Читать книгу The Ghost of Whispering Willow - Amanda M. Thrasher - Страница 11

The boys decided to confront the girls at lunchtime, and they knew their approach had to be handled with care. If they were abrasive or dismissive, they risked upsetting the girls. The girls certainly wouldn’t share any information with them if the boys were mad at them. Andy wasn’t convinced that the girls had anything to share at all, anyway, but he didn’t want to mention that for fear of jinxing them before they’d had a chance to ask them. The worst-case scenario was that they’d be stuck with a few girls, asking too many questions and getting in their business. The best-case scenario was that the girls didn’t know anything and that would be that. He had his fingers crossed, hoping for the latter.

Andy’s first class of the day was creative writing, his favorite. He wrote with ease, often writing more than what was required, though the teacher rarely complained. Stewart’s first class of the day was computer science, and his second class was P.E. This was an easy class with the added bonus that Zack was in there, too. It was always good when any of the boys had a class together; it made time go by faster. Coach let them play dodge ball, and Stewart forgot about everything else for that hour.

As they passed in the hallway, Steward managed to slip Andy a note that said, you talk to Kendall! Andy didn’t like it, but knew if he didn’t talk to Kendall, Stewart wasn’t going to, and Stewart would likely make a scene until he broke down and did it anyway. He might as well get it over with. Andy was the best choice for the job, even if Andy didn’t agree. It was simple; the girls liked him!

11:45 finally rolled around. Nervously, the boys walked towards the cafeteria. It was a different kind of nervousness than they had felt in the woods; it was an uncomfortable kind of nervousness, not fearful. They sat down at their usual table and waited for the girls to walk in.

Maggie strolled into the cafeteria first, and Ally, Kendall, and Krista were not far behind. They were staring in the boys’ direction, and that made the boys noticeably worried. It led them to believe that the girls were acting overconfident and might actually know something that would change everything.

The boys sat down and watched the girls for a while, and even though Andy knew it was coming, he wasn’t ready when Stewart nudged him. Andy felt sick to his stomach; he’d rather be face-to-face with the ghost than face-to-face with the girls. He assured himself that he was merely relaying a message from Stewart and that was it. It wasn’t a social visit; it was a message. The girls’ stares drew way too much attention toward them, and they hated that, since everyone kept looking to see what they were staring at!

“Hurry up and get it over with, Andy,” Stewart whispered. “If we don’t, they’ll come over here. Look, they’re still staring, and now other people are, too.”

Andy hung his head and stood up; very slowly, he walked toward the girls. To his horror, Krista stood up and walked toward him. It was obvious that they were going to talk. This was a move the boys had not anticipated. Andy turned back on his heels, motioning with his hand as he did so. Krista followed him back to the boys’ table and, with a quick glance back at the girls, received an approving thumbs-up from all three girls watching her.

Krista sat down on the opposite side of the table and noticed immediately that the boys seemed incredibly fidgety. Stewart discreetly nudged Andy in his ribs, and Andy opened up the dialog. “You say that you have something – information – that you saw something? What exactly do you believe you saw?”

Andy asked, surprising himself as his eyes stared down at the table.

Stewart was impressed. Great opener, he thought.

Krista was taken off-guard by the directness of Andy’s questions, but she answered him just as bluntly. “Yes, we do,” she said as she looked around before speaking again. “Do you want me to tell you here, like, right now?”

“Yes, if you don’t mind.” Andy whispered. “I think – I mean, we think – that it would be best if we knew what you were talking about, don’t you?”

Stewart nodded his head, “I agree,” he said.

“It’s simple, really. We saw what you saw!” Krista waited for the boys to respond.

It took Stewart a moment, but he leaned toward her and, in a lowered voice, said, “And what exactly do you think we saw?” He was not prepared for her answer, and neither was Andy.

“The ghost in the Willows, of course. The little girl, we saw her playing in the Willows!” She waited for their response.

“Ohhh,” Andy said. “Wait a minute. Ohhhhh…what did you just say?” He was making sure that he was clear about what he had just heard.

Stewart’s gaze shot toward Andy, and his eyes were big. Had he heard her right? Had she said what he thought she’d said?

Krista repeated the words and, sure enough, they were the ones that Stewart had thought he’d heard. “You know, the little girl. The ghost in the Willows, we saw her, too!” Krista said. “The one you’ve been searching or looking for,” she whispered, not sure if she should have revealed that part yet.

Stewart raised his hand ever so slightly. “I’m sorry. But did you say the little girl in the Willows?”

Andy finally managed to speak. “Do you know what this means, Stewart?” he said, still trying to process the words himself. “Do you realize the magnitude of what she just said?”

Krista was confused; this was not the reaction that she had anticipated. “Isn’t that what you saw, too, and why we’re really here?” she asked, curiously glancing at the boys. The girls had been so certain that the boys were chasing or searching for the same thing that they were: the little girl who wasn’t a real girl anymore.

Stewart nodded. “We definitely saw something, too, and yes, this is why we’re here now, I guess. But it just got complicated,” he said quietly.

Andy leaned toward Krista and said, “Now, this is kinda cool, but kinda strange. Yes, we’ve seen and are onto something, too, but it’s not a girl.” He had her attention, but she was still confused. He explained that they had solid proof of a boy, a ghost boy. Now her mouth dropped open. The other girls could barely sit in their seats as they watched her facial expressions change.

Stewart stated the obvious: there was more than one ghost in the Willows, and the investigation had just taken a new turn.

Krista described the little girl that had been underneath the willow trees. She had been playing, and they didn’t think that she had seen them as they watched her. She had been clutching a doll; the little ghost girl had been playing with a doll! She had been talking to the doll and the doll had been “talking” back as the little girl pretended the doll could speak to her. “It was definitely – no, it is definitely – a little girl. A pretty, little, dead girl,” Krista said, feeling weird about the whole thing as soon as the words left her mouth.

