Far Away

Chapter 2

             The night was cold and Eric had just been able to finally fall asleep after a long day of school. He had started school two days ago and already wanted it to end.        

Relaxing into his covers all he could hear was the wind blowing outside and the soft snores of Xavier. Eric took a deep breath and closed his eyes. A soft whisper got his attention, it sounded as if it were coming from the hallway. He softly groaned and tried to block it out, only for it to get a little louder. The whisper then demanded his attention as it sounded as though it was right in his ear. “Eric…” he jumped and sat up, looking over he saw that Xavier was fast asleep. His heart began to race, who was saying his name? He slipped out of his bed and quietly walked over to the door. Very easily cracking it open he looked down the hall both ways and saw no one there. He stood straight and rubbed at his face. Maybe he was just so tired that he was hearing things. “Eric…can you hear me…?” The soft voice sounded strangely familiar to him, he began to follow it down the hall. “Come back to me honey…please…” Eric didn’t understand was he following a ghost? He saw the soft white outline of a woman reaching out to him; she was standing next to one of the large arched hall windows. The curtain was flowing around her in the wind, the window was open. That was strange, Mrs. Doming had all the windows bolted shut so the smaller kids didn’t accidently fall out. Despite his sudden fear he found himself walking over to her slowly, his feet making barely any noise on the hall carpet. The woman smiled at him and faded as he got closer he looked around for her and then looked out the open window. There she was next to the large willow tree in the back courtyard. Her ghostly voice called out to him “Eric, darling come here please.” This time without hesitating he turned and ran down the hall towards the stairs. His bare feet flew down the steps then across the floor. Almost slamming into the back doors he flings one open and darts out into the cold night making his way to the willow tree. Standing there under the overhanging branches he couldn’t see her anywhere, but he could hear her voice. “Eric…I love you honey…” With that she was quiet all he could hear now was the wind howling through the bare trees. “Who was she…?” Eric turned and looked around the tree, maybe she brought him here for a reason. He knelt down at the base of the tree and ran his hand over the soil feeling around for anything that should be there. His fingers soon ran over something hard and smooth, pulling it free he dusted it off and held it up so the moon light would allow him a better look. It was a locket, carefully prying it open he saw old pictures of a man and a woman in the picture holders. “Mom…Dad…?”

The next morning Eric was groggy, after chasing after the ghost of a woman and then finding a locket with the pictures of his mother and father in it he didn’t get any sleep. He kept rolling the locket around in his fingers as he walked with Xavier and a few other older kids to the bus stop. “Eric are you okay?” Xavier’s sudden question made Eric jump; he looked up at him and tried to put a smile on his tired face. “Yeah…I’m fine.” Xavier just shrugged his shoulders and kept walking. Eric’s mind was going crazy with questions that he wanted answers to.

Eric can’t remember anything from school; he was too tired and kept falling asleep in his classes. When he was awake he was thinking about last night and if that was really the ghost of his mother. What was that locket doing on the grounds and how did it get there?                                   When the bus dropped off all the kids Eric ran to the willow tree and knelt down in front of it. Perhaps there was more that he missed last night in the dark. After a while of searching he didn’t find anything so he just sat with his back against the tree and pulled out a notebook from his backpack.

                Two hours passed and Eric finished a picture of the ghostly woman from last night. Pulling out the locket he compared the faces and it was the same woman. The ghost woman was his mom. What was she doing here; the town he lived in was hours away from here. What was this locket doing here when she was wearing it that night? He needed answers but didn’t know where to start looking; maybe he could find something in the library.