The Grieving Aftermath: Wandering Spirit

Chapter 1

Horror.

It's all anyone could describe the school week as. Tragedy struck Elmore Jr. High school, and it struck hard. Nobody could concentrate on their work. Nobody could laugh genuinely or feel anything resembling happiness. They all knew what happened.

The youngest Watterson siblings, Darwin and Anais, were each found mutilated in the forest. One on the ground, one in a box. Unfortunately, their reason of death was unknown. Nobody knew how it occurred. First they knew the two had left school after lunch, then.. Nothing. Who knows what could have gone down. It wasn't pinpointed if there was a murderer or not.

Some wondered how the eldest dealt with it.

It was found out easily once Miss Simian's room was searched.

There he was, hanging limply from the ceiling, eyes red and strangled, with a simple brown noose tied to him. A chair had been found a few feet away, likely kicked. The police ruled it as suicide, result of unable to handle the grief of what he most likely witnessed, or heard. Not many questioned the sight after that.

The school hallways felt wrong now. It was almost a haunting feeling. Some said they felt a presence over their shoulders. Some said they heard the squeaks of the floor as something walked past.

Nothing was ever there.

All of it only felt eerie and terrifying for the students.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The school's halls were now so silent, you could hear the sound of a pin drop. It was after school, students long gone, while some stayed behind for their usual club activities.

Carrie was not one of those people. She was silently getting ready to leave, packing away her things into the locker. Schoolwork had prevented her from getting home by bus like usual, dreadful as ever. It didn't help that it only made her not want to stay any longer, knowing what happened. The news was very depressing that day.

She knew it didn't matter, at least to ghosts. Ghosts witness death all the time. To her though, it wasn't the same. The thought of never getting to tell the goldfish her love for him pained her immensely. She had tried to contact him so many times from the spirit realm, but.. Nothing. It was like he was never even dead.

Why did it have to go this way?

As she closed her locker door, she stiffened. There was someone here. Where? Cautiously, Carrie floated down the corridor, feeling a bizarre presence in her space. It felt otherworldly, almost as if.. A ghost.

And she was right.

There right in front of her, a transparent-looking spirit was slowly walking down the hallway, pale and dead with what looked like a noose swung around its neck, like some kind of twisted version of a scarf. Its eyes were bloodshot, and red marks could be seen at the neck.

Carrie automatically knew who this was. It was fairly obvious, telling by the cat-like figure, the appearance matching the description of his death. She should've known that Gumball would've been likely still walking here.

"Carrie?"

The ghost girl snapped out of her focus, turning towards the source of the voice. Penny was standing beside her, a look of concern on her face.

"Are you alright? What are you looking at?"

"..Not anything important. Just.. Lost in my thoughts." Carrie didn't have the heart to tell the fairy her deceased boyfriend still haunted the school, at least not yet. She floated away, but a lingering feeling stuck behind her, almost as if.. Someone was following her. By the time she turned around, nothing was there.