The Bubble, by Izabelle S.

Miles and Wesley were brothers and loved each other very much. Their parents were
married and cared for them immensely. The neighbourhood loved them, since they were
always the family to go to if there were any problems. They always knew what to do.  
The family were so happy, and their life was perfect, until…. at the age of 10, Miles had a
seizure. Everyone was horrified and thought he was going to die. It took the doctors 6 hours of tests to find out what was wrong with him and to make sure he was ok. Finally, the doctors were able to tell the family what had happened and said that he was allergic to insect stings, fur, gluten, dust mites, fish, sunlight, leather, the cold and so much more. So much, that he had to be trapped inside a bubble. His family weren’t allowed in the bubble, so because of this Miles felt so lonely, even though he knew that if his family were allowed in, then they would, but sadly his allergies wouldn’t allow this.  

As time went on, Miles and his family learnt to live as best they could. The doctors managed to control some of his allergies with medication. He still had to live in the bubble, but at last, the family got to go inside and see him but only one at a time and an hour apart. As the boys got older Miles and Wesley started to drift apart. Wesely was always busy with his friends and only went to see Miles once he’d finished hanging out with them. Their mum did not like Wesely’s friends and did not want her son playing with them. Lots of the other mums from school agreed with her, saying that they were a bad influence on Wesley and if he carried on hanging out with them, then he’d end up getting into all sorts of trouble. Wesley’s mum thought this too, but her main concern was that he was spending less and less time with his brother Miles. The mum did not like this as she knew the brothers loved each other with
all their might.  

As the sun set, Wesley came back from visiting the sweet shop with his friends and went to speak to his dad. He told him all about his astonishing sweets and how they made his tongue go blue and that Lucas did a backflip on the bench in the park. His dad listened to Wesley’s stories and then told him that it was time to finish his homework. He reminded Wesley to put his open packet of sweets away before he goes to see his brother, due to Miles’ allergies. By the time Wesley finished his homework it was late, and he was tired, but he just had enough time to go and spend a few minutes with Miles before bed. As he stepped into the bubble, Miles ran over to his brother and gave him a hug. He told him how much he had missed him and had been waiting for him to come and visit. As they were chatting, Wesley noticed that Miles was having trouble breathing. Suddenly, Miles fell to the floor. Wesley tried to wake his brother, but he was unconscious. In a panic, Wesley ran out of the bubble screaming for his parents. As soon as they heard Wesley’s screams, they rushed in and upon seeing Miles collapsed on the floor, they immediately rang for an ambulance.  

Once at the hospital, as soon as the doctors took one look at Miles, they rushed him straight to the emergency room. His mum, dad and Wesley waited patiently in the waiting room, trying to understand what was happening. What seemed like a lifetime later, Dr Smith appeared from the emergency room. He explained to the family that Miles was seriously ill and they were doing everything they could, but they should prepare themselves for the worst.

It wasn’t until three hours had passed, that Dr Smith appeared again. The family could tell it wasn’t good news as soon as he walked into the waiting room. As Dr Smith explained, that whilst in the emergency room, Miles had had another seizure and unfortunately, his body just wasn’t strong enough to fight it. Wesley’s mum and dad just broke down in tears. Wesley couldn’t take it all in. He couldn’t believe what was happening. He ran out of the room. He just wanted to be by himself.  

As he sat in an empty stairway with the tears streaming down his face, Wesley sunk his hand into his pocket to pull out a tissue to wipe his eyes. Instead of a tissue, he pulled out the open packet of sweets that he had forgotten to put away earlier before visiting Miles. He realised that it must have been the sweets that made Miles collapse. He must have had an allergy to one of the ingredients which caused him to have a seizure. This is why they all had to be SO careful about what came into contact with Miles. He was devastated that he was the reason that Miles was dead. He couldn’t tell his parents because he didn’t want his parents to hate him. 

