A New Kind Of Love//Book 3 (ON HOLD)

Chapter Eleven: Little Frightened Francis

July 7th, 1997

Michael's POV

Latoya stood there, still looking downright horrified, the brush still gripped in her shaking hands. "You saw a ghost?" I raised an eyebrow, questioning whether or not she was being actually reasonable. "Yes, and I'm not lying. I really did see one!" She exclaimed, sighing heavily, placing her hands on her hips.

I rolled my eyes, not believing her, not yet. She lied sometimes, maybe she was just trying to scare her younger siblings. "Are you sure?" I inquired. Latoya groaned, throwing her hands up in the air, still clinging onto the hairbrush, "Yes! I saw it in the mirror as I was doing my hair."

Janet spoke up from behind me, a smirk laced across her face. "Are you sure you didn't just see your reflection?" She chuckled, Latoya gasped, furrowing her eyebrows. I nudged her on the arm, that was very inconsiderate, "Janet! Not cool." Janet sighed, crossing her arms across her chest, "sorry."

Though Latoya was pretty ridiculous, the thought of the house being haunted did seem plausible. It always seemed a little too cold, the vibe I got from the mansion like house was terrible. And not to mention the thing I saw last night, I thought it was just a figment of my imagination, but maybe it wasn't.

Flashback

July 6th, 1997

The bed was lumpy and uncomfortable, unlike the one I had at home, which I craved for so badly. I wanted desperately to fall asleep, since the time was ticking nearer to ten PM, and I wanted to get some sleep before my downright terrible morning sickness woke me up. But, the horrible pain in my back wouldn't let up, my body wasn't used to carrying so much weight since I was pregnant with Francis, so it was reacting badly.

Maybe I would've fallen asleep faster if I had someone to hold, but alas Prince, who I deemed my cuddle partner, was still downstairs, chatting away with my siblings and parents. I felt like a small child awaiting so fall asleep as their parents held a party downstairs, hearing a burst of laughter ever so often. It sounded like fun down there, but no matter how much Prince pleaded for me to stay down there and how much I really wanted to stay, sleep was more important.

I flipped onto my other side, to get more comfortable, I doubted it would work though. I faced the wall now, immediately I made eye contact with a little girl. My body froze, the hairs on the nape of my neck stood up as she stared back at me with her cold dead eyes. Her thin pale lips twisted into a creepy little smile, her eyes glinting with something malicious. This couldn't be a little girl, she seemed evil and foreboding, children weren't like that.

"Hello." She spoke with an eerily soft voice, it was quiet and cold. I shut my eyes tightly, praying that she would go away if I did so, she was just a figment of my imagination, nothing more. And if I closed my eyes, she would disappear just like that. My eyes flicked open a second later, she wasn't there. Thank god it was gone.

Present day

"I think I saw I ghost last night." I said quietly, twirling my thumbs anxiously, awaiting my sisters response's. Janet snorted, looking offended that I was now siding with our older sister, in her mind that was absurd. "You two are both crazy, ghosts aren't real!" She exclaimed, chuckling to herself in disbelief.

I was about to retort something clever, but the all so familiar feeling of nausea hit me. The puke bubbled up in my throat, sending me hurling towards the trash can to empty my stomach. Screw morning sickness.

--

Francis's POV

The clock quietly ticked by on the beige colored wall, it was quite annoying. It's little pitter patter keeping me from achieving any real sleep. My cousins snored beside me, shifting in their various sleeping bags, it was weird to be sleeping with so many other people, often I slept in a large room alone. Maybe sissies could sleep in my room with me, if they weren't too loud, I heard babies were loud.

My eyes fluttered open, I heard a sound I couldn't identify, a tiny girls laugh. Not like any of my cousins's laughs, someone else's. My eyes landed on a little girl in a flowing nightgown, her hair tied into small pigtails. I didn't know her, this was what Daddy and Papa called stranger danger. Her barefooted feet slowly walked her over to me, a large grin plastered onto her face. She gave me a weird feeling, a bad one, one that made me think she didn't want to play or be my friend. The hairs on my arms started to rise, cold air surrounding me as she neared.

I sat up, scrambling out of my sleeping bag, trying my best to get away from her as fast as I could. The little girl radiated a weird energy, one that told me to run. Running as fast as I could up the basement stairs, without slipping on the step, then she spoke for the first time. Her voice was high and whiny, "don't go Francis, I just want to play." She doesn't want to play, I repeated that in my mind over and over again.

Her ghostly laugh followed me as I booked it up the stairs, heading to my parents bedroom. The door was ajar, I could see them sleeping in there. They could get her away from me, make her stop scaring me. She was still wound me as I burst into the bedroom, tears streaming down my face in fear. The girl didn't follow me into the bedroom, she stayed in the doorway with that smile still plastered across her face.

I hopped up onto the bed, shaking Daddy as more tears fell onto my pajama shirt, coating my cheeks in the salty liquid. "Daddy! Daddy, wake up!" I cried, hoping that he could protect me from the child that still stood in the doorway. Daddy woke up slowly, he glanced at me, confused at my strange behavior. "What's wrong bubby?" He asked, sitting up and hugging me closely.

I just sobbed in his arms, drinking all of his love in, she had disappeared from her spot. I let out a sigh of relief, the girl was finally gone. Someone shifted beside me, fearing that it was her again, I whipped around only to face Papa. "Hey Blackbird it's okay." He kissed the top of my head, I just cried more.

--

Daddy kept his arms wrapped around me protectively, it was hard to snuggle up against him die to my sisters but that was okay at the moment. It was just more people to protect me from the little girl. Papa repeatedly tried to get me to fall asleep, but the thought of her returning kept me from getting any sleep.

"Can you tell me what happened?" Daddy whispered, running his hand through my ruffled hair, it was all messed up due to me pulling on it as a coping mechanism. Something that I always did, people scolded me for it, but I didn't care, obviously. I took a shaky breath in, "a little girl. She was chasing me." Was the only thing I managed to get out without making myself cry again.

Daddy whispered something to Papa, I couldn't hear what he said but I didn't care. I just wanted to go back home now.

END