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Chapter 11

Alice got home just on time. Her parents were waiting for her. She used the doorbell. "Hey sweetie. How was school?" Her mother asked, as she opened the front door. "School is alright." Alice answered. The parents were discussing about their day at work. The father was busy cooking. "Hi Alice." Her dad greeted her jovially. Alice went to her room. She started to work on the homework that she had. Alice had half of the homework finished when she was called to supper by her mother. She left her backpack on her bed. Alice helped her family to set the table. She had the milk glasses put at the usual spots on the table. Alice helped to pour the milk in the glass. "Well Alice, your mother and I both had fabulous days at work. I actually went to research some information about the abandoned construction site at the local library. The project was cancelled for no clear reason. Somebody from the construction company had told the reporter that the funds for the project have been cut off." The father spoke.

"Do you know why the money used for the project was cut off from it?" The mother asked. "Maybe there was a problem within the construction company. That they must be low on the money used for construction projects?" The father nodded. "I was wondering why the project was cancelled. So I did some further research on this construction company's website. They did not say if there was a problem with the money used for the projects. However, a part of the funds that was supposed to be intended for the construction site has vanished. According to an article in a new magazine that talks about finances. This only happened after the construction site was abandoned. The company has denied this article. They say its just nonsense." The mother looked at him suspiciously. "So you're saying that the money needed for the project has disappeared. Who would want the money from the construction project?" She questioned. "I don't know who might have taken the money. It might be somebody who works within the construction company. It might even be one of the people on the council board branch of the company." The father answered with his theory. So many things were going through Alice's mind right now. Somebody was not wanting her to take the bus back home from school. Now there was somebody who took the money from the construction company. Alice didn't know anybody who would work for the construction company and steal the money needed for their projects. Alice and her parents enjoyed eating their supper. They continued to talk about their day. Alice kept thinking about why her bus schedule was messed up. "By the way Alice, I assume that you heard news about your bus schedule from the principal?" The mother asked. Alice finished taking a bite out of her meal before answering. The father was shocked by the news at work. "Who would want to keep Alice off the bus?" The mother grilled. She was stressed as the father was. "It was just a mistake darling." The father replied. He looked at her, then looked at Alice. The father didn't want Alice to get upset by the news that somebody had messed up the schedule on purpose. He got up from his side of the table and went to the get some dessert from the fridge. "Your mother brought a sweet treat from the store on our way home." The father announced as he brought a container out of the fridge. It was a cherry pie. While the father cut up the pie, Alice still had her mind on the bus schedule.

She wanted to know who would want to something so bad. As she was served the slice of pie, Alice had her mind off the problem with the bus schedules and was savoring each bite of the cherry pie. After finishing her slice of pie, the table was cleaned. Alice carried the dirty dishes over to the counter, where they would be put in the dishwasher afterwards. The family had many questions in their minds that bother them. Alice's bus schedule was messed up by somebody, but by who. The parents thought that Alice didn't know about it, but she did. There were three kids on her mind that wouldn't want her to take the bus back home. Alice also thought that the mystery about why the constructive was abandoned was getting more suspenseful by each piece of news. Somebody had stolen money from the company that was meant for the new mall after the construction work was cancelled. As she thought about the problems, she thought doing her homework would take her mind off of the troubles that she had on her mind. When peeping into the small opening in her room using the small opening left by the door, Alice saw that her backpack was on the floor. Alice opened the door to her room and glance at the backpack for a few seconds. She then went to examine her own backpack. There nothing left on it. Alice went to open the backpack to take out her homework. She then got out a pencil and eraser. Suddenly, there was a hoarse noise being heard nearby.

It sounded as if the voice of the person was breathing in and out. Alice had an eerie feeling about that noise. She looked at the ceiling, then at the floor. Suddenly, James was floating in front of her. Alice nearly jumped. She almost lost her eraser and pencil by just throwing them in the air. The two small objects landed on her right. "So, I've heard that you've learned a little bit about why the construction site is so desolate." He spoke with a calm, but the hoarse voice coming from the construction worker ghost made it sounded like he was talking to a sickly person. "I think you've just learned a little bit on why the small mall you were working on was cancelled too." Alice commented. "Oh I have learned a little bit from the information that your father has shared. I think that the lady who has cancelled the construction company must have something to do with it." James commented. Alice didn't know if James was right or not. She didn't want to make him mad, or even sad. Since she saw what he was able to do with Amelia, Liam, and Rosalie. "I don't know if that lady you're talking about might be behind the scheme of stealing money from the construction company. It might be somebody who might have worked for the company to as a worker." Alice guessed. The ghost had a dirty look on his face. "I strongly disagree with you. The people who are responsible for the money flowing through the company are the people in the council. I know that the lady who was in charge of the construction project that I worked at was a part of the council board of the company." "Alice? What's going on in there?" Her father queried as he opened the door. Alice turned to look at her father. "Were you talking to somebody? I just thought I heard somebody that sounded like a ghost." He said looking at her all alone in the room. The ghost was nowhere to be seen. It was almost as if he just vanished immediately. Alice tried to think of silly reason of why there was the sound of somebody who was a ghost talking to her. She looked at her father, then quickly looked all around her room. Alice didn't want to tell her father that she had something in her throat since that would not be a good excuse.

Even though Alice hated lying, she knew her dad would not believe her story of talking to a ghost. "Oh that, I was talking to my friends at school today. She showed me a trick that could make your voice sound hoarse. I tried that trick and it worked. I may sound weird, but I actually practiced that voice while talking to myself." Alice lied. She was nervous that her father wouldn't believe her story. Her father stared at her for five seconds. Then he shook his head. "I'm glad that you're still here. I was scared that somebody might have snuck into your room and was talking to you." The father responded with his calm tone of voice. He was trying to prevent himself from being worried. "Well, I'm glad its just you here. Just don't scare me like that. Your mother and I don't like being scared by these scary noises. I thought that you might be sick." He asserted with a calm and understanding tone of voice. He shut the door soon after. Alice breathed a sight of relief. She was waiting for James to be appearing any moment. After three whole minutes, Alice went to work on her homework. She was about to finish the next question when she looked up. She dropped her pencil. It made a small mark on the paper next to the eraser. James was floating in the middle of the room. Alice gasped when she saw him pop up in the middle of the room. She supposed that she should ask a question of about the lady he talked about earlier. "The lady who had the construction project cancelled, what was she like?" Alice asked the ghost. James started to become a little angry on the inside. He had horrid memories of her. "She was bossing people around. I know that she was in charge of the construction project. Some of her ideas that she had to improve the work environment I disagreed with. For example, she wanted all of us as a group to weld a vertical steel girder with the others. It would be easier for two people to weld the steel girder into place. She only snapped back at us for disagreeing with her." Alice somewhat knew of what James meant by that. "Did you get into fights with her?" "Of course I did. Pretty much everybody who worked on the small mall did not like her. She wanted somebody to wash her car once. Even though that had nothing to do with the construction project. She just felt entitled to give us extra work that had nothing to do with the construction work." Alice knew how James felt. In a way, the lady who was in charge of making sure that the building was built reminded her of Rosalie and Amelia. Amelia was the bossiest person she ever met at school. Rosalie somehow felt that she could give some silly advice to other students. "What did you do about this lady, did you told the company or the owner about her?" Alice questioned. "We would have, but if we tried to. The lady would have us fired. She told us that we were nothing but tattletales and whiners." James replied nearly shouting.