Roses of Doom
S.P. Wish
Roses of Doom
S.P. Wish
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without prior written permission of the author. Any person who does who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
The book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the author’s prior consent in any form in any form of binding or cover other than in which it is published without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to real people or events, real or coincidental is unintended.
Copyright 2010 S.P. Wish
A map to your spooky journey……
Character Profiles
Introduction
Chapter 1….Spooky Stories
Chapter 2….Start of an Adventure
Chapter 3….Stranger
Chapter 4….The Secret
Chapter 5….The Rose Band
Chapter 6….Won’s past
Chapter 7….A Scary Night
Chapter 9….Loss
Chapter 10….A Miracle
Chapter 11….The Burial Ceremony
Chapter 12….Return
Chapter 13…..The End
Chapter 14….A Letter to Everyone
Acknowledgements
About the author
Character Profiles
Mizu
Name- Mizu Williams
Age-11
Date of birth- 1st October
Western Zodiac- Libra
Chinese zodiac- Dog
Blood type- A+
Hobbies- Watching horror movies, reading, trying to kill time, writing articles for the school newspaper, chatting, critisizing brother
Favourite colour- Black
Favourite person- Sakura, Seiya, Akumu and mom.
Least favourite person- Kaji
Self description in one word- Friendly
Kaji's description- Lazy
Kaji
Name- Kaji Williams
Age-11
Date of birth- 1st October
Western zodiac- Libra
Chinese zodiac- Dog
Blood type- A+
Hobbies- Studying, researching, reading, music, meeting up with Akumu
Favourite colour- Green
Favourite person- Akumu
Least favourite person- None
Self description in one word- Smart
Mizu's description- Cocky
Akumu
Name- Akumu Alexander
Age-11
Date of birth- 28th June
Western Zodiac- Cancer
Chinese zodiac- Dog
Blood type- AB+
Hobbies- Studying, reading horror stories, researching
Favourite colour- Purple
Favourite person- Kaji
Least favourite person- None
Self description in one word- Intelligent
Seiya
Name- Seiya Daidouji
Age-11
Date of birth- 19th June
Western zodiac- Gemini
Chinese zodiac- Dog
Blood type- O+
Hobbies- Writing, reading, music, socializing
Favourite colour- Yellow
Favourite person- Likes everyone equally
Least favourite person- Principal
Self description in one word- Outgoing
Sakura
Name- Sakura
Age-11
Date of birth- 5th September
Western Zodiac- Virgo
Chinese zodiac- Dog
Blood type- B+
Hobbies- Editing newspaper (school), helping Mizu, reading news, studying
Favourite colour- Pink
Favourite person- Mizu
Least favourite person- Kaji
Self description in one word- Understanding
Roses of Doom
S.P. Wish
Introduction
There was silence in the classroom. Not a single student whispered or sighed. Even the usually noisy fans rotated in silence. An important test was in progress. Only one week had passed since I joined the sixth grade and the teacher was giving a test.
I hated this silence. Let me introduce myself. I am Mizu Williams-the irritating girl who can’t keep her big mouth shut. I also poke my nose into other people’s affairs. Besides being clumsy and extremely bad in studies I am also the editor of the school newspaper. I became the editor only because no one else was ready to. My friend Sakura, the vice editor helps me out with my duties.
My big mouth keeps getting me into trouble and my lack of interest in studies gets me bad grades. I love to watch horror movies and I hate to study. I love to eat too.
Today is the day of ‘the important test’. It is important because my mom said that if I got a poor grade in this test (like I usually do), she would send me to a faraway boarding school. And I don’t want that to happen. That is why I tried to study the whole of last night.
It was indeed difficult. I thought I would study the whole night but I was getting so bored that I switched on the Television. I just kept the book open on my lap and watched a movie. After the movie ended, I slept.
My irritating twin brother Kaji is very good at studies. He always gets an O (outstanding) grade. He has blonde hair and blue eyes just like me. He doesn’t do any other work or play. He just studies. I wish he didn’t study so much. He never misses a chance to brag about his good grades. He’s not interested in anything except studies and knowledge- Could someone in the universe probably be so boring?
Kaji has a best friend. His name is Akumu. He has brown eyes and brunette hair. His mother and my mother are good friends. He also gets an O grade just like Kaji. He is quiet and well-mannered.
Seiya is also a school newspaper reporter. He has black hair and small black eyes. He is Japanese. You may be wondering why all our names are Japanese although we are Americans. This is because Akumu’s mother and my mother spent their childhood in Japan. That is why they wanted us to have Japanese names. Seiya is one of my best friends. He is friendly and open minded.
