"What did you do with them?" I demanded. The quiver in my voice was apparent with every word I spoke.
"Don't worry, you'll join them soon." She started giggling again and my blood ran cold. Her voice was suddenly amplified as if it were everywhere all at once. It was all I could hear as it flooded my senses and made me dizzy.
I couldn't think straight and I couldn't see properly in the darkened house either. A part of me knew I needed to get out of there but my body wouldn't cooperate.
The little girl was everywhere.
A loud bang shook the house. I could feel the vibrations through my feet. It sounded ominous and foreboding, a warning sign that I needed to get the hell out of there.
I ran for the stairs but the little girl blocked my way. The only other escape route was through the window of Bea's room. I bolted for it, ready to jump out the second story window just to get away from whatever was in the house with me.
My fingers pried at the windowpane but it wouldn't budge. I clawed at it, trying desperately to open the window so I could escape.
Even though it was icy cold in the house, a sheen of sweat was covering my skin from the fear and exertion. My fingernails all broke as I scratched endlessly at the window that would not open.
I was trapped.
And then it got even worse.
* * *
When the little girl said she wasn't alone now, she wasn't joking. All I did was blink once and the whole room was filled with ghosts.
They were crammed in to every available space, all with their hollow eyes staring at me. Their faces were twisted with maniacal grins, their focus solely on me.
I recognized them.
They were all in the main street yesterday. They weren't townspeople, but dead spirits. They had learnt to follow me, even then.
I couldn't see anything apart from them as they crowded me. Bea's bed, her closet, even the walls were impossible to see. The ghosts groaned and grumbled, nothing but nonsense coming from their mouths.
I tried to scream for help but I couldn't. My mouth merely flapped open and closed, my voice lost somewhere in the sea of spirits.
They mocked me with their sound, laughing at my horror like it was nothing. All I knew was that they were trying to get to me. I had a feeling once I was caught my life wouldn't last much longer.
All of a sudden there was another loud bang. The crowd stopped for just a moment before they parted. Bea was standing in the doorway, so small it was heartbreaking. A rush of relief flooded through me.
I rushed toward her, the ghosts following me the entire few steps it took to reach her. Bea was staring at me, her eyes fixated on nothing but my face.
"Bea, thank goodness. Where were you? Where are Mom and Dad?" I asked, all the words spilling from my mouth all at once.
She didn't answer so I repeated the questions. I placed my hands on her shoulders, making sure she knew how important it was that I had the answers I needed.
"We have to get out of here, Bea. Are Mom and Dad outside? Is that where they are?"
Bea continued to stare. For the first time I realized there was something different about her. "Bea?" I shook her, trying to get rid of the glazed look on her face.
Her eyes met mine as she cocked her head to one side. "We've got you now," she said. Except, it wasn't her voice speaking. It was deeper, louder, definitely not the voice of a child.
I took a step back from her as her lips quirked up into the evilest grin I had ever seen. "No, not Bea. What have you done to her?"
Bea laughed as the little girl stepped next to her. They emanated an evil aura that I couldn't get away from. Everything they were screamed only darkness and horror. I felt the coldness of their glares, every hair on my body standing on end.
They started walking toward me, their hands linked together like they were friends. I backed up, matching them with every step they took.
"No, Bea. Please, no. Don't."
I hit the wall, unable to go any further. The window was still unmovable and the door was now further away than ever. The corridor the ghosts had left for them closed over, trapping me in completely.
My mind raced while I tried to think of a way to get out of there. The little girl and Bea were talking now, chanting underneath their breath in a language I didn't recognize.
There was only one thing I knew for certain.
They were going to kill me.
* * *
"No!" I screamed, throwing up my hands and putting every last piece of energy I had into that one word.
The little girl had haunted me for two years. We had travelled all over the country to try to get away from her. My parents had spent thousands of dollars. Bea and I had to make countless new friends at new schools - only to move again the minute we did.
I wasn't going to take it anymore.
"None of you are going to scare me any longer!" I sounded like a madwoman but I didn't care. All I could think of was getting rid of them, forcing the little girl to stop torturing me.
The little girl and Bea exchanged a glance and smiled, sharing a conversation I couldn't hear.
I slumped against the wall as they took another step closer. I closed my eyes but it was worse when I couldn't see them. At least I knew where they were with my eyes open.
There was no way I could stay there. Apart from the evil girls, all the other ghosts seemed transparent. I didn't doubt they could touch me if they really wanted to, but I had to take a chance.
This time I did close my eyes.
And then I ran for the door.
Coldness shivered through my body, making every part of me shudder. I could feel their bodies like a whisper as I passed through them. My feet moved like they were stuck in quicksand, making the door impossibly far away.
I kept going because I didn't have much of a choice. When I opened my eyes again I fixed them on the door. Bea had left it open and my sole goal was to get through it.
Chancing a glance over my shoulder, the girls were following me. They weren't running - they didn't need to - they simply walked after me, their hands still linked together.
