Kenneth Manor (Haunted)

Chapter Six

I held my scream inside me. I knew if I screamed, everyone would ask what’s going on. When they do that, I will have to tell them what happened. After that, they won’t believe me and will forever think how weird and crazy I was. There was no way I could be able to do that. For the next four years, I would be the laughingstock of the students at Springwater.

Trevor looks quizzically at me, “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I was just yawning,” I said.

I wish…

For me, it seemed like time had stopped, and the bell rang. Thankfully, Mr. Morris wasn’t there so I left to where he told me to go after Chemistry.

“Where are you going after?” Trevor asked.

“Uh,” I said, looking at my schedule, “AP Literature. You?”

“It depends on who is your teacher?”

“Mrs. McTeevy.”

“Same. Awesome. It looks like we share a lot of classes together.”

We walk together toward room 225 and took a seat in the back. Thankfully, there were no windows in this classroom so I wouldn’t have to see any suicidal figures out the window.

What is wrong with me? Half of the time I wish that I was dreaming this entire thing, all of this would be the product of my imagination, and that I can wake up, the sun would be shining in my face. It would be a Saturday morning, a time when I can go out on the beach, relax, swim, or surf on the aqua blue ocean.

Though, deep down, I know I am not in LA anymore. I am in a dark place, where the weather is okay but breezy. It is morning, but the sun is dim. There is an ocean, but no one surfing. It is like a depressed version of California.

I rub my eyes and check the time. Only 9:40 AM. Unfortunately, six more hours before I’m out of here. Yet, I would return to my home where a creepy stalker is keeping vigil, and a ghost is communicating from the grave. Everything was much, much simpler in LA. I lived a carefree life, and now I am stressed by the things around me. And there is nothing I can do to stop it.

After third period, I have gym class, and Mr. Morris let me drop off my things, and he showed me where the girls locker room is. When I changed into my uniform, I was told to meet in the gym where we would do either a three minute warm up run or twenty push-ups, I wasn’t really surprised when I saw Trevor.

“Let me guess, you also take the girls PE class,” I commented jokingly.

“No, but I do take boys PE,” he said. “I think I’m just gonna run. You?”

“Yeah, I will.”

We talked about the novel that we were assigned to read. Pride and Prejudice.

“I read the novel before in seventh grade, but I forgot the specifics of it. All I really remember is that the main character is a girl, and her name is Elizabeth,” I told Trevor.

“I have never even heard of this book until now,” he said. “Trust me when I say that I don’t like reading.”

We continued in silence until out three minutes were up. He went off to play football in the football field, and I went to the track-and-field section of the school. My gym teacher is Mrs. Kruz, and she is really strict about keeping our pace while we run. I am almost regretting what I chose for my warm up.

In a way, I think I was thankful for the pain because it kept me distracted from the weird events that I constantly saw all around me. I mean, who wouldn’t go crazy after five minutes of seeing things that no one else does? I’m surprised I lasted this long.

The rest of the day passed my monotonously. Lunch was fine. I sat with Trevor at a far corner of the cafeteria. No one bothered us, and we had our own little mini table just for the two of us. (To be honest, Trevor is really funny once you get to know him.) We had compared our classes, and it turns out we share the same classes together. At least I would never be alone throughout the day, which was my true fear. Honors Social Studies was really boring, but I still had to pay attention because of the workload in that class. Honors Math was even harder, giving me complex 3D shapes to deal with, and I was expected to find the area and volume. Preparing us for the ACT or SAT or whatever standardized test they were going to throw at us. Advanced Spanish was okay too. Our teacher said that starting third semester, we would be having ten mandatory minutes of speaking full out Spanish. We wouldn’t be graded on how well we speak the words or if they were grammatically correct, but we were graded if we made the effort to speak it. Fourth semester, we would be graded on how well we say it. The last class of my day was Choir, and we were only getting to know each other. I was really surprised that Trevor was in the school choir.

The bus ride home went smoothly. Trevor and I parted ways, with me promising to email him when I got the chance.

Charlie watched as the girl waved goodbye to her friend. He knew he needed to act quickly. Before she could see him… He also knew that if he was caught, he would have to deal with more than just the police...but he wished he only had to deal with them.

When I got home, there was no one there. I found a note on the refrigerator door from Mom saying that she went out for some groceries, that Adam and Quinn should be home any minute, and there were some leftovers in the fridge if I wanted something to eat.

I wasn’t all that hungry. I grabbed a banana, and I headed to my room to do homework. I worked for about thirty minutes and I wasn’t even halfway finished when my mom came in through the door.

“Angela! Could you help me put away the groceries?” she called down from the kitchen.

“Okay; I’ll be right down!”

I jogged down the staircase to help my mother as Quinn and Adam come home.

“Hey, Mom, what do you have in there?” Quinn asked. Sometimes I feel bad for him. He always seems to be hungry.

“Can’t you boys wait until dinner? It’s in two hours. Can you survive for that long?” my mother asked.

“Whatever,” the guys mumbled as they staggered up the steps.

As the boys left, my mother turned to me and asked, “So how was school today?”

“Fine,” I said, trying to be vague as ever.

“So, how were your classes? Did you make any friends?”

“Classes were fine. People were okay,” I reallywish that she would stop talking about this.

“You know, Angela, if you don’t like your new school, then that’s fine. But at least tell me about your day. I want to get to know you, bond with you.  Can’t you at least give me that?”

“I just…” I trailed off. “Mom, I admit, I don’t really want to be here, but if I don’t want to talk about it can’t you just ignore it and move to a different topic?”
“What else would we talk about?”

“I don’t know!” I screamed at her.

At that point, I was done talking to her. I was done with the entire thing; I wasn’t going to pretend that I like being here. I mean, my parents didn’t leave behind lifelong friends from LA or had to adjust to a new school where you are considered an outcast. I really don’t think they could understand what I go through.

I stomped upstairs to my bedroom and slammed the door shut.

The next thing I know, shocking electricity tingles my spine and I black out.

Charlie immediately took action. He didn’t want to waste any time waiting for the perfect time to capture her. He wasn’t about to let another victim slip through his fingers just like what happened last time. Nothing will stop him now…

I woke up to the sound of laughter echoing through the trees. My hands were pinioned to the trees by a roughly cut piece of rope, and all I could hear was the sinister cackling far off in the distance. My pulse quickened, and I started to hyperventilate. I didn’t know what was going on around me, and that laughter seemed so familiar. I had no idea where I was, and I had no way to get home.

All of a sudden, I heard laughter right behind me, felt a cold hand grip my shoulder, and someone held a knife against my throat.