Beyond (Niall Horan) (COMPLETED)

Chapter Three

I thought this plotline might be...interesting (x lets see how it turns out, shall we? (:

Mariana's POV

A gasp escaped my lips as I spun around once again, expecting to see Eric behind me, snickering to himself due to the little prank he pulled. But no...no Eric. He wasn't anywhere in sight.

Mom and Dad weren't up here either, I quickly realized.

I was completely alone.

"Wh-who's there?" I stuttered, my eyes scanning the room for any intruders. But the attic room was still small and besides me...there was absolutely no one up here.

"Please..." The voice whispered, causing me to gasp again.

"Wh-who's there?" I repeated. "Wh-who are you?"

No responses that time. At first, I thought maybe I just hadn't gotten used to the new house yet, the new surroundings, and I was just making silly stuff up in my head.

Until I saw the figure right in front of me.

I didn't even give myself time to look at it. At first there was absolutely nothing in front of me, and then...there was something. Opening my mouth and letting out a long shriek, I ran around the ghostly looking figure and to the stairs. I tried not to trip over my own feet as I ran down the stairs to my room, slamming the door behind me.

There had to be a key or something right?! So I could lock the door or something.

Are you an idiot Mariana?! A voice questioned in my head, causing me to freeze. There's a damn ghost up there! It could easily float through walls or doors, you know that don't you?!

It...the voice...er...I was right, as I quickly realized. A locked door wouldn't stop the ghost from getting out of the attic and itno my room. It could easily float right through the house's walls.

Well, there was one thing that was completely obvious out of all this mess.

There was no way in hell I was going to be sleeping in my room tonight.

Realizing I'd probably been glued to that one spot by the door long enough, I quickly ran out of my room and down the stairs. I spotted Mom coming into the house, carrying a heavy looking box.

"Mom!" I exclaimed, running to her. She peered up over the box and looked at me.

"Yes?" She asked as she sat the box down in the middle of the hallway. I looked down at the box too and then back up at her.

"Are you sure that's a good place to put i-"

"I'll deal with it later." She interrupted. As I was about to speak again, I watched as a frown crossed her face.

"Mariana, what's wrong? You look as white as a ghost."

Ghost.

Her words caused the little panic alarm to go off inside my head once again as I remembered what I had just seen up in the attic.

"Mom, we've got to get out of here! We've got to move back to our old house! Now!" I exclaimed. I picked up the box that she had sat down and started walking to the door with it. I didn't care what I had to do to get away from the house and its resident ghost. I would drive away from my parents and my brother alone if I had to.

What? It's not like I didn't have my license. I could actually do so if I wanted and go to...I dunno, grandma's house or something.

"Mariana. What's wrong?" Mom asked again as she grabbed my arm, stopping me. The box fell from my hands, causing me to cringe, but luckily, there was the sound of nothing breaking. Whatever was in that box didn't seem to be very fragile.

Just then, I noticed the label on the box.

Eric's Football Jerseys it read.

Of course.

Then I noticed that Mom was still looking at me, a strangely concerned expression on her face.

It suddenly hit me that I had never answered her question. She'd asked what the matter was.

"Mom, you're never going to believe me," I sighed. "But-"

"But what?" She asked.

"That's what I'm about to tell you!" I exclaimed in complete agitation.

"Sorry, sorry. Go on." She urged.

"Mom...this house really is haunted. I saw the ghost...th-the thing upstairs. It's here Mom! It might be that kid who was killed a long time ago, but I dunno. I just that...th-that we have to get out of here! We could get hurt, it could hurt us or something!" I exclaimed. I knew I probably sounded completely insane right now, just babbling on like this, but quite frankly, I couldn't care less. I just needed for her to listen to me for once!

As I watched Mom's expression, she just stared at me for a minute. And then she began to smile. The smile turned into a chuckle and then the chuckle turned into a full on laughter.

I groaned.

She didn't believe me!

"What's going on here?" I heard Dad ask. I looked up in time to see him entering the house with Eric following behind him. Eric was glaring at the ground and his hands were stuffed into his jeans pockets. I knew Dad had had a talk with him and it clearly didn't go well.

"Nick honey," Mom's laugh died down a bit (just a bit) as she looked at my father. "Mariana thinks the house is haunted."

Dad then looked from my mother to me, squinting his eyes. I could feel my brother's eyes on me too and heard him start to laugh. Now Dad and I were the only ones not laughing.

"Dad listen I swear to God I-"

"Enough," he interrupted. Geez, what was with everyone interrupting me lately?!

"Mariana," he continued, "You know full well that ghosts don't haunt this house! They don't exist! When a person dies, they go to Heaven or Hell and that's it! The end!"

"But what if it isn't?!" I protested. I wasn't about to loose this thing without fighting back first. "What if the boy (man?) who was killed in the explosion is here? Maybe he's stuck! Maybe for some reason he couldn't find his way to Heaven! That happens couldn't it? And maybe...maybe he's dangerous! Maybe he's frustrated, agitated that he can't find his way there? He could seriously hurt us! We need to leave!"

I finally finished my little speech and looked at my Dad, praying to God that he would believe me, at least a little bit.

Apparently I didn't pray hard enough.

"Mariana, I'm going to say this once and only once. There. Are. No. Such. Things. As. Ghosts. Got it?" Dad asked, folding his arms over his chest. I could feel my eyes widen as I nodded my head in defeat.

"Fine. There's no such thing." I muttered, not believing my own words.

"Good," he stated, unfolding his arms. He looked like he was about to leave, but I stopped him.

"Oh, Dad?"

"Yes?"

"Can I...sleep on the couch tonight? Please? The attic in my room creeps me out." I was telling half of the truth there. The attic did creep me out, but so did our resident ghost.

Dad sighed, but he gave in.

"Fine."

No cliffhanger for this chapter? o.O oh God I hope I'm not going soft. And I dunno why Mariana is so...against the ghost thing. I would love having Niall haunting me, wouldn't you? (; comment and vote if you want!