Читать книгу The Ghost of Whispering Willow - Amanda M. Thrasher - Страница 10

“Hi, Mrs. Cook. Is Maggie available, please?” Ally asked, rolling a soccer ball underneath her foot as she waited.

She could hear Mrs. Cook talking to someone. There was a slight pause and then, “Yes, we had a fabulous time, and thank you for asking.”

“Hiya, Ally,” Maggie said cheerfully as soon as she picked up the phone. She smiled at her mom and waited for her to leave the room before she continued. “Go!” said Maggie. It was her signal. “Hey, did you talk to Kendall, and can you guys come over?” Maggie asked. All of the girls could and would be there shortly.

Their meeting was a very important one; they had to decide what they wanted to do next regarding the boys. The bombshell had been dropped for sure at the lunch table, but it didn’t seem to be enough. Andy was very stubborn, especially when it came to girls. The girls suspected that if they’d told the boys that they knew that they were investigating a ghost, there would be consequences. But they had no idea what those consequences would be. They’d end up telling the boys they’d been spying on them, and if they did that, well, even they knew that would probably make the boys mad.

Maggie didn’t know what to do about getting the boys to take them seriously, and hoped that Krista, Kendall or Ally would have a suggestion or two. Maggie wracked her brain as she waited for her friends to arrive. She kept going over and over the events they had witnessed and wondered if the boys had seen the same things. If she wasn’t mistaken, Kendall had caught sight of something first. Then Krista had unfortunately experienced an actual physical encounter with the ghost and had been scared to death! Maggie had admittedly blown the whole thing off, telling the girls that their imaginations were running wild, until Ally had run into her house, white as a sheet, visibly shaken, and scared beyond belief. The ghost had been staring at her from a distance; just watching her, Ally had said. She’d stopped what she was doing to take a closer look and that’s when it had walked straight toward her and simply disappeared. Ally had been visibly shaking as she’d described the ghost. Maggie finally had to admit that something strange was going on in the Willows! It was then that, just like the boys’, the girls’ investigation had begun.

It wasn’t long after they had started visiting the Willows that they realized that the boys were up to something as well. Naturally, they couldn’t help but wonder if it was the same thing. The girls had watched Stewart and Andy messing with something, but they had no idea what it was. They could tell that it was some kind of equipment, but they couldn’t see it exactly. They had crouched behind the willows, scared to death that the boys would catch them spying on them. They had been very lucky that the boys hadn’t caught them, and they’d watched the boys through several different excursions. The girls decided it was time to take the investigation to the next level. Their plan was to stay in the Willows until dusk, catch the boys red-handed, and confront them. They had hoped that Andy and Stewart would have some information to share with them about the ghost that the girls had seen in the woods.

When the girls had put the plan into motion, they’d had no idea how creepy the woods could be once the sun went down. The light – or lack of it – changed everything, and they had been afraid. They’d sat behind a large rock, clasping each other’s hands as they waited to see if the boys would show up. It had taken two weeks to catch Andy and Stewart in the woods again, and Kendall had been certain Stewart sensed something was not right. When he’d appeared to stare a little longer than necessary in their direction, Kendall had thought for sure that Stewart had seen her. She’d ducked down as quickly as she could. Stewart had definitely been busy with something, and thank goodness he had not noticed them.

The girls had realized that the boys seemed to have a camera. Stewart had appeared to be pulling and pushing the camera into a log. The girls had come to the conclusion that if Stewart was pushing a camera into a log, it was fair to say he intended to leave it there. They surmised that the boys were, without question, onto something major. It made sense that Stewart and Andy had seen the ghost, too! Maggie thought something else: the girls had the upper hand in the situation, and the boys didn’t know that they knew.

Maggie was suddenly startled when her little brother appeared out of nowhere and jumped up onto the bed and sat next to her. “Clay, out now, please. My friends are coming,” she said, as he continued to bounce up and down. He didn’t care; he liked it when they came over, the girls always made a fuss over him!

“You, out,” Mrs. Cook scolded Clay, as she suddenly appeared at the bedroom door. She smiled at the two of them. Maggie was tickling Clay and he was trying to break free. She pulled out the mom voice again. “Now, Clay, I’m not playing. Let’s go, bath time in ten!”

“Later, gator,” Maggie said as the doorbell rang. “Clay, answer the door and send the girls up to my room.” He was happy to help and raced down the stairs.

***

The girls piled on top of Maggie’s bed, stacking the pillows and getting comfy before they started their meeting. Kendall had a suggestion, and it was a good one. “Well,” she said, “we’ve already told the boys that we know what they saw, and it’s pretty clear they don’t believe us; not yet, anyway.”

“Right,” Ally, Krista, and Maggie said in unison.

