MAX

3

Emily sat in the middle of her floor on top of her clothes that sat carelessly on the ground. Max sat on top of her bed. He asked if he could lie down on it, and when Emily asked about this he only said it was more comfortable. She allowed him to do so, and he folded his hands over his stomach wound. Emily shivered in the cold and held her arms as goosebumps appeared. She glanced over her shoulder at the door and sighed in relief when the door was still closed. She could hear the faint sounds of whatever movie her father was watching in her living room. Emily sighed and tucked a stray piece of her dark hair behind her ear. "Max?"

He opened his eyes and stared at the dark, faded ceiling. "We will have to go out into the living room."

"Where my dad is?" Emily asked. "Why the living room?"

"We need to get all the ghosts in one place." Max explained. "Do you have salt?"

Emily's heart skipped a beat. She knew where he was going with this. "Yes. Max, I've tried rings, incense, ceremonies... nothing works."

Max frowned. "But you haven't had a ghost try it." He took a long, deep breath then continued. "We have to go out into the living room. We draw a ring of salt around us. The ghosts won't be able to get inside, they know that. Then I will talk to them. If they don't listen... we will have to take a different approach."

Emily didn't like the way Max had said that. "A more different approach?"

He sat up in the bed and stood to his feet. "We will have to hurt them."

A heavy silence followed after Max spoke. The room was so silent that even Emily couldn't hear the television from the living room. Instead she could hear his father's laughter at the movie he watched. Then she heard the sound of the ghosts walking around in the dark hallway. She heard their footsteps.

"Come on." Max said, stepping over the clutter on the ground. "We should start now."

"Now?" Emily asked as she stood to her feet.

Max nodded. "It's the weekend. Best to do it when everyone is here." He placed his hand on the doorknob and hesitated to open it. "Are you ready?"

In other circumstances, Emily would have asked if Max was ready. In this situation, Emily felt as if she was fourteen and Max was sixteen. She nodded, "Yeah."

Max opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. Emily did as well and closed her door shut. There was her brother's door to the left of the hallway, and it was wide open. She peered inside out of curiosity and found it full of other ghosts. She held her breath. As she tried to follow Max down the hallway, ghosts gave her odd stares. She slowly tiptoed past her brother's bedroom and was at the entrance to her sister's room when Emily spotted something on the carpet. She stopped, her heart beating. There on the ground lie a pile of mush. Emily knew it once was a person. Bones and flesh mixed with blood soaked into the brown carpet, and Emily felt as if she was going to puke.

Two ghosts appeared in her sister's doorway, and they were fighting. One of the ghosts was pale and had no hair. They were what once was a fresh white dress but now was torn and dirty. Her leg was covered in blood and her nails were sharp. She scratched through another ghost's arm. The opponent was slightly shorter than the woman, and Emily could see bone through flesh on the ghost's face. Barely any flesh hung onto the bones. It looked like a zombie, but Emily knew this ghost was burned to death.

The woman slowly turned her head and stared at Emily. Without warning she scratched through Emily's arm, and she cried out in pain.

Max grabbed onto her hand and pulled her away from the fight. They reached the end of the hallway and stepped out into the dining room. All the lights were off in the house so the movie that her father was watching would be more visible. A small lamp lying on a black table illuminated the small dining space, and Emily could see another ghost. She was small, maybe four feet at most. She wore a yellow wig and striped leggings, with a black leather jacket. She was holding a stuffed bear.

Max seemed to know what he was doing, and he pet the girl on her head as he passed her. Confused, Emily did the same. The small girl looked at Emily but did not harm her.

Emily jogged quietly to catch up to Max. "What was that?" She whispered.

"Mental disease." He whispered back. "She'll kill you with her knife if you don't pet her."

Emily did not see a knife. She looked back to glance at the girl, and found that she was not holding a teddy bear. She was holding a knife, only the handle of it was a stuffed bear. Emily shivered.

Max and her made their way into the living room. There were barely any ghosts in the living room, but it was still cold. Her father was sitting on the couch, laughing at whatever movie he was watching. Emily was now standing in the middle of the living room alongside Max. She cocked her head to the side, confused. Her father didn't even seem to notice her.

"He won't notice you." Max said. He was already pouring a ring of salt around them. "They only see what thy want to see."

Emily frowned. "He... He doesn't want to see me?"

Max stopped pouring salt and thought for a moment. "He doesn't want to see the ceremony."

Emily remembered that she hadn't even seen Max grab salt from the kitchen that they passed. Emily glanced back toward the kitchen and saw a white silhouette walking aimlessly around near the stove. She quickly looked back down at the floor. She couldn't make eye contact with them.

"Okay." Max said, throwing the salt to the side. "It's time."