by Joy Elbel
Every day that week, I woke up refreshed and feeling positive—an unusual luxury for me. I flirted with Zach every chance I got and especially when Misty or any member of her coven was within earshot. Things were running so smoothly that I forgot that I was supposed to still be searching for Creepy Girl’s identity. Unlucky for me, I still had her around to remind me.
She left me alone until phys ed on Thursday. Coach Hunter decided to have us run a timed mile. I had no idea what a good time was but I was pretty sure I could outrun my competition. Steam rolling my way around the track, I came in a full ten seconds before anyone else crossed the finish line. Coach Hunter seemed very pleased with my performance and I walked the cool down lap with a smile on my face. For a while.
Misty and Jordyn were walking about ten feet behind me and whispering to each other the whole way. When their conversation became audible, I knew it was on purpose. They never mentioned any names, but I didn’t have to be psychic to know exactly who they were talking about—me.
“She thinks she’s so great, sooo perfect. Whatever— she obviously doesn’t know who she’s dealing with.” She was behind my back and out of view but I could clearly visualize the accompanying sneer on Misty’s face.
“I know, right?” Jordyn agreed with her in obedient evil minion fashion. This was followed by a hardcore whisper session and I strained my ears to make out even one word of it. No such luck—I was only going to hear what they allowed me to hear. But still, I was so busy trying to listen in on their conversation that I didn’t see what was about to happen until it was too late.
There was a flash of movement to my right and before I could even turn to see what it was, suddenly it was right in front of me. A quick vision of Creepy Girl appeared before me and then instantly vanished. A cold sensation ripped through my chest and I was shoved backward onto the ground.
Laughter rang through my ears as I sat trembling on the track. My butt hurt from the rough landing and my hands were cut up by the gravel when I reached out to break my fall. I wanted to cry but I wouldn’t do it in front of everyone, especially not Misty. Why did she do it? Why did she push me down? Was she mad that I didn’t return to the library to determine her identity? It was bad enough to deal with ghosts in the first place, but being attacked in public was something I could definitely do without. Misty already had enough free fodder for her bitch cannon.
Coach Hunter broke up the laughter and made sure I was okay before sending me back to the locker room a few minutes early. I thought of it as a sweet bonus because now I wouldn’t have to shower in front of Misty. But I soon realized that being alone in that dark locker room wasn’t exactly a dream come true either.
My plan was to turn on the water, take a ten second shower, and be dressed before the rest of the class got back. But that wasn’t exactly what happened. Nope, nowhere near it.
Just as I was about undress and step inside, the water turned into a cascading shower of blood. Cold, thick streams of blood oozed out of the showerhead and onto the tile at my feet. I watched in horror as it swirled around and trickled into the drain. Then one by one, each shower turned on and spouted the gooey liquid until a river of crimson threatened to flood the entire room. But when I stepped back out of its path, the blood took on a life of its own.
Coagulating into a human shaped form, it slithered and crept its way across the tile with a rasping gurgle erupting from its throat. Panic. I couldn’t let that thing touch me! What was I going to do? I couldn’t let anyone see what was happening! With every inch it crawled, I backed slowly away from it. Its slimy hands reached out to me and the noise it made sounded like death itself. The voices outside grew rapidly louder. I was about to get caught with my darkest secret.
Pinned against the lockers, I had nowhere else to go. The hand extended upward toward my face. Just as it was about to touch me, I closed my eyes and emitted a highpitched scream—a scream that masked the sound of the doors opening but not the laughter that followed. Who could possibly see this scene and find humor in it? For real, even Misty couldn’t be that mentally twisted.
I opened my eyes and saw Misty and Jordyn laughing so hard they were nearly doubled over. The bloody beast was gone and the floor showed no trace of its existence. The only strange thing left was me cowering against the lockers and screaming like a banshee.
“When Zach sees what a freak you are, you’ll be history. Enjoy it while it lasts—because in the end, he’ll be mine,” Misty sneered at me. “And you’ll be alone.”
Her words hit the mark more accurately than she could know. Freak. I heard that word at my old school back in Trinity more times than I wanted to recall. Back then, I didn’t even deserve it. But now.… What if she was right? What if Zach saw this for himself and decided it was more than he could handle? Then I really would be…alone. That was the one thing I feared more than any stupid ghost.
Pushing her remark to the back of my mind, I changed as fast as humanly possible and ran to Coach Hunter’s office. “Would it be okay if I skipped the track tonight? I’m pretty sore from falling.” At least getting pushed down provided me with a good excuse for not staying after school. But dodging practice had nothing to do with my accident during class and everything to do with avoiding the locker room until I had a chance to identify Creepy Girl.
“No problem. Are you sure you’re okay, though? You look really pale—like you’ve just seen a ghost,” she said with an innocent little giggle.
Ha ha. Really funny. L O freakin’ L. I knew she had no way of knowing how right she was, but I wasn’t even remotely in the mood for it. “I’m fine,” I mumbled as the bell rang, freeing me from my latest glimpse at Hell. “See you tomorrow, Coach Hunter.”