Finally, the door was in front of me. I barreled through it and ran for the stairs. It no longer mattered where my parents were, all I knew was that I had to get outside and away from the ghosts.
The little girl had never followed me off the property before. She always remained on the boundaries, no matter how small or large.
But, then again, she'd also never spoken before.
My feet stumbled as they tried to get down the stairs too fast. I grabbed onto the banister to stop my fall down the remaining stairs.
The light in the living room was off now, the skeletons no longer watching television. I gave the room only a fleeting glance before I lunged for the front door.
It was locked.
I tried everything I could to open it, including throwing a chair at the surrounding windows - it merely bounced off, almost hitting me in the process.
The girls had me pressed against the wall with nowhere to go. Fear that I never knew could be experienced raced through me. I didn't even think to cry or have my life flash before my eyes. My body was reacting with a stone cold freeze.
Bea stepped backwards one step, the little girl dropping her hand. Her eyes were cast downwards, as if she were deferring to the little girl in a submissive pose.
The little girl glared at me, her expression so smooth and unfeeling. She didn't regard me with anything other than distain and amusement. She hated me, she had to the way she'd made my life a living nightmare.
She started growing. At first I thought it was just a trick of my eyes, but she was definitely getting bigger. She grew to my height, then my father's height, and then she was so big she could touch the ceiling with the crown of her head.
The face of the little girl stretched and contorted. Her skin was twisted as if her bones were trying to break free from inside. She was nothing but sharp angles and sickening black shadows.
&nb
sp; There was nothing resembling human in her when she'd finished her horrifying transformation. She looked like she had escaped from Hell and was on a mission to kill everything in her path.
Her eyes glowed orange, set deep into what should have been her face. The rotting skin hanging from her figure was flapping as if she was caught in a wind tunnel. The atmosphere grew so cold I started shivering, my teeth chattering together.
Evil rolled off her in waves.
My brain screamed to move, to do something so that she didn't kill me. I was certain that was her intention, this moment was two years in the making. She wouldn't lose her chance to finish with me now.
I forced my body to move, told every limb to fight back and do whatever I could to save my life. The little girl already had the upper hand, I couldn't let her have any more advantage.
My hands clasped around the only item I could reach - an umbrella stand. I picked it up with both my hands and threw it at the ghost.
It passed right through her.
How on earth was I supposed to fight a transparent spirit?
As panic truly gripped me in its hold and threatened to shut down my body, the necklace around my throat started to burn with heat.
My fingers closed around it, feeling the warmth radiating from the pendant. It was a gift from my grandmother, given to me when I was even younger than Bea. It was a rose with a crystal in the bud. I wore it every day because I loved it so much.
Before I could pull the heated necklace off, everything flashed white.
* * *
The white was so bright my eyes had to squint to stay open. I could only make out shapes rather than actual objects. Bea was still there, I would always recognize her form.
When the white finally faded away, we were no longer alone. Standing on both sides of me was a wall of ghosts, all shimmering with the white glow around their bodies.
I recognized them, too.
My grandmother, grandfather, nana, pappy, my uncle John, and just about everybody else we had lost in our family were standing shoulder to shoulder with me. The only one I didn't recognize was the man directly by my side.
He wore brilliant white wings.
My guardian angel.
I didn't have time to stare at them in awe. We had to fight and we needed to do it quickly before the little girl took them all away again.
They ploughed into the fray, the white lights fighting the dark shadows of what was once the form of a little girl. My family of ghosts surrounded me, forming a protective shield so the evil spirit couldn't reach me.
The little girl roared with anger as she fought back. Arms and legs were thrown around so quickly it was making me dizzy trying to keep up with everything happening. It was all just a swirling mixture of the good and the evil as they went to battle for my soul.
I'd always been close to my grandparents, and absolutely devastated when they grew old and passed over into the hereafter. Seeing them now, they were back to their old selves except that their bodies were repaired, they looked younger, and they could fight like nobody's business.
My guardian angel held a long sword, wielding it with crazy skills and using it to slice at the little girl. They were both impossibly large, almost filling the room just with their ghostly forms alone.
The angel delivered a heavy blow to the little girl's twisted head.
She went down.
Everybody attacked, the white light finally having the upper hand as they took her out. The entire room lit up with the incandescent light of their auras. I could feel the goodness again, knowing they had finally put a stop to the evil that was pretending to be a little girl.
She made one last bellow before she disappeared all together.
The atmosphere instantly lifted. It had been so heavy before and now it felt warmer and lighter. They'd really done it. They got rid of the little girl forever.
The lights returned to normal, every single bulb in the house turning on at the same time. For once, they didn't flicker. They remained on as the house settled back to normal.
All my ghosts turned to face me, including my guardian angel. They had a serene smile on their faces as they stared for just a moment and then blinked out.
It was just Bea and I left.
I hurried over to my little sister, grabbing onto her shoulders and shaking her body. "Come on, Bea. You're free now, come back to me. I need you."
