Stalker

Chit-Chat

Josh backed up against the wall. He walked back into a corner and sat down, not once taking his eyes off the little girl.

She sat down where she stood. Looking around the room. She seemed interested in it.

Josh was nearly crying with fright. How did she get here? Why was she here? What did she want with him? He had some many questions. And she seemed to have read his mind.

"How did I get here? Well I can be where I want, when I want." Croaked the girl "Why am I here and what do I want with you? I'm simply here to chat. That's all."

"Who are you?" Josh barely managed to speak. The response came immediately.

"I'm Joanne," she said "I'm what you would call, a ghost." She smiled and evil, crooked smile.

"I was raped and tortured for days before I was murdered. Then my body was dumped by the side of the road in a forest."

Josh didn't believe her. There was something about her that made Josh feel as if she wasn't telling the truth.

"It started when you saw my dead body, you decided to think nothing of it. Do nothing for or to it. Just ignore it. My soul will never truly die until my body rests in peace." She almost looked sad now "I decided to follow you. Talk to you and ask for you to give me a proper burial, to set me free."

"Why did you kill all those people then!" Josh half shouted half sobbed. He remembered the two that she had killed but also the two he had killed.

"You wouldn't talk to me alone, so I helped you kill them."

'You're a liar!" Josh yelled this time "Why, if your story is true, would run away from me at the Police Station?"

"Oh you ARE smart, aren't you?" She had a wide, deadly smile spread across her rotten face. "Well, some of that story was true. I'll admit that the second half was a lie. I was in fact murdered. Dumped on the side of a road. And left there. I had a choice to leave this Earth forever or to stay for eternity. I stayed of course."

"Why?" Asked Josh, calming now.

"I had barely lived my life on this Earth. I had good friends and family. I didn't want to leave them. And then I saw you!"

She paused for a while and seemed to examine Josh's expression as if to see whether he believes what she is saying. When Josh said nothing, she continued.

"You were such a cutie!" This really creeped Josh out. He wanted her to leave and never come back. He wished this had never happened to him.

"I don't believe any of it! I know you're lying! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Josh yelled, for a second he felt worried that someone might have heard him and that they would come and tell him off. Although nobody did.

"You're no fun," croaked the girl. Her smile had faded. "I stayed for revenge. My life was ruined. Now I'm gonna ruin yours."

"Haven't you ruined mine enough already!" Josh complained. He started sobbing again and the girl began laugh a wicked laugh.

"Not until you're DEAD!" She laughed a loud, shill, piercing laugh. Josh buried his face with his hands and hid. He fell into an uncontrollable cry. "I wonder who my next VICTIM will be! I would have chosen your girlfriend, but you've already taken the pleasure of KILLING HER for me!"

She continued to laugh and Josh continued to sob. He didn't know how long they'd cried and laughed for, all he knew was that he eventually cried himself to sleep.

***

Josh woke up. His light bulb had turned off. It was dark, vertually pitch black. Josh had no idea what time is was but assumed that lights would turn off between night time hours. He didn't feel very tired though.

He sat up, looked around. And unexpectedly saw nothing. Just the blank mattress walls and floors of his cell.

What to do? How was Josh going to pass the time for five years? He has nothing. Well nothing physical. He had his imagination. That could be fun! But it would get very boring, repetitive.

I wish I had a watch! Then just like in cartoons, the light bulb above his head blinked on. Josh laughed at this and stood up. Examining the bulb and enjoying the new light.

It hung from a 50cm cord from the roof. The bulb was still high enough that Josh could only touch it by jumping.

The bulb turning on though, had given him an idea.

If that little girl would actually haunt him until his death, then what if he ended his life by himself? He could end the misery of himself and prevent himself from doing any more harm to others. This was a bit of a sad idea though. He still had so much of his life to live!

That little girl... Joanne. She had been murdered. She is now ruining Josh's life because her life was ruined by someone else. But why him? What had Josh done wrong? Why didn't she just ruin the life of the on her ruined hers?

So many questions still. Josh wanted to find answers before he ended his misery.

I wonder if I could touch her, he thought. I'd kick her in the head and drown her. Oh that brings another question to mind. Why was her hair always dripping wet? Had she already been drowned? Is that how she died?

"Yes"

Josh spun around in shock and terror. Joanne was standing behind him, she was only centimetres away. Close enough to touch.

Josh half raised his arm, fist clenched. He slowly put it back down by his side. He wanted answers before he got her angry.

Just then, another question was raised in Josh's mind. How had she known what I was thinking? Can she read minds? How?

"Through the electromagnetic waves in the air. You are easy to read." Joanne croaked and smiled, staring up into Josh's eyes.

Josh mentally crossed off two questions from his list. Then decided on which to ask next.

"What happened to you?"

"It was all my father's fault. He kept me in a small cage locked up in a small shack in the middle of a forest. He brought me food and sometimes told me stories and showed me photographs. He hid me from the rest if his family. My mum used to be there with me. My dad locked her in the cage before I was born. My mum had a son before me an dad kept him at home with him. The poor kid was brought up thinking that his step mum was his real mother. Mum died in the cage with me when I was about four. Then it was just me. I don't know why I was kept in the cage. Probably for the things that my dad would do to me..."

She broke off for a while and stared at the ground. Josh was straining to try and keep up and absorb all of this information. He almost felt sorry for Joanne.

"I would look forward to the days that dad would bring me photos. Photos of my brother. He looked different nearly every time I saw him. Or rather every time I saw a photo of him. When I was getting too old and not so 'fun' anymore, dad unlocked the cage and let me stretch my legs for the first time ever. He took me to a lake for a picnic, well that's what he said we were going there for. He drowned me there. Put me in the back of his ute and drove away. We hit a bump while driving and I... I fell out."

She stopped again. The two of them knew what happened next. She was there for a couple of days before Josh had driven past.

"His son, my brother, was about seven years older than me. I'm ten now. I'm jealous of him. He was chosen to live in my dads rich house with my dads new bitch of a wife. I do anything to get back at him, I'd even kill him!"

Not making much sense of this, Josh chose his next question.

"Why don't you just make your dad suffer, rather than me and your brother?" Josh asked, confused.

"Trust me," she croaked "making his son suffer will ruin him. He loves that boy more than anything."

"Where you I come into all of this then?" Asked a still very confused Josh. He was hanging onto every word that Joanne was speaking. Although this was terrifying, Josh found it very interesting. But what came next surprised him beyond belief.

"You're my brother of course!" Smiled Joanne Minx