*This story connects to the second tale in my story “31 Horrendous Halloween Tales” and is underneath my folder “Marina and the hat!”. The story that this is connected to, “31 Horrendous Halloween Tales”, is underneath my folder “31 Halloween Tales”. Gacha Club character designs are under my forum “My character designs <33”. Enjoy!*
Introduction
Marina sat up from the ground. The straw hat lay beside her, bleeding at the seams.
Her bedroom looked the same, except it had a dreamlike haze to it.
She looked down at her hands, which was skeletal skin. Marina remembered the hat tightening on her head, popping her skull, and then…
Then she died.
Chapter One
Marina got up and tried to grab the hat, but her hand went right through it.
“Marina?! Come down here!” Mom demanded.
Marina froze, startled by the sound of her voice. It had been so quiet until her Mom spoke.
“Marina?! Why aren’t you listening to me?” Mom asked.
Marina could hear Mom’s footsteps going up the stairs, to her room.
“Marina, I-“
Mom’s sentence was cut off by a scream as she stared at Marina’s bleeding body.
Marina herself began to see bright pink light, dancing like the Northern Lights, and then, there was only color clashing into her. Her bedroom was gone, the world was gone, gravity was gone.
There was only psychedelic color.
Chapter Two
Through the veil of psychedelic color, Marina could see a black, polished coffin being lowered into the ground. The space where the coffin lay was surrounded by a few people she knew, most she never saw in her life.
Her parents held onto each other, both with tears streaming down their eyes.
Was it Marina’s grave? How long had she been dead? Wasn’t it only a day?
The swirling came to an abrupt stop, as though she were merely trapped in her mind and she just needed a few minutes to leave.
But Marina knew that it was real, just as she knew that she had died.
Chapter Three
Marina was in a vintage market. Necklaces, gloves, memorabilia, shoes, and clothes were being sold.
Even hats.
Though there were hats with flowers and bows, only one hat caught her eye.
The straw hat that brought her demise.
Chapter Four
It sat patiently on a shelf, waiting to be bought. Why was it at an antique market? Who put it there?
How many days had passed since her death?
Marina floated over to the hat and tried to grab it, but just like before, her hand went through.
Someone was headed towards it.
Chapter Five
“I want this hat!” The person said, pointing to the hat.
The person in question was a little girl, about seven years old.
“Little girl! Do you really want this hat?!” Marina asked.
She was startled by how far her own voice sounded, as though it didn’t belong to her, but to the universe.
The child didn’t hear her. She simply snatched the hat and ran off to her parents.
Chapter Six
“Excuse me! That hat will kill you! It’s haunted!” Marina said. She flailed her arms, trying to get the girl’s attention.
The girl took no notice to Marina. She stood at the checkout counter with her parents, bouncing up and down on her heels in excitement.
Marina scratched her head, wracked with confusion. Weren’t children supposed to see and hear ghosts? Why would a little girl want a bland, boring hat? Matter of fact, why was the hat haunted in the first place?
“I can see you.” A voice said behind her.
Chapter Seven
Marina turned around. A little girl with long, brown hair tied into two pigtails and wearing a black and white plaid dress that touched the ground stared back at her with wide, swamp green eyes.
“People who truly believe can see ghosts. I can see you. I think that if we go into a portal and try to figure out why the hat is haunted, you’ll be free.” The little girl said matter-of-factly.
Marina blinked her eyes in confusion. How on Earth did a small child know such things about ghosts?
“Come with me.” The little girl said.
Marina looked around. There weren’t any worried adults searching for a kid. It was as if she had no parents.
But perhaps they were busy. Either way, Marina didn’t have much of a choice.
She followed the little girl.
Chapter Eight
They were outside of the antique shop, the afternoon sun shining above the cement parking lot. The little girl stood at the middle of it, beckoning Marina over with a smile.
As if she were in an innocent dream, Marina ran towards her as the world slowed down.
When she reached the little girl, she took her hand and the world collided into different colors.
Chapter Nine
“Where are we going?!” Marina asked. Her voice was mixed with the white noise of the portal, swirling all around her.