After the funeral, Wesley and his parents tried to adjust to life without Miles. It was very hard as they all missed him desperately. Time after time, Wesley went into the bubble to feel closer to his brother. This went on for a few weeks until one day Wesley was in the bubble, sitting, thinking about Miles and how much he missed him, when all a sudden the lights around him started to flicker, then all at once they turned off. It was pitch black. Wesley sat there wondering if the electricity had gone off so decided to check the rest of the house. As he stood up, he felt a cold chill down his back. He sat right down and then he heard a noise behind him. He looked round to see the mirror on the wall drop to the floor and smash into smithereens. Wesly was so frightened that he ran out of the bubble and into his bedroom. He slammed the door shut and hid under his duvet, but as he did, he heard a creaking noise. He slowly lifted the duvet off his head and saw that the door was opening by itself. He hoped if he went to sleep it would all stop. As he was drifting off, he felt a hand on his face and thought it was his mum come to say goodnight to him. As he opened his eyes, the hand covered his mouth so that he couldn’t scream and that’s when he saw it. It was Miles’ face, but transparent. It shouted BOO and then seemed to just disappear. 

The next day Wesley still couldn’t believe what he had seen the previous night. He was shaking when he got out of bed. As he was walking down the hallway, his dad came out of the bathroom unexpectedly. This made Wesley jump and he ran away screaming. His mum and dad were worried about his state of mind. They thought that it would be a good idea for Wesley to go and see a grief councillor to help him cope with Miles’ death.  The councillor had told Wesley’s mum and dad that they needed to talk to Wesley alone to help him through his grief, so his dad just dropped him off and said he’d be back to pick him up after the counselling session. Wesley begged him to stay but his dad knew he wasn’t
allowed to. 

As Wesley sat on the sofa, twiddling with his thumbs, he felt very anxious wating for the counsellor. When she arrived, she put Wesley at ease though and made him feel very comfortable and safe. He found it easy to talk to her and felt that he could trust her. He was desperate to talk to somebody about how Miles had died and how it was all his fault because he took the open packet of sweets into the bubble. He was considering telling the counsellor and also all about the ghostly vision he had seen, when he saw Miles again., standing behind the counsellor. Wesley was so startled that he ran out of the room as fast as his legs would take him, all the way home. 

The next day, whilst Wesley was eating breakfast, he was petrified to see on the news that the counsellor he had seen the day before, had died. It was reported that she had died in her office, the same room that Wesley had been talking to her in, and it seemed to of happened right after he’d left. 

Wesley couldn’t take it anymore. He couldn’t understand what was happening to him, so he locked himself in his room. Inside Wesley’s bedroom was a weak and unstable child who needed desperate help. Every day, his mum and dad would knock on the door to check on him, but he just wanted to be left alone. Day after day and night after night, Wesley refused to come out of his room He couldn’t face his parents anymore, knowing that he was the reason that Miles was dead. 

Things just got worse for Wesley, as every night he would see Miles who would just stand over him, staring at him. He started eating less and less and by the time it was the third week, he was very weak. He could hear his mum and dad talking to each other outside his room. They were both really worried about him and scared that they were going to lose him too, but they just didn’t know how to help him. He could hear his mum at night crying with worry.  One morning he woke up and knew he couldn’t put his parents through this any longer. He had to tell them the truth, about everything, but first he wanted to go to the bubble. He hoped he could see Miles and talk to him. Explain that it was an accident, and he didn’t mean for it to happen. He wanted to tell Miles that he was sorry and that he loved and missed him so much.  

As he wandered into the bubble, he spotted something on the floor that he recognised. As he bent down to pick it up, he realised that it was the sweet packet he had forgotten to put away before visiting Miles that fateful day. He couldn’t understand how it had got there, as he’d never taken it out of his jacket pocket. He suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder and as he turned around, a smirking Miles shouted BOO!  A few hours later, Wesley’s mum came into the bubble looking for Wesley. As she picked up
the bloody sweet packet that she saw on the floor, she spotted something on Miles’ bed and screamed.

Copyright Izabelle S.

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About the Author:

Thank you for reading Izabelle’s story. Isabelle is an 11 year old writer who resides in Manchester, United Kingdom. The Bubble is her first piece of published horror fiction!