Stewart put his head in his hands. “From the beginning,” he said to Krista. “Tell us everything you know, and we will do the same, but it has to be from the beginning.” He pointed to Andy. “Do your thing and record it all!”

Andy logged each and every word Krista said. The other girls joined them at the table. The boys were too excited about the new information to care. As Krista described the scene, the girls interjected details that, to the boys’ surprise, were actually relevant facts and useful to the investigation. Once the girls had shared every single detail that they could remember, the boys did the same.

Krista suggested a joint meeting, and even though the boys agreed it was time, they weren’t quite ready for that. “We’ll get back to you on that,” Stewart said, as he pointed toward Andy. “Exchange numbers with Andy. We’ll be in touch!” Andy rolled his eyes and gave Krista his number. He wasn’t happy about sharing his number with them and was relieved when the girls finally left.

Stewart called an emergency meeting with Andy and Zack after school. The topic, of course, was the latest developments regarding the little ghost girl and the girls. They would meet at the Willows.

They had no idea that the girls had the exact same idea, meeting also to be in the Willows, in the hopes of spotting the little girl again. First on their agenda: what to do next now that the boys knew?

***

It was safe to say that the woods seemed different to all of them now. There was a presence that surrounded them and they were all aware of it. As the boys entered the clearing in between the two largest willows, they noticed that the girls were already there, sitting in a circle under one of the trees.

Andy groaned. “Ahhh! Should we get it over with and ask them to join us?”

To his surprise, the boys thought that might be a good idea. “We may as well. It’s going to have to happen at some point!” Stewart mumbled, not overly enthused about the possibility of joining forces.

“Well, you do it,” Andy said pointing to Zack. “You ask or tell them we’ll share a meeting or whatever for now. I’m not!”

Zack shoved him. “Whatever,” he laughed, throwing a rock playfully toward the girls. “I don’t care.”

The rock landed right between Kendall and Krista, and the girls jumped, not realizing that the boys were there. This in turn made the boys laugh, though the girls weren’t quite as amused.

“Mind if we join you, or is this a private ghost hunt?” Zack asked, and the girls giggled. After all, Zack was pretty cute.

Stewart finally built up the nerve to speak. “Well, I can’t believe I’m saying this, and I have no idea how this happened, but I think we need to join forces.”

Andy suggested making sure that they were alone. First, they should scope out the Willows and see if they saw anything unusual before they spoke about the situation. Everyone agreed that was probably a great place to start. The girls went in one direction and the boys went in the other.

Nothing appeared out of the ordinary. No sign of temperatures drops or unusual eerie feelings; they didn’t get goose bumps, hear unusual sounds, or even see any odd shadows. They regrouped under the willows and went over some of their notes.

Andy was quite impressed with Kendall’s handwriting. It was nice and neat, just like his. He was also impressed with the details that she had noted. He might have even noticed the same ones. Even Stewart thought the girls had done a good job recording what they had seen, though he did try to hide his surprise.

Kendall had an idea, a suggestion that took them all by surprise. “Why don’t we try to initiate a conversation with the ghosts?” Kendall said. “I’m not sure how we would do it, but we might be able to figure it out together. What do you think?” she asked.

It was something that had never occurred to the others, but it made perfect sense. There was only one problem: no one knew how to contact the ghosts. “Anybody know what we should do or, more importantly, say?” Krista asked. “Maybe we should ask them something?”

Stewart sat down on a log and motioned for everyone else to sit down, too, which they did. He looked serious. Andy had known Stewart long enough to know that look on Stewart’s face meant he had a plan. Whatever it was could work. Andy knew it was worth a shot. “Think about it. We know that they’re here, but we don’t know why they’re here,” Stewart said. “We don’t know who they are or what they want. They’re playing with us – or at least, the boy is!” Stewart laughed. “So rather than just hunting them, let’s get our ghosts in a row, so to speak. Let’s research them or who they could possibly be first.”

Maggie moved a little closer to Ally as Stewart spoke, and Andy thought that she was afraid. “Seriously, we haven’t started yet. Scared already?” Andy said jokingly, but one scowl from the girls and he wished that he hadn’t said anything at all. How come they do everything in groups, including dirty looks? “You know that they could be watching us right now. They’ve been watching us for who knows how long. They could have chosen to stay out of sight or something,” Andy added, looking over his shoulder and checking behind his back. As far as he could tell, there wasn’t anyone or anything watching them.

Stewart started talking again, but his voice seemed a little shaky, especially to the girls. This only made them more nervous. Was Andy serious? “Anyway,” Stewart continued, “I think that we should split up into three groups: investigation, reporting, and research. There may be a history in the Willows, a lost history that we don’t know about!” He waited for a response from the group; they seemed to like the idea.

“Isn’t reporting and research the same thing?” Ally asked. “But I don’t mind going to the library and researching the Willows. I have a project due anyway, so my parents won’t think anything of it, and I’m sure one of you guys can go with me, right?” she asked, glancing at the other girls. That was good. Because if Stewart suddenly volunteered to do anything at the library, his parents would ask too many questions for sure!

“If there aren’t any objections, meaning from you girls,” Stewart said, “then we’ll continue the actual investigation in the woods. We do have all of the equipment set up; no point in moving it.” He hesitated and then addressed the last part: the reporting. “Girls, I thought that the reporting group could actually interview existing long time neighbors or surrounding people in the Willows area. That’s what I meant by reporting; you know, people who live close to the woods and have been in the area for years, generations even, like the Johnsons,” Stewart said.