Part of Me

Written by Natalia S.

Preface

I have recently read your book "Inkheart" and found your website. I love writing and want to be an author one day. I am writing a very long novel at the moment and it has 26 chapters, but I can share a few chapters! Thank you! Natalia S.

Intro and Chapter 1

Why do people have to die? Why? Why did it have to happen to her, why? Why did Hailey Bennett, my best friend, have to die. Why did people have to die? My tears would never stop, and as I cried, I imagined how it happened.

Me and Hailey running through the park, holding hands, laughing about silly things. We smiled at each other and kept running. When we finally got to our favorite bench, we fell onto it, breathing hard. I looked around, turning my head away from Hailey. Suddenly I heard a voice calling.
“Sam, please help!!!!!!!!!” It was Hailey, and a creepy man was holding her, covering her mouth and running. I screamed, and people turned towards me. I pointed in Hailey’s direction, unable to speak. No one could see Hailey anymore.

“My friend, a man.... he kidnapped her!” I screamed, and a lady screamed in the distance. Hailey, needed help, fast. I ran up to people asking them to call the police. In less than five minutes, the police was riding all over town, searching for the man.
While Dad and and Hailey’s dad went around around with the police, me, Mom and Hailey’s mom cried in the police station. Then I fell asleep.

It was about 12 hours later, when I woke up again. I heard sobbing from the other side of the wall, behind me, and a voice screaming, “Kill him, Kill him!!!”
“Mom what happened?” I asked. Her eyes were red and swollen.
“Oh Honey.” Mom sobbed and pulled me close.  I could smell her perfume from where I was rested against her chest.
“Where is Hailey? Did they find her?” I asked nervously.
“Honey, …...she’s....dead.”

It was found out later, that Hailey died in a hidden alley. She died of shock. She was too afraid of what was happening. Her heart stopped beating, and she fainted, and never woke up.The man didn’t want to murder her, he just wanted money.

The police asked me if she had any money, and I answered yes, that she was carrying 110$, so we could get ice cream, and go see the american girl stuff in the store.  Hailey was planning to buy a doll so she brought her allowance to buy Mckenna. I found out that the man wanted to see if Hailey had money, because she looked rich. And on that day, Even I would say that. She had been wearing a gold loose blouse, white jeans and sparkly flats.
Her caramel colored hair had been falling down her shoulders.  

But that didn’t give any reason, to like the man, or not be mad at him. He was going to be put in jail, for a very very very very very very very very long time.  Then something else would happen to him. I knew well enough what. Hailey had her funeral soon after. She wore a white loooooooooong dress, and white ribbons around her ankles. Her beautiful hair was covered in white flowers.
Her coffin was also covered in millions of flowers, especially violets, her favorite. After she was buried, millions of people,
even strangers, put flowers on it. Her tombstone said:

Hailey Lillian Bennett
June 6 2000-2012 August 4
The girl who would  laugh, cry, and live life in a way that was beautiful. She will be in our hearts always

Hailey

I woke up all sweaty and sticky. The memory had come back again, and tears were forming. I screamed, and then started sobbing. I just couldn’t stop. I sobbed, wiping my eyes every so often. Mom and Dad were sleeping too hard to hear. Suddenly my window quietly opened. A cold wind blew in. Since my bed was across from the window, it was going straight towards me. Suddenly a slim, white figure appeared. I opened my mouth to scream, but something covered it.

“Shhh, don’t wake Mom and Dad, I need to say something.”
The girl whispered. I didn’t breathe. The head of the girl turned and I almost fainted. It was Hailey.
“Hai....ley...” I managed to whisper. Hailey nodded.
“I am here to say my last words, because I didn’t have the chance to before. Remember me Samantha, because I will always remember you. Your are like a sister. I shall miss you dearly.”
She stood there silently for a couple seconds. Her eyes blinked fast, but I had enough time to see her tears.
“I shall miss you too.” I said, taking a mind picture of her face. Then she disappeared.