This is all by way of introduction. I hope you’ll enjoy the story of my spooky adventure. Let’s begin our story.
Chapter 1
Spooky stories
At last the test was over. I knew I had done badly again. When I submitted the paper, it was blank white like it had been bleached. The shining white struck everyone’s eye in the class. They knew I had written absolutely nothing. I should at least have made a doodle. But there was no hope for me now. After that terrible paper, I knew that I was going away to a faraway boarding school.
But, my brother Kaji looked very happy. He knew that he had done well and would get good grades. He was talking with Akumu and was surrounded by girls who were admiring him. All the girls in the class were crazy about him. Even Miko the snob liked him. Miko had small black eyes and grey hair. She was the richest girl in the whole school. There were rumors that her father owned oil mines and a luxury cruise line. Miko was always showing off trying to remember which country she had got her accessories from.
“Hello Mizu.” A familiar voice called out.
“Hello Sakura.” I said turning to my best friend.
“Mizu, why don’t we walk to the cafeteria and get something to eat?” she asked.
“Why not.” I said.
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sp; Sakura and I started to walk to the cafeteria to get something to eat.
“Hey, do you know where they’re taking us for camping this time?” Seiya asked. “Green fire forest!”
“What’s so special about that place?” I asked.
“You mean, you don’t know?” Seiya asked. “There’s Won’s mansion there.”
“Won?” I asked.
“You don’t know who Won is?” Seiya asked with undisguised surprise.
“He’s a strange spirit monster about which we have a lot of legends. They’re just stories.” Sakura said.
“They’re real.” Seiya said.
“Such stupid things cannot be true.” Sakura said.
“Will you please tell me what you’re talking about?” I asked.
“It all started a long time ago” Seiya began with enthusiasm. Everyone gathered around to listen to his story. “Greenfire forest was a graveyard. All people who were mischievous, played nasty tricks and were evil used to be buried here. There was an active volcano near the cemetery in Greenfire forest. For many years the souls of the buried people were dormant but one day everything changed. It was a humid Saturday night……
The graveyard’s night guard had come for his duty. Children came to the graveyard to look around but the guard drove all of them away. The children were persistent. They found another way into the graveyard from the backside. The guard thought that it was late night so he closed the gates and went away. The children went into the graveyard and saw many people buried. They started to dig for the coffins because they were very naughty.
Suddenly as they hit upon one of the coffins they heard a strange noise. They were frightened.
SUDDENLY, a rapid wind started blowing. A black shadow appeared. They couldn’t understand what was going on.
Soon they discovered it was the spirit of Won.
According to old legends Won was a ferocious monster. He was like the monsters that appeared in horror movies. Won was killed about two hundred years ago from that day. He was also known as the Black Rose.
Won’s spirit came alive from the coffin. It raced behind the frightened children. The children tried to run and escape but the front gate was closed. It was a dead end. A flash of light appeared. The volcano erupted and lava stared to flow. That was all they remembered………….
The next morning the children were found dead. It was scary. How and why the children were killed, no one knew. Some people thought the children were killed by the volcano. The volcano had erupted that night but strangely no one had heard anything. The spirit of Won was free and his coffin was empty.
On the three children lay three garlands of black roses………….”
Chapter 2
Start of an Adventure
“Well now it is a busy tourist place. A famous businessman built a tourist park. Over the years many trees grew in the park and it transformed into a forest. Many people visit the forest. They go camping there. There are beautiful ponds, cottages and fun filled jogging tracks. The forest has the most beautiful birds. At one end of the forest lies the cave. They say this was where the volcano used to be.” Seiya said.
“Trrrrrrrrrrrrrr” the bell rang. It was time to study math- I hated math. I was still hungry. I was so caught up in listening to Seiya that I forgot all about eating. I slowly walked towards the classroom with a heavy heart and empty stomach.
I begged Sakura to miss the class with me but she was too fond of math to do anything of that sort. She dragged me to class. She’s really good at math and solves complicated sums quickly. It takes me fifteen minutes to multiply seven and nine.
Mrs. Morie gave us permission slips to get them signed from our parents.
“We’re going to the Greenfire forest.” She said. “Please get this permission slips signed.”
“Can I skip?” I asked.
“Unfortunately, it is compulsory.” Mrs. Morrie said. “Mizu, the grades of this trip will be added to your report card. I suggest you attend it at least for the sake of getting a better grade.”
“I have a question.” Joe the nerd said. “What is seven multiplied by three.”
How dumb could someone get? Even I knew it was thirty six. I am such a genius at math only my ability is not recognized. Kaji thinks he’s smart but he says seven multiplied by three is twenty one. He says when I do math, my head gets dizzy and I see wrong numbers. Everyone knows how mistaken he is.
