Literary Device Short Story

Lit Device Short Story

By: Leah Floyd

Have you ever heard a story about a girl named Alison? Well, I will tell it to you. Once there was a girl named Alison. She had a secret that not even her family knew about. Alison could see things no one else could see. It all started when her grandpa died, she was at his funeral and there, in the corner, was her grandpa crying. Now, she was confused, as you would have been, because she thought that he was dead. Because of this, she walked over to him.

“I thought you were dead grandpa?” she says nervously.

“I am,” her grandpa responds. “But you inherited a secret, that I have been keeping. I have a special power and since I have died my powers have been passed on to you.”

“Wh, wha, what,” Alison stuttered.

“I will explain after the service,” her grandpa said.

That night, at exactly 11:11 she heard a sound. Whoosh! Her grandpa then appeared and explained everything to her. He told her that there was such thing as the secret world and everyone who dies wakes back up in this different, new world. These people who have passed away, turn into ghosts. Once they become ghosts they can still see people, however, people cannot see them.

“You are the exception my dear, you can see me because you have the special power. You can use your powers to your advantage or, you can use them wrongly,” her grandpa said.

As her grandpa stared off at the window you could tell he was remembering past experiences.

“There are many negatives to your power, but sometimes, just sometimes they can be good,” her grandfather says in a hushed whisper.

With that, he disappeared. Alison stared at her wall feeling like something is missing but she didn’t know what. She woke up in the morning to a swarm of people looking down at her. These people were as white as snow and she could literally see through them. They had a weird glow around them that seemed unnatural. It seemed like they were floating in mid-air but she knew that wasn’t possible. These people seemed normal but why were they so pale, and why are they in her house?! She was thinking, does my mom know about this? She even thought she recognized a few of them, but she was very confused about who they were. They were all whispering saying “Is it true, is it true?!” Realizing that they woke her up they all stepped back, but kept staring at her. Then it hit her, are these people actually ghosts?

With a deep accent a man began to speak, “Hello Alison, you are the keeper of secrets and you will not tell a soul about our world, they will have to wait till it is there time to find out about us.”

Then, all of the ghosts disappear and her mom calls for her to start getting ready for school. She walked to school now feeling a bit different about herself, conscious of the ghosts following her everywhere she goes. She did, however, make a friend named Noah, and he is a ghost. He now helps Alison figure out her new secret power and how to handle it. Noah reminds her everyday what Alison’s grandfather told her, “there are many negatives to your powers…” and that she need’s to be in control of them and not have the power control her.

***Later on

“Your grandpa is hurt,” Noah says.

“What do you mean!?” Alison says nervously.

“Your grandpa has become very sick,” Noah responds.

Noah then explains to her that when a person gets hurt in the secret world, people in the real world start to forget their memory of the person. So when someone gets sick or severely injured that they end up dying, the memory of them in the real world disappears and everyone who knew the person forgets they ever existed. There is only one exception, if a person from the real world gives up their life or creates an injury for themselves that could affect the rest of their life then the ghost from the secret world would be saved. With the saving of the ghosts life, their memory would also be saved.

Alison tried her hardest to keep her grandpa’s memory alive. She pulls out photos of him and places them around her house, she asked her mom questions about his life, and she even wrote about him in her journal. Every time, however, her actions to keep his memory alive vanished and returned to how they were. She then knew that the only thing that would completely save her grandpa is to trade her life for his. If she did this, Alison would go to the secret world full of ghosts and become one herself, and her grandpa would once again would return to being a ghost. With that, the memory of him in the real world would be saved. Alison then completes this plan to save her grandpa and she, herself becomes a ghost. Now you have heard the story about Alison and the story lives on, as her grandpa’s memory does.