The Ghost Of You

Chapter Five

Atwood, Colorado Monday, July 1st

I woke up to my alarm going off telling me it was 1:30 am. I woke up sitting straight up in bed. I wasn't able to actually get any sleep, the anxiety of meeting this stranger had me tossing and turning. I was only trying to sleep to make the time go faster. I got out of bed and quickly got dressed. I slipped my sneakers on and cracked my room door open. The house was eerily silent. I slowly opened my door the rest of the way, cringing at every creek the door made. I then shut my door just as cautiously, figuring it would be safer not to tell Mama G about my 2 am meet-up, and not to let her see me out of my room if she happened to wake up and see I was not there. The least amount of questions the better, just in case. I tip-toe over to the kitchen, I then slowly open the back door at the end of the kitchen and luckily there are no creeks in this door. I shut it slowly and let out a sigh as I start walking to the woods.

I look down at my watch and see it is now 1:55 am. I'm standing just inside the woods where no one could see me but I could see if someone were to walk up from the direction of Mama G's. I look around to see if I can see anyone coming from my left or right, but it's too dark to make anything out. I quickly freeze and hold my breath as I hear a twig snap from my left, I carefully turn my head back to the left but all I see are trees. Maybe it was an animal I think to myself, I go back to looking in the direction of Mama G's. I look back down at my watch, it is now 2 am on the dot. Just as I was about to step out of the woods I felt a tap on my left shoulder. I jump back and look at who touched me. It's a young girl, probably my age, she has curly black hair that she tried to shove into her hood but most of it is coming out and hanging in her face. She looks at me and that's when I notice her eyes. Her emerald green eyes.

"H-hi" She said to me, looking down at her shoes.

"Hi?" I question.

"I-I'm Lily" She said still looking down at her shoes.

"Lily!" I exclaimed. This seemed to have shocked her because she looked up at me with wide yes and jumped back a little.

"Y-yes? You know who I am?" She asks.

"I keep hearing your name from Mama G and Mark, I've been wanting to talk to you but I assumed I would have to wait until the funeral. You're the one who gave me Hannah's Diary aren't you?" I ask.

"H-how did you?" She starts to ask.

"I woke up that night and through the light coming through the window I could see green eyes... Your eyes" I said looking her straight in her eyes trying to read her reaction.

"Y-yeah it was me, I-I was hoping you didn't see that" She said looking back down at her shoes.

"Why?" I question.

"W-well I didn't want Mark to find out I gave it to you. H-honestly, I don't want him to know I'm talking to you" She said.

'Why?" I ask again.

"Did you read it?" She asks.

"I just read the last entry, I couldn't get myself to pick it back up" I tell her truthfully.

"W-well that's okay, that last one is all you need to know for w-what I'm about to t-tell you" She said making eye contact with me again.

"But first, how did you know about me?" I question.

"I'll get to that. Here let's sit" She said pointing to a tree that had fallen over a little further into the woods. I followed her and we sat down.

"O-okay, so I'll start from the beginning. I-I'm Lily, Hannah and I met two years ago in chemistry, we were lab p-partners. She and I clicked immediately, we ate lunch together every day and she would come over to my house almost every day after school. I think we both really bonded over the fact that we were both loners, none of us having a click at Sterling since we were the only two there from Atwood and not from Sterling. But I started to notice some red flags about six months into our friendship. Every time I would ask to go to her house instead of mine she always came up with an excuse, her house was a mess, or her dad was sick. There was always something" She stopped talking for a minute to look at me.