The ghost that was real

All day at school I felt jittery. I couldn’t stop moving. I felt nervous and scared like always. Then came art, the subject where I was free, nothing to say. Our teacher surprised us when she said,
“Does anyone have any scary stories to tell?” She asked. A couple people answered yes.
“I think it will help us learn to listen if we tell them, so please,
I want everyone to work, while another person speaks.” She said, and someone started talking. After sometime, a conversation started, about ghosts. I froze as soon as anyone said it. I felt sick every time I heard that 5 letter word. .

“Did anyone ever see a ghost?” A boy asked. Everyone stayed silent. My stomach was hurting. I had to say it, I had to let it out.
“I did,” I answered quietly. Heads turned my way.
“Tell us about it.” Ms. Michelle said as if it was nothing. I felt sick. I didn’t want to make Hailey mad. But she was dead, after all.
“Well, it was yesterday, and I woke up after having a nightmare.  My window opened up, and a cold wind blew in. I felt cold.
Then suddenly a thin figure appeared by it. When the figure turned it was....” I stopped, I was afraid that people would make fun of me. I didn’t care, Hailey was popular at school, and everyone knew how close we were, they would understand.

“Who was it?” A boy asked impatiently.
“It was... Hailey.” I answered. People opened their mouths.
I felt like throwing up.
“Samantha do you need to go to nurse?” Ms. Michelle asked.
I felt like crying.
“No, I do not.” I said sternly. Ms. Michelle shrugged. I felt braver.
“Then she smiled at me and said, ‘I am here to say my last words, because I didn’t have the chance to before. Remember me Samantha, because I will always remember you’”
I missed the part of what she felt about me. I didn’t want people to be mad. “Then I said I will miss her, and she smiled, then disappeared.” I finished. A couple people clapped. I managed to smile.  A girl suddenly piped up,
“I heard that if you REALLY miss someone, you will see their ghost.”
Ms. Michelle clapped her hands once and said.
“Okay people, time to clean up.” Everyone got off their seats.
After cleaning up, we all crowded out of the classroom.  
Everyone crowded around ME.

“Were you scared?”
“Was the wind cold?”
“What did she look like?”
“Was she old?”
“Did she look human?”
“Did she look mad?”
“Was she sad?”
“Was she in the same clothes as at the funeral?”
I felt crazy. I felt like a celebrity, I felt awesome, great, popular,
but at the same time, scared. 

What she was like

Hailey was a great person. Everyone liked her. She liked them back. She was the kind of person that would lose her recess
(yes, weird, but everyone in our school is obsessed with recess)
to help people go to the nurses office so they could get a wound healed. She didn’t care, and so did I. We were both the girls loved by everyone, but when she died, my reputation crashed. I couldn’t take it. I just couldn’t. It was too hard. I would try to help a girl who fell and scraped her knee, and while I picked her up, I heard a boy who got hit with the soccer ball. I couldn’t cope. Eventually I gave up. I couldn’t take it. It was just too hard. Eventually, people gave up on me, and gave me dirty looks. I did not care.
They didn’t know what it felt like to have someone die.

Hailey was someone you could call a natural beauty. She didn’t have to wear makeup to look beautiful. She just was always like that. She didn’t have to try to be beautiful. With her long caramel colored hair and her brilliant blue eyes, Hailey was a natural.
She looked good in just about anything. She had a smile of a princess and was a pure hearted girl. Who wouldn’t want to like her? Not only did she get a lot of cute outfits, but her Dad drove her (the distance was short though) to school in a lamborgini almost everyday. That gets you a reputation. All the boys were obsessed with her and tried to be around her all the time.
Hailey though, wasn’t interested. She said all the boys were freaks. She said they were ugly, mean and totally weird. She did slip sometimes, batting her eyelashes and smiling with her perfectly white teeth. She slipped mostly with Mark, the boy that no one except for her (and slightly me) liked. Everyone else was weird. It’s a pity she wasn’t alive when Mark said that she’s beautiful.

