Love, Josie

Chapter 3: Knock, Knock

It's been three days since the 'dead Jody' incident. The school gave everyone a week off school because they wanted the police to seriously investigate.

"Are you okay?" my Momma asked. I looked up at her. "I'm fine, Momma.. Why would you ask that?"

She shrugged. "Well, you're poking your breakfast with a fork. You always do that when you're upset."

I looked at my egg omelet. She was right. It was filled with fork-poked holes.

"It's just.. I'm upset about Jody," I muttered.

"Jody? Why?" my Momma asked.

I held up the daily newspaper. It had a picture of Jody on the car - it was a picture of the school's accident.

My Momma didn't understand. "So?"

I handed the paper over. "Read."

She read part of the article. Then she looked up at me. "I'm so sorry.."

I shrugged and got up. "I'm done." Then I ran to my room.

I heard my Momma's voice calling out for me. "Don't you want to finish your breakfa-"

But I didn't hear the rest of her sentence because I had already shut the door. And locked it.

As soon as I got on my bed, tears started flowing down my cheeks. Jody was the only one who was there for me in school. The only one who supported me and stood up for me every time.

Knock, knock.

It was probably Momma.

"Go away," I mumbled, putting my pillow on my face.

Knock, knock.

The knocking was even louder now.

"Please," I begged.

Knock, knock, knock!

I got up and wiped my tears. "Come in," I said weakly.

But the door didn't open. The sliding door at my balcony did.

I looked at the balcony, and for a second, I wanted to scream.

But I was so scared, the scream just didn't make it from my voice to my mouth.

I couldn't scream.

I saw Jody, her face in blood. She opened the sliding door and walked in.

"S-stay out!" I screeched.

She didn't stay out. Jody walked in and looked into my eyes. A drop of blood dripped onto the floor.

"It's me," she said sweetly.

Jody climbed onto my bed and layed on my pillow. Her eyes stated to overflow with tears, and she started to cry.

"Jody..?" I said, too shocked to believe it.

"They killed me," she said.

"Who killed you?" I asked.

"They.. They killed me."

"Who-" But I realized that asking her more and more about who killed her wouldn't make things any better.

"Why don't I clean your face?" I asked. It was a stupid question. I can't clean a ghost's face.

"Sure," she said.

I nodded, not really sure what to do. So I walked to the toilet with Jody.

I washed my hands for a long time, hinting that I wasn't sure what to do. I guess Jody got the hint because she said, "Just splash the water onto my  face."

I shook my head, took my towel and gave it to her. She wiped the blood off her face and handed it to me. I put the towel aside, washed my hands a little and washed away the dry blood off her face.

"This reminds me of the day I got the spaghetti bits out of your hair," she smiled.

I nodded. As soon as I wiped her face clean, we went back to my room. For a second, I turned around and sat on my bed. Then I turned around again so I could talk to Jody.

But she was gone.

I looked around in shock. Was I just having hallucinations?

But when I looked at the floor, the blood that dripped from her face was there.

And when I looked at my towel in the toilet, it had blood from Jody's face.

Were they all just hallucinations?