I took one last look at the shower before I walked out. Creepy Girl was standing in the middle of it with her hands clasped tightly around her own neck. As much as I loved helping Zach with his math homework, I decided right then and there to hit the library first thing in the morning. I had to stop the haunting before things got any worse. Little did I know—she was just getting started.
13. Keep Your Friends Close, But Take Your Enemy Shopping
Zach was disappointed—I knew that. When I told him I wanted to spend activity period in the library, he looked confused but started to gather his things. When I told him I wanted to go alone, he looked like I’d just knifed him straight in his heart. I understood how he felt—really I did. All I wanted out of this life was to spend as much time with him as possible. But until I got rid of my little problem, that just wasn’t a viable option and neither was telling him the truth. So I gathered up my stuff and left my Norse god behind me for what I hoped would be the last time.
The library was stuffy like before but this time it was empty except for the librarian. At least today I wouldn’t have to waste any time searching for what I needed. I took the same table by the window and dove right in. But volume after volume, I came away empty handed. In a town this small, I never thought there would be so many memorials to search through. I found student deaths by the handfuls but none of them matched my stalker and none of the deaths occurred at the school.
By the time I finished the 2009 yearbook, I was depressed. Who could she be and how would I find her identity? Maybe I was wrong. Maybe she wasn’t connected to the school at all. But where else would I start looking? As I replaced the last book on the shelf, I noticed something odd. Each year they alternated colors between black and red but two books back to back were the same color. Upon closer inspection, I realized why. One book was missing—1990.
Based on the way she was dressed, the 1990 yearbook sounded like a good guess as to where I might find her. But where was the missing book? As unpleasant as she was, I decided to ask the librarian for an answer.
Ms. Wright sat at her desk wrapped in the ugliest green sweater this side of the bargain basement clearance racks. Her expression was sour and I almost lost my nerve when she looked up from her book.
“Did you see another mouse
?” she asked sarcastically.
Gulp. She remembered me from the other day—just what I wasn’t hoping for. “No, I have a question about a book.”
“Oh,” she replied, becoming slightly less surly. “What do you need?”
“I was looking for a yearbook—1990 to be exact—but it’s not on the shelf with the others. Where would I find it?” And back to the sarcasm. “Between 1989 and 1991.” It was great to know that my parents’ tax dollars were buying me such an excellent educational experience.
“I know, but it’s not there,” I replied as politely as I possibly could considering her smarmy attitude. “Well, then one of your classmates must have stolen it,” she said as she wrapped her bony fingers around a pen and began tapping it impatiently on her desk.
She made no effort to get up and help me and made it obvious that our conversation was over. I would have to find that yearbook some other way. But how? Why couldn’t these stupid ghosts just come up and introduce themselves anyway? “Hi, I’m dead and you can see me therefore you must help me. If you give me a moment, I will explain in detail who I am and what I need from you. It would be much appreciated.” Ghosts—they were the one thing more complicated and frustrating than boys.
I don’t know how I made it through the day without screaming from that frustration—and not just because of the ghost. My big date with Zach was set for next Friday and the closer that day got, the more excited I became. I loved him so much and I just couldn’t wait for our big moment together. We hadn’t had any real time alone since he got grounded and that just compounded my excitement. My only consolation was knowing that it would be more than worth the wait.
We only had a few minutes together at the end of the day so we made the most of them. Sharing a quick yet incredibly intense kiss at our cars, I got behind the wheel feeling like the luckiest girl in the world. Until I looked up and saw Misty staring down at me from the second floor window by the gym. She didn’t just look pissed—she looked dangerous. And more danger was the last thing I needed.
Chloe invited me to go to the football game with her that night but I declined. I wasn’t ready to spend time with so many classmates around without Zach or Rachel by my side— especially not with Misty on the prowl. So I stayed home alone instead, brainstorming on how to find a way to get my hands on that 1990 yearbook. When I came up empty handed, I went to my parents for help.
Shelly and Dad were downstairs relaxing in the conservatory when I found them. Now that all of the glass panes were replaced and a new stairway installed, it was almost back to normal. Shelly and Rachel found a set of burgundy settees that suited the room perfectly and my parents were now lounging comfortably in them. The statue of Scarlet was my only reminder of what happened there only weeks ago. I walked over to join them, never letting that thing out of my sight.
“There’s something I have to ask you.” It came out more ominous than I intended and I saw the shared look of panic on their faces. Knowing my dad, he probably thought I was going to ask what the first signs of pregnancy were. And knowing Shelly, she was scrambling to think of a way to calm him down when I did.
“What’s wrong, Ruby? You can talk to us about anything.” Dad’s words said one thing but his face suggested an entirely different story. It was obvious he wasn’t ready for his little girl to grow up. Too bad—because that was exactly what his little girl was prepared to do.
“I was looking for a yearbook in the library and they’re missing the one I need. Where else would I be able to find it?”
A collective sigh of relief rose from the settees. “What year are you looking for? I still have my old ones here somewhere.”
“No good, Dad,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m looking for 1990. Do you know anyone in town who went to school that year?”
