Just Trust Me

Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

          “Let’s...talk about this in my hut thing,” Carter said, looking around at the busy village.  I had explained everything that had just happened and he hadn’t seemed surprised at all.  Just worried.  He led me towards his hut which was identical to mine, except his table inside wasn’t broken.  

          “They were ghosts, weren’t they?” I blurted out as soon as the door was safely shut. Carter turned to look at me.

          “Um, well, yes they were. And you should stay away from them,” Carter said.

          “But I thought ghosts aren’t real! They aren’t supposed to be real! They’re only in books - fictional books. And-and-and, how is this even possible?” I asked.

          “Andrea, calm down. Ghosts are real. They’re evil creatures that try to take over people’s bodies and destroy the world. Hitler? Yeah, he was controlled by a ghost. So was Benito Mussolini and The Joker.”

          “The Joker?”

          “Yeah. You know, in Batman. The Joker.”

          “But...Batman isn’t real.”

          “Ghosts aren’t real too but it turns out they are real. There are lots of things in this world that you don't know about, Andrea,” Carter said, starting to pace around.

          “Wait, so Batman is real?” I asked, not being able to get over that fact.

          “Yes, but he died a few centuries ago,” Carter said.

          “Oh. Man it, I wanted to meet him.”  I sighed wistfully.

          “Yeah, well back to the topic. You can see ghosts. You're actually one of the few people in the world who can do that.”

          “Why me?”

          “We honestly don’t know yet, it’s been -”

          “We?” I repeated, interrupting him.  “Who’s ‘we’?”

          “Oh, Emerald, Damon, and me,” he said.

          “So you’re like me too?  And how’d you find out so much?  Who told you?” I asked him eagerly.

          “Well, we’ve learned over the years.  And we aren’t like you.  We can actually touch the ghosts.  And destroy them,” he said, his voice darkening on the last sentence.  I shivered involuntarily.

          “Destroy them?  So are they all bad?” I asked, remembering the boy and girl in the woods.  I couldn’t imagine either of them ever trying to “destroy the world”, as Carter had put it. They just looked so innocent and it didn't seem like they could harm anyone. How could they, if they couldn't even touch anyone?

          “Yes, every one of them.  They all hold the potential to destroy mankind, and we are here to stop them,” Carter said with confidence in his voice.  He nodded to himself and stopped pacing, taking a seat on one of the makeshift beds.  I went and sat next to him, trying to think of a mythical creature that was supposed to get rid of ghosts.  I couldn’t bring any to mind, and went ahead and asked the question.

          “So...what are you guys?”

          “Karuts.  We’re called karuts.”

          “Carrots?” I asked, confused. How did carrots get rid of ghosts? And how was Carter a carrot? He didn't look like a carrot. He looked like a regular human.