Young Writers Society

*This story is underneath my folder titled “Adventures of Poppy and others”. Gacha Club character designs are on my wall. Enjoy!*

In an uninteresting house in the woods, a little girl named Ivy and her brother, Damien, were fighting in the hallway over who got to go to bed first. Ivy suggested that since Damien was already wearing pajamas, he'd go to bed first, but then he started saying that since Ivy was younger, she'd go to bed first.

It went on, back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and back and forth.

Until they heard their father's petrified, frightened screams in the basement. They didn't know how they knew, because he never screamed or showed any sign of fear, but somehow, they knew.

The two of them rushed downstairs, hearts racing within their rib cages.

……………………………………

"Daddy?” Ivy asked timidly. Damien didn’t say a word.

It was all wrong, what they were seeing.

He...he was bleeding on the floor, all over himself. One of his eyes was missing and the other pale white. The blood was coming down fast and drying up quickly, so it looked like rust colored brown on his skin. Ivy could see his rib cage sticking out.

Admist the gore, he was..was...crying.

Wait, he was crying? They've never seen him cry before.

But there he was, a mangled, bloody mess, crying all over himself. His breaths were weak and shallow, but they were there, nonetheless.

Ivy turned to look at the woman standing above him and clenched her teeth when she knew who it was.

Aunt Janet, with her hand covered in blood, their own father's blood, cackling at the sight.

Ivy knew that there was something off about her, but she didn't know she'd stoop that low.

Her mother had let Aunt Janet live with them from time to time. She had her own house she rarely ever went to and had mostly lived with them.

Aunt Janet was…weird. She always looked at her Dad in strange ways, like she wanted to tear him to shreds and he would do stuff would her and would always come back with an ugly scar on his face. One time, he came back with an eye patch and wouldn't say anything about it.

Daddy covered his torn eye socket with one shaking, bleeding hand.

What else was he hiding?

"Hello there, children."  Aunt Janet said with a smile.

Oh no. She noticed them.

They raced to their room, desperate to hide from the madwoman, who was chasing them feverishly.

........................................................................

Ivy had run for what seemed like miles (even though it was their own house) and had hid underneath her bed when she was in the safety of hers and Damien’s room, but just then, she heard Aunt Janet walk into her room and go:

"Ivyyy...come out, Ivy!  Say hello to your Aunt!"

Ivy clamped her mouth shut so Aunt Janet wouldn't hear her breathe.

"I can see you under your bed, Ivy. Just come out or you'll die."  She said calmly.

Since Ivy didn't know what to do, she stopped holding her breath and climbed out from underneath her bed, awaiting the worst.

Aunt Janet opened her mouth and began uttering strange words while moving her hands in the air.

"Aunt Janet, what are you doing? I-"

But Ivy never got to finish her sentence, because she could already feel something awful happen to her.

It was the most peculiar thing ever. Her tongue felt like it was getting longer, her teeth were feeling sharper and when she looked at her skin…

Oh god, her skin. It was covered in gray scales, her hands were beginning to look like claws…

She even had a craving deep inside for small animals-No! Small animals were adorable, she'd never eat them!

"Enjoy being a snake girl, my dear." Aunt Janet sneered.

Snake girl? Snake girl? But..Ivy was afraid of snakes! She didn't want to be a snake girl!

Ivy fell to the floor and everything went black...

........................................................................

"Ivy, sweetie, please...wake up..."

Ivy opened her eyes. She was lying on the floor of her bedroom, the sunlight streaming in through her window. Her mother was holding her in her arms and for a moment, Ivy forgot what happened.

Then, it all came rushing back. The memories from last night. Her Daddy, her brother.

Her brother...why hadn't she tried to protect him?! What if Aunt Janet caught him?!

Ivy began crying choked sobs into her Mom's shoulder and said between tears:

"Damien's gonna get hurt...he's gonna die! It's my fault! I should have....I should have protected him from the mean lady! Now...he's gonna die! Aunt Janet...she killed Daddy! She...she turned me into an ugly snake girl...now...she might kill Damien and it will be all my fault!"

"Shh…none of this was your fault. I know ways to help us all."

"You do, Mommy?"

"Of course, I'm a witch. I'm going to find Damien, help you with your curse, and bring Daddy back from the dead."

"Bring him back from the dead?  Isn't that dark magic?"

"It is. But trust me, he'll be fine."

"He will?"

"Yes."

"How will you find Damien?"

"It's going to take a long time, it might take months, but I can assure you, it won't take years. All I need is an item of his, something he loved dearly, and then I need to ask it where he is and we'll find him."

"Really?"

"Really."

"What about me, how will you help me?”

"By the looks of it, you're going to be a snake girl forever. But don't be sad!  You can turn into your human form whenever you like. Right now you can only hold it for five seconds, but I can teach you how to hold it longer!"

"What about Daddy? How will you bring him back?"

"You don't need to worry about that, sweetie."

So, Ivy decided not to worry, because at least Mommy would help and protect her. In the end, it didn't matter how her Daddy would come back, what mattered was that Mommy was going to fix everything, right?

Right?