The Compact

(This story is from when I was like twelve, so bear with it...it's something I hid for awhile...but every piece is a learning experience, right? Be kind.)

It began as a sunny day, and I was with all of my friends, exploring the old grounds near our school.

The grounds looked like an open field of yellowed grass, with a dingy old barn, which the younger kids said was haunted.

So, as I said, we were exploring the grounds, and somebody suggested that we enter the barn just to see what it looked like and whether or not it was really haunted.

So, we opened the creaky door, and gasped.

It didn't look dingy at all, just a bit dusty. The barn floor was a bit dirty, and the room was full of pews, like in a church.

As my friends explored, I noticed a narrow hallway at the far side of the inside of the barn.

Curiously, I walked over, being very careful to watch and listen for any signs of danger.

I entered the hallway, and gasped.

The 'hall' was really dozens of bookshelves, full of old works by Poe and Shakespeare.

As I looked, I noticed a circular, pyramid shaped type of shelf, covered with leather-bound books and (I looked closer still) silver jewellery.

As I crept nearer, I heard a scuffling noise from behind me. I whipped around.

A woman, small, thin with large glasses walked out of a hidden door.

"Hello," she said, "Can I help you?"

"Um, no...just looking..." I stared at her, and then looked around. It had become very dark.

"Um, could you turn a light on? It's dark in here." I said tentatively.

"Light? No, of course not. But I'll light a lantern just in case the power goes out or it gets darker," she said mistily, turning to grab a lantern.

I was beginning to feel very uneasy.

As she lit a match, she smiled strangely, "Did you see the jewellery?"

"Not very closely," I said in a voice just over a whisper.

"This all belonged to a girl who used to work here," she pointed to the top part of the shelf, "These were her grandmother's," she lowered her hand to the second level of the shelf, "and her mother's..." then she pointed to a small pile of pins and rusted keepsakes at the bottom, "and hers. These pins and figures were hers, and this compact was her most prized possession. She got it engraved when she worked here." she lifted a compact, a flower embroidered on the front, and placed it in my hand.

I opened it.

It had a mirror on one side, and on the other side, engraved into the silver read "Seen But Not Seen, Heard But Not Heard".

I looked at the woman in bewilderment, "What does this mean?" I asked, pointing to the engravement.

The woman looked away.

"Well, she was quite a quiet girl, you could have even called her depressive. She was limp haired and mousey, and nobody really paid attention any attention to her. I suppose that's why she thinks she was, never saying anything that anyone would really remember."

I stared intently at the engravement, and felt a chill course through me.

"What happened to her? Why are all of her things here?"

The woman bit her lip.

"She, well, she disappeared. Just kind of vanished, dropped off the face of the earth...Some suppose she died, others suppose she just wanted to get away from here..."

We both went silent.

Then I heard my friends calling me, and closed the compact quickly.

I tried to thrust it into the woman's hand when she grabbed mine.

"Take it...take it. She won't come back for it after all this time, and it's so pretty...take it." the woman smiled crookedly, showing rotten teeth, and let go of my hand.

I looked at her strangely, then gave a wave and a "thank you", then rushed out of the barn to meet my friends.

I couldn't shake that feeling of fear off all day, even though I didn't tell my friends a word about my bizarre experience.

But, I wondered, who was that girl, who had such low self esteem, who had nothing worthwhile to say, who nobody took the time to know?