Can't Catch a Boo

4

Nathan had completely disappeared.

Poof, gone.

The shadow creature stood in his place, its image lengthening so that it stood tall and had a lanky frame just as Nathan had described. It didn't seem like it could cross the cemetery boundaries either because it didn't come after me.

"Nathan?" I mustered a whimper.

The creature looked around, what must have been its head moved in a sniffing motion. I was too afraid to move.

Losing interest, the shadow lurked back into the graveyard. There was still no sign of Nathan anywhere. I forced myself to relax just enough to move. A sinking feeling sat in my gut. What if Nathan had been hurt by that thing? Did he escape?

The box in my hands felt weightless. Maybe Nathan was able to possess something inside. Realizing this was a possibility, I rushed to my car once more and stared at the box.

"Nate, tell me you're in there somewhere. Come on, don't make me wait," I rubbed my hands together in the cold. "I'd like to leave now."

I waited. Nothing happened, but the hair on the back of my neck stood on end, a cold sweat pooling on my forehead.

"I hope you're in there." I gave one last glance at the cemetery. 

The creature was gone, as if it had never been there in the first place. I found it odd that it hadn't tried to attack me, but instinct said it wasn't wise to stay and find out why.

I drove home in silence. The box never moved, I never heard a voice. The only proof anything had even happened was the constant chill in my back. 

It was late when I pulled up to the curb of my house. Mom's car was gone, she would have left for work about an hour ago. I remembered her mentioning she was working night shifts at the hospital this week because it was short-staffed. My little sister should have gone to bed around the same time, but I knew she was hiding under her covers reading a book about dragons like she does.

Olivia was ten years younger than me, the child of my mom's second marriage. I remember being severely unhappy about her arrival, my thoughts were everything in the house would smell like diapers and I would lose my room. Turns out, I got used to her pretty quickly as I was forced to adopt a particularly parental role in her life.

My mom's husband, Dan, had been caught cheating on her when Olivia was two and they promptly divorced. My mom was left to fend for herself and two kids. She pulled tons of extra shifts and even a second job for a while before securing a nursing position at the local hospital. She was gone so often that I was put in charge of Olivia sometimes for days on end throughout middle school.

I turned the car off.

"Well, Nate. How about we go check on Olivia?" I said to the box, my hopes still high.

Just as I had thought, Olivia's door was shut tight, but the faint glow of a flashlight quivered through the crack in the bottom. Setting the box on the floor, I knocked gently.

"Hey kiddo?" I twisted the knob. As I did, there was a click and frantic rustling of the sheets. A sharp meow filled the space as Olivia threw the family cat from the bed.

She was pretending to be sound asleep, but the lump of the flashlight and book under the sheets gave her away. Our cat, Archie, perched himself at the foot of the bed, flustered that he had to move.

I chuckled. "Olivia, I know you're awake."

"No, I'm not. Shhh." Olivia hushed with her eyes closed.

Moving to the bed, I flipped the sheets off of her, exposing her reading materials. "Oh really?" 

Olivia pushed herself to a sitting position. Her curly dark hair covered her eyes and I pushed it out of the way.

"You have school in the morning. It's the last day before Winter Break, so you can read all you want later." I scolded her, taking her things and tucking them under my arm.

She pouted. "You have school too! Why do you get to stay up late and have fun?"

A smile crept to my lips. She was sweet, but how could I even begin to explain what had happened?

"What makes you think I was having fun?"

Olivia glanced at Archie, who was staring intently at the doorway. "Mama said you went to see Nathan. I want to see Nathan too."

"I didn't get to hang out with him, bugaboo. Nathan passed away, remember?" I still found myself choking on the words, despite what I knew.

She nodded solemnly. I kissed her on the forehead and tucked her back into bed. My heart broke knowing how much she missed Nathan, but I wasn't about to tell her that I did in fact see him that night.

Grabbing the box once more, I made my way to my room. The orange glow of the streetlights poured through the open blinds. Archie meowed at my feet, and I hadn't realized he had followed me from Olivia's room. I reached down to pet him, but he shied away from my hand, skimpering back to stand in the doorway.

"Suit yourself."

Studying the box, I reluctantly opened it and pulled out the photo again. If anything, I was keeping it no matter what. I placed it carefully on my desk.

After pulling out each object from the box, I spread them out on the floor, piece-by- piece. I couldn't miss a single clue if there was one. Nothing jumped out as me as "possessed", but I couldn't give up. I spent all night researching ghost possessions and hauntings, testings each toys separately, but to no avail. Exhausted, I reminded myself I needed to get up to make breakfast for Olivia in the morning. Archie continued to sit in the doorway, transfixed by Nathan's toys. His stare was beginning to creep me out, so I shut the door to his protest.

"See you in the morning."

Two updates in one week?! All thanks to @mjsfals1 for their encouragement!