What Lurks In The Shadows

Ninja

It's now Friday afternoon, and I sit on my bed, trying to decide what to wear to Jay's party. Staring into the mirror, I replay the events of Wednesday in my head.

After the policeman left to sit on his big butt and eat donuts(we all know it's true), my mom turned to me, and did a quick check up. Once she was satisfied that I wasn't hurt at all, she let it loose on me.

"What on earth did you think you were doing? Why were you driving so fast in the first place? You could have gotten yourself killed!"

"Mom, I'm sorry. I swerved and lost control! Why are you getting mad at me? It was the other guy's fault." I retorted, trying to keep up the lie.

"Because if you..." She heaved a big sigh, rolled her eyes at me, and stomped into the kitchen. "You know what? Go to your room. I do not need to get into this with you right now. What did you do wrong? You know exactly what you did wrong."

"EXACTLY! YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW WHY YOU'RE MAD AT ME." I had finally snapped, still not bothering to admit to what really happened on the road. I figured there was no need to get myself into more trouble than I was already in. "EVER SINCE LYLAC DIED, EVER SINCE SHE- ANYWAYS, YOU HAVE ALWAYS BLAMED IT ON ME. YOU DON'T THINK I'M UPSET? SHE IS-WAS MY SISTER. NOW EVERYTIME SOMETHING HAPPENS, EVERYTIME SOMETHING GOES WRONG, YOU FIND A WAY TO MAKE IT MY FAULT. BOTH OF YOU DO. NO MATTER WHAT THE CIRCUMSTANCES. AND YOU KNOW WHAT? I'M DONE. I'M LEAVING."

With that, I stormed out of the house, slamming the door shut, ignoring the muffled voice of my mother yelling at me to come back. I turned the corner of the house, to bump into my dad. I cursed under my breath.

"What was that?" He had asked.

"Nothing."

"Where do you think you're going?"

"Anywhere but here." My dad grabbed my wrist and yanked me inside, and I decided there was no getting out of his grip, so I didn't fight back.

"What's going on in here?" My dad asked.

My mom acted as if she hadn't heard him. Instead, she looked me in the eye, and said in a deadly calm, quiet voice. "Go to your room."

"Bu-" She cut me off.

"I said, Go. To. Your. Room." At this point my dad had released me and I angrily walked upstairs and plopped on my bed. I heard my parents talking, so I put my ear to the door.

"-is getting out of hand. We need to crack down on her from now on." That was my dad.

"Yeah..." I faintly heard my mother sigh. "I think we have been hard on her lately. When we were arguing, she made a good point. Since Lylac died, we've been taking it out on her." Was that my mother speaking? I felt a spark of hope.

"Excuse me? I don't think your seeing what I'm seeing. Ever since Lylac's death, she's become a brat with an attitude problem. You said so yourself." My dad argued.

"You know what? You're right. I shouldn't listen to her." My hope died then. I laid back onto my bed, face first, and cried into my pillow until I fell asleep.

And that was why I am here, now, going to this party. My parents had decided to ground me for a year, banning me from leaving the house unsupervised, with the exception of school. So even though I still hate parties, more than ever since that night, I want to specifically disobey them by going.

I grab the first thing I see in my closet and put it on. That happens to be a summer dress the colours of sunset, one that Lylac gave me for my birthday. It made me feel really sad, which was a shame because it was a really nice dress, so I change into short sparkly red crop top with a slogan on it that I can't read because it's too fancy, a short black skirt with leggings underneath, and black toms. I would normally hate to wear something like this, my parents would flip if they saw me, but I decide there's no time to change, and the more I can disobey my parents, the better. I crawl out my second story window and jump on to the nearby tree feeling like a ninja. Slowly I climb down and finally reach the ground.

Peering down the street in the dusk I see a little girl singing to herself and playing jump rope. As I study her I see that she has red curly hair with a blue headband and freckles everywhere. She's holding a stuffed duck, normal except for the fact that it has a large red stain on it's left side. Only one other thing is out of place, and it's her tragic expression painted on her face. I slowly walk towards her curious and wanting to know why she is upset. To break the ice I ask, "What'cha up to chicka?"

She looks at me with her face showing a mix of emotions and says, "You can see me?"

Confused I say, "Why wouldn't I?"

The little girl quietly replies, "Because I'm dead."

Shaken, I stumble, knowing this can't be true but it's happening. Hoping for more information, I ask, "What's your name?"

The little girl wrinkles her nose and says, "Amy."