Unfinished Stories

Lucas and Amanda

"Amanda?"

"Yeah, Lucas?" I responded, holding the phone up to my ear. He was speaking very quietly.

"I saw her again last night." he said. I took a deep breath.

"Alright. Hang tight. I'll be there in a few." I told him, and hung up the phone. Sighing I pulled on a pair of boots and my coat and made my way over to Lucas's house. It was five o'clock in the morning, and this ordeal happened at least three times a week.

Lucas's family had recently moved into a new house, and Lucas, after doing some research, realized that the previous owner, Victoria Mollieat had died alone in the house, and he was convinced she was haunting the property.

Of course, Lucas had a right to be paranoid- his life had been turned upside down and swung around by its ankles in the last couple months. After a one-night stand at a party he's suddenly going to be a father, and the girl, Kenzie, is total bad news, she's carrying the baby but it's common knowledge that as soon as the baby is born she's leaving and leaving it with Lucas. Nobody knows where she came from, she doesn't go to our school and she doesn't seem to have any parents. Kenzie, at the moment of the phone call, was sitting alone (hopefully) in a hotel room eight and a half months pregnant.

The baby was the reason Lucas's family had decided to move, so there would be more room for another addition to the family, and it was in the new house that Lucas became convinced of the haunting.

I didn't even bother knocking when I got to my friend's house- I was over at Lucas's more than I was at my own house nowadays, helping him set up the nursery and showing him how to change a diaper. I had my own key to their house, and let myself in, climbing up the stairs to his room.

"Amanda!" he exclaimed, when I opened the door.

"Where was she this time?"

"Out on the grounds. I looked out my window at about midnight and she was wandering around out there."

"Why did you look out your window at midnight?" I asked.

"Couldn't sleep." Lucas shrugged, running his hand through his dark hair. I sat down beside him.

"Worried?" I asked, putting my arm around his shoulders. Sometimes I felt like he just made up the ghost woman to mask his fear at raising a child. "You'll do great."

"Is Kenzie going to name the kid?" he asked. (I went to talk to Kenzie the previous day to work out logistics. Lucas refused to see her.)

"She doesn't want anything to do with it. No names, no anything."

"Oh."

"Do you have any names thought up?"

"No."

"Really?"

"Well, I thought, if it was a girl I'd name it Amanda."

"Oh no you wouldn't." I laughed, standing up. "Don't you dare. Then I'm going to have to name my first boy Lucas and to be honest I'm fine with just one Lucas in my life."

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"About what?"

"About Victoria Mollieat."

"Luke, how could I? I've never seen her."

"I have proof." Lucas told me, pulling out his phone. He pulled up a picture and handed the phone to me. It was taken from his window, probably this morning. The lawn was illuminated in the fresh snow, and there was a deep pattern of footprints throughout the lawn. I put the phone down, suppressing a shiver.