02. Carmen Winstead

*Contains partial nudity*

“They pushed her down a sewer.
They laughed as she fell.
They told the police it was an accident,
and believed that all was well.”

“What are you talking about, Bethany?” Megan asked staring at her best friend as she continued reciting some rhyme she read in an email. The halls were quickly clearing as students rushed to their classes with books in hand.

“Carmen Winstead,” she announced merrily as though it was something her friend should have known. Pulling her phone from her pocket she forwarded the message to Megan so she could see and as she read about the poor girl’s fate, a sudden chill rush over her skin. 

According to the email, Carmen Winstead was a 17-year old girl who was bullied relentlessly at her school by a group of girls. One day during a fire drill, the girls pushed her down an opened manhole and laughed as they heard her plummeting to the bottom. After a few minutes when she didn’t make a sound or climb her way out again the police were called. It took a three firemen and fifteen minutes to pull her dead body out of that drain. Apparently on the way down, poor Carmen hit her head on the ladder snapping her neck and died instantly. “That’s a lot of bunk,” Megan retorted and pushed the delete button.

“You really shouldn’t have done that. Now Carmen’s gonna get you!”

“Stop it, no she won’t.”

“Carmen’s gonna get you for ignoring her pain. She’ll push you down the sewer and watch you plummet down the drain.” Bethany started singing the rhyme over and over again and Megan just shook her head as next bell sounded.

“Honestly Beth you can be such a child.”

“Whatever you say Megan. But don’t come crying to me when you hear Carmen Winstead laughing as she drags you off to hell!” 

Ugh really? Sometimes she just doesn’t know when to give it a rest. Megan never believed in superstitions or chain letters because none of the crap they write in them ever happened or could ever happen. It was just ignorant people trying to scare you. She sat through the rest of Algebra, watching the clock and waiting for the bell to ring. It was the weekend and her thoughts were on getting home. Her Dad had promised to get her a new laptop and she was dying to see it. 

Rushing up the stairs to her bedroom, Megan yelled with excitement noticing the pink “Hello Kitty” Toshiba sitting on her bed with a birthday card and bow. Immediately turning it on, she became absorbed in the internet chatting with friends, sending pictures back and forth and Skyping with Bethany about what they were going to do tomorrow.

It was a little after ten before she started feeling tired. There were so many things she wanted to explore but she was quickly drifting off. Telling Bethany goodnight Megan started for the bathroom to take a shower. As she pulled away from her computer she heard the email alert ding and turned back to see Bethany had again forwarded that Carmen Winstead email. “Seriously! I won’t be a part of your chain letter,” she growled and quickly deleted it.

Grabbing a towel she turned the water on in the tub and let it pour over her hair and shoulders, feeling relaxed after sitting for so long. A few moments later she heard a girl laughing and poked her head from the curtain. “Hello?” Megan called and waited a moment, peering through a soapy haze towards the door.

Not seeing anyone she sighed and pulled the curtain closed again figuring it was probably just her baby sister trying to scare her like always. But just as she started to rinse the shampoo from her hair, Megan heard the laugh again and froze in place. “Stefani is that you?” she asked and waited for her sister to jump out and yell ‘boo’ so she could go back to showering in peace. “I’m gonna get you back you little brat.”

Turning to let the water drain out of her hair, Megan screamed as a pair of red eyes greeted her from the other side of the tub. It was a girl, dressed in a white dress with long black hair. She looked up at her and her blood ran cold. Megan was frozen. She couldn’t move. She couldn’t speak. Her stomach was turning knots as she stared at her, blood dripping down her lips and a bone sticking from her neck.

Fearfully she whimpered as cold water splashed down her back and her heart dropped to her stomach. The girl slowly started towards Megan, her hands stretched out as if to grab her, a snarl twisted her mouth and her cold, red eyes pinned her in place. “They pushed me,” she whispered in a shaky, crackling tone and it was then Megan realized who she was staring at.

The last thing she remembered before it all went dark were Carmen’s cold, dead hands pulling her down the drain. Regret filled her soul as she thought about the email and the last line she read before deleting: “If you don’t forward this saying ‘She was pushed’ then Carmen will get you. She hides in the sewers, lurking in your water for her chance to get revenge on those who took her life.”

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