‘The Red Angel of Blood’ by Angela Tom 9M – not suitable for younger readers!

Scary movies are just made up to scare us, they can’t actually do us any harm, right? Wrong! This is the theme that Angela Tom explores in her terrifying new tale of horror…

It was a cold October night.

A full moon shined radiantly upon a small home at the edge of a lonely block of houses. Everyone was asleep. Except for one girl. Her name was Lucy. Huddled under her heavy blankets, the girl stared intensely at the tablet screen in front of her. This was her only time. Her only time to watch what she really enjoyed; not the silly romantic stuff her parents watched; not the stupid funny things her brothers, Alex and Joe, laughed at. Her favourite. The forbidden favourite. A good horror film.

As she eagerly watched the horror unfolding before her eyes, she failed to notice the disappearance of the moon as a huge, dark cloud enshrouded its beautiful glow. The gloom engulfed the vicinity and the light was stamped out by the dominating darkness. It was getting darker and darker. The hour of doom was looming. 

Lucy was deep in thought. These horror films are so good. How can these ruin my life? She recalled the long lectures her mum had given her about the ‘dangers’ of these films; how people had become mad and locked up in asylums after watching too much. Her mother clearly thought she wasn’t brave enough. It’s so unfair. Alex and Joe still get to watch horror films and they’re a year younger than me! What made girls less brave than boys? Whatever. At least, I can watch what I want now without anyone saying, ‘You’re a girl Lucy. You can’t watch those stupid films,’. Blah blah blah

She was watching a horror called ‘The Red Angel of Blood.’ She’d been excited to see this, about the angel who visited people’s houses with her red glow to take the blood of innocent children. She remembered the movie cover; a pale angel who carried a red glow with her wherever she walked. Her heart raced as the young girl on the screen got out of her bed to find out what the mysterious noise was. Lucy and the girl looked similar actually; they both were small and thin, they both had brown hair and the same tiny pale faces. Perspiration trickled down Lucy’s back as the girl advanced towards the door and bent down at the keyhole; her heart was now pounding against her ribcage.

BEEP! A red screen stared blankly at Lucy. Noooo! I was just getting to the good bit! She shook the tablet vigorously but all she could see was the bright red screen. How did that happen? It was full charge a few seconds ago. And shouldn’t it be a black screen? Why is it red? Confused, Lucy placed her tablet into her draw and decided that she might as well sleep now. The clock was about to strike twelve in a few seconds. She counted…                                                                                               Three, two, one…                                                                                                                                     THUD! Lucy almost jumped out of her skin. A sudden sound came from the stairs to her attic room. It’s probably mum or dad. Lucy breathed calmly but then, she realised. Her parents never came to check on her. It could be those morons trying to scare me or something…But… they’re at a sleepover. Lucy dived into the blankets and squeezed her eyes shut; the sound gradually drew closer and closer and an acrid smell passed through her nostrils that made her think of death and fear and something else, something that made her skin crawl. Her heart beat in a way it never had before, she could feel her cheeks burning.

She waited. And waited. Nothing came. One minute passed by, two minutes passed by. After what felt like hours, Lucy slowly opened her eyes and removed the blanket from her face. Everything was as it should be: no noises on the stairs, nothing lurking in the shadows, nothing skulking in the closets, nothing stirred.  I’m being stupid. I’ll just go look in the keyhole at the stairs to make sure everything’s fine. Anxiously, Lucy emerged out of her bed and trembling, advanced towards the keyhole. Sweat clung to her clothes as she crouched down. Holding her breath, she stared into the tiny, rusty slot. The space in the keyhole was dark and still, yet something seemed to be stirring. There was something there. Not a shape, or a face, or a figure, but something, it grew, it swam before her eyes, it seemed to call to her, its sinister sound ringing in her ears. She quickly looked away, but something caught her eye. It was a colour. The colour red. 

What had she just seen?! No no this was impossible. Lucy fell backwards and backed towards the wall. Her hands were quivering like leaves. Breathing heavily, she gulped trying to repress the urge to cry within her. Am I in a dream? She pinched herself tightly. How could it be the same? The same pale woman with a red glow on the movie cover? Was the red angel of blood at her door?                                

Lucy paused as a dark red glow appeared behind the door. It steadily started to open and a gnarled withered hand grasped the door…