by Topher
Chapter Three
School started, and Emily was busy with her studies, so she had little time to think about the ghost. She continued to avoid the garage and the yard around it. It was only at night when things slowed down that she allowed herself to think about him. The ghost was real, this much she knew for certain. She didn’t think he would ever go away, and it was going to be inconvenient for her to avoid the backyard forever. She knew she would have to face the Chief eventually and find out just what kind of ghost he really was.
One evening, Emily was getting ready for bed when Mom came into her room.
“How was your day?” Mom asked.
“It was OK,” Emily said.
“Did you make any new friends at school?”
“Naaah, same old friends.”
“Do you like your teacher?”
“She’s OK.”
“What did you do today?”
“Nuthin much.”
“Nothing?” Mom asked. “You did nothing all day?”
“Mom, is there any such things as ghosts?” Emily clamped her hands over her mouth. She wasn’t sure why she asked the question.
Mom looked at her and smiled. “There might be. I don’t know for sure, but anything is possible. Why do you ask?”
I.. I’m just curious, “ Emily said. “No reason.”
Mom narrowed her eyes. “Uhuh…”
“Are ghosts mean?” She might have already said too much, but she could not help herself now.
“Like Halloween ghosts?” Mom scrunched up her nose. “I don’t think so. I think ghosts, if they are real, would be nice.”
“But they are scary, right?” Emily asked.
“Ohhhh, maybe,” Mom said. “I guess they could be scary when we don’t understand them.”
Emily thought about that for a moment. “Soooo… if we get to know them, they won’t be so scary?”
“Yes, I think that's probably true,” Mom said. “Why, are you having trouble with a ghost?”
“No,” Emily said. “I’m just wondering.”
Mom looked at her for a moment. “Yeah…”
“Well, I want to go to sleep now,” Emily said and rolled over.
Mom kissed her good night, turned off the light, and left the room. Emily lay in bed thinking about what she needed to do. As scared as she was of the Chief, she needed to go into the garage and figure out if he was a mean ghost or a nice one.
The next day at school, Emily found Shayna on the playground. She pulled her aside and looked around to make sure no one could hear.
“Can you help me with something?” Emily whispered.
Shayna looked around and whispered back, “What is it?”
“You remember that ghost I told you about?” Emily said.
Shayna rolled her eyes and laughed. “Whatever.”
“Shhhh,” Emily hissed. “I’m serious. I need you to go into the garage with me.”
Shayna scrunched up her face. “Ewwwwww! There are spiders in there!”
“Pleeeeeassssse?” Emily bounced up and down. “I need you to go with me!”
“OK,” Shayna said. “But there are no such things as ghosts.”
“We’ll see about that,” Emily said.
After school, Emily and Shayna walked together to Emily’s house. Emily left Shayna outside and ran inside. She came back out a few minutes later with the key, and they walked across the lawn towards the garage. Emily stopped short of the door.
“What’s the matter, Emily?” Shayna asked.
“Just working up the nerve,” Emily muttered.
“Oh c’mon,” Shayna grabbed her arm and pulled Emily to the door.
Emily clutched the key in both hands in front of her staring down at the lock.
“Well?” Shayna gasped.
Emily handed the key to Shayna. “You do it.”
Taking the key, Shayna unlocked the door and stepped inside the garage. Emily refused to move. Shayna leaned out the door.
“Are you coming in?”
“Nope,” Emily said.
“Sheesh,” Shayna said. “What a chicken!”
Shayna ducked back in the garage leaving Emily outside.
“Do you see anything?” Emily asked.
There was no answer.
Emily leaned closer to the door and peered inside the dark garage.
“Shayna?”
Still no answer.
A long, blood-curdling scream came from the garage. Emily leaped through the doorway and found Shayna standing by a stack of boxes near the back wall of the garage, her face lit up in a huge smile. Emily’s face was fixed in terror. Shayna began laughing. She laughed so hard, she fell against the boxes toppling one of them to the floor.
