You Don't See Her?

Day 1

Shelly always had her hair in the same strained pony tales. Even now as Gaelle looked at her five years later, she was on her lawn filling a bucket with sand. She was tiny compared to the sand box her father had built her. Somehow, no matter how often to played in it she never got dirty.

Gaelle blinked at the window, thinking she must not have gotten enough sleep. She grabbed her phone, taking a picture of the girl. Just as she took it, her mother called. The girl was looking directly at her as Gaelle put her phone down like she knew that Gaelle was taking the picture. Her heart stopped a little but her mom's voice reminded her she had something else to focus on.

With her running shoes in her hand, she walked downstairs to where her mother was finishing up a breakfast. Her father had already left for the day but her mother never seemed to stop cooking or doing something for them. Gaelle sat at the table, poking at the eggs for a few minutes. The sleep was still in her eyes. It was ten, much later than she had planned on getting up but she couldn't seem to get herself to sleep last night. Some noise was keeping her up but she couldn't quite place the noise. Probably just the rowdy boys next door.

Her mother was wiping around the kitchen while humming slowly. Her hair was still disguised in the head wrap she wore to bed like she had just woken up. She must have been awake for hours though. On the off chance that the girl was outside the window, Gaelle turned to face the window. No one was there even though her mind imagined the young girl just standing there. Maybe it was Shelly's younger sister. It couldn't have been her, not years after. There was no way.

When her mom turned to her, Gaelle almost opened her mouth to ask if she had heard the sounds at night too or seen Shelly. She knew her mother would answer no to both. Her mother had never really acknowledged Shelly, she just treated her like some stray dog that would get fleas if it entered the house. Shelly didn't leave her house much anyway. It seems like the farthest she got was the yard. Gaelle couldn't imagine what the inside of the house looked like especially since the lights were never on, even at night.

Gaelle stuffed her feet into her running shoes once her mother picked up her empty plate.

"I think they are having some traffic downtown. Be careful." Gaelle kissed her mom before leaving the house. Outside, she made sure her fitness tracker was working. She jogged in place getting ready for a run she was not ready to make. A run she'd have to make for the rest of the summer to survive her next season of cross country. Gaelle sighed in relief when she saw the girl was not there. He'd probably never been there. The house Shelly lived in never seemed to be filled with life in any way. There was a fuzzy memory of her parents saying the family had moved out or something had happened. They had been talking in hushed voices as if the news would break Gaelle's five-year-old heart. Shelly had been just another playmate back then and now she was no one.

The sun was glaring down on the town as Gaelle slowly made her way around. Her legs were still asleep, obviously to how far she'd been running. Sweated coated her body as she ran past streets filled with playing kids playing and older sibling that got stuck watching them. Shelly had had an older sister...Maybe. Gaelle always wished for a sibling because the house of three she lived in always seemed a little too quiet some nights.

She kept her pace as best as she could without breathing like she was dying. After a while, the steps became harder to take and the neighborhood became less familiar. She kept on running away, ignoring the honking cards and saying hello to the other runners who imitated it first.

Her tracker told her she'd run about a minute faster today. Not great for getting the fitness tracker and not running with her phone had cut off three minutes instantly. She jogged in place, hoping her mom had gone out so she could stretch inside the house, away from the glaring sun. No such luck though. She could see her mom's shadow inside the house.

Her leg didn't like being bent even though she was trying to help herself not be sore later on. Her body needed to stop working against her all the time. She rolled on to her stomach, screaming when she saw a foot near her face. Her arms dropped to her side and tried to scramble away from the feet.

Only they weren't there. No one was there. Not even across the street. Still, a dizzy sickness still rolled through her as she stretched. She really should have gotten more sleep she told herself. Maybe sleeping at midnight was just having an effect on her. There was no foot. No one was even in sight.

She imagined it. She told herself when her mom left to go visit a friend. She should have jumped into the car but she didn't feel the fear while she was by herself. When the car started to pull out, she imagined Shelly by the window, casting a dark figure instead of a sweet happy girl. In her room, she locked the door and kept her back against the wall as she sat on her bed. Nothing was wrong. Her dad would be home soon anyway if her mother didn't beat him back. With the tv on, her mind relaxed a bit.

Home alone. Seeing weird things. She sent to her friend, Bennie. Bennie would surely tell her she was just seeing things.

What did you watch a horror movie or something? Bennie put a laughing face next to it like it was some kind of joke. Gaelle's head kept going back to the foot next to her face. They were little closed toed shoes and just black, no clue as to who they belonged to other than the white leg she could barely see. That didn't even help since her town was mainly white people.

Not funny. Seeing a lot of weird shit. Gaelle wrote back and let her phone fall beside her. Bennie laughing at her didn't help. It only made her mind look back to prove she wasn't crazy. She did have evidence on her phone actually. She looked at where it sat on the bed. Was now even a good time to confirm her fears? How would that help? Who would she push in the way of the ghosts to save herself?

When her dad finally returned, she breathed a little easier. She went downstairs, getting a snack just as he was sitting by the TV.

"Hey, dad." She said.

"Hey, sweet girl. Mom out?"

"Yeah. How was work?" She asked. Her dad's Haitian accent really came out when he complained about work. He just sighed instead of talking though so Gaelle knew to at least give him a quick hug before going upstairs.

Around eleven, Gaelle still had her lamp on. It didn't bother her to sleep without it even though it's been years since she did. The sick feeling in her stomach had faded but not enough to allow her to close her eyes without feeling nausea and fear. So she kept the TV volume on low as seemingly everyone else seemed to be sleep. She really should have been sleeping if she wanted to be okay in the better, better and ready to run. She most likely would not be okay though.