"Well, little Amy Benson and Denis Bishop were never quite right afterwards, and all we ever got out of them was that they'd gone into a cave with Tom Riddle..."
Amy Benson was a big girl now “ at least that was what they'd told her at the orphanage. “I rather like being eight,” she thought as she brushed her long blonde hair. It meant she could go to the seaside with her best friend Denis Bishop...
Her brushing hand suddenly stopped in mid-air and her eyes widened in horror, as she remembered what had happened the previous day.
Amy stared out the window of her bedroom, watching the children playing outside. She was still a bit creeped out having come across a boy's dead rabbit two weeks previously. She sat there wondering how on earth it had gotten under her bed but she didn't like to dwell on the subject too much. A strand of her hair fell in front of her eyes and she swpet it away irriatably. The big girl, Katrina, hadn't done her pigtails that morning and Mrs. Cole was in the shower. There was only one person she could ask, but she certainly didn't want to. In desperation she went upstairs, gulped, then knocked twice on a door marked:
Tom’s Room
Trespassers Will Be Eaten Alive
“Come in,” someone called from the other side of the door.
Amy walked in, shaking.
“H-h-hi Tom. I was, um, wondering if you could tie my pigtails for me.” Amy held up two rubber bands.
At first the ten year old glared at her, and then he smirked. “Okay Amy, sit down.”
Amy did so, terrified. Tom scared her a lot and he teased her a lot too. Well, almost everyone did that. But he teased her about her parents who had drowned at sea “
Tom stopped plaiting and bent down to her. “Missing Mommy and Daddy, are we?” he said with a sneer.
Amy nodded.
“Did you know that if you drown at sea you turn into a zombie?” Tom asked, his eyes gleaming.
“No, I didn’t.”
“Well they do.” He pulled Amy’s hair so tight her eyes bulged. “And they’re going to grab your ankles at the seaside and pull hard. Do you know what happens to poor little Amy Benson next?” he asked, an almost hungry expression on his face.
“N-n-no.”
“She dies and nobody notices because nobody misses her. So her rotting corpse lies on the seabed for ages until a huge shark comes along and then “”
“No!” Amy screamed. “Stop it! Stop it! I won’t listen!” She ran out of the room, sobbing...
I won’t think about it anymore, Amy decided, but I have to tell Denis. So she went downstairs to the playroom where a boy of Amy’s age was sitting on his own.
“You still don’t look very well, Amy,” said Denis Bishop, concerned. Amy gave a tiny sob, told him everything and burst into tears.
“Why does Tom have to be so…be so…unusual?” Denis asked.
“I dunno, Denis,” she sniffled. “He always thinks he’s absolutely it, bossing us around, not listening to Mrs. Cole, he’s nothing but a big, scary “” Amy said the naughtiest word she knew.
Someone pushed past them on his way to lunch. A tall someone with pale skin and dark hair. He reached the door and turned round his eyes boring into Amy’s, and then he left, a slight frown on his face.
“He might not have heard us.” Denis squeaked, not really believing it himself.
Amy let out a tiny whimper and shivered. She wasn't looking forward to the seaside anymore.
*~*
The orphans had arrived at the seaside and all the boys were protesting against that there wouldn’t be TV for a week.
“Ah, but Miss, its ‘Doctor Who’ on Monday!” moaned Jamie Fenton. "Its the grand finale, Miss!"
The other boys nodded in agreement.
“Hush you lot! Okay kids, lets go up to the big hotel over there and “ Yes Tom?” Mrs. Cole looked a bit surprised that Tom had raised his hand.
“You see, Mrs. Cole, I promised Amy and Denis I’d go exploring with them straight away. I know that they’ve been looking forward to it and if we don’t go today I’ll feel as if I’ve let them down,” Tom said politely.
Mrs. Cole wavered. “Well I suppose, seeing as you promised…”
Tom quickly grabbed Denis and Amy by their hands and dragged them along until everyone was out of sight.
“Come on.” Tom gave a quick glance over his shoulder and then beckoned them towards the edge of a cliff. “We’re going to climb down.”
All the colour drained from Amy’s face. It was a very long way down.
“But we can’t, Tom, we’ll fall.”
Tom smiled. “I’ll go first then, babies, but you’re going to have to follow even if I have to make you.”
He hooked his leg over the edge and began to climb down.
Suddenly Amy walked to the jagged side of the cliff, like she was hypnotized, and Denis followed.
Half of the journey passed as a dream until it started to rain and Amy came to her senses. Her hands were covered in blood from the jagged rocks, she was freezing, soaked and Tom was definitely going to kill her. No he wasn’t, that was ridiculous. Then the thought of his smile came back to her… Maybe it wasn’t ridiculous, maybe it was true…
Amy had stopped climbing, caught up in her thoughts “ until Denis’s boot collided with her forehead. Amy gave a gasp of pain and let go of the rocks to examine her brow.
I let go…
But that meant “
Amy screamed as she plummeted to the ground, preparing her self for the crash; but no crash came. Just a soggy, firm grip on her. Tom Riddle had caught her.
“You’re not getting away that easily,” he whispered softly, his eyes shining greedily.
Denis jumped and landed beside them, and put his hand on Amy’s shoulder.
“C’mon Denis,” said Tom, still clutching the frightened Amy. He started walking towards a dark cave.