“That’s not funny!” Emily yelled. “I thought you got hurt!”
Shayna was sitting on the dusty floor holding her sides and shaking with laughter.
“You should see the look on your face,” she said, wiping tears from her face. “You were so scared.”
Emily stomped over to where Shayna sat on the floor, her hands on her hips.
“It’s not funny, Shayna,” Emily said.
Just then, Shayna stopped laughing, her eyes grew wide, and her mouth dropped open. She stared past Emily.
“I was afraid you got hurt,” Emily said. “You can’t just go and do…” She stopped when she noticed the look on Shayna’s face.
“Oh oh oh oh...,” Shayna said, pointing her finger to something behind Emily.
Emily crossed her arms. “You are not going to get away with that again. You can’t fool me.”
Shayna jumped to her feet and backed up against the wall, her eyes focused past Emily.
Emily rolled her eyes. “I’m leaving.”
When she turned for the door, she saw a whirling column of dust in the middle of the garage floor. Emily clamped her hands over her mouth and backed up against the wall next to Shayna. The dust cloud whirled faster and faster and grew in height. It moved closer to the girls, passing through the narrow column of light coming from the garage window. Just like last time, where the light touched the dust, it became solid. The dust slowly thickened and changed into the shape of Chief Floating Cloud. He stopped just a few feet from the terrified girls.
The Chief’s dark eyes, set in his brown, creased face, regarded the girls. Then he yawned and rubbed his eyes with the backs of his hands.
“I don’t know how anyone can sleep with you girls always coming here and screaming,” he said.
The girls were immobile, their hands covering their faces, peering through the spaces between their fingers. The Chief frowned.
“That’s not quite right,” he said. He took Emily’s hands and placed them over her ears. Then he raised his hands to cover his eyes. “That’s better.”
He lowered his hands and laughed. The girls stared dumbfounded at the Chief, Shayna with her hands covering her mouth, and Emily with her hands covering her ears. The Chief covered his eyes with his hands again.
“I’m see no evil, Emily is hear no evil, and Shayna is speak no evil.” The girls stared blankly back. The Chief sighed. “If I have to explain a joke, it isn’t very funny.”
Emily lowered her hands and extended one finger towards the Chief. He stood watching her as she poked him in the chest. Her finger encountered no resistance and penetrated the Chief’s body. She pulled her hand back in surprise. Where she had touched him, the dust swirled about for a moment before solidifying back into place. He smiled and patted himself.
“Are you real?” Emily asked.
“You can see me,” the Chief said. “So I must be real.”
“You’re a ghost made of dust,” Shayna said, her voice muffled because her hands still covered her mouth. “That’s not real.”
“We are all made of the dust.” The Chief smiled. “A moment ago, you were just clouds of dust. Maybe you are ghosts."
“We're not ghosts. We are real,” Emily said. She poked herself in the ches
t. “See? I’m real.”
The Chief poked himself in the chest. His finger did not penetrate as Emily’s finger had. He reached out and poked Emily in the chest. Where he touched her, she dissolved to dust. He withdrew his finger and the dust swirled in front of her a moment before reforming and becoming solid again. Emily placed her hand over the spot.
"You are also made of dust. Maybe you are the ghosts," the Chief said.
“But I feel solid to me,” Shayna said, poking herself in the chest. She poked Emily in the arm. "We're real."
“And I feel solid to me,” the Chief said. "I am real."
“Eeemmmilllyyyyyy!” Emily’s mother yelled from the house. “Dinner!”
“Oh no,” Emily said. “We have to go now.”
The Chief stepped to one side, and the girls ran for the garage door. Emily stopped at the door and looked back at the chief. He was already swirling back into a dust cloud.
“Will you be here later?” she asked.
“I have always been here,” he said.
Emily smiled. “I’ll see you!”
Emily closed the garage door and ran across the lawn to catch up with Shayna.
“Don’t tell anyone about this, Shayna.”
“No one would believe me anyhow,” Shayna said.