Phantom Crasher

Foreign Object

You slowly, but surely, regain your senses and the most you can see now is the air bag that's covering up your face. You fish for something sharp in your pockets and you pull out a knife to pop the air bag. Only then do you see and remember what happened: the front of your car isn't too damaged as you were only going about thirty when you swerved- the most that really happened was the front windshield was heavily cracked and the front of your car has a big dent from hitting the tree- but your best friend is nowhere to be found.

"Huh..." You say to yourself as you slowly get out of your car and take in your new surroundings. The park is just a few feet away, but there are no other houses in sight, for now. Needing to take in everything that happened, you slowly walk over to the park, sit on one of the slides and put your hands in your face. "God... It all happened so fast..." You mumble to yourself. That's when you hear something off in the distance, like someone on the swingset. You slowly look up and turn to where the swingset is, and you have to rub your eyes to make sure you're not seeing things.

There is a young girl, probably at least ten, swinging on one of the swings in a standing position. "She wasn't there before..." You say to yourself as you look at her. You only blink once, and then she's gone. The swing is still moving as if someone was using it, but there is nobody in sight. "What?" You ask yourself as you blink again. You stare at the still moving swing before feeling a presence to your right, and it turns out to be that same girl when you turn to your right. She has long, dirty blonde hair, gray eyes that look like morning fog, and she wears a long white dress paired with sandals.

"Hello there. Are you from around here?" The girl asks.

"No, not really." You reply. "Are you a ghost?"

"Does this answer your question?" The girl says as you blink once and she's gone again. You feel a presence to your left now, as well as hearing giggling as you turn to your left.

"Yes, that does answer one of my questions. What is your name?" You ask.

"I'm Sophie." The phantom girl replies. "Why are you here?" And with that you explain what happened leading up to the crash and your eventual meeting with her. If anyone else were watching you, it would look like you were talking to thin air.

"Yeah, that's just about what happened." You explain. The young phantom is quite amazed by what happened, especially when you mentioned the car that almost hit you.

"Wait... Did you say a car was coming at you?" Sophie asks.

"Yes." You reply. "What's got you so interested?" You ask, momentarily forgetting that Sophie is a ghost. "Oh wait..."

"Yeah, I think you know now." Sophie replies, running a hand through her hair. For a ghost, Sophie has retained so much of her personality from when she was alive, and she has lots of awareness of her current state, so you imagine she must know quite a bit about the neighborhood you're in right now.

"Do you know where my best friend may have gone to look for help?" You ask.

"If I were them, I would go down that sidewalk." Sophie replies. "There is a house there, but it used to be owned by a creepy old man. Now nobody ever goes in that house."

"Uh oh." You mumble. "I don't have any cell service here, looks like I'll have to go on my own."

"You don't have to." Sophie says. "I know this neighborhood better than you do, and even though I'm a ghost, you're going to need all the help you can get."

"Wait really?" You ask. "I never thought I'd be getting help from a ghost."

"I'm kinda stuck to this playground and can't go any further," Sophie replies. "but if you can find my headband I can come with you. I don't remember where it is though..." And with that you search the playground for Sophie's headband. Fortunately it only takes a minute and you come across a white silk headband that you tie to your leg. With the most unexpected form of aid you make your way down the sidewalk, hoping you can find your best friend wherever they may be down that walkway.