The Glowing Lady of the Devil's Hour

Chapter 3 - A New Friend

That night we went back to the same place. I remembered something, a myth, I once heard about, 'The Devil's Hour'. It's supposedly a time of night associated with super natural events. Creatures such as witches, demons and ghosts are thought to appear and to be at their most powerful. Black magic is thought to be most effective in this time.

The ghost lady must have come at three and left at four. She's the ghost of the devil's hour, meaning she only comes from 3am to 4am every night. She must appear in the same place and never leaves it because we have explored every part of this garden at that hour and have never seen her until that night. It all makes sense now. Except for the fact that she never moves from that one spot. That is what I intend to find out. Also the fact that ghosts aren't supposed to be real. I know right, weird.

Anyway. We waited at that spot for hours. We all refused to go home or fall asleep until I got to speak to that ghost lady. Finally, it was five minutes to three. At only one minute to three and because I felt like it, I yelled. "Expect the ghosts when the hour comes!" Suddenly there was a flash of light and there the lady was. She was in the exact same place and position as the other night. She was standing still staring down at the rose bush. I didn't want to make any noise, so I signaled the others that I was going in. I didn't want to startle her so I went in slowly from the front. I walked slowly towards her with the most nervous stomach I've ever had.

I first wanted to give her a friendly introduction. "Hello?"

"Huh?! Who's there?!" The lady was quite startled.

I replied, "My name is Chloe. These are my friends... Umm... Can you look up?"

"No. I cannot," answered the lady sadly. "For I have done a terrible thing."

"What did you do?" I gently asked.

"I was a surgeon, you see, forty-five years ago. Long before any of you kids were born...sorry how rude of me. You can call me Miss Kelly. What did you say your names were?"

"I'm Chloe. These are my friends Sam, Timmy and Daniel. You were saying?"

"Ah, yes, I worked at this hospital as a surgeon. We were doing a particular operation on an eleven-year-old girl. Her name was Lily. She had a disease in her liver which, back then, was a very hard thing to treat. During the operation, I realized that the poor girl had died. I was in charge of the surgery! I was in charge of keeping her alive! But I couldn't." Miss Kelly said sadly. "The worst part was I had to tell her worried sick parents in the waiting room that she hadn't made it. After that, the parents hated me. But I hated myself more. I killed myself as punishment. That's how I've ended up here as a twenty-four-year-old ghost."

Now comfortable around Miss Kelly, I asked "What's the significance of the rose bush?"

"This is Lily's grave." Replied Miss Kelly "Her parents buried her here and planted this rose bush. Every night, during the devils hour, I spend time thinking about what I had done. I have done this every night for forty-five years. By the way, what are you children doing here this late at night?!"

"We come here every night," answered Timmy.

"You shouldn't! This is a place of death. This being an old hospital, Lily and I weren't the only ones who died here." Miss Kelly pointed out.

"Would you like to be friends?" I asked. We all waited for an answer. "I'd like that very much."

Even though she was still looking down, I swear she was smiling. That was the last thing she said that night before the bell tolled four and she vanished once again.