The Dare

The Great and Confusing Recuse

I was at a local tea and cake house on the Royal Mile. Listening to music on my iPhone, I barely noticed the waitress come up to my table. She was a short, petit thing with short red hair. "Ready to order?" She had a white pad in her hand. "Huh? Oh, yeah! Uh, a pot of green tea with a raspberry tart please." "Sure thing," she scribbled down quickly. Then she looked at me again; a sort of concerned expression. "You ok, hun?" "Oh, I will be," I sighed leaning back in my chair. "Just got a lot going on at home." "Don't worry," she said after a moment of silence. "Things may look down now but it'll get easier. It always does." "Thanks," I flashed her a grateful smile. It felt nice to hear something encouraging for a change.

With a little nod, she took off. I was to put my headphones back in before another waitress- this one with medium brown hair- arrived at my table. "Decide what you want yet?" "Oh, I'm sorry. Another waitress already took my order." "What other waitress?" She gave me a confused look. "I'm the only one waiting tables today." "Huh?" I glanced around for the former waitress, only to see that she was nowhere in sight. Oh fu-....... "Sorry," I made myself turn my attention back to her. "Must have been daydreaming."

So I can't tell ghosts apart from humans, I reasoned to myself as I walked towards Holyrood park. That's totally not fair; how will I ever know now without trying to touch them? I guess I could offer to shake hands with everyone; if my hand goes right through theirs, I'll know. But then, not all spirits look alike. Some look remarkably similar to the living, while others- not alluding to a certain unwanted roommate- had distinguishing features. But from what I could tell, more often than not, they looked like regular people. Damn; cause life wasn't hard enough now.

Sighing, I reached the entrance to the park. It was jammed pack full of people, which was normal for a Saturday afternoon. I was on alert now, watching for individuals who stuck out or were staring in my direction. I think it surprised them just as much as me that I was able to see them. But no one looked unusual- at first. Things didn't start getting weird until I got higher along the dirt and stony path. With the sea in view, I paused for a second to take in the scenery. Ok, I thought as the wind flew all throughout my hair. So I guess it could be worse, my eyes lowered a bit softly. If I had to be doomed to see the undead, there are worse places to do it. Or that's what I thought until a bunch of loud voices ahead of me interrupted my train of thought.

"Hop two three! Keep it up men! The enemy isn't far now." I looked over the bend to see what appeared to be a patrol group marching around the area where the castle used to be....... six hundred years ago. They looked authentic enough, what with their traditional uniforms and ancient weaponry. But I knew right away that they were ghosts; probably condemned to guard the tower they lost in life or something. Wanting nothing to do with them, I immediately set off in the other direction, not that that got me far. I turned to see a group of men, a few women, and children sitting around the valley below. They all looked to be from the Georgian period; it was also my first time seeing someone else with animal features. One of the men tusks and a woman had cat ears and whiskers. Although they seemed to be having a picnic, no one wore happy expressions.

"Would you look at all the foreigners?" I overheard one of the men scowl. "Here here. What happened to our country? We used to have real character; none of this wussy diversity nonsense." "I think we lived in the right era." My eyes rolled. Good old-fashioned racism- assholes. I didn't want anything to do with these closed-minded idiots either. Not seeing any way I could go from here, I contemplated turning around. This park was crawling with ghosts and not the fun kind either- if there was such a thing. I doubt it.

I was to spun around until a voice caught my attention again. "Look there! She can see us!" Oh god, my eyes winced shut. "Who?" "There; that one. The one in weird clothing." "All living people wear weird clothing," another corrected. "You there! Living girl!" Oh no, now they're coming to me? Why? What do they want? Ugh! This was a nightmare. By the time I looked, I saw three big, rough men approach me with one lady following quickly behind. "Here now! What do you mean interrupting our party like this?" One demanded. "I didn't interrupt anything," I said, trying my best not to roll my eyes. "I was just walking by." "This is private property!" "This is crown land," I retorted. "Maybe now, but not in our time." "Well this is now, and now it's not private land." I don't know why I was bothering to argue with a ghost; they couldn't hurt me, they were no threat at all.