“No, sorry, I don’t. That was a little after my time.” Once the initial relief of my question wore off, he became worried again. “Why do you need it?”
Quick—come up with an excuse. “I’m writing a story for AP English and I wanted to see what was happening at the school that year.”
My explanation worked. “Can’t you just use another year?” Shelly asked. I forgot how good she was at solving mysteries. But as good as she was, by this time, I was a practiced liar. Not that I was proud of that fact or anything, but it was still a skill that came in handy sometimes. “No, we were all assigned different years so I can’t switch.”
“Oh, well have you tried the internet? People sell old yearbooks on auction sites all the time. Try it, you might get lucky.” Shelly to the rescue—again. And to think that it wasn’t that long ago that I considered her to be an evil stepmother.
“Thanks guys, I never thought of that.” I gave them both a hug before leaving. “Goodnight.” Of course I felt bad about lying to them again, but it was the only thing I could do. Rita was the only one who knew my secret and it had to stay that way. There was no need to drag anyone else into my mess—especially when I was positive I could fix things by myself this time.
After hours of wading through countless online auctions, I finally struck gold. A seller in Wisconsin was willing to part with his memories of Charlotte’s Grove High School for a mere ten dollars. Once I forked over an extra twelve dollars for express shipping, the yearbook was guaranteed to be in my hands by the middle of the week. Satisfied that everything was going my way for once, I went to bed with a sense of accomplishment. I could handle my problem without ever having to involve Zach or my family. Maybe I would see ghosts for the rest of my life, and maybe I wouldn’t. It’s not like every building in this town would be haunted, right? Getting rid of Creepy Girl would take care of things until graduation and I couldn’t think any further into the future than that right now. One ghost at a time, Ruby, one ghost at a time.
It was nearly morning when the nightmare hit but it didn’t exactly start out bad. Actually, in the beginning, it was one of my best dreams ever. It was Friday—the night of my big date with Zach. We were at the school dance surrounded by people but it felt like we were alone in the universe. A red spotlight beamed down on us as we kissed and danced to the music. And as we kissed, everyone watched. I could hear them whispering to each other about how perfect we looked together and how in love we were. Even the teachers joined in to praise our union. And then it happened.
“Get away from him—he’s mine!” The voice came from behind me so I couldn’t see who was talking. Assuming that it was Misty, I ignored her and kept kissing Zach. Until a set of fingernails started to dig into the hollow of my throat. Blood red and sharp as daggers, I felt my skin shredding under the attack. Releasing my grip on Zach, I turned to confront her. But it wasn’t Misty who was trying to rip my throat out—it was Chloe.
I was astounded to see that it was her behind me, eyes wild and murderous in the red glow of the spotlight. How could she betray me like that? She was my friend—or at least I thought she was. While I stood there contemplating the depth of her treachery, her nails wound their way into my hair and she began yanking it out by the handful. I couldn’t even fight back because I was still in so much shock. I waited for Zach to save me like he always did.
When I turned to him for protection though, he stared right through me like I wasn’t even there and that was the worst feeling of betrayal of all. If he couldn’t see how much danger I was in, how could I trust that he would be there for me when I really needed him? That hollow feeling of rejection engulfed me as I sank to the floor and just let Chloe tear at me without any urge to defend myself.
When I woke from the dream, mid-morning sun was already pouring in through the window. Nine AM. Not exactly the most desirable time to wake up on a Saturday morning, but I’d dealt with worse. Knowing it was useless to try to go back to sleep now, I rolled out of bed and tried to shake off the sorrow that still clung to me. It was just a dream. Zach and I were solid—we were about to lose our virginity together, for cryin’ out loud! And Chloe had no interest in Zach. If she did, I know I would
have sensed it by now. My dreams had some connection to Creepy Girl—not to anything going on in my own love life.
Even so, it totally killed my appetite. I rooted around the kitchen for a few minutes but decided to go without breakfast. Rachel would be here in a few hours and I decided to ask her for any scrap of information she might have about Zach’s plans for our big date. I knew that he didn’t share a lot of information about our relationship with her, but they were still pretty close as brother and sister—he had to have at least hinted about it.
I decided to go for a run while I waited for her. The morning air was cool and refreshing and I could almost feel the bad energy draining from my body. I ran out to the main road and back and decided to do it again. Before I knew it, over an hour had passed but I didn’t want to stop. The only thing that made me stop was an overwhelming urge to throw up.
I tried to at least make it behind a tree first, but no such luck. When Rachel’s car pulled up the drive, I was still standing in the middle of the lane heaving my guts out. “Ruby! Are you okay?” Rachel stopped the car and rushed to my side. Now that whatever it was had ejected itself out of my stomach, I felt so much better. “Yeah, I’m fine. A touch of the flu, I think.”
“Well as long as you’re better for your big date next week, that’s all that matters. Zach would be crushed if you got sick and couldn’t go. He’s been planning this thing for weeks now!”
“He has? What do you know about it?” I was glad she mentioned it first because it meant she had some real information to give me. Rachel wasn’t capable of keeping secrets so I knew I could get her to spill her guts in no time.