MAX

4

Max had finished drawing the ring around Emily and him, and together they waited for the ghosts to come. One by one they filed out from the kitchen and her horrid hallway and made their way toward the living room. A chill ran down Emily's spine. She's seen many of the ghosts before, but not all at once. Some of them she didn't recognize, and she knew they were new. Emily bit her lip. She hadn't noticed Max before until today. "Max, why haven't I seen you before?" She turned to him.

He seemed more nervous than Emily, and Emily was scared beyond the definition of fear. "I was new." He said. "I'm only a week dead. I had to get used to the idea that I wasn't alive."

Emily pondered this for a moment. His explanation made sense. She looked back to her father. He continued to watch his movie as if Emily had never existed. She had performed rituals before to try and get rid of the ghosts. She realized that every time she had done so, her family didn't seem to notice. Her family just seemed to disappear. Emily just hadn't paid much attention to it.

As Emily's eyes wandered toward the hallway of wandering souls, her face turned even more pale than it was. Her hands began shaking. She knew some of the ghosts that were coming toward the living room, and she knew that there was one that scared her the most.

In a high-pitched voice, one of the ghosts spoke. "Here comes young age!"

Emily didn't laugh. She couldn't speak. As two ghosts exited the hallway and turned toward the living room, Emily could see Young Age from where she stood. Young Age was always accompanied by another ghost, who always announced her presence. Emily has later found out that the two ghosts used to be cheerleaders, until their bus crashed and killed a bunch of students, including these two cheerleaders. Young Age was not a pretty sight. Emily could see her skin melting from her face, and her teeth showed through her melted lips. She held one blue and white Pom-Pom, and she stared at Emily with big eyes with no eyelids to accompany them. She never spoke, only stared.

The ghosts had stopped coming out of the hallway and were crowded around the couch where Emily's father sat laughing. Max cleared his throat and all the ghosts quieted their screaming. Occasionally one of them would scream something indecipherable, but it usually faded away quickly.

"This is not our home!" Max said loudly. "This home belongs to the girl who is standing beside me. Emily." He quickly glanced at her. "It's time that we rest. You all know that you aren't supposed to be here. Some of you have been here too long."

Emily's gaze drifted toward one particular ghost who stood out among them. He had large nails that curled because they were so long, and blood dropped down from his eyes and nose and seeped into his mouth. His eyes were nearly completely black. He was far past dead.

"We need to rest." Max continued. "For better or worse, leave Emily alone. Let's rest, so that our families can know that we are at peace."

Max and Emily watched as some ghosts faded into a bright light. Emily counted at least fifteen of them that had done so, and then none of the other ghosts left. With her heart pounding, Emily countered those who had decided to stay. There were six. One of them included Young Age, though her sidekick cheerleader was not there. The one that looked more demon than ghost had stayed, and the one that had scratched her was among the six as well.

"No one else?" Max questioned.

The ghosts suddenly began walking through the couch. Emily checked to make sure she was safely in the ring. The ghosts began pounding and scratching as if they wanted to get to her, but their attempts were blocked by an invisible force. The circle was working. Emily's jaw dropped. It never had worked when she had tried it before. Emily looked to Max, but he was gone. She began to panic and looked through the six ghosts to find Max among them. One of the ghosts had reached through the circle and had pulled him out. "Max!" Emily raised her voice.

"We won't go home!" One of the ghosts said. Emily turned to the source of the noise. This ghost had vomit stuck to their clothes and dripping from their mouth. "We won't go home!" The ghost repeated.

"This is home!" The demon-ghost said. His voice was low and gravelly. Emily didn't even think that that ghost could speak.

Young Age was just staring at Emily with wide eyes. It made Emily want to scream out of fear.

The young girl wearing the yellow wig and black leather jacket was also among the six. She tried to slash at Emily with her knife, but each time it was deflected by the ring of salt. A tear slipped down her face and she quickly wiped it away. She had to fight back. She had to do something.

Max somehow was shoved back into the circle. He looked at Emily with wide eyes. "Get back to the room."

"What?" Emily asked. Sure, there were only six ghosts left, but Max had said that he could get rid of all of them. She would be trapped once again if she went in her room.

"Go!" Max said as his arm was grabbed by a ghost. Emily ran out of the circle and shoved through two ghosts, running around the couch. She bounded down the dark hallway and fell into her room. She slammed the door shut and lie in her cluttered mess on the ground.

All she could hear was her pounding heart. She didn't know how long she sat there on the ground until she finally caught her breath. She looked at her arm and found a large red scratch covered it. Blood slowly seeped out of the cut.

Someone began pounding on her door. Emily whipped her head and found whoever was on the other side was in a hurry. Her thoughts turned to Max. Max had opened the door very quietly when he first found Emily. Whoever was on the other side was not quiet.

Emily grabbed her lamp from her table and gripped it until her knuckles turned white. She whipped open the door and slammed the lamp down on the first ghost that was there. It was Young Age. She fell to the ground. She couldn't even close her eyes with no eyelids.

Max came running down the hallway, followed by the rest of the ghosts. "Close the door!" He warned. He bounded into the room and Emily slammed the door shut. A moment later the door was being pounded on by ghosts.

Emily set the lamp back down on the table. It was flickering now.

The two sat on the floor for minutes before Max spoke. "We have to go for plan B."

Emily dug her nails into her palms. She couldn't help the anger that she felt. Max had said that he could get rid of them. She wasn't mad that she was scratched. She was frustrated that the six most viscous ghosts were left aside from Max. She was mad that she was the only person who could see the ghosts. She was mad that her home was the house where all the ghosts went to. She was mad that her entire family and classmates bought she was weird. "Plan B?" Her voice raised over the pounding at the door. "Plan A didn't even work! You're only fourteen years old, Max, and you think you can fix this! You clearly can't, so just let me fix it myself."

A silence followed after Emily finished talking. Max stood to his feet and walked to the door.

Emily grew desperate. "Max, I-I'm Sorry. I didn't mean any of that."

His hand rested on the doorknob. "Yes, you did. But how would I know? I'm only fourteen." He opened the door and walked out into the hallway.

No pounding followed.