People used to ask me if I ever got jealous, being friends with Hailey. I said I didn’t care. It was a lie. I did. She was richer, prettier, kinder, never gave up and was Always cheerful. Who isn’t jealous of someone like her? Even so, I was her BFF, and we NEVER got in fights.

Hailey used to make lists of people, and write their traits down. She did this because she wanted to memorize what they were like. I once even wrote my own.

Hailey’s traits

1. Kind

2. Nice

3. Pretty

4. Marvelous

5. Beautiful

6. Soft hearted

7. Smart

8. Patient

9. Loyal

10. Caring

11. Devoted

12. Determined

13. Faithful

14. Courageous

15. Hard working

16. Grateful

17. Honest

18. Generous

19. Optimistic

20. Trusting

I could think of much more, but my hand had started hurting and my eyes were watering.
When I wrote it, Hailey had been dead, and I felt horrible. It was too hard to remember.

Hailey was the kind of person you would NEVER forget. It would hurt to forget. She was too important. You would never forget her, ever. Neither would I. I tried, but I couldn’t. It was as if she was stuck inside me. I just didn’t know where. I would try to find where she was hidden inside me, but I just couldn’t. It was like she was lost. I couldn’t get rid of her. I eventually gave up. She was stuck. She would always be there. She would always be part of me.

When I missed her

When I missed Hailey, I did many things. Sometimes, I would burst into tears. Sometimes I would start screaming. Sometimes I would pound on the wall and hit my head on the wall. Sometimes I would try to hurt myself, for letting her be kidnapped. If I hadn’t looked away, she wouldn’t of died. Nothing like that would've ever happened. She wouldn’t be dead. Today was one of those days.
I got home from school and rushed to my room. I threw my bag down and screamed.

“Your stupid, stupid, stupid!” I shouted
“I hate you!” I shouted again.
“Your horrible!” I shouted louder.
“No you're not.” Someone said.
“Mom, whatever, get out!” I shouted.
“I’m not Mom, I am Hailey.” The voice said. I spun around to see Hailey's beautiful face by the window. She managed to smile.
“What you're saying isn’t true. You're a wonderful person Samantha. You couldn’t be better, and I’m happy. Remember the “Casper the friendly ghost” movie we watched. Well, he was on earth to complete a mission before he disappears. Well, I’m on a mission too.”
“What is it?” I asked, forgetting about the fight with myself.
“I don’t know, but as soon as I feel full, I will know its accomplished.” Hailey answered. I nodded.
“That’s why you shouldn’t be surprised if I keep coming over here.” Hailey added. I nodded again.
“You’re free to ask questions.” Hailey said kindly. She must have seen the anxious look on my face. I was bursting with questions.
“Are you in heaven? Is it pretty there?” I asked quickly.
“Yes I’ve been there once or twice. It is wonderful.” Hailey smiled. I sat down more comfortably on my bed.
“It’s a wonderful golden palace, or at least the place I saw.
There was a gate made of silver and pearls and pure gold, surrounding it. It was beautiful. Everyone was so kind and caring, it was just what I imagined.” Hailey described, carefully, looking up dreamily to the ceiling. “You get there by flying up out of earth and feel a wind on your face. Then you see the clouds and the gate. I heard there is more, and that I will meet the angels after my mission. I will live in a wonderful house, and invite you as soon as you join me.” Hailey beamed. I smiled, she was just like the old Hailey, the one out of skin and bone.

“I have to go now, but I will come soon. See you my friend.” Hailey smiled. I waved and Hailey disappeared. It had felt like a game, a game that I made up, not real. Hailey was a ghost, and she was dead. She had been kind of murdered, and her parents were going crazy after her loss. People felt horrified and I felt like killing myself. But this wasn’t a game, it was reality. That’s why I started screaming again. All over again.

