Just Jo: May 2012

Hi and welcome to my new story ‘The Girl in my Attic’!

It’s a bit different to anything I’ve done before so I hope it’s good and some constructive criticism would be helpful if you pick out anything wrong!

Please enjoy x

~1912~

‘For heaven’s sake Alice! Can’t you clean a good fireplace?!’ my mother screamed at me. ‘I’m trying…’ I replied in a hushed tone.

That’s me. Alice James, 10 years old. A simple girl with no happiness, no love and absolutely nothing to live for. I live in James Manor in England.

‘Alice stop day dreaming and hurry up! We have guests coming in an hour!’ she yelled into my ear.

‘I’m trying,’ I replied again; scrubbing the rusty surface of the fire gate, ‘I’m trying to go as fast as I can!’

‘Then try harder! This room needs to be clean and you are just too lazy to even think about putting any effort in!’ Dad said as he towered over me. He didn’t look at me like he loved me. He never did. Because he never loved me.

‘Father please, I’ll be five minutes!’ I asked backing away when I started to smell the alcohol in his breath, ‘I’m almost done!’

‘Almost done!? You can’t even tell if you’ve started!! Alice you are pathetic! You will never do anything right! You will never achieve anything in life because you are a waste of space!!’

‘Your father is correct Alice. Shut up and do your work,’ mum said while pointing out her finger at me.

‘I… am… TRYING!’ I screamed across the room as loud as I could and burst into a sudden wave of tears

‘Go away!’ I yelled… ‘Go away! And never come back!!’

‘You want us to leave?’ Mum asked sternly, ‘Fine. We will lock you in here and then maybe tomorrow you will have sorted yourself out!'

They fled the room, slammed the door and bolted the lock shut.

Too bad they forgot about the servant corridors. They haven’t been used since I can remember, because our family is next to broke.

I made my way through the corridors at the back of the house and entered the hallway.

I had made my decision. In fact I decided it a while ago but until tonight I had never found the courage to do it… A smile slid across my face. A sad smile.

I had to sprint through the upstairs corridors, because they would creek and move if my weight adjusted them.

And as I reached the end of the last hallway; I found the stairs to the attic

Then I suddenly felt scared… Could I really do this??

The attic. Cold. Dark. And gloomy. I shivered…

That’s me. Alice James, 10 years old. A simple girl with no happiness, no love and absolutely nothing to live for. I live in James Manor in England… And I’m about to commit suicide.

All the windows in the attic are locked… Except for one.

The same sad smile came onto my face. I can do this… I thought to myself. In less than 10 minutes I’ll be happy in heaven…

I carefully climbed out of the window and let myself fall onto the roof. I was going to jump. No matter what I thought now.

I told myself I was just jumping into a pool. I would launch myself off the edge and land safely in the water…. This thought didn’t help much but I grabbed my nose and held my breath

Life suddenly felt like it was going in slow motion… I didn’t dare open my eyes or scream; I just dropped…

And dropped…

Then as I hit the floor, I heard my neck crack.

An unbelievable shooting pain hit my neck and I grasped it as I cried out a yelp of pain. But as I looked around, everything was black.

I was dead.

But this was not heaven. And it didn’t look like hell either… There was a thin cloud surrounding my neck, but as I checked where it had broken it seemed to be fine now…

Then I saw something in the black distance. A door or a wall… I was too far away to tell. Heaven!? I thought to myself, and I started to glide towards it.