She blinked several times before my shaking had an impact and she shook her head. Her eyes changed, no longer dead but alive and alert. "Penny? What happened?"
"You were sleepwalking," I lied. Trying to explain anything to her would be nearly impossible. I still didn't really believe it and I had been a witness to the paranormal events.
She opened her mouth to ask more questions but was cut off by a loud bang on the front door. We exchanged a worried glance before I approached it.
"Who's there?" I asked. Maybe the little girl hadn't disappeared after all. If I opened the door, surely she could just walk back into my life and haunt me forever.
"Penny, it's Mom. Open the door, honey."
It sounded like her but the little girl had fooled me like that before. She always liked to play games with me, get inside my head and make me believe all kinds of things.
My hand went to the doorknob. It was warm now, the temperature it should have been and not the icy cold of the ghosts.
I could feel my heart beating in my chest as I twisted the knob. It opened freely, no longer locked and refusing to budge.
My parents were standing on the stoop. I fell into their arms, my tears finally able to sting my eyes and flow down my cheeks.
"Where were you?" I asked as Bea reached us, joining in the group hug we had going on.
"I don't know," Mom replied. She looked at my father for some answers. "I can't remember anything. Can you?"
"Last I remember I was going to bed," Dad said, equally as dumbfounded. "Then we were standing at the door a moment ago."
They looked at me for answers. It was going to be a long story.
* * *
When I awoke the next day, it was like my life was only just beginning. My room was airy and bright, warmed naturally by the summer sun.
I no longer felt the sheer terror of the little girl lurking around every corner. She was no longer one blink away, always there with her coldness and evil.
My parents said they believed me when I told them everything that had happened the night before. I wasn't sure if they really did but they were relieved anyway.
My hand clasped around my necklace as I left the house. It wasn't burning anymore, but its weight reminded me that loved ones were always close by.
For the first time in my life, I could make a home here in Buttercup Bay. We weren't going to be moving any time soon.
About Jamie Campbell
Jamie Campbell discovered her love for writing when her school 'What I did on the Weekend' stories contained monsters and princesses - because what went on in her imagination was always more fun than reality.
Primarily writing Young Adult Romances of all kinds, Jamie also delves into murder mysteries and ghost stories. Basically, whatever takes her fancy - she lets the characters decide.
Living on the Gold Coast in sunny Queensland, Australia, Jamie is constantly bossed around by her dog Sophie who is a very hard taskmaster and lives largely on sugar.
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The Ghost Below
Ariele Sieling
Step by step, she moved through the starboard side of the dark interior, touching cables, tightening their junctions, and listening to the hiss of the air system. The only thing separating her from the deep recesses of space was one metal wall. She loved how it made her feel-the thrill, the excitement, the constant reminder of her own mortality. The bowels of the ship were dark, warm, and comforting. The headlamp she wore provided enough light for
her to do her work, and the soft glow of the fiber optic cables gave the space a warm, mysterious feel. She loved the ship.
Occasionally, she wiped dust off of the wires' casings or bent down to listen to them. They sang to her in many voices, but if she heard the snapping of sparks, she marked it with a red flag made from a tiny LED with a magnet, and came back later to adjust it. Her routine looked something like this: rounds, minor repairs, rounds, minor repairs. If a major repair needed to happen, then everything else stopped. Sometimes she even thought time stopped, because whenever she finished fixing something, she felt her brain SNAP and everything was just like it had been before.
She stepped into the steam room, which, as usual, was filled with clouds of steam. The plumbers loved it in here-the steam operated certain parts of the machinery in the ships, and it wasn't supposed to leak, but the plumbers left a few holes and used it like a sauna, where they would just hang out and relax. Her routine took her through here once a day, unless a major repair interfered.
"Hey, White Rabbit," Logger said, doffing an imaginary hat. In her mind he was the king of the plumbers-and not a very good one, at that. He was the only one who talked to her. The others sat, lounging on crates with their shirts off, chattering about meaningless drivel that didn't concern her. She preferred the plumbers that ignored her for a wide variety of reasons, starting with the fact that Logger was a creep.
"Hello," she said, trying not to make eye contact. She skittered out the other side, following the long EM2156L cable which started in the Emergency Control room and spidered out all across the ship, and crossed her fingers that Logger wouldn't follow her-again. She wanted to finish this whole run today, and she was pretty sure she could, although it might take a bit longer than her shift, particularly if she got stuck trying to avoid Logger for any period of time. She was the fastest of the runners and wore white, so they called her the White Rabbit. Plus, her white hair, in sharp contrast to her dark skin, often stuck up like the towers of the Great Rindal Palace and looked a bit like short rabbit ears.
The other side of the steam room was always like a breath of fresh air, for a moment. But then she saw Logger, who just happened to be lounging at the next junction point. He was an expert at this move, and she couldn't figure out why he kept trying. It wasn't like she hadn't tried to get rid of him, every single day. Then again, maybe her tactics weren't as obvious as she thought.