Jasmine Adair was moving into a new house the day it happened. She never even had a chance to get settled properly. She was warned, she should've listened.
--
Jasmine was driving home after a long day of work. Today was her first day at a packaging factory an hour away from her new house because that was the only job she could get. Her minimum wage salary only bought the bare minimum needed for survival. The clothes on her back, food, and shelter. Nothing more, nothing less.
When Jasmine got home she immediately started unpacking the five boxes she had brought from South Carolina. It was nothing much really.
After about an hour of serious unpacking she collapsed on the wooden floor. She saw a gold slip of paper across the room, settled daintily in front of the wall. She picked it up.
You are hereby cordially invited to the Annual Fall Ball at 3506 Madison and Parker Avenue, tonight at 8pm sharp. Black tie mandatory. Beware.
She re-read that last word. Oh, be there not beware, she thought, relieved. She felt a cold breeze tickle the back of her neck. Jasmine was so caught up in the excitement that she just assumed that a window was open. If she looked around she would have seen that all her windows were firmly shut.
"The Fall Ball?! That's like the most prestigious, fancy, everyone wants to go to party of the year! And I'm invited?! This is amazing! But wait...black tie mandatory? That means I need a fancy dress! I can barely afford these rags on my back, much less a beautiful gown. I guess I won't be going after all." She sighed, her excitement replaced with a heavy depression.
Jasmine started taking some random photos and knick-knacks up to the attic. When she got up there she looked around. The air in the attic was thick with dust and humidity. There was a single window letting the setting sun bathe the small attic in golden rays.
A flashing light in the corner of her eye caught her attention. Jasmine drifted over to the source curiously. The was a huge trunk made of an emerald green cloth with gold locks.
"I guess the owner left this behind. What's in it?" Jasmine wondered aloud. She fiddled with the locks to discover that they were open. With a heave she pushed the heavy lid up to discover plastic.
Jasmine pulled out the plastic and examined it closely. She found a small zipper and tugged it upwards. Inside was the most beautiful piece of clothing she had ever seen in her entire life. She pulled it out and gasped.
It was a floor length gown made of shimmering bloodred silk. There was a band of tiny, golden roses made of silk, wrapping around the waist of the dress. At about mid-thigh the middle of the dress split open. The gown was sleeveless and so soft.
"What if...what if I wear this? Then I could go to the Ball! Just like Cinderella!" Jasmine ran down to her bathroom and held the dress up to her in the mirror.
As she was thinking that she didn't look half bad and figure appeared behind her.
"I wouldn't put that on if I were you."
Jasmine shrieked and spun around. Her heart was pounding and her legs were shaking. Nothing was there.
"It's probably just the heat," she reassured herself. Deep down, though, she knew she wasn't imagining the semi-transparent girl with clumps of blond hair missing and sunken in eyes with a gash in her head.
She gulped as checked her watch.
7:21pm
"Crap! I better get dressed!" Jasmine showered quickly and slipped into the dress to find that it fit perfectly. She pinned her hair up after curling it and put on a delicate, thin gold chain with a heart locket. It was a gift from her mother. Jasmine found some decent gold flats buried under a heap of random junk. She ran outside and called for a taxi.
---
She got there at exactly 8pm. She walked up to the sparkling building and took a deep breath. Here I go,
Jasmine was greeted with compliments and was whisked away by many skilled dancing partners. After an hour and a half she excused herself to get a drink. Just as she was about to a sip a woman got a martini spilled over her dress. She put down her drink to help her.
If Jasmine was more experienced in going to parties, she would know to never leave her drink unattended. While Jasmine was helping the woman, the decaying girl poured something special into her drink ad disappeared.
Without knowing what happened, Jasmine downed the entire thing. Thirty minutes later she started feeling dizzy and nauseous so she excused herself to the restroom.
She was coughing so violently that blood splattered all over the ornate marble sink.
"Aww, poor baby is feeling a little sick is she? Just when she was making some new friends? Too bad." A voice said behind her. Jasmine spun around and saw the same girl from her mirror.
"I wasn't imagining you! Who are you? What are you? What do you want from me?!"
"I am the owner of that beautiful dress you are wearing. It took six months for me to save up to buy that. All for nothing. I was murdered before I had the chance to wear it." Murdered?! OHMYGOD! This thing is dead! She's a ghost! That's why I can see through her!
"Now, pretty little poor girl comes and tries to steal my dress? I don't think so. I told you not to put it on. I was trying to help you. But, nooo! You wanna take something that belongs to me? I'm gonna take something that belongs to you! You can say bye bye to your pathetic life now." The girl said to Jasmine, taking a step forward.
"No!" Jasmine let out an eardrum shattering scream and tried to run, but as soon as she took a step she collapsed. She broke out into a coughing fit causing more blood to get everywhere.
"There are two different lethal poisons in your bloodstream. One from the dress, and one from your drink. Both are dormant unless mixed with each other. So, right now you are dying slowly. Consider it a favor I'm doing you by killing you." The girl smirked before stepping closer to the now paralyzed Jasmine. Gleefully, she wrapped her hands around Jasmines neck and squeezed until her long nails were digging into her skin, drawing blood. Jasmine let out a gurgled moan of pain and terror.
--2 months later--
The ghost stood over Jasmines grave, wearing the gown.
"I told you not to put on the red silk dress," she cackled joyfully before disappearing for the last time.
