Chapter 2: Chapter Two
"he he he ha ha ha! Ha!! he he he ha ha ha! Ha....! "
His laughter drawn my voice. No matter how high I tried to scream, it was of no use. I couldn't stand up. I couldn't move. I was just there on my knees, hands sheltering my ears, terrified.
"Catch ya!" " Ha! he he he ha ha ha! Ha!! he he he ha ha ha! Ha.....!"
*****
"Dorothy! Dorothy! Wake up! It's time for school." I heard a familiar voice calling. But I couldn't register who it was. I didn't want to look because I thought, this might just be another terrifying trick of Charlie.
It was the alarm by the bedside that eventually rescued me from this terrifying night mare.
"No....!!!!!!" I woke up with a terrifying look on my face. My eyes almost purging out its sockets.
"Dorothy? Are you alright?" I saw the puzzled look on my mother's face. But I couldn't find the words to tell her what was wrong with me. Instead I just gave her a tight hug.
"Oh.... Dorothy. Come on, now. Time for school. Geez! You really slept far too long. If it weren't for Dave....."
"Dave?"
"Yes. Dave. Your school mate. Poor kid. He's been standing outside for God knew how long. I was about leaving for the shop when I pumped into him standing by the door step."
"Oh....," my eyes frantically glanced at the wall clock "thanks mum. My God! I'm so late!" With that I dashed into the bathroom.
"Honey! I'm off to work! Dave is in the living room. Your lunch box is set already. Bye! Love you....And oh! Lest I forgot! Today is #Ghosted festival! Remember, don't stay out long...." Mum said and left.
Wait a minute! Did she just say today was the #Ghosted festival? For once I just wished the ground could just open up and swallow me.
Moments later, I was done with my bath. Rushed out, had my uniform on and went downstairs to join Dave.
"Thank the heavens!" Dave rolled his eyes and lifted his palms upwards. "Dorothy, we are dead late!"
"I know. And I'm s...."
"No need for the words. Come on, now. Let's get going." Dave grasp my hand and dragged me outside.
Dave always acted like my elder brother. I don't have one, though. But he was one for me. He was four years older than I. He doesn't talk much. He was a good friend. Always looking out for me. People sometimes mistook us for lovers.
His father was a professor at Bristone University, the first college in our town. No wonder he knew so much. And his mother was just a florist, same as my mother. That's how they got to know each other and the rest, they say was history.
*****
"Why do time always move so fast?"
"Ugh? Dave, what did you just say?"
"Today is #Ghosted festival! You know how I hate it. What kind of town be happy to hold a festival for long dead people?"
I pouted out my lips. "Yeah. Me, too. I hate #Ghosted festival"
Then I remembered the dream I had last night. I thought about telling Dave but I don't want him to see how scared I was. Because I was one who never showed how afraid I was no matter how scary it seemed.
"Ugh? You, Dorothy? No. I'm surprise to hear this from you"
"Why is that?" My brows angled in a puzzled arc.
"You are always curious about ghosts. There was a time you went out into the haunted mansion at Madison Avenue down lake Lilly. All because you wanted to see if really Jack Piper the pirate ghost actually exist" he gave out a guffaw.
Yeah. I remembered going into that haunted mansion. But I wasn't scary then. Ever since I had that nightmare, I've been so uneasy since morning.
"Whatever. Dave do you know anything about...." I was about asking him about Charlie Charlie, the ghost I saw in my dream when the school bus halted in front of the school. And then all the kids in the bus came out rushing like berserk buffaloes straight towards the school compound.
*****
"Dorothy, remember. Don't stay out too long. And don't you go running into strange places. Today is the #Ghosted festival. Fun things do happen as well as bad things
So," said my mum as she did some finishing touches to my costume.
Tonight, just as everyone else, I was dressed in my own ghost costume. Dave thought I would look scary if I dress like Aunty Alicee.
Aunt Alicee was a desperate woman who killed herself as soon as she heard of her husband's sudden death. When it was time for her burial, she would rise and chase anyone that dared to touch her corpse.
So she was left in her home, till her flesh rotten away until there was nothing left of her except her skeleton. No one ever did bought her house.
"Stay out of harm's way"
I rolled my eyes like the fifteen year old girl I was. "Heard you mum. Can I go now?"
"Sure. Dave is outside waiting for you"
*****
"Wow! Dorothy. See, I told you. You do look scary in that costume"
"Yo Dave! Wanna play the pirates with us? We've got a new kid you would like to meet" said some bunch of boys all dressed like Jack Piper the pirate and his crew.
Dave's eyes met mine as if seeking my permission and at the same time to apologize for not going to spend the night with me playing Aunty Alicee and Jack Piper the pirate's old feud about Jack Piper the pirate jealousy over Buck African for marrying Aunt Alicee instead of him.
"It's alright. I will be find. You can go. I might just as well find my own crew" I feigned a smiling face.
Dave left with his gang. I was just there standing for what seemed forever.
Then I caught a movement in the woods in front of me. As always, my curiosity got the better part of me. Instantly I forgot everything my mum told me about staying out of harm's way. The only thing that was on my mind was: whose ghost was that?
*****
Slowly, gently I followed. Deep into the woods I walked. I saw a wooden house with a flickering light inside. Probably a candle almost melting off. I walked straight to the door.
Suddenly I began to have a feeling of déjà vu. Only that I wasn't in this house but I was once in the woods. And funny enough, I wasn't even scared at all. I was only curious. The curious I became, the more I ventured.
"Hello? Is somebody here?" I called out, almost silently slowly opening the door. It gave a creaking sound as it opened. There was no sign of bed nor couches.
The room of the house looked dingy inside. There was a bookshelf at the right corner close to the window. A round table stood in the middle. One chair with a broken leg lay on the floor. Another sat near the table. There was a wooden cupboard and a mirror by the left. A bread half eaten lay on it with a darkened white mug by the side.
Everywhere was full of dust. On the round table were pens scattered about and some sheets of papers. I moved closer to the table. My eyes searching for anything that could suggest what was this place and who owns it.
The candle was half melted, almost to the bottom. Any moment from now it might go off.
In the midst of these sheets of paper and pens, was a dusty brown envelope with the words "To Rose, my wife".
As soon as I sat in the good chair, the candle wet off. The door shot itself. For the first time since I have been here, I was scared.....
Then I heard that laughter. The one I heard in my dream that seemed to drawn my voice as I kept screaming with terror. My hands sheltering my ears. My knees on the wooden floor as my body bent low.
"Catch ya!"
"Ah!!!!!!!!!!" I screamed and kept screaming like my lungs was going to burst out. But the more I screamed the more the sound of his horrific and terrifying laughter seemed to drawn my voice.
"he he he ha ha ha! Ha!! he he he ha ha ha! Ha....! "
"he he he ha ha ha! Ha!! he he he ha ha ha! Ha....! "
"Ha! Ha ha ha ha!! Ha ha!! Ha ha ha ha ha!!!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone