PROLOGUE: GHOSTS ARE ALL AROUND US
They are all all around me; ghosts. Walking and talking about the 1800s and how much we're into our electronics. Well my life constantly consists with hearing spirits. That's nice right? Nope, I don't think it is at all. I know most the gothic girls and boys in my grade would be excited to be able to see and hear them. Which by I can tell, they apparently have never heard over a thousand complaints per day. Oh well, let's get back to reality.
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CHAPTER 1: FRENCH CROISSANT
" Hey Maddie ," Chessie says when she walks into French Croissant. She's wearing a blue sundress, neon pink stilettos, and a bright orange handbag. She clearly is under cover, or she definitely wasn't looking in the mirror this morning.
" Hey, hello, are you awake?," She said while waving a hand in my face. Clearly, I'm taking to long to answer because my attention snaps back to life and makes my head turn in her direction.
" Hey," I say in a drowsy tone."Sorry I didn't answer, I was daydreaming."
"That's ok, did you get enough sleep last night? You look like a zombie!," she says as she jumps up to sit on the checkered barstool.
" No Chessie, I really didn't. There were these teenagers that were making so much noise down at the lake. They had their graduation party last night, so I really didn't sleep well." I say yawning at the end to convince her I'm actually tired.
" Ok just making sure that you weren't about to hallucinate," she says solemnly.
She has a theory that if I look odd or dazed I'm about to hallucinate. I think her theory began in first grade when all of a sudden, I yelled out "GHOST" because one was in a corner. The night before I didn't sleep well so I talked a little sluggish and looked tired, which made her think that's why I hallucinated.
" Hey, what are you and Alex doing this weekend?" I ask. "I know you two are doing something, it's Valentines Day weekend!"
" Yeah, he rented out a beach house in Dauphin Island, it's a huge three story beach house right on the beach!" She said with a grin at the end.
" So, what are you and Kirk doing?" She asks with a smile creeping at the edges of her lips.
" Oh, we're going to see Daydream. A movie about a girl and boy who fall deeply in love at a beach house in Alabama." I joke. Her face reddens. Chessie's jaw tightens and she takes five long sips of a carmel-almond-and vanilla cappuccino. I guess I didn't notice her ordering one while I was thinking and hearing the ghosts.
"Hahaha....very funny Madeline Isis Sailor, or should I say Madeline Isis Reese!" She says, laughing at the end of the sentence to her own amusement. I laugh at her, and think of my grandmother. We share the same looks and laugh, but she's been battling cancer lately so all of our similarities have been flushed down the drain. Chessie was the only one to turn to. She is my best friend, simple as that.
I check my watch after I finish my coffee, eager to see what time it is. I have four hours until my flight to England to see the London Cemetery, and go to the oldest theater in England, The Plaza of all Rich Men and Women. I know I'm going to be bombarded with spirits when I arrive, but to me, it's worth it. Chessie left about ten minutes ago to go pick up her sister from art class. I check my watch again, pay for my coffee, and walk out of the cafe.
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CHAPTER 2: LONDON IS LOADED WITH GHOSTS
I'm sitting on the corner of a floral park bench in Lafayette Park watching the leaves fall from a magnolia tree. I trace the pattern of my suitcase. The dots and lines intertwine in a circular-sphere shaped pattern. I turn and look at the inscription in the park bench. It's dedicated to John F. Kennedy, the president that was assassinated. I smile at the thought of him, he's so nice and handsome. After my little thought about him I hear footsteps, high heels, to be exact. I see a girl I know, Charlotte Evans, walking past me.
" Hey Maddie-Lynn how are you doing?" She asks me.
" Good," I say.
" Why do you have your bags?" She asks with a questionably look on her face.
" Oh, I'm going to London at six!" I say smiling all throughout my answer.
" Why are you going to London?" She asks.
"Oh, Dad has to go for business so he's taking me and Mom." I just totally lied. My dad actually
doesn't know I'm going and neither does my mom. They just think I'm going to a summer camp in Detroit for a few days. I really hope they don't find out or else I'm screwed.
" Oh, ok have a great time!" Charlotte says and walks off.
Just as Charlotte turns to walk toward Beyond the Closet, a ghost comes out from a tree. I don't know what kind of tree it is, but all I hear is the ritual saying of the ghosts again and again. This is how it goes:
" One day the Prophecy will come true,
A mother will bore a milk-white child,
With Genes of a ghost and a human,
The child will see and hear us,
But will never say a word,
For the time is right on,
the sixteen years of the birth,
The child will join us in the witching hour,
The same time it was born!"
I don't know what this means because somehow I just can't solve it. Mom never took pictures of when I was born. She said she never had a camera or a watch at the time, and the hospital didn't write what time it was on my birth certificate. I'm not the only one that can see ghosts though, Chessie, is a spirit hunter. She began when she was little.
The ghost cocks it's head to the side and stares at me
