Bella

by Ariana Antonelli
(Frankfort, IL, USA)

Bella lives in a deserted old house. This deserted house is always changing. Bella is used to it though. One night, Bella heard a baby crying from downstairs in the cellar. Bella went downstairs to see what it was. She softly tip-toed down the creaking steps into the cellar. The farther she got, the colder she was. When she reached the bottom of the steps, the crying stopped and she felt a hard breeze blow quickly past her.

She looked the way that the breeze went and saw a little baby cradle. Bella wasn't afraid of anything because, well, Bella is dead. Bella slowly walked toward the cradle and pulled the blanket off the thing she thought was a baby and looked down to find a baby doll. The baby doll was a still as a statue and had dried up water on her cheeks. Bella still wasn't afraid. She slowly went to pick the baby doll up, but, as she did, a flash went past the corner of her eye.

She turned around to see a little girl dressed in a tight, faded blue dress. The little girl had her head buried behind a fluffy, white boa. The girl was also still but after a few minutes she spoke. "Thhatt ddoll is mmine" she stuttered softly. "Well" Bella said in a sweet voice "Do you want me to bring it to you?" The girl was silent. After a couple of minutes she blew away.

Bella sat for a couple minutes thinking what to do. Finally, she got up and took the cradle up stairs with her. That was a big mistake.