“To wherever the hat takes us! Don’t worry, I snatched the hat from her when she wasn’t looking!” The little girl replied.
Finally, after a while, the spinning had ceased.
Chapter Ten
They were in a hat store, during what appeared to be the 1950s. Only the straw hat caught Marina’s eye. A girl around her age took it off the shelf and smiled to herself.
There was another child with the girl. The child looked like the girl Marina was with. But it couldn’t be…
“She’s a doppelgänger. I’m Mercy. She’s Polly. We’re not the same.” Mercy said.
Marina wasn’t certain of it.
Chapter Eleven
A FEW MINUTES LATER
The girl, known as “Aura” had bought the hat and was wearing it on her head, a smile on her face as she walked out of the store.
“Why didn’t you get a pretty hat?” Polly asked, eyebrow raised.
“This is a pretty hat. It just needs some love.” Aura said.
Mercy’s eyes looked longingly at Aura. Marina didn’t say a word, only followed close behind.
Chapter Twelve
After a while, Marina and Mercy had made it to the girl’s house. They were in Aura’s room, watching Aura place a lavender sash around the crown of the hat. Next, she glued plastic roses on the sash.
“If she wanted a nicer hat, why didn’t she just buy one?” Marina asked. It seemed like an awful lot of trouble would be saved.
“She liked to create things.” Mercy said wistfully.
“I thought you said that you didn’t know her.” Marina said, raising an eyebrow.
There was a slight flicker in Mercy’s face, but then, she calmed down.
“I don’t. I just guessed.” Mercy said.
Before Marina could reply, the world clapped into bright, colorful fireworks, engulfing them in rainbow flames.
Chapter Thirteen
“What’s happening?! Where are we going?!” Marina screamed through the colors. Her voice sounded like a drill digging into the Earth, indistinguishable and incomprehensible to the human ear.
“To the time the problem happened!” Mercy yelled.
How much more time travel were they going to do before Marina absolutely lost it? When would they stop?
Chapter Fourteen
They were standing in a school hallway, watching Aura walk down the halls with her hat.
“Wearing one of your stupid hats again?” A boy asked, snatching the hat from her head.
Aura turned around, brown hair flying around in a whiplash.
Marina knew that when someone turned around that fast, they were absolutely boiling with fury.
She could see it in Aura’s eyes.
Chapter Fifteen
“Stupid hats?! Stupid hats?! How do you know what fashion is? You’re so dull that your blood isn’t even red. It’s gray as a rock.” Aura snapped, eyes still sparkling with intense flames.
“You think you know so much, don’t you?” The boy asked. His arms were spread out in a zombified stance, fingers curled and clawed.
“You love that hat, right?” He asked in a low voice.
Marina swallowed hard. She didn’t like the crazed look in his eyes, how Aura took a step back.
Why was he acting that way about a hat? Marina thought to herself.
Something wasn’t right.
Chapter Sixteen
The boy grabbed Aura’s wrist and began walking out of the school. She tried to run away, but he held on tightly.
Nobody was around to stop them. Nobody but Marina and Mercy.
Chapter Seventeen
“Let’s see how you like it when it’s all squished up!” The boy yelled after they were outside.
Quicker than the blink of an eye, the boy snatched the hat off Aura’s head and threw it on the road.
“My hat!” Aura cried out, running straight to the road.
Chapter Eighteen
Once Aura got to the middle of the road, she picked up the hat and dusted it off. The boy’s eyes widened with surprise as he cried:
“Look out!”
But already, a vintage lime green convertible crashed into Aura, bringing splashes of red to the car’s exterior.
Chapter Nineteen
“So she just died?! That’s it?!” Marina asked, fear rising within her.
There was so much blood…so much guts…Aura didn’t look like a person, but a bodily mess.
Again, for the third time that day, the world clapped into colliding colors.
Chapter Twenty
“There’s more to the story, so much more.” Mercy sing-sang.
More? More? What more could there be but that a soul lingered in the hat? The soul of Aura?
Marina couldn’t move, she was at the mercy of Mercy.
Ha! At the mercy of Mercy! Isn’t that funny? Marina thought, trying to distract herself from thoughts of completely disappearing from existence.
