Grim Grinning Ghosts - Rewritten

Prologue

1987

"Truth or Dare."

"Dare."

I watched my brothers exchange mischievous looks, trying to figure out a dare to give me. They knew I'd accept anything they threw at me, and so they'd probably take their chance to get me in trouble

"We dare you to go into the woods." Blake finally dared with a triumphant grin, his green eyes sparkling with excitement and a hint of rebellion.

"I don't like that idea, actually." Andy fretted, adjusting his glasses. "Those woods always freaked me out."

"It's not even that scary," Ryan replied, rolling his eyes, "and she doesn't even have to go too far."

"I'll bring a flashlight, if it makes you feel any better." I offered, standing up. "And I haven't gone back on a dare yet!"

"But-"

"Don't be a sissy, Andy!"

I hoisted myself to my feet, sneaking out of the room as my older stepbrothers bickered. They were triplets, so bickering came naturally to them. I listened to the creak of the stairs - the house was what Dad had dubbed a fixer upper when we'd moved in a year prior. It had been my mother's and his project before she died. Reaching the bottom of the stairs, my stepmother was washing the dishes. I tried sneaking past, but there was no escaping Mama's hawklike eyesight.

"Good evening, Charlotte," Mama greeted, making me freeze. "Where exactly do you think you're going?"

"Outside!" I half lied, twiddling my thumbs. "Blake left his football outside again, and he wants me to look for it. We played not it."

"That boy needs to learn to pick up after himself." She sighed.

"It's fine, Mama," I assured, "Do we have a flashlight?"

"In the drawer." Mama replied simply. I rummaged through the junk in the drawers, ranging from rusted scissors to dried out markers that I was too lazy to put the caps of back on. Eventually, I found that big yellow flashlight and a pack of Double A batteries.

"Be right back!" I called, running out the door. As I stepped out, the cold wind brushed my face, blowing the warmth of my hair, pulled into a ponytail, with it. I shivered.

"I should've brought a jacket." I muttered as I headed towards the woods. I knew if I went back inside, there was no way Mama would let me back out. Especially if I didn't have Blake's football with me.

It wasn't long before I heard the crunch of the fallen autumn leaves beneath my feet as I made my way through the woods. I quickly turned on the flashlight.

"This is a lame dare." I mused, bored. "It's not even that scary. They're losing their material. The scariest thing out here is probably potential hypothermia."

I let out a sigh as I turned back. I had gone pretty deep into the woods and there was no point in the dare now. For all I knew, the boys were just trying to get rid of me for a good half hour so they could touch my stuff - something they knew I'd kill them for if they so much as tried.

That's when I was caught off guard. A tree roof caught hold of my ankle, causing me to trip. I tumbled down the hill, unable to control myself. I screamed, closing my eyes tight in fear as I braced for the impact.

"So this is how I go out. I always figured that there'd be more explosions."

That's when I hit the bottom. I heard a sickening crack - my head hitting a rock - and everything went black.

For those of you wondering, death feels cold.

-

It had been over an hour. Charlie still hadn't come back.

"We should tell Mama and Dad." Andy stated. Though he was younger than me - by three minutes - he still considered himself the most mature of the four of us. I bit my lip.

"No!" Blake cried out. "I'll get in trouble!"

"What's more important?" I challenged. "Your precious five-month-grounding-free streak, or our sister's safety?"

Blake was silent, digging his sock-covered foot into the wooden floorboards. I sighed, rubbing my temples, before slipping my sneakers on and turning to the door.

"What are you doing?" Andy asked. I turned back to my younger brothers.

"I'm going to go find Charlie." I told them. "If you want something done, you're going to have to do it yourself."

Before they could protest, I ran down the stairs, careful not to alert my mom to my sneaking out or wake the dog - Major was an old dog, but his loud bark remained. As I walked out the door, I immediately sensed that something was off. I couldn't put my finger on it.

"Charlie?" I called, looking around the backyard. "Charlie?"

No response.

Not once in my entire life had I ever felt so terrified. I made it my thing to be the smart one, the tough one. But I was still just a kid, after all. I placed my fear aside, however, and walked nervously into the woods.

"Charlie?" I called again, heart pounding. "Charlie? Chaarlieee!"

Still nothing.

"This isn't funny anymore, Charlotte!" I cried. I almost tripped over a tree branch, but I quickly caught myself. I did notice something, however. Charlie's shoe, sitting there. I picked it up, searching the area, until the only way to look was down into the rock filled ditch......

There she was.

"Charlie!" I gasped, letting out a pained cry as I lowered myself into the ditch and ran over towards her. Her honey blonde hair was stained red with blood, the same blood that trickled down her pale face and stained her yellow sweater.

I picked my sister up, my cold tears running down my cheeks as I sobbed. My dark brown hair fell into my eyes, but I didn't bother to brush it away. Her brown eyes fluttered slightly, attempting to look at me one last time, or hold onto life, but they quickly flew shut and her body went limp.

She was ten, I was eleven.

-

2007

I walked home from the yard sale, a smile on my face as I stepped into the living room. My wife sat there on the couch, reading quietly before I sat next to her. She looked up at me, eyebrows raised in curiosity.

"Got anything good from the yard sale?" She inquired. I held up the stuffed toy I had retrieved from the sale, Viola inspecting it carefully with her eyes.

"That's from Blake Bennett's yard sale, right?" She asked me. "I'm surprised he sold that."

"Why?" I wondered, not exactly familiar with the Bennetts. I'd only spoken to them twice before - a nice young couple who were a bit older than Viola and myself and their twins - so I didn't know them well. Viola, on the other hand, was very well versed in the local history.

"It belonged to his stepsister, Charlotte. She died twenty years ago, it was hard on the whole family." My wife explained. "Well....I guess it couldn't hurt to pass it on to our little girl."

"I'm sure she'd like her toy to be passed onto a young girl who'd love it as much as she did." I reasoned.

"So insightful, Sebastian, aren't you?" Viola shook her head. I rolled my eyes and kissed her on the cheek.

The room felt colder.

-

For those who don't know, Grim Grinning Ghosts was a fanfic I wrote around September and October of last year but never finished. After a long time, I've decided to go back and update it! This story has since become canon within RPs I've done with my friends, in which the characters are humans, so they'll be human in this fanfic as well :)

Hope you enjoy!