Annabeth

Chapter nine

That night more strange things happened. I glance at the clock: 3:07, just like last time. I felt a strong grip around my leg and something tried to pull me out of bed. I screamed of course. It sort of became a daily habit. Things would happen, I would scream, Lance would rush by and comfort me. I don't know what else to do. I wonder why he still comes over even though he doesn't believe me.

I look around my room scared of might happen. My room door slams shut.

I suddenly feel brave so I call out. "Who are you? What do you want from me?" The lamp beside me fizzes out. "Why won't you leave me alone?" I cry.

The temperature goes up. My mirror fogs up. I slowly walk toward the mirror and look at it in awe.

Someone was writing on it.

It spelt: Val.

"Val? That's you? Why are you doing such horrible things to me?"

A book falls out of my shelf.

"Wait, but the day that happened, you were still alive! Who else has been in my room?"

The book flipped through. More books fell and the pages turned rapidly. I scream.

"Shhhhh!" somone whispers in my ear.

I whimper.

I pick up the books and place them back on the shelf.

They fell back down.

"What is it? What do you want from me Val? I thought we were friends!"

"What are you trying to tell me?" I plead.

Each book flipped to a certain page. I crouch down and realized that certain words and phrases were circled.

"You did that?" I ask.

I scan theough the pages.

She is going to kill all of you!

"What is this supposed to mean?"

Then, it dawned upon me.

"Annabeth right?!"

She drags me to my bed. A rock gets thrown at my window, causing it to shatter.

"Oh come on! What was that for?"

I look out to see Lance still awake. "Oh. Lance. What about him?"

"You need help." Hissed the voice. 

"Jesus Val. I know you're trying to help me,  but you don't have to sound and act so  scary. Why can't you just show youself?"

Nothing happens.

"I guess its a little early for that. I mean you just d--. Nevermind. Was I right about her? Was it Annabeth that killed you?"

Nothing happens. The room went back to normal temperature.

That was the first time I actually got a good night's rest. Now knowing that Val was trying to help and that I was right about Annabeth,  things seemed a little bit more clearer.

Val seemed to use lots of books in her clues and since I only had a limited select, I went to the library. I searched for books about ghosts, if they were real, that sort of stuff. I was hoping that Val would show up and give me more clues. She never did. I guess she had done all that she could. When that didn't work, I ran into some old newspapers of the past. And what I saw shocked me even more. A couple of papers showed girls our age found dead below the very same cliff on halloween night, just like Val was. I went back and back until I hit the Blackwoods Times of 1945. It was about a girl named Annabeth who was born on Halloween who tragically died on Halloween that year. It says it was a murder, that someone had pushed her down the cliff but the killer wasnt found. I flip through it seeing that the cliff she fell was the same one Val fell off of. Just like the other girls. I flip to the next page to see Annabeth's picture.

She looked exactly like our Annabeth! In fact, it was like they were the same person. I rememvber what Val bad said; that i needed help. I call Lance.

He arrives anout five minutes after. "Thank goodness you came! Look!" I show him the articles.

"Well. You werent kidding!"

"But the question I have is, who is our Annabeth?"

"Lets go eesearch somw sruff about ghosts. Shall we?"

"We shall." We link arms and go to the computers. We spend over three hours there only resting from work to get some food.

All our hour of research led us nowhere. I eventually go back to the newspapers and read iver it one more time. Each and every one of them.  On the Blackwood Times 1945 it said that they only had one lead. It was a teacher at the school nearby who saw it happen.

"Lance, what if she is still alive?"

"The teacher?"

"Yeah, we could ask her a few questions."

We set out to find her address. One quick search was all it took, after all, everybody knew everybody in the small town of Blackwood Falls.

I hesitantly knock on her front door. An old ladyn opened the door.

"Mrs. Williamson?"

"Yes?"

"Um, well. Um we wanted to ask you a few questions."

"Oh, of course come in!"

"...about a girl named Annabeth."

Her face hardened, "What do you want to know?" she snapped.

"We saw the old newspapers, of how girls keep falling off that cliff near the hugh school. And just recently my friend did the same thing."

"Oh Val! Yes I knew her well. She was a good person." She said tearing up a bit.

"Strange things have been hapoening lately, soon after the arrival of this new girl named Annabeth. She looks exactly like the one that died in 1945." Lance explained.

"Well because the Annabeth in your school, is the same as the Annabeth that died." She says.

"But hiw is that possible?" I ask.

"Come in, sit down dearies."

"Annabeth Wenton was quite an odd girl. She was born on Halloween and she had some strange habits.Other than that, she had good grades. But not a lot of friends. She was always mukbling to herself how one day she would come back and she would be the most popular person in school. You know all thise other girls that died agtwr her? They were the most popular gurls of the school, the Queem Bee you xould say. She came back every four years to gain the popularity she had always wanted."

"But how? She's dead!"

"She never really had her justice. Someone had killed her and she wanted revenge. She would kill everyone in her path kust to fet what she wanted. She is a spirit communicator. Before she had died we found her trying to communicate to the dead. Ever since then, she has had evil spirits stuck in her head, telling her what to do. Thise spirits are helping her get what she wants. She is the communicator between here and the other side. She is in between. She is torn. Even though she died long ago, those spirits keep bringing her back."

"Val communicated with me. All the strange things I was experiencing, was her trying to warn me. She left a message for me in my books. It said she was going to kill all of us."

"Well you better hurry. Whenever her eyes turn blue is when the spirits are in control."

"Okay, tell us what we have to do." Lance says.

"You have to find something close to Annabeth. Ince you have it you have to destroy it."

"How?"

"Burn it."

We nod.