Kendall continued, “I think we should give them a push and tell them exactly what we saw and when we saw it. I mean, the actual ghost!” She giggled. “I know, right? Can you imagine the looks on their faces when we steal their thunder?” The second bombshell could be very effective, that was for sure. With delivery of such a message, the timing would definitely be everything! It was the perfect way to speed everything up; after all, there was no telling how long the boys would wait them out if they didn’t make their next move a drastic one. Stewart had been pretty stubborn during summer camp, only speaking to the girls if spoken to, and not once initiating a conversation, and Andy, well he just followed Stewart’s lead. The girls seemed to irritate them both, getting on their nerves. And Zack was always busy; it really didn’t seem to matter to them whether he was around or not.

“Let’s tell them that we saw the ghost. Who wants to do the honors?” Ally asked. “Or should we take a vote just to be fair?”

The girls agreed that Ally would giggle too much and probably wouldn’t be taken seriously. Kendall didn’t want to deliver the message, and Maggie had no desire to deal with Andy or Stewart, for that matter. The task was left to Krista. They devised a plan. The message would be dropped during lunch. Since the boys always ate in the corner, it shouldn’t be a problem to get them alone at the same time. If they dropped this bombshell and the boys didn’t want to talk about it, well, they’d have to continue on their own.

“How do we know that Andy won’t blow me off like he always does? I swear if he does, I’m going to come unglued. If he drops that pen, then I have his attention!” Krista giggled, and so did the other girls.

Ally laughed so hard that her red hair bounced everywhere. Andy never gave them the time of day, and Stewart didn’t, either. Kendall suggested they stick with the same plan even if Zack happened to be there, which was doubtful, but just in case. The girls all agreed. No distractions.

The girls whispered about the ghost they had seen in the Willows and couldn’t help but wonder where it had come from or whom it could have been. They had been scared at first, terrified in fact, but there was something about the ghost that made them feel at ease. They didn’t know what it was. It could have been the demeanor, perhaps, or maybe the size. Perhaps it was the gender; they just didn’t know. They just knew that they were fascinated and wanted to find it again. They wondered if the boys had managed to capture evidence on the equipment that they had so carefully set up. They all recognized how amazing that would be and wanted more than anything to view the data if there was some. If the boys would share with them, who knew where the investigation could lead, what they could all accomplish together?

“OMG,” squealed Ally, “Just, OMG, can you even imagine if we grouped up?” It was too much for preteen girls; they suddenly stopped talking and just burst out laughing!

***

The lights were dimmed in Stewart’s room. Andy had the logbook and his favorite pen in hand; they were ready to watch the DVDs. It was the same routine every time: DVDs first, voice recorders second, and then, last but not least, the thermal image recorders. Stewart hit play, and no one said a word. The boys stared at the screen, blinking only when absolutely necessary. They watched the monitor as Stewart gathered and reset the equipment. They could tell from the video that it was just as Stewart had described, eerily still. The willow branches weren’t moving in the typical sweeping to and fro manner that they usually did when there was a breeze. They watched as Stewart stopped and looked all around him. They could tell he was uploading information from the equipment, but he kept stopping and looking around his surroundings, as if something wasn’t quite right. They could see that Stewart was very uncomfortable with something, though they could tell that he didn’t know what. Stewart was rushing about and was obviously very nervous, and Andy made note of that fact several times in the log. Stewart was mopping his brow and nose as the sweat poured off of him, profusely at one point. Andy noted this in the log as bizarre and circled it, since the temperatures had been relatively mild that evening. The sweat was definitely an indication of an increased heart rate likely due to fear, which Andy also logged and circled.

“Whoa, wait a minute; stop rolling!” Zack suddenly hollered as he jumped to the edge of the bed. “Did you see that? Back it up!”

Stewart hit rewind and then hit play again as the boys watched each frame, one by one. Barely daring to blink in case they missed something, they stared at the monitor, looking for whatever it was that had grabbed Zack’s attention.

“Stop!” Zack shrieked in a voice that even he had not anticipated. “Oh, that’s wicked. Look at that, right there in the corner!” he said in disbelief. “Boys, right there; don’t you see it?” he said, pointing to the screen excitedly.

Both Andy and Stewart jumped when Zack shrieked again, but they both tried to act like they hadn’t. Stewart rewound the footage and pressed play one more time.

“Ohhh,” Stewart said, way louder than he’d intended. “Oh, I knew it!”

“Again, Stewart, back it up again,” Andy said, stunned at what he had just seen. “I’m pretty sure I know what I saw, but I would like to confirm that, if you know what I mean!”

It was one of those surreal moments, the kind where the boys knew what they had just seen but couldn’t actually believe they’d just seen it. Stewart realized what he was witnessing via a visual aid and what he must have been experiencing in the Willows earlier that day. He wasn’t quite sure if he should be freaked out or not, since he had never dealt with such a thing before and had no idea how he was supposed to react.

