my book in my school bag and fling it over my shoulder. I began to pick up my pace as I walked away, something didn’t feel right. As I jerked my legs to start running, I felt someone grab my backpack strap behind me, making me stumble and holding me in place—keeping me very still. My breaths became shaky; it was quiet, very quiet. Just the sounds of the strong wind and leaves of nature. I slowly turned my head behind me to see who is there. No one; instantly I felt myself getting thrown across the park, making me fly and plummeting onto the hard, dusty ground.

“Urggh,” I groaned to myself in pain. The grazes on my elbows and legs made me wince. I quickly sat up and look around me to see if anyone’s there, flipping my head left to right.

“Whitney,” a whisper which sounded like a woman that I hear from above me.

My eyes widened and my body shook. Hearing my name out of the blue sent shivers down my spine. Eventually I rapidly crawled forward and turned my body to face the person who had been tormenting me—no one. My breaths became quicker and I sensed myself getting extremely anxious. The feeling of knowing someone was behind me sent tears running down my eyes from fear. I flipped to face behind me and saw a tall woman standing not too far from where I was sitting with thick jet black messy hair and a ripped up ancient navy blue and black pirate corset dress from the 1800s. She has discoloured, foul and dirty skin, and her feet were bare as her ingrown toenails that were infected pointed out, which made me quiver, as she also smelt like death.

Silence.

I couldn’t move. I was in complete shock. Instantly, the woman of death screamed as she leaped with her arms out towards me. She slammed my shoulders onto the ground. Laying on the ground as she hovered over me, our faces inches away from each other, her skin with maggot infested holes filled her cheeks and her eyes of dark red beamed with pure evil. She touched my neck with her finger as her long discoloured nail poked my throat, and somehow, I immediately started to run out of air, choking and struggling to breathe. Almost passing out—the woman in black raised her other hand slowly in a gesture where she was about going to click her fingers. Finally, I could breathe again, as she stopped choking me with her black magic. She pulled her same finger that was on my neck and brought it to her mouth.

“Sshhh,” she said as she smirked sinisterly, and with her other hand, she clicked her finger.

With that action, I instantly sank into the ground and started to feel tired. My eyes close as I slept. In the matter of seconds—which felt like hours—I was awake, laying on soft grass in the middle of a forest. Almost majestic looking, soothing. As I sat up, I looked at my surroundings to see if I was alone. I was right, I was alone. I frowned my brows and grew curious as I noticed a white wolf sitting calmly next to a pond that was surrounded by beautiful trees and bushes that looked awfully familiar to the artwork Ophelia by John Everett Millais. I stood up slowly and walked towards the pond, and the wolf didn’t move. He was calm. We were facing each other from opposite sides of the pond. The wolf suddenly looked down at the pond—almost like he was watching something inside. I frowned my brows once again and mirrored he’s actions. As I sat on my knees and faced down to the pond, the familiar feeling visited me again. I saw nothing. I become impatient, frustrated and upset.

“WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?” I screamed looking up towards the sky as tears ran down my face. My call echoed the large enchanted forest.

I began to hyperventilate again, I noticed the wolf starting to sit up—he looked up towards the sky and started to howl, loudly. I started to get anxious on not knowing what would happen next. Then, I noticed the pond as it started to ripple. I gripped my position on the grass and slowly leaned in to take a closer look at the pond. Unexpectedly, as I saw my own reflection in the pond, long familiar fingers started to appear and sat on my shoulder. The feeling of shock streamed within me once again. I started to shake and my breaths were still heavy, tears still falling down my face. Slowly, an unfamiliar face started to show as she slowly sided her head next to mine, revealing her reflection in the pond—it was a girl corpse. I jumped to conclusions and thought she was a victim like me that is now dead. Her foul hand started to travel to the back of my neck, gripping it firmly. She then slammed my head into the pond, holding me down. With my eyes opened in the pond, I then saw someone floating in the water faced not too far from me. It was the woman in black, and as she made her sinister smirk, I screamed in the water and squirmed to try and set myself free from the corpse before the woman in black could catch me. The woman in black then roared in the water, releasing a black substance which sailed into my mouth, right in my soul.

Silence.

Just plain silence.

I brought myself back up from the pond, feeling relaxed. My eyes were shut as I sat on my knees on the soft grass with my hands on my laps. My hair was dry as if my head had never been dunked under water. I felt different, not myself. I brought my hands up to my face, wiped it in one circular motion as my fingers ran through my hair—feeling this euphoric feeling. I open my eyes and saw the white wolf now sitting beside me, and I leaned forward to see my reflection. A different person is who I saw. She was very familiar indeed. She was the woman in black.

I am the now woman in black too.