The Ghost of the Lake

Chapter 20

"Jackson! What's wrong?!" I scream. I receive no response. "Jackson!"

I get out of bed and run into the hallway. "Jackson, are you okay?" I yell.

No answer. Then I hear another scream coming from his room. This time, though, it sounded metallic and scratchy. It was like millions of cats scratching on a chalkboard. It was the most awful noise I have ever heard.

I run into his room and find him crouched in a corner holding on to his teddy bear. His eyes are wide and he is looking at something across the room. I follow his gaze to meet nothing. What is he looking at? I think.

"Jackson, are you okay? What happened?" I ask, crouching next to him.

"I...saw..." he slowly answered. The way he said it made it sound like he has talking in his sleep.

"What did you see, Jackson," I urge him.

"I...s-saw...her," he mumbles.

"Saw who?" I raise my voice. I was starting to get frustrated with him. I was losing sleep because of some foolish nightmare he might have had.

"The," he starts to say, but then stops. I thought he had fallen asleep with his eyelids open. He wasn't saying or doing anything. "Ghost," he whispered it ever so quietly. So he hadn't fallen asleep.

Wait. He had said that he had seen the ghost. How can that be?

"What did you say?" I ask him, incredulously.

He turned to look at me. I saw that tears filled his eyes. "I saw the ghost," he whispered.

"Did she hurt you?"

He shakes his head. "No. All it did was whisper something I could not understand...Opal, I'm very scared. What does she want?"

"I don't know, Jackson." I was very confused. Why had it appeared to Jackson? Would any other family members see it too? "Where was she standing at?"

"She was standing near the window."

"Do you think you were sleeping?"

"No. I was wide awake."

"Okay, Jackson. Right now I can't do anything about it, okay? Try to get some sleep," I tell him soothingly.

"But I'm scared. What if she comes again? Will she hurt me?"

"No I don't think she will hurt you."

"Well then, what does she want?"

"I don't know, Jackson," I raise my voice again. Jackson was asking way too many questions. All I wanted was to get some sleep. "Just don't worry about it."

"I don't think I'll get any sleep tonight," mumbled Jackson.

I pretend not to hear him and walk out of his room. I felt bad for doing it, though.

I go back into his room and tell him, "If you want, you can sleep with me." I thought that was what a good older sister would do.

"Are parents almost here?" he asks me.

"I don't know, Jackson." Seeing that he didn't give me an answer, about the whole sleeping thing, I just say, "I'll be in my room if you need anything."

I walk out of his room and walk into my own room. I get back in bed and close my eyes. I was drifting off when I hear my door open. I force my eyes open and see Jackson at the doorway.

"Opal, I thought I heard something," he says.

"What do you want me to do?" I ask him. I was grumpy. I was about to fall asleep and Jackson comes in to tell me that he has heard something, again.