Ghost

Chapter 13

Just after I found out about Alec and Claire's relationship, the humming began. It was a quiet sound, something you wouldn't notice without silence. I couldn't tell what song it was, but anyone could tell who was humming it.

"What's she doing?" Mel hissed, softly so her voice was hidden below Adalyn's.

"I can't believe she can be in a good mood after doing something like that." Alec said angrily.

"Should we check it out?" I queried, nervous by the thought of my own idea.

"No way!" Claire hissed, her hands trembling inside of Alec's.

"No," Mel said, "we should. I get the feeling we won't be able to progress if we don't."

"What is this, a video game?" Alec asked dubiously.

"Its not, but she probably won't stop until we see her."

Mel had a point, the girl had spent decades on her own in an empty house. She definitely wasn't going to get impatient anytime soon.

"Alright." Alec said, apparently coming to the same conclusion as me. "But if she gets weird we're leaving, got it?"

Mel nodded.

When we entered the kitchen where Adalyn was humming her song, we could all feel the difference from her previous behaviour. Unlike her previous amused and sardonic expression, she now wore a sleepier, more passive smile. As if she'd just woken up. Just from the look on her face, and the drastic change from a straight spine to slouched shoulders, we could tell we were meeting her.

"Elaine?" Mel asked cautiously, already prepared to bolt out of the room like a deer.

The brown haired girl looked up at us slightly, her eyes watching our faces but her face still tilted slightly downwards.

"Elaine is here." she spoke airily, seemingly distracted.

"This is our chance," I whispered behind me to everyone else. "We can figure out what to do with her now."

"Let's ask a couple questions first." Mel said, still fairly cautious.

"Elaine? Can we ask you a few questions?"  Claire asked softly, she was the only remaining person who still had empathy for the girl. "Is that okay?"

Elaine was too preoccupied to pay attention. She had begun to hum again, this time incorporating twirls and spins.

"Just ask her something." Alec said.

"Um..." Claire pondered. "Elaine, could you tell me about your mom?"

Elaine spun so she was facing us, "Elaine killed her mother by being alive. Just like she killed her father by being dead." She giggled and spun around "Rosy, rosy drop down and die!" She sung to one of the worn out cupboards.

"Why's she talking in third person?" I whispered.

"She's completely batshit." Alec muttered.

"Do you remember what happened to your Dad?" Claire pressed after casting a glare at her boyfriend.

"The girl in Elaine's brain said he dropped dead." Elaine said distractedly, still facing the cupboard as though she thought it was Claire. "He drank some funny stuff, like all of the guests who came here." Elaine's eyes widened and she pressed a finger against the cupboard door, shushing it. "The girl in Elaine's brain said not to talk to the guests, she's gonna fix them first."

"Is she talking about us?" I whispered to the other three.

"Must be. Adalyn's developed a pretty big grudge against us as far as I can tell." Mel whispered back.

In front of us, Elaine had begun frantically opening and closing all of the cupboard doors. She turned towards us sharply, "Elaine wants an apple."

It was easy to see there was no food in the kitchen, there was nothing in the kitchen except for a few broken mousetraps and a kitchen knife that was chipped near the base. I'd thought about taking it with me after Mel and I visited the kitchen, but had decided not to bother.

Elaine's face lit up as though remembering something. "It's okay though, the girl in Elaine's brain might find one when she fixes the guests who drank all that funny stuff."

Then Elaine's face contorted in pain and she pressed her small hands against her temple. "The girl wants to visit now," Elaine said hurtfully. "Maybe she'll bring back an apple for Elaine."

Elaine began to shriek in pain and I instantly recognized her scream from the kitchen phone. I grabbed Mel's hand and pulled her out into the hallway, the other two in tow, in an attempt to escape the unbearable sound. The sound stopped moments later, and lots of things probably happened during the seconds in between, but when I think about it the only thing I remember is the dented knife jabbing into Alec's throat.