When I reached home, mom was waiting for us. She signed the permission slip for me.
The trip would begin the following day and we would come back in three days. The notice was rather abrupt. After hearing so much about the forest I didn’t want to go there but this trip was compulsory. Kaji and Akumu were not afraid of such things. They thought these stories were not true.
I couldn’t help thinking about the story Seiya had said while walking home from school. All the friendly shops seemed to be hiding something. I wondered what kind of place the forest would be. I couldn’t help anything except a dark forest filled with high trees where wolves howled at night and ghosts sang. It gave me shudders.
That night I couldn’t sleep. I kept thinking about the forest. I had packed my bag for the next day. I carried four torches and a prayer book to exterminate evil. The bag consisted of my usual clothes and other necessities. I did not want to go to the forest but I had no choice. Somehow that endless night passed.
The next morning I was sleeping in the bus. I had not slept the whole of last night and was feeling sleepy.
“Wake up, Mizu.” Sakura said shaking me in the bus.
“I want to sleep.” I said. “I couldn’t sleep the whole of last night.”
“How could you sleep when you know we might die anytime?” John asked. I turned back to look at him.
“Eh?”
“If I were you, I’d never sleep.” John said. “Do you know how dangerous these forests are?”
“Everything about it is just a story. There’s no need to believe everything.” Sakura said.
“This forest is definitely haunted.” John said. “I would be glad if we came back alive.”
After a long ride that seemed like eternity, the bus finally reached Greenfire forest. Mrs. Morie took us to a man who gave us our tents and showed where to camp.
He took us to the place where we had to put up our tents.
Sakura and I built the tent with the help of the ranger’s instructions. It was easy for two masterminds like Kaji and Akumu to put a tent together. They had it done in no time. They brought a lot of books along with them to read. Their tent looked more like a library and less like a tent. These crazy people were planning to read even on camp days.
Seiya was alone in his tent so, he brought a play station to spend time. Miko was fussing about the tent. She had packed almost the whole of her house. Her belongings had to be brought in two large trucks.
The scene outside seemed scary. Thick, tall trees blocked sunlight. The more I looked at it, the more afraid I felt.
As I finished building my tent, Mrs. Morie requested me to go and get some firewood to light a fire at night. Seiya, Akumu and Kaji went with me.
We wandered through the dark forest. All the trees were so high and thick that we could not get any wood from those. We would need sophisticated machinery to chop them down to bits of wood.
“Let’s go further into the forest. Probably all the smaller trees and wood pieces are hiding there.” Akumu said.
We went further into the forest. I passed through the dreaded volcanic cave. It was a small cave with an entrance at the bottom of the volcano which was dormant now. It didn’t look as spooky as I had expected it to. But the volcano had definitely erupted. I could see solidified lava on the volcano’s surface.
“I think there’s nothing here.” Seiya said giving up. “Let’s go back.”
“Thudddddd.” His head hit against something.
“Ouch!” Seiya said. He fell to the ground. He looked what h
e had bumped into.
It was a post box. Ahead of it, lay a large mansion. It was black due to soot deposition and was definitely old. Creepers hung to every crack on its surface deepening them. Broken tiles and some pieces of chopped wood was scattered around.
“Does anyone know who lives here?” Kaji asked.
“Maybe it belongs to the management.” Akumu said.
“Let us knock.” Seiya said.
“I am hungry.” I said.
We all walked towards the mansion and knocked the door. To our surprise, it was open.
“Seems like no one lives here.” Akumu said. “Let us look for firewood. It is getting dark.”
We went in to search for wood. It was dark so we switched on our torches. The things inside had been damaged. It looked centuries old. There was a cracked crystal ball lying in one corner of the room. The couches had been ripped and cotton was oozing out. There was a strange, large painting which showed three monsters and a thin strip which showed an egg, a monster and a human. ‘B’ was written as a titled. The rest was missing.
Akumu found some firewood in the fireplace. Kaji and I found twigs. Seiya went upstairs and brought a log of wood down. I observed that loose glass chandeliers that used to shine grandly hung on the ceiling. They had lost charm and looked ready to be replaced.
Seiya called everyone to have a look at a room upstairs. Kaji found his styling gel there. There was a piece of Akumu’s cloth in the corridor. Seiya led us to the room.
It was the furthermost room in the top floor. The door was open. The floor was tiled with wood. There was a large cupboard and many large shelves. Four candles were lit in four corners of the room. The shelves had colourful potions, a dead stinking bat, blood preserved in jars, cloth and a bottle of styling gel.