Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ My Ghost ❯ Chapter Three ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

My Ghost

Chapter Two

“And…finished!” Callie declared, setting the last item in the last box on the shelf in her room. It was a six-inch tall unicorn figure her grandmother had given her when she was six years old. It was very important to her, because it was the last thing her grandmother had ever given her. Callie stepped back and marveled at how nice her room looked. “Not that it's going to last.” She sighed. Callie had never had an easy time keeping her room clean.

She stepped into the hallway and was greeted by Will, who had apparently been waiting there for a while. “Seriously, why don't you just come in my room? I'll let you,” Callie said.

“I've told you. I don't feel comfortable.”

“Because it's a girl's room?”

“I guess.” Will shrugged. “Can we just drop the subject? You said you'd help me find out what happened to me.”

“Yeah, that's what I'm doing.” Callie sighed. “I think we should look around outside. Maybe something out there will jog your memory.”

“You say that as if I haven't been out there probably millions of times in the past seventy years,” Will said.

“Just do it, okay? It's better, anyway, because I don't want my parents to hear me talking to you.”

“I thought you didn't care if they thought you were crazy.”

“Yeah, but they might worry or something or lock me up. And then how can I help you?” She opened up the back door. “Fortunately for us, right now my parents are setting up my sister's room.”

Will went through the door, following Callie, who shut it on him. “Oh, I'm sorry!” she said.

“Why?” he asked. “I can't feel it.”

“I still feel bad,” Callie said. She sighed. “That would have hurt if you were still alive.” She looked around. “So, when was the last time you remember being out here when you were alive?”

Will frowned. “Um…probably when I went fishing with my brothers. That was a couple of days before I guess I died.”

“Okay, well,” Callie said, sitting on the swing, “What was the last thing you remember doing, at all?”

“Lying in my bed, trying to sleep,” Will said.

“So someone came in and murdered you in your sleep?”

“I don't know. Wouldn't there have been some sort of evidence left in my room that the police might have picked up on?”

Callie shrugged. “Maybe whoever did it did a good job of cleaning up.”

“Why would they bother?” Will asked.

“Oh, right. There was no DNA testing back then or anything like that. Well, there would have still been ways of finding out who did it.”

Will raised an eyebrow. “I have no idea what you're talking about.”

“I guess you wouldn't,” Callie said. “Maybe whoever killed you did it by poisoning you or something else that wouldn't leave a mess or anything.”

“Maybe. I don't know. We're not getting anywhere with this.”

Callie frowned. “Well, tell me something else. Did you have any enemies?”

Will shook his head. “No, I didn't really have any problems with anyone. I mean, the only people I ever fought with were my brothers.”

“No one at all? Really?”

“Really,” Will said. “I didn't interact with too many people. I went to school, and I was cordial to people there, but I didn't make many friends or anything.”

Callie cocked her head to the side, thinking. Suddenly, she asked, “How about girls?”

Will frowned. “Girls?”

“Did you have a girlfriend?”

“No.”

“Really,” Callie said. “Any girls that you liked a lot? Or who liked you?”

“I don't think so,” Will said. “Why?”

Callie shrugged. “It could be a reason someone would kill you.”

“That's a pretty bad reason.”

“Is there ever a good reason to kill someone?” Callie asked. “Now, you're sure there weren't any girls that I should know about?”

“That you should know about?” Will shook his head. “No…I mean, not really.”

“Spill,” Callie said. “What was her name?”

“Who?” Will frowned.

“The girl. The `not really' girl. Who was she, what did she look like, what was the deal with her?”

“Well, I guess…there was a girl who lived across the street, named Nora. And she and I liked each other, but nothing ever resulted from it. Actually, I think she ended up marrying my brother. My parents had pictures of them hanging on the wall a few years after I died.”

“I guess that doesn't help much, then.” Callie sighed. “Are you sure you didn't kill yourself?”

“Um, yeah. Pretty sure. I don't know why I would be haunting my old house, wondering how I died, if I did it to myself.”

“I don't know, you could have gone crazy or something. I guess not, though. You don't seem the type.” She sighed again. “Well, okay. Tell me about your family.”

“My parents were normal parents and my brothers were normal brothers.”

“Elaborate. Seriously, how can I help you if you won't give me any details? How old were your brothers? How many were there? Any sisters? Extended family?”

“One was older and one was younger, although I found out later, by eavesdropping on conversations, that my oldest brother was actually my half-brother.”

“Wait, so was it your mom or your dad who cheated?”

“They didn't cheat,” Will said, rolling his eyes. “My mom just had a baby by another man. My dad married her before the baby was born, but they knew that it was the other man's. Anyway, yeah, his name was Sam and he was three years older than me. My other brother's name was Ed. He was a year younger than me. I had no sisters, and I don't know anything about my family on my mother's side, because they disowned her when Sam was born.”

“Wow. Okay, that's extreme. What about your dad's side?”

“I didn't know them very well. Just my grandparents and one uncle. They were nice enough, but they all lived pretty far away.”

“No help there, then. Okay, so you said you didn't interact with many people. Did you have any friends at all?”

“I had one friend, James. He was also good friends with Ed. I seriously doubt he'd kill me, though.”

Callie blew a stray hair out of her face. “This is getting nowhere. I wish there was some way to just go back in time and see what happened.”

“Obviously, so do I. It would have helped save me a lot of torture these past seventy years.”

“Okay, well,” Callie said, pulling a tiny notebook from her pocket and adjusting her seat on the swing, “I'll write down what we know. You died on…what day?”

“Probably the night of July 15, or the morning of July 16, 1927.”

“Your mother had three children, and your brother was fathered by a man who was not your father. You and your brothers fought a lot, but it was mostly just sibling stuff. Which of your brothers ended up marrying that girl, Nora?”

“That was Ed.”

“Your younger brother. Did he have a crush on her for a while, that you knew of?”

“I was never aware of anything between them.”

“Okay.” Callie wrote that down. “Your maternal grandparents disowned your mother and you barely knew your father's side of the family, either. You had one good friend, and had no problems with him. You probably died in your sleep or right upon awakening, and it's unlikely that you killed yourself.” She paused. “Also, judging from the fact that you are unable to leave your own property, I assume that you died here, whether or not your body is somewhere around here.”

“So basically we've got nothing,” Will said. “Great.”

“Don't get discouraged, Will,” Callie said, standing up. “I promised I'd help you. Now, it's getting late and my parents probably want me to go to bed early because I have school tomorrow. I'll try to go to the library after school and find out what I can about your disappearance. I can't guarantee I'll find anything, but I'll try.”

Will sighed. “Well, I guess I should thank you, anyway. At least you're trying. No one has even given me a thought since my parents moved out of this house. And it is nice to have someone to talk to again.”

Callie's face lit up. “You're welcome!” She said, beaming. “Even if you're a pain, you are the coolest ghost I've ever met. Well…you're also the only one I've ever met. But still.”

Will smiled slightly. “Go to bed. It's late and you already said your parents want you to sleep.”

Callie nodded. “Are you coming in?” She asked, leaning on the door.

“No, I'm going to stay out for a while.” He turned away as the door shut behind her. He wandered over to the swing where Callie had sat. He stared at it as it gently swayed in the wind.