That wasn’t possible for ghosts, right?
Right?
Chapter Twenty-One
When the swirling had stopped, Marina and Mercy found themselves on a hill at a cemetery. Polly was the only one there, looking at the grave with teary eyes. She stood still, like a mummy, fists clenching and unclenching as though she wanted to throw them up in the air.
“Polly, come on! We have to go!” A woman’s voice called out. Marina turned around, towards the sound.
A blue Chevrolet Bel Air was waiting at the bottom of the hill. A man sat at the driver’s seat, a woman sat at the passenger’s seat.
Polly’s parents.
Marina turned back to Polly, who was walking towards the grave, not heeding a word.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Polly was walking closer…closer…closer…
Two veiny, rotting hands reached from the Earth, their skin a bluish-purplish color, their nails yellowed with dirt and age.
Polly screamed as the hands pulled her to the ground.
So did Marina. But Mercy only watched silently.
Chapter Twenty-Three
They were back in the swirling rainbow funnel, but Marina felt different. In her heart, she knew that their journey would end.
In her mind, she knew what was going on.
Mercy was hiding something.
Chapter Twenty-Four
They were in the antique shop, which was closed down. All lights had been turned off, it was deep into darkness.
“What happened to Polly? What’s going on? Who are you?” Marina asked.
She heard Mercy sigh haggardly, like that of a beaten down, worn, old woman.
Chapter Twenty-Five
“Polly died and all Aura wanted was to be with her sister again, that’s why she took Polly. Polly is me.”
So Mercy lied to her? Why? To protect herself? To protect Aura?
“Look, I’m sorry that I lied, but I was scared. Scared of telling you too much, reliving those memories…but now I see that the whole truth is necessary. I’ve been dead for so long, waiting for the right thing to happen…but it isn’t going to happen until we take action.” Mercy said.
How much pain did she hold deep within that made her voice crack with the tears choked inside?
“Please, I need your help to free her. She’s trapped in the hat.” Mercy said, sorrow in her eyes.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Did Marina want to help? After Mercy took her for a rollercoaster ride of traveling through dimensions? She could have told Marina the truth, but would she have even believed Mercy then?
“I’ll help you.” Marina said.
Because in the end, the only way for Marina to be free was to save Aura.
Besides, seeing Mercy cry wasn’t something Marina wanted to see, either, but she’d never admit it to her. Mercy didn’t need to know that, though. Both ghosts would be going their separate ways soon, and the last thing either needed was to get too attached to each other.
Just save Aura, and move on. That was all.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Just like many times before, Marina took Mercy’s hand and joined her in the rainbow spiral.
Except at that moment, she had a purpose. She had hope.
She believed that they would all be free.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
They had both made it to the antique store. It was still night, so the store was not yet open.
In the middle of the ground lay the straw hat that ended Marina’s life.
“Aura, I know that you’re in there. I know that you only wanted to create. I know that you didn’t want to die. But you don’t have to be here anymore. Your pain is over. Your sister is here. She’s waiting for you.” Marina said.
Nothing came from the hat.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Something materialized above the hat. It formed into that of a girl, into Aura.
“You…you mean it?” She asked, her eyes on Mercy.
“I mean it.” Marina said.
With teary eyes, she took the hand of Mercy.
Together, they disappeared.
Epilogue
Though Marina had finally rested in Heaven, she still visited her parents time to time. They saw her in signs, but did they know it was her? No.
That was alright with Marina. They would understand when the time was right.
She was at peace.
Points:
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Canary word: Present
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125,029 Literary Works • 672,781 Reviews
hi!! This was an amazing story
The first chapter was a great start to the story, with the right amount of suspense, and just enough hints to keep the reader interested. Next, I love how you never actually mention that she's a ghost in the second chapter and you just show it instead. This sentence is amazing,
"Marina herself began to see bright pink light, dancing like the Northern Lights, and then, there was only color clashing into her. Her bedroom was gone, the world was gone, gravity was gone.
There was only psychedelic color."
The thing I get confused about right after this is the mentions of the time that has passed.
"How many days had passed since her death?"