Perched on the edge of the bed, the three boys stared at the TV. “There,” Zack said, pointing again to the screen. “Right there. Do you see it? Do you see what I see, guys?” Not daring to take his eyes off of the screen, Zack leaned forward and touched the monitor in front of them. They all saw it, but they had no idea what to do next.

“Whoa, give me a minute,” Stewart said, as he turned white as a sheet. “I’m trying to take it all in, if you know what I mean. Play in slow motion again, please,” he said, handing Andy the remote. “Look where I’m pointing; it’s like a really dark shadow, but it’s moving toward me right there on the frame. See it?” Stewart asked. He felt shaky and hoped it wasn’t noticeable to the other boys. They hadn’t mentioned it, and Stewart wasn’t about to. He pointed out how the ghost had suddenly bolted toward him and then moved behind the large willow tree.

“OMG, I see it!” Andy screeched. “But did you see that?” he asked the boys, forcing his voice to a lower pitch. “Right there?” The room grew silent as the boys stared at the monitor, not sure if they even had the words to describe what they were looking at.

It appeared to be a boy, a young boy. They couldn’t determine if he was a preteen like them or a teenager. He had bolted faster than humanly possible to the left; the boys were stunned at the speed at which he had moved. Faster than lightning, it seemed. They had captured actual visual proof of a ghost, a ghost boy, in the Willows. Whispering Willows was, without a doubt, as they had thought, haunted!

Andy had stopped writing. “Stewart, press play, and I’ll log everything in a minute,” he whispered. This time, it was Andy’s hands that were shaking.

Stewart fumbled with the remote. “I could be wrong, guys, but I think something’s about to happen right here,” he said. “This is where things got really freaky!”

He was right. Just as the ghost reappeared, it stood directly behind Stewart. Stewart’s, Andy’s, and Zack’s mouths dropped open, but they continued to watch to see what had happened next. They couldn’t believe what they were witnessing.

It was as if the boy ghost was teasing or playing with Stewart, only Stewart hadn’t realized it at the time. It truly was following his every move, staying a step behind him as if mocking him, while Stewart worked.

They stopped the frame and Andy once again picked up his pen and started scribbling as fast as he could in the log. He couldn’t seem to write fast enough. His mind was racing as he tried to record what he had just seen. Andy looked up and said, “Oh, look at that!”

The boys, two inches from the screen, looked where Andy was pointing. They were too stunned to speak and had goose bumps on their arms. The ghost had suddenly reappeared behind Stewart, just as he had said it had. He leaned very close to Steward; this must have been the moment that the ghost had spoken. His features were so clear it was frightful; it felt as if he were suddenly right there among them. The boy was taller than Stewart but shorter than Andy, and they were witnessing the moment when the ghost and Stewart had literally come face to face.

The boys continued to watch the monitor. They didn’t speak, but then again, they didn’t need to. They knew they were all scared; they just didn’t need to talk about it. As the ghost once again became visible to the naked eye, it was clear why Stewart had felt such a surge of paranormal presence. It made total sense that his physical and sensory senses would have been heightened – the ghost was right there with him.

Andy suddenly wondered if they’d captured audio, too. That was next on the list, but they had a new hunt to contend with. They had evidence of a ghost; now they wanted to find out who he was and why he was messing with them. They decided to redefine their task, looking at it with a fresh new set of eyes. An investigation with newly defined clarity would take them in a new direction. Who is he? They wondered and then suddenly froze. No, who was he?

And then Stewart had a crazy idea. What would it be like if they actually met him, like in a real meeting? Was it even possible to talk to a ghost? He didn’t know, and neither did Andy or Zack, but they did know that they had made the greatest discovery of their lives and wanted to take it to the next level, whatever that was.

***

Stewart slept that night with his light on and his door wide open, something he usually didn’t do. Hoping against hope that he hadn’t drawn any unnecessary attention to himself, he lay in his bed while his mind raced and he pored over the images he had seen earlier. He had so many questions and no one to ask. Was there more than one ghost? If so, where had they come from? And what, if anything, did they want? Why had it shown itself to Andy, Zack and him? Stewart couldn’t figure that out either. All of a sudden, he sat straight up in bed. A horrendous thought had suddenly crossed his mind. What if Maggie, Kendall, Krista, and Ally had really seen what the guys had seen? Was it possible that the girls did know something, too? And the ghost – had they seen him as well?

“Ahhh!” Stewart groaned. He flopped back down in his bed. Unfortunately, the girls would have to be dealt with sooner rather than later. Focus, focus, focus, he told himself, as he tried to figure out what to do about this dreadful situation with the girls. At last, he decided, and he was certain that the boys would agree with him to deal with the girls first. Then they could move on! It was very late, and, to his relief, Stewart finally drifted off to sleep.