Amy mouthed “Don’t leave me!” over Tom’s shoulder. Denis felt he couldn’t desert his friend and followed.
The three children went down a slope into a pitch black cave; it was so close to shore that it must be filled with water at high tide. Finally they reached a dimly lit chamber and Tom deposited Amy on solid ground with a soft thud.
Tom closed his eyes and started muttering. It wasn’t a language Denis or Amy had ever heard before. Hisses and rasping and words they couldn’t describe.
“Tom?” Denis called.
No one answered, just quick, excited hisses.
“What are you doing?” Denis shouted.
Then Amy threw back her head and screamed.
She fell to the ground writhing and shrieking.
“Tom, stop it! What are you doing to her?”
Between her screams Amy started to speak.
“I don’t want to…don’t make me.”
“Amy? What’s he doing to you?”
“…don’t like…want to stop.” Amy’s screams were getting louder and louder.
“No…” Amy groaned. “I don’t want to…I don’t want to…let me go Tom…let me go…”
Tom’s eyes were shining brightly in the dark, clearly enjoying it.
“Make it stop, make it stop,” Amy moaned.
“Make what stop, Amy?” Denis yelled. “What’s he doing? What’s he saying?”
Amy shrieked louder. “No, no, no….no…I can’t…I can’t, don’t make me, I don’t want to…”
“Amy, you’re not making sense! Talk to me Amy, please!”
“Amy, you’re not making sense!” Tom mimicked. “Is widdle Denis getting fwightened?”
“It’s all my fault, all my fault,” Amy sobbed. “Please make it stop, I know I did wrong, oh, please make it stop and I’ll never, never again…”
Denis sank to his knees beside Amy and shook her shoulders. “Amy, is he hurting you? Please Amy, wake up!”
For half a second Amy’s eyes focused on him. “D-d-denis,” she whispered.
Then she began to wail. “Don’t hurt him, Tom, don’t hurt him, please, please, it’s my fault, hurt me instead…”
Denis began to panic. “Don’t say that, Amy, I need you to get up and then I’ll help you climb back up.” He tried to lift Amy off the ground.
Suddenly, she fell forwards, screaming loudly, beating her fists on the ground.
“Please, please, please, no…not that, not that, I’ll do anything…” Amy wailed.
“Not what? Oh, please stop, Amy, your scaring me.”
The whole cave was filled with Amy’s screams and Tom’s high-pitched laughter. The insane cackle made Denis’s blood run cold.
“No more, please, no more.”
Denis started to cry. “Please Tom, don’t hurt her, she’s sorry, I’m sorry!”
Amy yelled louder than ever. “I want to die! I want to die! Make it stop, make it stop, I want to die!”
“Amy wake up, please wake up Amy, I need you!” Denis sobbed.
Amy uttered one last blood-curdling scream. “KILL ME!” Then she fell and lay still on the floor.
Denis wrapped his arms round his friend, kissed her clammy cheek and started toward Tom. He didn’t know what he was going to do, all he wanted was to beat Tom to a pulp and then throw him off the cliff.
Tom was ready for him. He grabbed Denis’s t-shirt and held him at arms length. He laughed softly.
“I didn’t kill her.” He jabbed his thumb at Amy. “Cole would murder me.” He dropped Denis as if he was contagious.
Amy’s eyelids flickered open.
“Amy, are you ok?” Denis asked wiping the tears from his eyes.
“Water,” croaked Amy, sitting up in a pool of her own blood.
Tom rolled his eyes in the dark and threw Denis his bottle.
Amy downed the bottle in one before throwing up on the floor.
The vomit was emerald green and emitting a phosphorescent glow. Tom quickly scooped it into a discarded glass bottle and pocketed it.
He picked up Amy and they climbed up the cliff wordlessly.
When they reached the top Tom swore loudly. Amy was completely covered in blood, it had even managed to work its way into her hair. He reached forward to put his jumper on her and she backed away fearfully.
Tom rolled his eyes and tossed it to Denis. “Clean Benson up, will you?” he said, brushing himself off. “Not a word to Cole about any of this, got it?” he added fiercely.
Denis nodded. “Who would believe them anyway?” he thought as he wiped blood off Amy’s forehead.
*~*
“Amy! Denis! Tom! You’ve been gone for two hours!” Mrs. Cole exclaimed. “Is that vomit in your hair, Amy? Why have you got a big gash on your forehead?” She pulled Amy into her embrace and whispered in her ear, “What did he do to you?”
Amy made a faint gurgling noise. “Nothing, Mrs. Cole,” she lied. “We just went into a cave, you see.”
“Yeah,” said Tom smoothly. “And poor Amy here fell on a rock in the dark.”
Denis clenched his fists. Poor Amy? Hadn’t Tom just tortured her mere minutes ago?
Mrs. Cole nodded, not really believing them and chivied them into the hotel.
*~*
One thing was for sure, Amy thought as she lay down in bed: she would never cross Tom Riddle ever again. She closed her eyes and fell asleep instantly.
She did not notice the two eyes watching her, plotting, or two slim hands holding something very odd encased in a bottle.
The Cave by Ellie4Harry
Chapter Notes: Hi everyone! I really hope you enjoy this, and even if you don't, please let me know! This chapter is dedicated to my best buddy Curly and my fantastic beta, Jen.