Nobody’s perfect

Sometimes, it happened, that Hailey wasn’t Hailey. Those were the days I didn’t want to be around her. I tried though, because we promised each other to always be there for each other. Now that Hailey was dead, I was somewhat angry that she wasn’t for me here now, although I had always tried to be there for her.
The days she wasn’t herself were dreaded days. Too hard to think about, but they always appeared.

I held Hailey’s hand and we walked to school. She was wearing her pink  flowered rain boots, white jeans, pink rain jacket, and  her hair was curled at the bottom. She couldn’t look more perfect on such a dreary day.We got to school and saw a bunch of boys at the gate. They were in our grade, and always talked about Hailey. This  day was going to be different. They walked up to her, along with a group of  popular girls (Hailey was more popular than them) and they all said.


“You know Hailey, you think your so perfect, but you're not.
No one is, including you. So just knock off that perfect behavior and be someone normal, not Ms. Prissy Hailey Bennett. ”

They glared at her. I watched in horror as Hailey stuck out her fist and punched everyone one of them in the nose. Then she ran off, leaving me behind. I ended up being the one screamed at, though Hailey got suspended for 2 days. She hadn’t been there for me. Nor had I.  Sometimes, we weren’t such good friends. Sometimes we didn’t keep our promises, because after all, nobody's perfect.

When life was a nightmare

When no one was there to understand me, I felt like life was a nightmare. I believed that no one understood, no one knew how horrible my life was.  Everyone told me, get over it, it’s life, and it has to go on eventually. They don’t understand the hidden feeling inside me that aches to get out, to show what I really feel. But it’s too small, too scared to get out. If only I would have the courage to actually make the feeling bigger, stronger, then it could get out. It could free itself from the painful place, so my life would be back to normal.

Official

It was official. From now on, I hated my life.

Normal

I woke up happier. I felt like life was normal again. I got out of my bed and over to the closet. I hummed my favorite song, “Part of me”, while picking out my clothes. I finally decided to wear a pair of red jeans, a white tank top, dark blue cardigan, and white converse. I walked up to my dressing table, brushed my short red hair and slipped dark blue ribbon hair band. I skipped down stairs and happily ate my breakfast. Mom smiled at me.

“I’m going for Hailey.” I called. Then stopped dead in my tracks.
“Honey, Hailey’s not here.” Mom whispered. I finally realized.
I had forgotten. I had forgotten that Hailey was dead. My whole world spun around. I screamed and grabbed my hair, then ran off. I screamed and started running. A car practically ran over me,
I didn’t care. Maybe I could join Hailey. Maybe life would be back to normal, except it would be in heaven. Maybe it would be better. I kept screaming, until my throat hurt.

“Why did you have to take her away?!” I shouted louder than ever. A woman opened her window.
“Shush girl, people are trying to sleep.” She sounded drunk.
I looked at my watch.
“It’s 8:30!” I shouted. The lady rolled her eyes.
“Get away or I’ll call the police!”

The woman shouted and I ran. I wasn’t going to school. I was running away. I ran past the school and ran around alleys, streets and corners. I didn’t care where I was going, as long as I was escaping. I had to leave, because life wasn’t good enough.
I had to leave it, and start new.

I ran and suddenly got to a dead end street, when I realized I couldn’t escape. For the whole time, I was trying to escape from reality, from Hailey’s death, but it was useless. Hailey was always going to be inside me, and she was dead. Anywhere that I went,
I would know, that Hailey was dead, and she wouldn’t come back. She wouldn’t. Not even magic could change the horrible fate. Hailey was gone and my life would never go back to normal.

This story has received 4 comments

Leave a comment
BallerinaRose – 9 June 2015

Cool story! I was kept in suspence the whole time!

Ella Rose – 8 November 2014

Did you base it on Vicky Angel? I wish I could be as perfect as Hailey and have such a good friend. Well done!!!

Hazel – 12 June 2014

If only everyone could be just like that! Hailey is like a perfect person!

Kathryn – 15 December 2013

This reminds me of Vicky Angel by Jacqueline Wilson