This is never actually explained further in the story, and its also italicised, so what's the importance of this in the story?
There's also this other thing, there are some hints that Mercy is hiding something, and then this part,
"Marina couldn’t move, she was at the mercy of Mercy.
Ha! At the mercy of Mercy! Isn’t that funny? Marina thought, trying to distract herself from thoughts of completely disappearing from existence.
That wasn’t possible for ghosts, right?
Right?"
This makes it sound like Mercy is a bad character and she's going to harm Marina in some way. Maybe imply that she's hiding something and change this bit so it doesn't lead the reader to believe that Mercy is going to do something to Marina?
I also feel like it was way too easy to take Aura out of that hat at the end. I think it should have been harder.
Apart from that, I really like the whole story because it has a lot of mystery and suspense. It kept me hooked.
I hope you find my review helpful!
Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening/Night(whichever one it is in your part of the world),
Hi! I'm here to leave a quick review!!
First Impression: Well this was quite the tale, almost the reverse of the usual formula starting with all the horror and thing slowly being unraveled and getting better and better.
Anyway let's get right to it,
Well that's a start and a half here. Loving the vibes on that just immediately the hat appears, its doing something and then just boom death, definitely captures our attention quite well that.
Oh dear well that's seems to be pretty conclusive evidence there on the fact that she is in fact very dead here, with quite a gruesome scene too that her poor mother of all people had to discover. Loving this start here.
Oooh well looks like the world is passing at quite an interesting little pace here with her funeral taking place seemingly minutes after and now we're just cutting back to this dangerous hat. This is coming along quite nicely so far.
Oh dear this is getting quite exciting now, she has to try and find a way to make the little girl not put on the deadly hat but of course she can hardly interact with the real world much less this girl specifically.
Well that looks like just maybe not a normal girl there, either some sort of entity somewhere or maybe another ghost, either way looks to be like she's helping poor Marina out here on overcoming this little problem of not being able to actually help anyone.
Oh dear well that little girl has some skills there, at least we know that the poor seven year old is not going to be in danger here, so that's going quite nicely I think. We'll see what happens once we're through this portal.
Oooh looks like this hat has been leaving a long trail of pain behind from the looks of things, that's some history right there all for a hat. It looks like the story behind this is going to be quite something.
Well that's a suspicious reply, I'm going to probably safely conclude that is the actual girl that we're seeing here, at least that does appear to be the only reasonable conclusion to come to here.
Oh dear well this is quite the little moment to walk in on, let's see what this is all going to lead to. Look like this hat has really been messing around a lot here and people really are having some strong opinions on it too.
Oh dear that's not going well, just this boy being very much a horrible person there about this one hat and then just going right for the kidnapping moment is quite the move there.
Oh dear wow that just..that escalated quickly..to put it mildly. Oh my goodness, I mean love the visual there to show just how big that car was but wow that is hitting real hard, I think that would definitely do a good showcasing why she'd be a vengeful ghost, no doubt about that.
Well that definitely makes you think a little Aura being the one who died with the hat but Mercy saying there is clearly more to go here. Well this story gets more and more intriguing here. We'll see what happens here.
Oh dear that's not good at all, just absolutely getting pulled right into the ground there, that's going through something here, this plot is just getting crazier and crazier the further it goes.
Oooh okay well she was a ghost after all, that suspicion is confirmed although it does seem like maybe there's a wee bit more to it than just Mercy being the ghost. This is definitely making for a much more intriguing moment.
Well that's a noble little purpose to set out with, despite all the deception going on, she choses to help anyway, there is a personal gain of course but also it seems she does really want to help Mercy which is a rare wholesome moment here.
Well this is a wholesome little ending here. Poor Aura gets to go free at last from everything that happened in that rather violent death and Mercy gets to be with her sister in death and of course Marina also having a nice time in heaven. All in all that played out quite well there.
Aaaaand that's it for this one.
Overall: Overall another wonderful little tale, I think this one I like more than most of them to be honest cause I just quite enjoy seeing a nice wholesome ending after having to endure that much hardship.
As always remember to take what you think was helpful and forget the rest.
Stay Safe
Kate